Wise Within- Brendan Hurley - 7th June 2026

Well, keep your Bibles open at Proverbs 16. And

also, just if you've got your bulletin there,

on the inside of the bulletin is a phone number.

We've got Q &A this week, so if you'd like to

text questions in, we'll have a Q &A time after

a couple of songs after the sermon. Now, I was

planning to preach this in the school holidays,

but it struck me this week as to just how important

this topic of why is within is. So I thought

I'd do it now while people aren't away. And we've

also got a little sheet for your growth group

if your growth group wants to do that. You might

want to have a social night or a night of prayer,

whatever, but there is a study available if you

want to do that. But let's pray. Let's ask God

for help as we look at his word now. Gracious

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you're a speaking

God and that you speak to us in your word. And

Father, may Your Word do its work on our hearts

today. May we love You more. May we become more

like Jesus. And we ask this in His Name. Amen.

Well, back in 2024, we were living in Broken

Hill and a big storm hit the town. It wiped out

seven old transmission towers. So it meant that

the power went out. But that's okay, because

they had these big, big diesel generators that

would power the town. Except they didn't work.

And so for weeks in Broken Hill, you might have

seen it in the news, we had rolling blackouts.

And that's pretty hard in a place that's 17 ,000

people in literally the middle of nowhere. It

was a big blind spot for those in charge. Why?

Because electricity touches so many things in

our lives, doesn't it? Our fridge wasn't working.

Our aircon wasn't working. We couldn't charge

our phones unless we drove around in the car

for a bit. Our stove happened to be electric.

Good thing we had a gas barbecue. Our lights

didn't work. Our TV didn't work. Our washing

machine didn't work because they all needed electricity.

And there was a bunch of newspaper articles that

came out at the time talking about the different

challenges that people had because of this. There

was one man in Broken Hill who was on dialysis.

He had a dialysis machine at home. And he was

trying to time it. Okay, there's power. I'm going

to charge my machine. I mean, what a stressful,

hard thing. There were HSC students who were

trying to get on the internet and study and do

all the things they need to do. They didn't have

any electricity. Café owners who lost a lot of

business and a lot of stock because there was

no electricity. Even the traffic lights didn't

work a lot of the time. It was a big blind spot

to ignore something that touches so much of our

lives. But what about us? Do we have a blind

spot like that? Something that we're ignoring

that touches so many aspects, maybe even every

aspect of our lives? Well, today I want to show

you that I think we do. See, I think there's

something that touches our relationship with

God. touches how we relate to our spouse if you

have one, touches how you parent if you've got

kids, touches how you work if you go to work,

touches the friendships that you have, touches

your body, touches what you buy and purchase,

touches how you use your phone, touches how you

turn up to church and treat people. And sadly,

it's something that we often neglect. What is

it? It's your heart. sometimes what the Bible

calls your spirit. It's your inner self. So your

heart is so important because it shapes, it touches

all that you do, every aspect of your life. Yet

it's so easily ignored because it goes unseen

and life is pretty busy and fast -paced. I've

got so many things to do. I've got another thing

to get done. And because it's this important,

that's why Proverbs tells us this. Above all

else, guard your heart, for everything you do

flows from it. The heart is so crucial, that

inner world we have is so important. What's the

Bible mean by heart? I love Murray Cappell's

summary. He puts it like this. He says, it's

composed of four things essentially. Our conscience,

so it's to do with our moral compass. It's to

do with our mind, our thinking and our reasoning.

It's to do with our decisions, our will and the

choices we make. And it's to do with our passions,

our desires, our affections and our emotions

as well. And so today I want us to look at the

heart and I want to show you why your heart is

more important than you might think. I want to

show you how to guard your heart, how to protect

it, how to rule over it and manage it. So here's

the big thing we're going to see today. It's

just like that verse really. Guard your heart

because it touches everything you do. If there's

one thing you remember from today, guard your

heart because it touches everything you do. And

here's just some of the key ways that our hearts

touch everything we do. Our hearts impact our

choices, our hearts impact our bodies, and our

hearts impact our bonds, our relationships. So

let's have a look at the first one. Our hearts

impact our choices. Have a look at this great

verse from Proverbs 16 32. Whoever's slow to

anger is better than the mighty. And he who rules

his spirit, that internal world, then he who

takes a city. So when you read this verse, you're

meant to think of history's great conquerors

and warriors. In our day, we might think of people

like Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, maybe

Napoleon, despite his height. If you're not a

student of history, okay, I can help you out.

Think Braveheart, think Rambo, or if you're just

a gym junkie, think of the guy at the gym who's

got no neck because he's so tank. You know that

guy? And this is saying, if you can be self -controlled,

if you can rule your emotions and your inner

world, and in this context here it's especially

anger, But if you can rule your inner world,

you're better off than those other people, than

the mighty, than the conquerors. Because true

power is not muscles and success. It's conquering

yourself. Ruling your internal world is a better

ambition than almost all others. Because if you

can rule your internal world, it changes how

you speak, how you make decisions, how you react

in tense moments, how you think. It touches all

that you do. Now, I don't know about you, I find

this pretty hard. Why do we find it so hard?

Well, it's because our emotions and not our rational

mind is usually driving things far more than

we realise. I mean, we live in a fallen world

and so our internal world doesn't really work

as it's meant to. It's a bit like this. A while

ago, our boys played a little trick on their

little sister. They were all playing Mario Kart

together and their little sister came along and

they wanted to play Mario Kart on the TV with

them. But they didn't really want her to do that

because she was very slow at driving and but

they also didn't want to deal with her having

a tantrum. So what they did was they handed her

a controller when it wasn't connected and they

didn't tell her. So she was there and she's like

you know driving along when it was actually someone

else who was driving the whole time. Now that

happens in our hearts all the time. We think

our minds, our rational self are in the driver's

seat. But so often it's our emotions. Our emotions

so often are calling the shots, but we don't

see it because our minds rationalise what our

emotions want. Can you think of times where you

might do this? You're tired after a long day

of work. And on the way home, you're like, oh,

that little light comes on, I need some petrol.

And you go in to pay for the petrol, and there

you see it, that row of chocolates. And you go,

oh, I'm so tired, I've got so much to do at home,

and I am trying to eat healthy at the moment,

but I do need a little bit of energy. And so

you buy a chocolate, just the one, hopefully,

with the petrol. Now, what was driving you at

that time? Was that your rational brain? I don't

actually think so. I think it was probably your

emotional brain. It was you going, I need those

chocolates. I need to feel good. And your rational

brain goes, OK, like a little lawyer, yes, I

can help. Here are five justifications as to

why you should do that. Or you might have that

same fight with wifey. She's, again, giving you

some non -constructive criticism. And what do

you do? You snap back. Yeah? Well, do you know

what you do? You're doing this, this and this.

And you think to yourself, well, that's perfectly

reasonable. We're just having a debate, trying

to work out the logic of the situation. No, if

that's your emotional brain and your rational

brain is jumping in saying, yes, here are some

reasonable excuses. If you were thinking with

your rational brain, you'd be doing things differently.

You'd be going, yeah, I don't think escalating

the situation is the best move right now. Now,

there's so many scenarios like that, isn't there?

Where we have things, it feels rational, it feels

logical, but actually we're just reacting and

our emotions are driving things. They're not

giving us signals and information, they're in

the driver's seat. So how do we change this?

How do we rule our internal world? Well being

aware of it is a good start, isn't it? But then

on top of that we want to start developing skills.

There's this great free app, it's not a Christian

one, it's just a secular one, called How We Feel.

And I found it really helpful for me. There's

great tools in it for emotional regulation. And

I think it's important that Christians learn

those skills of pausing and breathing. There's

this great one called a body scan, which can

really help with things like anxiety and other

emotions. Things like reframing and just trying

to get a new perspective on things. So those

are good tools. But even more important is that

we let Jesus minister to our hearts. That we

let the truth of the gospel soothe our fears,

fill us with joy, calm our anger. That's what

Paul tells us. to do all over the New Testament.

And here's just one example. He says, and let

the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which

indeed you were called in one body and be thankful.

We rule our spirits by letting Christ's peace

rule in our hearts. So that means preaching the

gospel to yourself. Okay, you know, Hang on,

what's God done for me? Oh, that's right, he

sent his son Jesus to bear all the wrath that

should have been mined for my sin, for all the

times I've done the wrong thing, all the times

I've been reactive and not sensible, all the

times I've done evil and hurt others. Jesus died

for that. And I now have peace with God. I'm

right with God. Me and God are like this. It's

reminding ourselves of those truths of the gospel.

It's bringing the gospel to bear on our lives.

It's connecting it to our fears, our worries,

our identity and our outlook. So that when you

do get criticised, rather than reacting, you

step back and you go, hang on, hang on, okay,

I see that I'm loved by God. I see I'm at peace

with God. And actually, right now that person

who's criticising me, well, they might be...

you know, let's say they're a Christian, you

go, wow, they're a Christian. We've got far more

in common than we do that sets us apart. We're

one in Christ. They're someone that Jesus died

for. And it changes how you think about them,

how you see the whole situation, doesn't it?

So let me ask, will you take the time to work

on this? It's so, so important. Our hearts touch

everything we do, especially our choices. But

our hearts do more than that. They also affect

our bodies. Our hearts impact our bodies and

vice versa. Our bodies actually impact our hearts.

I don't know if you've thought about this, but

the Bible presents humanity as a psychosomatic

unity. Not that you're a psycho, but psycho is

mind and somatic is body. So we're a mind -body

unity. Each of us is one being with an inner

self and an outer body. And the two actually

play off each other. We get one side here in

Proverbs. It's focusing on one aspect of it.

But light in a messenger's eyes brings joy to

the heart. And good news gives health to the

bones. The bones is the bodily part, isn't it?

Or a joyful heart is good medicine. It affects

your whole person. But a crushed spirit dries

up the bones. So the inner world affects our

outer body. And if we have a biblical anthropology,

understanding of how humans work, we should be

all over this. And yet Christians, and myself

included, we often ignore this to our peril.

We get stressed out, we get overwhelmed, we get

anxious, we get depressed, and our body gives

us signals that things aren't right within us.

And what do we do? Stiff up a lip, keep calm

and carry on, don't we? Without the actual keep

calm, we just carry on. We ignore them. We don't

look at ourselves holistically and we actually

damage ourselves and others as well. For years

and years and years I had a horrible nasal drip.

I would wake up in the mornings and, you know,

I think probably cause PTSD on my kids from all

the hacking and trying to get it all out in the

shower. Sorry if that was a bit vivid for you,

but you know, hope it doesn't haunt you either.

And I'd go to doctors, I tried all sorts of medication,

I even got nose surgery, thanks for noticing

if you like it. But a few years back, I learned

about processing stress, I learned about emotional

regulation, I learned a bit more about self care.

And do you know what happened to my nasal drip?

It started to go away. It's bizarre. Spent all

that money on the other things, but you know.

And sometimes it comes back. It comes back when

I'm tired or stressed. For years my nervous system

was chronically activated. It was like a fire

alarm going all the time. That's what my body

was living with and that's exhausting. It's bad

for your health. Now for some people it's headaches,

for some people it's rashes, for some people

it's digestion issues, and if you don't deal

with it, it can lead to some massive issues later

on in your life as well. Now I'm not here saying

that every ailment is caused by that sort of

inner world being out of whack. You know, if

you break your ankle in a soccer game, you broke

your ankle in a soccer game not because of your

inner world but because you maybe went for a

tackle you shouldn't have or whatever it might

be. But I do want to say that sometimes our body

gives us signals that things in our inner world

aren't right. And it works the other way too.

Our bodies impact our inner self. So we might

be on edge, we might be grumpy, we might be anxious

because we haven't done the things that our bodies

need and it affects our inner world. You know,

if we haven't had enough sleep or we haven't

had enough water or anything like that. I don't

know if you've thought about it, but you actually

see this psychosomatic connection in the Gospels,

in Jesus' final hours. Remember Jesus in Gethsemane?

He's there sweating drops of blood. Why? Because

he's feeling the inner anguish. What could be

worse in the universe than facing the wrath of

God? Jesus is about to drink the cup of God's

wrath. And that inner anguish was having a physical

effect on him. And praise God, Jesus endured

that to save us from our sins. Hallelujah, what

a saviour. But how does seeing that, seeing both

what we saw in Proverbs and seeing Jesus in the

Gospels, how does that help us live our Christian

lives better? Well, it actually helps with wise,

godly living. I love this quote from Don Carson.

Here's what he says. Sometimes the godliest thing

you can do in the universe is get a good night's

sleep. Not pray all night. But sleep? I'm certainly

not denying that there may be a place for praying

all night. I'm merely insisting that in the normal

course of things, spiritual discipline obligates

you to get the sleep your body needs. Isn't that

wise? See, Jesus didn't go through Gethsemane

every night. He picked his moment. Most nights

he was getting a good night's sleep. But with

Gethsemane, he could see the cross ahead, he

could see the trial that was at hand, and he

prayed to his father. So what I'm trying to say

is there are times that we need to pick our moment.

There are times where we push through. But that's

not the norm. Jesus shows us balance. I mean,

think about it this way. Being godly is hard

enough. Don't you reckon? It's hard enough to

just be godly. So much harder if we're tired,

stressed, our bodies are run down. Why would

we make it harder on ourselves? But not only

that, what's going on in our bodies alerts us

to our hearts. It's easy to ignore our inner

world and just push through. But when our body

is flaking, that's a signal that maybe our hearts

might not be in a good place. Maybe it's time

to stop and sort out our stress, our anxiety,

our insecurities, whatever's going on within.

Is your body telling you something? Is it telling

you that something's going on in your heart?

Are you using your body to guard your heart?

Do you know, sometimes people come to me as a

passer and they've got big challenges. Sometimes

they say, hey, Brandon, I'm feeling really disillusioned

with God right now. And I'll check the issue.

I'll listen, hey, tell me what's going on in

your life that's making you feel that way. But

one of the things I'll also do is say to them,

hey, tell me, how's your sleep going? Are you

getting enough water? Are you eating okay? Are

you getting enough exercise? These are all things

that contribute to what's going on within us.

I know it's affected me. It's something I'm always

trying to work on and get better at because I

know the impact these things can have. But that's

not all. Our hearts not only impact our choices,

they not only impact our bodies, but they also

impact our bonds, our relationships with others.

I've been parenting five neurodivergent kids

for a little while now. Do you know the best

bang for buck lesson that I've learnt? Parenting's

not so much about managing them, it's more about

managing myself. My internal world sets the tone.

I can be a thermostat where I can kind of control

the temperature of things or I can be a thermometer.

I just reflect the temperature of things and

usually make things worse. Have a look at this

verse. Discipline your son for there is hope.

Do not set your heart on putting him to death.

Now, did you notice that? It's his internal world,

the father's internal world here, that's the

focus. If your heart feels hopeless, if this

father goes, oh, there's just no point disciplining

this kid. Everything I tried just backfires.

It doesn't work. I'm giving up. Well, then he's

setting his heart on putting him to death. That

is, This kid's going to grow up to be foolish

and end up in a place of calamity. There's a

different way. He needs to manage what's going

on within him. The dad needs to manage what's

going on within him. Starts with himself. Okay,

I'm not going to feel hopeless about this situation.

I'm going to see that there is things I can do

that there is a way for. Even if I have to start

small, I'm going to start small. I'm going to

do something. Changing his own outlook changes

the dynamic. And I reckon that's the same with

all healthy relationships. Self -management is

the key. Drill this into your head. This is one

I've tried to drill into my head. It's helped

me so much. You can't change others, but you

can change yourself. You can't change others

but you can change yourself. Actually, when I've

tried to change others it usually backfires.

Marriages improve when each partner cleans up

their side of the street. Workplaces improve

when we focus on what we're bringing to the table.

Relationships crumble when we blame, blame, blame,

blame and never work on our own hearts. Now,

I know there are exceptions. I know there's some

times where you're dealing with a narcissistic

somebody or whatever it might be. There are exceptions

that prove the rule, aren't there? But the norm

is we've got to work on ourselves. And if you're

here today and you're thinking, yes, I'm really

glad that they're here to hear this, no, you

do too. We need to be asking, what am I bringing

to the table? Maybe you're adding extra meaning

to things that isn't there or catastrophising

things. Maybe you're mind reading, maybe you're

going, I know what they're thinking and they

haven't said anything. I remember there was a

lady at a church I worked at, she left our church.

It was really sad. Why did she leave our church?

Because there was another lady in church who

looked at her. And this lady said, oh, she looked

at me funny. She doesn't like me. I'm not welcome

here. And so she left our church. And sadly,

I only found all these things out years later.

I was like, really? That's why I can tell you.

Adding meaning to things. Or it's possible that

in our relationships, Past hurts or traumas can

amplify present hurts and traumas. You know,

someone does something to you that's level 3

and it's serious and it's a thing, but it's not

a level 8. And you're perceiving it as a level

8. That can happen. It might not be, I'm just

saying. It's a possibility. Maybe in your relationships

you bury your head in the sand. When things get

hard, when things are difficult, maybe you get

defensive, maybe you're overly controlling. We

all have different stuff that we bring to the

table. But we've got to ask, what am I bringing

to the table? And one of the beauties of the

Gospel of God's grace is that it allows us to

face the dark parts of ourselves, know that we're

loved, know that we're forgiven, and then change.

But it's not just human relationships that our

hearts impact. Our hearts were made to love and

enjoy God above all else. Yet all sorts of things

can derail our hearts from loving God too. Have

a look at this verse. Blessed is the one who

fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his

heart will fall into calamity. You're doing the

dishes. The dishwasher's broken or maybe there's

a power outage and you've got no electricity.

Been there, done that. You're doing the dishes

in the sink and you've got your sponge there

and you've got a plate there. What's the sponge

do? It absorbs things, doesn't it? It absorbs

the water. But the plate, it absorbs nothing.

Things just wash over it, don't they? Well now,

I want you to think this every time you're doing

the dishes in the sink. Is your heart like a

sponge or like that plate of stone? Which one

isn't? Because that's something we've got to

keep guard on with our hearts. Our hearts can

easily become hearts of stone. They can get hardened

with God's Word just washes over them and it

stops absorbing God's Word and taking it in.

When God's Word stops impacting our hearts, that's

a big red flag that we're in spiritual danger.

Or perhaps the danger comes from pain in your

life. Have a look at this verse. Yesterday one

of my kids broke something that belonged to one

of my other kids. There were consequences for

doing that. And our kid chose to be really angry

at me as the dealer of consequences. It's very

easy to be angry at God, isn't it? It's a bit

like us. It's easy to blame God when we've done

something wrong in our life, when our life has

gone into ruin because of choices we've made.

And it doesn't always happen because of choices

we've made. Sometimes it's just accidental. Sometimes

it's not our fault. But there are times where

our folly leads us to ruin. And it's so easy

to wash our hands of it. Lord, I prayed to you

about that. You didn't do anything about it rather

than looking at, well, what did I bring to the

table there? Have I repented of that? Have I

owned my folly and failures here? Often our heart

rages against God because we can't face our own

folly. See, both that anger and heart -heartedness

is easy to slip into if we don't guard our hearts.

So, how do you guard your heart? Keep marvelling

at Christ's beauty. When you read the Word, don't

just go, tick, I've read the Word, go, I've got

a job to do here. I'm going to see how glorious

Jesus is today. That's why we crack open the

Bible. Confess your sins to God. Own them. Come

to Him. Ask for forgiveness. Keeps your heart

soft. Constantly thank God. Count your blessings.

Literally count them. Heed God's wisdom in His

Word so that you've got less folly in your life.

Doing those things keeps your heart safe. Are

you guarding it like that? Alright, let's wrap

up. We've seen today that our hearts are so important.

Our hearts impact our choices, our hearts impact

our bodies, and our hearts impact our bonds,

our relationships. You know, Jesus died not just

to forgive you of your sins, as crucial and as

important as that is. And He died not just to

save you from hell, He died not just to give

you eternal life, He also died to give you a

new heart. He died so that your old self would

be crucified with Him, that your sinful nature,

that nature within you that seeks self -preservation

at any cost, that nature within you that follows

desires no matter how unloving they are, that

nature within you that says, I know better than

God. He died so that that nature would lose its

power over you. He died so that he could send

his spirit, so that his spirit would transform

and renovate your inner world. He died so that

you'd see the world differently, have a new security,

a new identity, a new outlook. If you're not

yet a Christian, this is all on offer. This wonderful

new inner world is available to you. If you're

there and you've got questions or you want to

talk about it, you want to have that for yourself,

come chat with me after I'd love to talk to you

about it. But if you're a Christian, I hope you'll

respond today by doing this. Guard your heart.

Guard your heart because it touches everything

you do. Shoring up that power supply in Broken

Hill was crucial because it touched so many things

in people's lives. But your heart touches even

more things in more important ways. So to neglect

it or ignore it, that would be a huge blind spot.

But we do, don't we? Some of us here, we're tired

and busy. And so you might be sitting here and

you're thinking, okay, Brendan, you're just adding

another thing on my plate. But nothing is more

pressing and urgent than this. Our hearts bleed

into everything we do. For some of us, we're

activists. We're so consumed with taking care

of others because it feels good when we do or

because we feel safe when we do. But what we

really need to do is sort out our own hearts.

It's like when you're in the plane and the oxygen

masks come down, hope that hasn't happened to

you, but when they do, because of the turbulence,

what do they say? Put on your own mask before

you assist others. There's some of us here who

need to get some gospel oxygen into our hearts

before we assist anyone else. For some of us

here, our problem is we have that stiff upper

lip syndrome. Our motto is don't cause a fuss,

just push through. Now our hearts are important

enough that we need to stop and work through

things deeply. For years I thought I was doing

pretty good hard work on myself. Do you know

what? Turns out it was pretty shallow. And a

few years ago it caught up with me. My relationship

with God was pretty sour. My marriage could have

been better. My relationship with my kids was

tough. And I was full of insecurity, stress and

anxiety. I made choices not from a place of calm,

but from fear. I had no boundaries. I had no

real wisdom about how to take care of myself.

I was run down. My body was falling apart. I

ignored the signals because, hey, I've just got

so much to get done. And then it was easy to

blame everyone else and sometimes even God, rather

than ignore my part in it all. I was living as

a human doing, not as a human being. And then

some things went wrong, some health things in

our family, some stresses at church, and I just

realised things needed to change. And I'm so

glad that they did. It's something I see that

I need to keep working on all the time now. But

let me encourage you, don't make the same mistakes

that I did. Search your heart now. Drill the

Gospel deeply into it. You could start with just

one hour a week. Write down what's going on in

you and try and bring the Gospel to bear on it.

And if you want help with that, come talk to

me. I've got ideas, books, resources I can help

you with. But please don't walk out that door

today and ignore this. Actually, let me close

with this. Think how good life would be if all

of us took our hearts more seriously. Just picture

it. You'd have this deep joy and satisfaction

in God that spills into everything. If you're

there feeling disillusioned and distant with

God, you'd go and talk about it and reflect on

it and work on it and then the delight again

in God starts to come back. Our marriages would

be richer and closer. Parents and kids would

have a deeper bond with one another. As a church,

we'd be better at caring for one another. We'd

be more harmonious. We'd all be making wiser

and better choices, becoming our best selves,

becoming more like Christ. And think about the

witness that would have. Wow, those Christians,

they're onto something, aren't they? But that

only can happen if we do that work on our hearts.

Let's not neglect it. Let's pray. Father, help

us to guard our hearts. Help us to see how crucial

and important they are. Please, Father, let us

not ignore or neglect this. Help us to take to

heart how important our hearts are. And we ask

this in Jesus' name. Amen.