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Practical Ways To Protect Your Mind And Habits · The Reality Is

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: If anger comes out, guess what's there?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_03: If bitterness comes out, if criticism pours out, there it is.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's what was there all along.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: And so we have to understand how important it is.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: Our reactions to things that happen to us in life do not create our character.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: It simply reveals it.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: And so whatever's whatever's in the heart, that's going to be revealed.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: And we can argue all day long.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's not the true me.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: That is the true me.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: The reality.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: The reality.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the reality is podcast, where we're back talking about real life and real faith.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Joey.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I've got Richard here, and uh we are in a five-part series that you have started off this whole season with, and I'm super excited to get into the next one.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: But as always, I just kind of need to share some embarrassing stories about myself.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so we were talking about earlier hymns and how like I am just so far removed from hymns.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, funny story, I'm doing a song with my team that's uh gonna be coming up, and my wife was going through a study, and she's like, Oh, baby, baby, baby, I need to read this to you.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: This is from a hymn, and it's like really, really, really good lyrics.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And she starts reading to me when I survey the wondrous cross.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, wow, you know, like, like I I know this, and so I'm listening to it, going, baby, I I actually sing this song, but there were two things I didn't know.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: One, I didn't know it was a hymn because I thought it was a Chris Tomlin song.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm going this whole time, I've been singing this song forever, going, wow, what a great song.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: But in the end, turns out it's not a Chris Tomlin song, it's an actual hymn.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, yeah, Joey, this is actually from back in the day.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so then we start talking about another song.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, have you ever heard this?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: When you're like, Joey, that's really back in the day, and it's actually a Negro spiritual.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm going, oh my goodness.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm just so far removed from hymns.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: But praise the Lord, everybody's remaking them.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: So now I'm actually doing all types of hymns.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, they they they they came with such a strong theological basis.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, and that's what I love about them.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: And if you go into the old hymns, I mean, they were written to teach the church theology.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: Which is what we like about what we do here at Crossroads.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: We we put nothing out there that doesn't teach theology.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: If it ain't, yeah.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: The problem is you think they're new.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, listen to this new song.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, literally, I'll tell the team, hey, hey, we're gonna be doing a new song.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is a great song.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, listen to this.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then somebody will go, yeah, I was singing this for like 50 years.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what do you mean?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, just Joey.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Just remember Solomon's words.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing new under the sun.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, there's not, especially when it comes to this, right?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, oh my goodness.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, last week we were talking about foxes and actually how we capture these little foxes.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it's those things that compromise us and and rob us of our love and our joy for Christ.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: But now we we want to talk about not just how to catch them, but how to guard our hearts, like even allowing these things into our hearts.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to turn it over to you and say, hey, how do we get to that point for the first two that you've been talking about to now applying some different practices that can help us guard our hearts?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: You know, when you stop and think about how important it is, okay.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: We talked about, you know, three main sins or three paths, if you will.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: And like you say, we talked about the little foxes.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's great to be able to identify sin, but it's better to never let it in.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: And and so today, as we start talking about guarding the access to our heart and and what that looks like, Proverbs 423 says, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: And so when we stop and we talk about our heart and and we talk about it's our total self, right?
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: And and it's it's what's in us.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so guard the issues.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: I want you to think about it this way.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: If you're out on a hot summer day and you're you're you're walking down and you go, boy, there's a there's a well, and and I'm gonna throw the bucket in the well, and I'm gonna bring the bring it up, I'm gonna get me a fresh drink of cool spring water, and you throw the bucket in and you bring up the water, and it's muddy, and it's filthy, and it's dirty.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: You don't blame the bucket.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh okay.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: It the bucket only brought up what was in the well.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: That was it.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: And so whatever's in our heart, man, that's that's what's gonna come out.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: And and so we can blame everything in the world.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: And so when we're talking about guarding, we're talking about who has access, what has access to your heart.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I can tell you, I'm real good at blaming other people for things.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we we are we all are, right?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, how quick are we to defend ourselves instead of just taking the time to stop, listen to what the person is saying, and then going, oh, okay, I I I realize what you're talking about.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and you know, what we have to realize that our enemy is the thief.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, right.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: And so scripture says that the thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so Satan's object, Satan's goal is to steal what Christ has put there, to kill what Christ has put there, to destroy what Christ has put there, right?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely and and he does that when we don't guard the windows, when we don't guard the house.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: You you you always use the expression, build a gate, build it high, check it off.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I always say hedges of protection.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna put up all these hedges to keep me from even going down that path.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: But even in those situations, you've got walls, they're built real high, and you're checking them.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: I've got these hedges that I'm putting up for protection, but the enemy is so sneaky, and he's still a thief, and he knows how to creep into another way.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the hard part.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why we've got to guard that access to our heart.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because, okay, yeah, here I think he used the analogy the other time about a window being open.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna leave the back window of my household, but the one that nobody can see.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Guess who sees it?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: The thief.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: The thief, exactly.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the the problem is we allow compromise in, and it seems so small, so insignificant, and and we tell ourselves it's only a little opening, it's only a little crack in the window, right?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: But our enemy is patient.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_03: And first Peter 5 8 says, Be sober, be vigilant.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: Your adversary, the devil, walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a key word.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's constantly looking.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna wait for that opportunity.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: I look, I I didn't always have the best, you know, life.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: And what you would do is you would just sit and you would wait, like you're patient.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: You're just waiting for the opportunity to do what you know you're not supposed to do.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is what you're talking about.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: The enemy is like saying, ah, woo, I'm safe now.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: You are never safe because you may think you're safe, but that person's just sitting back, our enemy, going, okay, I'm gonna wait for the crack because I know they're gonna I know they're gonna leave a crack.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And once they do, boom, I'm on it.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't say that he wanders around aimlessly, right?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: He's he's seeking, he he definitely is on the prowl.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, it's the same thing Ephesians 4 27 says that we're not to give place to the devil.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, literally don't give him opportunity.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: So when we start talking about, you know, these these windows, we start talking about what we're doing, we've got to learn to guard our mind.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: We've got to learn to guard the windows, close the doors, and and guarding our mind is the first step to that, right?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: Who or what has access to your mind?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's where you have to start and where you have to think about.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of times we allow because because evil, sin, the enemy, wants to just get close to you.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh and just start like and like it's like nothing.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, can you just imagine walking with somebody like you've been to New York, I've been to New York, it's very crowded.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And you're just walking, and just people come alongside of you and don't pay attention because you're so focused and you're doing your thing.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's the enemy, it's just gonna come up and that not even recognizable that he's there with you.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then when he has that opening, yeah, exactly.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: And and and that really tells us, you know, there's so much fighting for our attention today.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, there's so much fighting for our mind.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: Advertisers won't access to your mind, you know.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: Social media wants access to your mind.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: Wants it, they have it.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: We've got this 24-hour news cycle, right?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, it it's it's just constant.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: Friends have access to your mind, co-workers have access.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, the entertainment industry.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: They're in there.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: They they own you, they're in it, right?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: And and so Satan certainly wants access to it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: So when we talk about that, then we we have to realize that the battlegrounds for the mind.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know how many times I've said to people, the battle's between your ears.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, it it's it's not out there somewhere, it's between your ears.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: And and you have to realize that.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we've said that so many times because the enemy doesn't have the power to make you do anything.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: He just gives you thoughts, ideas, and suggestions.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: And once he gives you that thought, he puts that idea in your head, he suggests something to you.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's up to you to say, all right, I'll do that, or I won't do it.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: But when it's in your mind and he makes it so convincing of how joyful it's gonna be and how much pleasure it's gonna bring you, you just go, okay, what's it gonna hurt if I do this little thing?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: And this is what we talked about before.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Little things stack up and get bigger and bigger and bigger and heavier and heavier and heavier.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: And so when you really stop and think about every everything has to begin in the mind, right?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_03: And and that's the reason Romans 12, too, tells us that we're not to be conformed to this world, and there's only one way not to be conformed to this world, and that is to be transformed by the renewing of the mind.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: And and so when we understand that, then then we realize long before sin ever appears in an action, it appears in our mind.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: And in killing sin at the thought process, that's where victory comes.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's so good to say that.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh yeah.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's like like I'm thinking, woo wee.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: I know, like I'm I'm outside, I'm listening to this podcast when I'm going, man.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all crazy.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you how do you stop that in your mind?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'll be honest about myself.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: My mind just does this.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes it keeps me up for hours just because my mind is constantly thinking things, but I can't give way to a lot of the things that come into my mind.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm always telling, Lord, Lord, capture my thoughts, take my thoughts captive, Lord, please.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because that battle in the mind, it's it's a real deal, man.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, see, that's where I'm blessed to have a blank mind.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my goodness, man.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you know, when you stop and you think about the original sin, okay?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_03: Original sin began in the mind, not in an action.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: Just a thought.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, and so the original sin, the original thought has God indeed said, right?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: And and when Eve entertained that in her mind, from there came sin.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so we have to realize that that it's going to begin in the mind.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: I I remember probably about two, three years ago, you you were talking about that, and it dawned, you know how the things just slap you in the face, you go, I'd never realized that before.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: And you said she added to scripture.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: She literally added words because he said one thing, and she said, Well, no, he said, I can't do this or do that.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And like, well, no, God never, God never said that.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and we tend to do that a lot.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: We will add things ourselves with our own intellect.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's just completely wrong.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I think when we start doing that and we don't balance it with scripture, it can really throw our mind off.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, 2 Corinthians 10 5 tells us casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: And how do we do that?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: He doesn't tell us to ignore sinful thoughts or negotiate with them, he says to bring them captive.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and and so I don't pretend they're not there, and and I certainly don't negotiate with it, right?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: I bring it into captivity and and and I don't let it control me.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, can I can I use a fishing analogy?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Just from what I've witnessed with you.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say you must have read about it or watched it.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: When you catch a fish, the first thing you do is you stick it in that container and it's locked in there and not getting away.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like it will not get away.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like that's kind of exactly what you're talking about.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: I've captured it, I've got it, but now what?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you just let that thing go, it's still flopping around and it'll eventually get away and it'll go right back to doing what it does.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: No, you've got to take it after I captured it.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm locking that thing away so it cannot get away.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and so when you think about it this way, what what becomes a passing thought becomes a settled attitude, becomes a behavior.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: So when I entertain the thought, I develop an attitude.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: We talked about that of defense, right?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: Finding a way to make it okay.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then it becomes my behavior.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: And and so if I'm gonna kill it, I'm gonna have to kill it right up front.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: I like that.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: So Philippians 4 tells us, okay.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: So what am I supposed to think about, right?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: Things that are true, honorable, pure.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: Does it make me love Christ?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: Does it strengthen my walk?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's where my mind needs to be.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: I love that, man.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh that's good things.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_03: So so we guard our mind.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: And second of all, when we think about that, by guarding my mind, I'm I'm guarding my heart.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: Now, when we say heart, a lot of times people fail to realize we're not talking about the ticker, right?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: When we talk about heart, we're talking about more than just our emotions.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we try to boil that down.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, it's our thoughts, it's our desires, it's our motives.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's our heart, it's our being.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: And and so we have to guard access to that.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you you always we've even said you can have all this intellect up here, but if it doesn't go 18 inches to the heart, it really doesn't do anything because it's not changing.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, and that's what you're talking about, not just, hey, the the heart that beats, but the heart that moves to actually do things because you can say, I've got a heart for this, or I have a passion for this.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, okay, then then we know what you really love because you're doing something about that.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: This needs to become a part of your heart and guarding that.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: What you're placing in your mind, take it to your heart so that it can change you.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: And so Proverbs 423 says, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: The word keep there means to guard, to watch over or protect.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: It is the picture of a guard standing at the entrance and checking who he allows in and not.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what scripture tells us to do.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a lot of times I'm gonna sneak right past that guard.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna get through.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Been known to.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's places I've been trying to get into and want to get into, and problem is you'll always find a way.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And this is, I think, the hard part spiritually.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'll just use a club for an example.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's a club that I know I should not go into.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's a guard standing there saying, Nope, you don't get to come in to this place.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: What am I gonna do if I really want to get into that place?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Get around that guard.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna find another way to do the things that I know I'm not supposed to be doing.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it it's it's what we do.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we keep pushing boundaries, right?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: We absolutely do.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: And the reason being is because everything traces back to the condition of our heart.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: And and so there we are.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: It it is what is in the heart is is what drives us.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think the problem is, and and and please, you know, you're always well, you will shut me down if you need to.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: But the problem, I think, is we see this line that says, do not cross this line, because over here are all the bad things that you aren't supposed to do.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Stay on this side.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of seeing that line and going, man, I'm gonna stay far away from that line so I don't even try to cross.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: I just go, well, let me see how close I can get to the line.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not, I look, I I'm not, I'm not crossing over.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just at the line.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: And why?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I would always ask these things, why are you even trying to approach the line to see how close you can get to the line?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Why aren't you fleeing and turning the other direction and getting away from it?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: But we have this thing where we say, let me see how close to danger I can get without actually being dangerous.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: No, we do we do that.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, one of the things that uh I'm the first time I went to the Grand Canyon, right?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: And remember walking, walking down the edge of the canyon and and watching children right out on the edge and and parents just watching these kids.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm sitting here thinking to myself, I I do you not want them?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_03: Uh right, like but even watching people climb over the protective barriers to get further out on the edge of the canyon, right?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: And and the protective barriers are there because the rock crumbles, and there you go.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, Christ has put so many protective barriers up for us, and we climb over them, Joey.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: We sure do.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: We're over them and there we go.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: And and so it's Christ worded it this way in Luke 6, 45.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so whatever we have inside, man, that's what's coming out.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's absolutely what's coming out.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: Have you ever been in a situation where you said something really hurtful to someone or someone said something really hurtful to you, and the very next words out of your mouth is, Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't mean that.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_03: Wait, those words hurt so much because at that moment, that's exactly what you meant.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: That's what you meant.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth was speaking.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_03: Now that may not be your opinion 24-7, but at that moment in time, that's exactly what you thought.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: And and so Christ says, look, whatever you have in there, that's what's coming out.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why we keep harboring, get into your word, put the word into your mind.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so when those type of situations come up, the only thing that can come out of your mouth is blessing.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Bottom of it.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, but but no, that's not us.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: If if anger comes out, guess what's there?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: If bitterness comes out, if criticism pours out, there it is.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's what was there all along.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so we have to understand how important it is.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_03: Our reactions to things that happen to us in life do not create our character.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: It simply reveals it.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_03: And and so whatever's whatever's in the heart, that's going to be revealed.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: And we can argue all day long.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's not the true me.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: That is the true me.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's the true you.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: It reminds me of this show that my wife and I really got addicted to.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: I could say it's it's over, so we don't watch it anymore.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: But the whole point, it was like this military thing, and they they break you down.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: And the whole purpose of them breaking you down is so they can find out the truth about you, find out who you really are.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because, and I've said this plenty of times.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: You can come to church for an hour and a half, and you could put on a mask for an hour and a half.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: What are you doing the rest of the week?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we're talking about, like the true you, because it's so easy to, and I hate to put it this way, but a lot of people come to church and they are putting on a performance.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like they will literally just finish having an argument, being mad, like cursing, and then they will come to church, God bless you.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm so I'm highly favored from the love.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: They'll put on this act, right, for like an hour and a half, and then they hop right back in the car and they're right back to who they are.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is a mask, and we've got to break down that mask.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: We've got to find out who you truly are.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where we keep saying, if the word is in you, and if that's all you're feeding yourself with, that's what's gonna come out.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what's in you.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we I think one of the biggest culture lies that we have is is just follow your heart.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: Please don't.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, just just just be who you are.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just follow your heart.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: Now, can you think of any reason that's bad advice?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, because you know I go to this verse all the time.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Don't please don't tell me about your heart because the Bible tells me it's wicked and deceitful above all things.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: You don't know it.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Please don't tell me, oh, but their heart isn't.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, but but isn't that our cultural life?
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_03: That's our absolute life.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: And so we find ourselves in in this situation.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: So I think we always have to ask ourselves the deeper question, who or what am I allowing access to my heart?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: And and again, we've already mentioned, but think about the entertainment that I'm watching.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: What kills me, what just absolutely kills me, is when when someone says it's just a movie, it doesn't impact me.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_03: Well, why do you think they spent millions upon millions of dollars making that movie?
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: And advertisers spend millions upon millions to advertise during the spot around that movie.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Because it doesn't impact you?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: Is that why the millions are spent?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, come on.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: They're purposely trying to impact you.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: They are impacting you.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's not trying, they are impacting you.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: And to make an argument that I can watch this, listen to this, be part of this, and it not impact me is nonsense.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: And and it it but our heart is deceitful, and we try to justify that.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it stays with y'all.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: I've shared this before.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: My wife and I, we're in the store, and it's a song we haven't heard for 20 plus years.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: And the song comes on in the store, and we're singing every word to it and dancing to it.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, baby, will you stop dancing?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Can't help it.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: But that's the lie I used to tell myself, and I would tell others, oh, it's just the beat, it's just this, it does nothing, it's not affecting me.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is, because that has stayed in my mind for years, even though I I have nothing to do with that song ever for 20 plus years, it's still in there.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's embedded in me.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: I would rather have the word of God embedded in me that way.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: But but 20 plus years ago, I wasn't embedding myself with the word like I was with that music.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: But that's a change you purposely have to make.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: Well, science tells us we we never forget anything.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: We really don't.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_03: Now I I wish they would tell me how to recall what I never forget.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: But they never for you know, exactly.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: But they tell us we never forget anything.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: And you're spot on because it might be 20 years later, yeah, and and something comes back.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: And it's there, man.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's there.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, which kind of brings us to this to the third idea that we want to look at today, our hearts, our minds, but our habits, right?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: And and we got to guard our habits.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_03: And and the question I asked, what's shaping your heart every day?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: Your habits are what's shaping your heart.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: And so what is it that becomes your habit, right?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_03: We when we stop and we think about that, Romans 13, 14 says, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_03: So fulfilling its lust is the habits that we allow in our life every day.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_03: And so and look, we're all creatures of habit.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so what is you know, I'm I'm the ultimate.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, you and I have discovered that about each other.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'll say, I did not know you were that like OCD.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, you are.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: I know I am.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: Well, my my daughters say, you know, you're they'll tell me I'm OCD.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: I say, I'm not OCD, I'm correct.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: There's a difference.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um and and so, but you know, the word provision where he says make no provision for the flesh, it means preparation, right?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: And and so if I'm making no preparation for the flesh, that means my habits are the things that God would have me to do each day.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: And so as as I bring these things in, it's so important that we think about what are the habits, what are the things that that we do in our life every day that begin to dictate our direction.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm thinking about because we were just watching the Olympics and sports and those type of things, and I just think about these athletes that condition themselves daily.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: And this is the habit that they're in.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it what I love is it's so much of a habit that they recognize when they don't do it, it makes them feel different.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's that much of a habit for for me, and I I just did this to my wife this morning.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: I picked up my right foot to put my sock on.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a habit.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: I always do the right foot first.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, for Father's Day, they got me these fancy compression socks that are right foot and left foot specific.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't pay attention and I put I put my right foot up, I put the sock on.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going, this feels something feels weird about this.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I looked at the other sock and I was like, oh, I have it on the wrong foot.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, but I'm that habitual.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: But that here's the here's the point is I recognized because of my habits something that was different and said, huh, this is wrong.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Spiritually, we should be able to do the same thing.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: We should be in such a spiritual habit that when something is outside of that habit that I have done spiritually, immediately I should be able to say, something's wrong here.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, when we're talking about our heart, we're talking about our mind.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: Look, victory is determined long before the temptation gets there.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's not determined once the temptation arrives.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_03: And and we used before on another podcast, and it's a great example.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_03: Think about Daniel.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: Long before he was tempted with the king's table, he had made his decision.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: I will not be part of the king's table.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: But his friends didn't.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_03: Even, yeah, but his friends didn't.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: But yes, I get it.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_03: But even if it cost him his life, he wasn't doing it.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_03: He has made his mind up.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: Those were his habits.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: He had made a habit of doing the things pleasing to God and living in a way that was pleasing to God, and nothing was going to shake that.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: Had he not had that habit, then he would have just been another person in the Babylonian court.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: But but look at how blessed he was because he had this habit and said, I cannot defile my God.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: I won't do that.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: I cannot do it.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: He had already been in that pattern, that style, that habit of life.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: Here comes this new thing, and he still says, like, I just can't do it.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: I cannot do it.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: Spiritually, we really need to get to that place where we just say, I cannot do it.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because there are going to be some.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, okay, maybe if I bend a little bit.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe if I and you you've got to get those maybes out of your head.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: No, when the test comes is not the time to determine what my convictions are.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: I I have to know my convictions before the test comes.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_03: And and if I don't, then I'm I'm going to crumble every time.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's built by habits.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: It's built by what we call spiritual disciplines, right?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean you sometimes these are broken down into as few as three, and sometimes as many as 12 to 13, even 14, right?
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: But but I would argue that that Bible study, prayer, and fellowship are absolutely essential to our life.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: And if we cut our personal devotion out, we cut our prayer time out, we cut our fellowship with other believers out.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's that simple.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so what are your daily habits, right?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: And we both have talked about it it seems like you know the the things that that are most appealing are the things that that we we just gravitate toward, right?
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_03: And we go in all the way knowing good and well this is not good for us.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, when Joy and I we we go out west, you know, on the motorcycle.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: That would be his wife.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, not Joey.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Joy and uh exactly.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so, yeah, because he's Joy.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, never mind.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_03: I I will say to my phone, call Joy, and it calls Joey.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: So at seven o'clock in the morning.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and Joey likes it when I call her that early as well.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_03: So, but but I went up and I've got this picture of me up on the up literally on a ledge that wasn't wise, wasn't smart.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: I crossed one of those barriers you weren't supposed to cross.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, but at that point in my life, I had a habit of of not being smart, right?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's a past thing, is what you're saying.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's not a present thing.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I have scars to prove it, right?
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: We develop in our mind that we're indestructible.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we shouldn't do.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: And and there's a reason that they take 18-year-olds and send them to battle and and not 60-year-olds, okay?
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: 18-year-olds are indestructible, they're bulletproof.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_03: By the time you get to be 60, you realize I'm not bulletproof anymore.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: And and so what are our habits?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: What are those things in our life that we allow in there every day, and they tend to drive us into directions we have no business being?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: There's passions that's if for for me it's music.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people know music, but for me, it's the habit of what type of music am I choosing to listen to?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to make the right habit.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I and I would argue just what's the first thing you reach for when you get up each morning?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_03: Is it your Bible or your phone?
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know?
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: And and I'll guarantee you, if we did a survey right now and people were honest, the majority that are listening would say, My phone.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta, I gotta check for my emails, I gotta check my text, I gotta check my social media.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: And they may or may not have time to check their Bible.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_03: And the same ones that will tell you I I don't have time to do a devotion, make 13 posts before they get to work.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: And you found time to do other things.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: I win friends and influence people with statements like that.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, and and then that brings us to another thing, and that is garden our relationships.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, you've just turned off a group of people.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I've already upset them, so let's move on.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, let's just keep upsetting them.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_03: First Corinthians 15, 33, do not be deceived.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: Evil company corrupts good morals.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: And and when we when we understand the people we put in our life, Joey, it it is absolutely they're going to shape my thinking.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_03: I can argue all day long they're not.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: They're going to shape my thinking, they're going to shape my priorities, my attitudes.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: The people I listen to are going to shape me.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I I've shared this before.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: I have a dear, dear, dear, dear friend, close friend, who was doing some absolutely horrible things that he just kept getting into and kept doing.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I just kept the relationship going, kept the relationship going, and finally I said, you know what?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: I've got to stop this relationship.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: And one of two things is going to happen.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: He's either going to recognize his ways and then say, Oh, well, I need to get back to the Lord, or we'll just never talk again.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he recognizes ways and and we are once again in great fellowship with each other.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: But I had to make that hard choice to say, Matt, if you're going to keep doing this, we just can't, we just can't hang anymore.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like we can't talk, we can't be bros.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you're going to keep doing the same thing that you know it's not like he didn't know it was wrong.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: If he didn't know it was wrong, that's one thing.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: He knew it was wrong, he kept saying, Oh man, I did it again, oh man, I did it again, oh man, I did it again.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, then we gotta stop this.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, a couple of weeks ago we used Samson as an example on something very similar.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_03: And that is Samson knew what he was supposed to do.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and and Samson just flirted with sin.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_03: And and and he and he just kept tiptoeing across the line until he was chained to the to the pillars in the temple.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_03: And and so we have to realize he lost his power over years of compromise, not over a compromise.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: And and we need to realize these things build on us so often.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why, like even in my men's group, I'm always telling them, hey, pour into the next generation, pour into the next generation.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: If because you say, hey, evil company corrupts good morals.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I also believe the other way is good.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: If I consider putting myself with somebody who can speak good things into my life, like speak wisdom into my life, then I'm going to become wiser.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: And this is why I believe older gener a lot of young people, college-age people say, Oh, I don't want to hang out with older people.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna say, if you do, if you do hang out with people who have done this life already, who have made all the mistakes, and you come alongside of them and let because they want to share.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: They want to pour their life experiences into you.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you let them do that, believe me, you will become wiser than you ever thought you would.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: You you would hear things like, hey, they are wise beyond their age, but wise beyond their years.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're spending time with people who are wise.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, plus they have disposable income and they'll buy your lunch.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: They actually will.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: So there's, I mean, Proverbs 13 20 says, He who walks with the wise, uh, wise men will be wise.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: And and the companion of fools will be destroyed.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_03: And and so you you choose, right?
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: And so who are your relationships?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: And then, you know, finally, we have to guard our eyes.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_03: And and when we think about our minds, our hearts, our habits, our relationships, man, the access is through the eye.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: And and, you know, when when when we go back and we look, Psalm 101 and verse 3, David wrote this, I will set nothing wicked before my eyes.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_03: Job said it this way, I have made a covenant with my eyes.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_03: Why then should I look on a young woman?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: When you think about David and Job didn't blame their culture for sin.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: They blamed themselves.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: They said, It's what I allow myself to gaze upon that becomes my problem.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I know in this day and age, it is really hard.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know that.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: But I also believe what you said earlier to me, there's nothing new under the sun.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's so it's not like they were going, and we look at them, yeah, but they weren't walking around like that back then.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Look, it was tempting to them back then, however, they were walking around, whatever they looked like back then, it was tempting to them.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: And they made the choice to say, I will not.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: We need to make that same choice nowadays.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: I will not look the other way.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I love it when people tell me, well, back in Jesus' day, they didn't have to worry about pornography.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_03: I go, You ever heard of the temple of Aphrodite?
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_03: You know, right there in front of everybody.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they had temple prostitutes that were their worship was pornography.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, and so yes, it there's nothing new under the sun.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: And what we allow in our eyes, Matthew 6 22 says the lamp of the body is the eye.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: And it says, if therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: And so what are you allowing in?
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_03: What are you looking at?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, to argue that what I see doesn't impact me.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_03: It does.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_03: Again, we forget nothing.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: And and so we we have to keep that in mind.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean, think about David, okay?
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_03: When we go back and and we think about all right, he was on the roof where he shouldn't have been, right?
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_03: And and he saw Bathsheba bathing.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: The single look became a lingering look.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: The lingering look became a sinful desire.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: The sinful desire became adultery, adultery became deception, deception became murder.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, it all began with the look.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_03: And and we gotta remember that.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and we gotta know how important that is.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: And as hard as it is, I'm trying to tell you guys please, please, please guard your eyes.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: Guard your heart, guard your mind, guard your eyes.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like everything that you've been saying, like take it seriously.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to what we're saying, listen to what the pastor is trying to tell you because it's the path of destruction or the path of life.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so often we're watching, especially young men, and and I know there's women out there too, but I have seen with young men their life is just going down a path of destruction because of the choice they made with their eyes.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, bro.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and so so as we've looked at these five areas, and and we just really encourage people to go back and think about how important it is to guard our to guard these areas of our life, right?
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_03: And so we got to guard these windows.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: Satan's coming in, absolutely, and and he can only get in if we let him in.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: Man, wow.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, wrap well, yeah.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Wrap this whole thing up in a boat for me.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: Give me the reality of everything you've been talking about.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: Well, to today the the reality is even when we know we should guard our hearts, there's going to be times we fail.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_03: And and we understand that, right?
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_03: One unguarded glance was enough for David, and it led him to sin.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: One conversation was enough for Eve, one relationship was was enough for Samson, and one bag of silver was enough for Judas.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_03: And so what we have to realize is all of these areas are are stumbling blocks for us.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: And so we got to guard out, we've got to guard this access.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_03: But what do we do when we don't?
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where we want to go next week.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I love that.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so next week it'll lead us into uh, are we concealing all these things that you're talking about?
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, are we just gonna hide it, hide it in our mind, hide it in our heart?
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Are we actually gonna be truthful?
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: Open up, let it out, find a good brother that you can say, hey man, I just need to share something with you.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what, uh and you and I have literally had these true, because this is not podcast talk, this is true conversation.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: I have come to you and said, bro, this is how I feel right now.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you have talked me off of a ledge multiple times, but I have somebody in my life that I can come to and say, bro, this is what happened in the family.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is what happened with so-and-so.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I am really, and you have not justified, because a lot of times it was wrong what the other person did, but you didn't justify, Joey.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk you off of the ledge and let's get your mind back in the right place where it needs to be.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you've got to have somebody that you can come and instead of concealing, confess to.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: Right, and we both have that.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_03: So next week's podcast, we're gonna we're gonna talk about your choice in life, conceal or confess.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's up to you.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love that, man.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate the time, and thank you guys.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: We appreciate your time for tuning into the podcast of The Reality Is, where we're here talking about real life and real faith.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do us a favor, like, subscribe, share this with a friend, and ring the bell and let us know exactly what you would like to hear us talk about because we love having these conversations on the reality is.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: God bless you.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: We look forward to seeing you next week.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: Goodbye now.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: The reality.