Safeguarding the Garden of Our Hearts

As we get into the message this morning, I had

two messages prepared. And as the Lord does,

He said no. And He shifted to a third one. So

in the beginning of me preparing for this Sunday,

I knew naturally that it was going to be the

Sunday after Pentecost Sunday. So just in my

spirit and in my mind, I was looking at the Scriptures

and Acts. What did the apostles do right after

they were filled with the Holy Spirit in the

upper room? And I developed a message called

Empowered for Impact. And I was like, this is

going to be a powerful message. And I didn't

feel the Lord breathing on it. So I had to put

it aside. Then I developed another message called

The Importance of Stewardship. We all need to

know how to steward things in our life with the

Lord, right? And yet again, I just didn't feel

in my spirit that the Lord was breathing on it.

So I was sitting on my front porch with my wife.

I like to give you guys an understanding of how

these things develop in me sometimes. And I was

like, Lord, why do I not feel you breathing on

either one of these messages that I put together?

And he said, because that's not what I want you

to speak on. And he took me into a vision where

I saw a garden. And sitting there on my front

porch, I saw this vision of a man tending a garden.

At first, he was doing a great job weeding out

the weeds, watering the trees, toiling the ground,

and he even built a wall around the garden with

gates in it that were locked that made a perimeter

around the garden so as to keep things out that

weren't necessary. But over time, he became lax

in his tending of the garden. Weeds began to

grow. The trees weren't receiving the ample amount

of water they needed, and the gates to the garden

were left open, which allowed others to come

in and sow seeds that produced crops that were

not intended to grow in his garden. So processing

this with the Lord, I developed a third message

titled Safeguarding the Garden of Our Hearts.

The main scripture we're going to be in this

morning, we're going to be kind of all over the

place, but Proverbs 4 .23. You guys probably

know this one really well. In the NIV, it says,

above all else, guard your heart, for everything

you do flows from it. But if you look at it in

the NLT version, it words it a little bit differently.

In the NLT, Proverbs 4 .23 says, guard your heart

above all else. for it determines the course

of your life. There are very few things in the

Scripture, directives, wisdom, or anything where

it says above all else. So for me, that puts

an importance on this one portion of Scripture.

Even though it's a small verse in Proverbs 4,

it puts... High importance on this, that we would

guard our hearts because it determines the course

of our life. So this morning we will be discussing

some principles on how to safeguard the garden

of our hearts. But let's look at the term heart

for a minute. In the original Greek manuscripts,

you see the word represented for heart is a word

called kardia. Which would be where we get the

term cardiology, which is a term that describes

a medical specialty that mainly focuses on diagnosing

and treating diseases of the heart. But in the

original terminology, even though cardio was

referring to the physical blood pumping organ

we know as the heart, it's often used to refer

to the heart and the mind interchangeably, as

if they were one. And it more holistically refers

to an individual's whole inner life or a man

or woman's inner being. To represent the figurative

core of a person, symbolizing one's emotions,

intellect, will, inner self, and spirit. So this

morning as we're talking about safeguarding the

garden of our hearts, let's remember that the

term here, cardia, as it more accurately is translated,

means the whole inner being of our life. So every

garden attracts attention, right? If you have

stuff growing in your garden, there will be pests

that try to come in and eat from the crop. There

will be bugs. There will be rodents, critters.

But if a garden is fruitful, the enemy will want

access to it. He won't attack what's empty. If

your garden has nothing in it, those pests aren't

going to come. Right? But if your garden is fruitful

and flourishing, those pests will come. And the

enemy will want access to the garden. He attacks

potential. He attacks promise. He attacks what

God has planted. Have you ever been in a place

where you felt an immense spiritual attack that

tried to derail you? I see some of you shaking

your head. It tried to derail you from what God...

It tried to derail you from what you were doing

with God. Well, the same happened for Adam and

Eve in the Garden of Eden. Yet it wasn't blatant

in its approach. It was crafty and cunning and

came at them looking very enticing. When Satan

came with the temptation to do what God had directly

asked Adam and Eve not to do by eating of the

tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they

did so, it caused a ripple effect throughout

history. And the Garden of Eden was essentially

lost because Adam failed to guard what God gave

him. Eden was sacred ground, and so is the Garden

of each of our hearts. Our hearts are sacred

ground and they must be safeguarded. If you're

taking notes, this is a weird message how it's

come together. I have a set of four points and

then I have another set of four points. So it's

almost like two messages smashed into one. But

point number one is we talk about safeguarding

the garden of our hearts. The heart is sacred

ground. Genesis 2 .15 And the Lord God took the

man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress

it and to keep it. Adam was not only called to

enjoy the garden. He was commanded to protect

it. The word keep here in Genesis 2 .15 Keep

here means to guard, watch over, preserve. And

defend. The garden of your heart is much like

the garden of Eden. And is a sacred ground. That

we are each given stewardship over. Because in

the heart of men. God plants things. He plants

faith. He plants vision. He plants calling. He

plants the love of Christ. He plants purity.

Compassion. Spiritual gifts. And he plants intimacy

with him. And it is our responsibility to cultivate

and steward what he plants there to make sure

it is bearing fruit that is pleasing and will

last. But we have an enemy that understands something

many believers forget. Whatever controls your

heart or your inner being eventually controls

your life. Jesus said in Matthew 12, 34, Out

of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will

speak. Your words reveal your garden. If anger

is constantly coming out, somewhere in your garden

of your heart, anger is growing. If fear is constantly

coming out, fear has rooted itself in the garden

of your heart. If worship is coming out, intimacy

with the Father is growing. And if faith is coming

out, the Word of God has taken root in you. The

Holy Spirit wants to cultivate your inner life

together with you. The term I talk about a lot

is revival. It's in me. But revival never starts

here on a platform. It doesn't start with a man

speaking up here, projecting you in the direction

that God wants to go. It starts in the condition

of our inner being. or in each one of our individual

hearts. And not everything deserves access to

your heart. This is where putting up the proper

boundaries becomes necessary in the act of safeguarding

your garden. Because whatever enters your garden

will do one of two things. It will bear fruit,

or it will come to choke out the fruit that is

supposed to be growing there. Point number one,

the heart is sacred ground. Point number two,

weeds must be removed before they take over.

You know, at one point in my life, I had, how

do I say this? It wasn't a conscious thing that

I did, but I had brought myself to a place of

compartmentalizing my heart. where I had said,

well, God, you can have these three quarters

of my heart, but this part over here, I'm just

going to keep that for a little bit to myself.

And in doing so, I wasn't giving God the fullness

of my heart. And when we're talking about a garden,

practically what does a garden look like? It's

compartmentalized. You know, you might be growing

tomatoes over here. And you've compartmentalized

that off. You might be growing radishes over

here and it has its own way of being rowed out

and grown. But God wants every single part. Not

that you would compartmentalize and give him

a portion. So remember that. As we continue to

talk about the weeds that are growing, because

it's important that we're not compartmentalizing

our heart. Weeds never really announce themselves.

You know? If you look at your yard or your garden,

like, a weed didn't say, hey, I'm a weed, here

I am. It just starts to grow. But it starts as

a tiny root. Right? Something that you can't

necessarily see. A small hurt, a disappointment,

an unanswered prayer, a betrayal, a church wound.

How many of you have had church wounds before?

Yeah, it's a real deal. It starts as a delay,

or it can start in many other ways. But if left

untreated, weeds will spread to the entirety

of the garden. You may even think to begin with

that you can keep the weed, if you keep it compartmentalized

into one section of your heart. But what happens

over time, as Scripture says, a bitter root will

spring up to defile many. Or you could almost

say that in a way, when referring to your own

personal heart, that a root will grow up to consume

the entirety of the heart if left unchecked.

This is why we can prophesy. We can prophesy

and still harbor jealousy. Or someone can sing

from the stage with a beautiful voice and still

have a hidden inner pride within themselves because

they've allowed the Lord to guide them in one

direction, but they've compartmentalized and

kept something rooted as a weed in another part

of their heart. But God is not impressed with

our giftedness unless there's holiness that's

brought with it. And what does He desire more

than anything for us? That our hearts would be

made whole. Right? This is part of the reason

why Jesus died on the cross. That we would be

brought into wholeness. The word sozo, which

means salvation, actually means healing. Not

only for our spirit, for our mind, our body,

and our soul, which includes the heart. And the

Holy Spirit will bring conviction into our lives

because He loves us too much to leave weeds growing

in the soil of our garden. So in Psalm 139, David

prayed this prayer. Psalm 139, verse 23 and 24.

Psalms 139:23

He said, Search me, O God, and know my heart.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out

anything in me that offends you and lead me along

the path of everlasting life. This was both a

heartfelt and dangerous prayer. Why do you think

that? Because when the Holy Spirit searches you,

He exposes what's hidden. He exposes wrong motives.

He exposes hidden sin. He exposes pride. He exposes

unforgiveness. And He exposes secret compromise.

Amongst many other things. But His exposure isn't

meant as a form of rejection. Just because the

Holy Spirit is exposing things in you doesn't

mean the Father is rejecting you. The Holy Spirit's

exposure of those areas is meant for the purpose

of healing us. God will reveal what He intends

to remove from your life. And the Holy Spirit

will put His finger on areas we've either ignored

or may not even know are there so that He can

heal us entirely. This is not to shame you or

condemn you. But He does so because your destiny

is too important to let weeds choke out your

purpose. And remember this. You cannot merely

trim the weeds. You must uproot them. If you

trim them out of a garden, practically what happens?

They spring right back up. But if you cut them

off at the root, they're not going to grow back.

But how do you uproot weeds? Uproot the weeds

that have sprung up in the garden of your heart?

To uproot the weeds that grow in the garden of

your heart, it takes repentance. Sometimes deliverance

is needed. Fasting will help you uproot the weeds.

Forgiveness is a huge weapon to uprooting the

weeds that have grown in your heart. Having an

accountability system is important because others

can hold you accountable where you cannot sometimes

hold yourself accountable. Through the place

of prayer. What did Jesus say? My house shall

be called a house of prayer. Well, we are the

housing of the Holy Spirit. So we have to have

that deep -seated place of prayer. And for one

of the most important ways in my life that I've

been able to uproot weeds that have grown in

the garden of my heart is by complete surrender

to the leading and directing of the Holy Spirit.

Point number three. The garden must be watered

by the Holy Spirit. John 7, verse 38 and 39.

John 7:38

Jesus said, out of his belly shall flow rivers

of living water. When the heart of a man or woman

isn't being watered by the Spirit, it becomes

dry and nothing can properly flow from it. A

dry heart becomes vulnerable. What happens when

a garden lacks water? Four things will take place.

Soil will harden. Fruit will wither. Growth will

stop. And weeds will spread easier. So spiritually,

many believers become dehydrated because they

lack the daily discipline to spend time allowing

the garden of their heart to be watered by the

Holy Spirit. We attend church on a Sunday, but

do not drink from God personally throughout the

week at times. And I know not all of us do this.

And most of you in this room, you don't do this.

But it is a place that we can get stuck in if

we're not careful. God never intended Christianity

to survive on one touch a week. The Holy Spirit

wants daily communion from us. And it's a daily

discipline to give him the necessary time needed

to water the garden of our hearts. In Ezekiel

47, Ezekiel, how many of you guys know this passage?

It's the river flowing from the temple. And in

many translations, if you read the subheading

of that chapter, it says the river of healing.

Well, Ezekiel was essentially seeing the river

of God flowing from the temple of God. And there's

a key phrase there when referring to the river

that it speaks of. I'm not exactly sure the reference.

You'll have to go back and read it, maybe. But

as he's seeing this river flowing from the temple,

what does he say? Everything that it touched

was brought to life. So that river that Ezekiel

saw flowing from the throne is very similar,

if not the same, as the river of living water

that flows through us. And what happens when

the Holy Spirit flows through us? Dead things

revive. Passions return. Your joy comes back.

Discernment sharpens. Love increases. And hunger

for the things of God grows. But some hearts

become dry because they become clogged with distractions.

You know the world is full of all kinds of things

that are trying to pull us in this direction

or pull us in this direction when God has planted

and saying, stay right here. This is why prayer

and time spent communing with the Holy Spirit

daily is key. Because the Holy Spirit has the

ability to step in and soften the places that

we've allowed to become hardened. There are wounds

that only the Spirit can heal. There are fears

only the Spirit can remove. There are chains

only the anointing of the Holy Spirit can break.

For us to safeguard the garden of our hearts,

it takes allowing the Holy Spirit to water us

with the living water that brings life. And then

the outflow of it from us will bring an expansion

of life to the world around us. So practical

ways to water the garden. Daily prayer. Worship.

Fasting. The reading of Scripture. Praying in

the Spirit, if you pray in the Spirit. Silence

and solitude before God. And one of the most

important, as the Scripture tells us, God desires

obedience over sacrifice. Obedience to the Holy

Spirit's conviction. You can do all these other

things. You can daily pray. You can worship.

You can fast. You can read Scripture. You can

pray in the Spirit. You can have silence and

solitude before God. But if you don't obey the

Holy Spirit's conviction, You still missed it.

And the more time you spend with God, the more

your heart becomes fertile ground. Point number

four. What you protect today determines what

you produce tomorrow. Say that again. What you

protect today will determine what you produce

tomorrow. Galatians 6 -7, Eli. We're going to

focus on the last part. In the translation that

I've read it out of, it says, Whatsoever a man

soweth, this is probably King James, Whatsoever

a man soweth, That shall he also reap. So we're

talking about what you protect today determines

what you produce tomorrow. Whatever you sow now

into the garden of your heart or allow to be

sown into the garden of your heart will spring

up in production tomorrow or in a future season.

Every heart is producing something. Your future

is growing in your heart right now. The enemy

knows this, that if he can corrupt your heart,

he can also delay your destiny. This is why Satan

fights your prayer life. He attacks marriages.

He sends distractions. He targets what's pure

and holy. And this is why he wants Christians

to become spiritually numb. Because the heart

ultimately determines the harvest. But every

harvest begins in a seed form. So let's talk

about that for a moment because seeds matter.

Every day you plant seeds or you're allowing

seeds to be planted into you. Words are seeds.

Thoughts are seeds. Habits are seeds. Relationships

are seeds. The media you watch is a seed. Worship

is a seed. Your prayer is a seed. And eventually,

every seed will bear fruit in its kind. If you

sow compromise, corruption grows. If you sow

worship, intimacy grows. If you sow faith, miracles

will be produced. If you sow in obedience, favor

with God and favor with man will grow. These

are spiritual principles that we have to apply

in our life. Because whatever a man sows in the

garden of his heart, that also he will reap.

Let me ask you this. What are you allowing to

be sown into the garden of your heart? In the

Bible, there were two gardens that were represented.

We talk about most consistently. The Garden of

Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane. Well, the

first Adam failed in the Garden of Eden. But

Jesus won victory in a garden called Gethsemane

for us. In Gethsemane, Jesus surrendered his

own will. He crushed the temptation that had

come against his life. He chose obedience to

the Father even though it meant death on a cross.

And he protected the mission that he was sent

to earth to fulfill. Because of his obedience,

Our hearts have now become a garden where the

Spirit of God dwells. We are called to be a people

of consecration and obedience who live a life

of faith and bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Not performance -based. Not religion -based.

This is not an empty routine. But that we have

hearts fully yielded to God. And He is raising

a people that have clean hands, pure hearts,

sharp discernment, holy boldness, and know their

spiritual authority. Because the next move of

God will not come through talented people. It

will come through those who have safeguarded

the garden of their hearts. And are walking upright

and blameless. Living holy. And are cultivating

inwardly first what God desires. So that the

outflow of what's in them will be the harvest

that he paid for when Christ went to the cross.

Remember our scripture from the beginning, Proverbs

4 .23. Above all else, guard your hearts. This

is not casual effort. It's not giving occasional

attention to it. It takes diligence. Because

your heart carries your calling, your worship,

your relationships, your discernment, your future,

and most importantly, your intimacy with God.

And if the enemy can't destroy you openly, he

will try to poison the garden of your heart.

But in our efforts to cultivate and safeguard

our hearts, we have to remember it cannot be

done by our own power or might, as the Scripture

says, but only by His Spirit and by partnering

with His Spirit. So this morning, I feel like

the Holy Spirit would love to help us set up

the safeguards necessary to protect what He desires

for our hearts. So practically, how can we do

this? This will be... The second set of four

points for this message. These are practical

and simple. Since it's a family Sunday and the

kids are here, this will be easy for you to remember.

Number one, know the Word of God. When you know

the Word of God deeply, it cannot be used against

you. And it will be easier to pick out a counterfeit

that's trying to sow weeds into the garden. If

Satan tried to use the very word of God against

Jesus, then he will also try to use it against

us as well. He is the ultimate twister of Scripture.

But when you know the word, it becomes a weapon

against the forces of darkness. Remember that

the Scripture tells us to put on the armor of

God, helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness,

belt of truth, feet covered in the gospel of

peace, shield of faith in one hand. and most

importantly, well not, they're all important,

but the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word

of God. When your sword is sharp, it can more

easily cut down the weeds that have been sown

unsuspectingly in your garden. So practical ways

we can do this. Number one, know the Word of

God. Number two, stay grounded and rooted in

truth. This is highly important. The truth shall

set you free. I have a hard time saying that.

It's kind of like a tongue twister. But in some

translations, this verse actually says the truth

will make you free. Right? There's a difference

there. Setting something free is like opening

the cage that you've been trapped in. You have

the ability to choose to walk in and walk out.

But when the translation actually says the truth

will make you free, it means like, He's going

to pull you into that freedom. So staying grounded

and rooted in the truth is important. That freedom

that he's leading us into is a license to live

a holy life. It is what I would call the chain

breaker. When there's a pure revelation of truth

that takes root in the garden of our hearts,

strongholds are broken. Things we've dealt with

for years are uprooted. And freedom is laid hold

of that can be attained no other way than by

receiving the truth. And the Holy Spirit, as

Scripture says, will lead us into all truth,

right? He's not directing us. He's leading. When

the trees within your garden are rooted in truth,

it gives them the spiritual nutrients necessary

to produce good fruit. But if you're allowing

just anything to creep in and the soil to become

contaminated with that which isn't true, the

very root system itself of those trees will be

tainted and the fruit that grows from them will

not be good fruit. So it's important that you

cultivate the soil of the garden of your heart

and make sure that it's ample and able to produce

the nutrients that the trees of your life are

producing for good fruit. And as Scripture says,

we are called to worship Him in spirit and in

truth. As we're talking about staying grounded

and rooted in truth, this is key for us. To worship

Him in spirit and in truth. Worship is a lifestyle.

It's not just something we do once in a while

when listening to music. It's the way we live

our lives in proximity to Him. You can tell someone

is a true worshiper who has really been with

the Father. I can see it when someone walks in

the room. You feel the presence on them? That

man has been with Jesus. And I can also tell

when someone hasn't. Worshiping in spirit and

in truth will set the tone of the atmosphere

within the garden of your heart. It clears out

and purifies the air. When you're around someone

that lives in an atmosphere of worship, you can't

help but sense the very presence of the Lord

radiating from their life. So as we move to point

three, let's do a recap. Know the Word. Stay

grounded and rooted in truth. Number three, develop

a life based on prayer and the fear of the Lord.

Prayer is the basis of a powerful Christian life.

Where there is life of a Christian without prayer,

there is little power. Prayer is the connecting

force between us and God. We are called to pray

at all times. It is through the power of prayer

that we have the ability to safeguard the garden

of our hearts because prayer will act as a wall

that surrounds that garden and is used to keep

in what is good and pleasing and right and to

keep out what is unholy. unhealthy, and unnecessary.

The fear of the Lord leads us into wisdom. But

without having a healthy fear of who God is,

we cannot act in the wisdom of God. His wisdom

is what will give us the keen insight on how

to truly cultivate the garden of our hearts.

And without that wisdom, we may not know how

to fully cultivate it. It will help us to know

what to add where, what to plant, what to uproot,

when to harvest, what to set boundaries against,

and to whom to actually give access to our lives.

Wisdom was the greatest of all things. King Solomon,

let's think back. 1 Kings 3. I don't have an

exact reference, Eli, sorry. 1 Kings 3. Solomon

could have asked God for anything, yet he asked

for wisdom. But more accurately, we always say

Solomon asked for wisdom, but more accurately

what the translation of this scripture says is,

he asked for a discerning heart to govern God's

people and to distinguish what was right from

what was wrong. And that was what God attributed

to being wisdom. being able to discern and know

what is right from what is wrong. And God said

to him, because he asked for this, that he would

also give him what he did not ask for, wealth,

honor, and victory. Because he was faithful to

ask for the one thing that God desired him to

have the most, he was also going to receive an

abundance of other things as well. But that wisdom

that Solomon asked for or the discerning heart

is necessary for us today. That we would be a

people that govern rightly and have a keen ability

to distinguish what is right from what is wrong

or even what is almost right. And it starts by

remaining in a place of reverence towards God.

So know the word, stay grounded and rooted in

truth. Develop a life based on prayer and the

fear of the Lord. And number four, test everything

biblically. Why do you think we need to test

everything biblically? I don't have to have an

answer. Because 1 John 4 says to do so. It tells

us to test every spirit. And we are not just

to take... what we hear spoken as ultimate truth,

even when it's coming from a trusted shepherd

like me. Don't take it as ultimate truth. Take

it back to the Word. Test it, as the Scripture

says, to make sure it aligns with the Word of

God, whether it's me or another person up here

speaking. Take it back to the Word of God and

test it against the Scripture. And if it doesn't

line up, don't receive it. And the reason for

taking it back to the Word and testing it is

to make sure it's pure and right. Because not

everything spiritual is led by the Holy Spirit.

Testing what you hear also goes right along with

our first point, to know the Word. Because as

believers, we are instructed to evaluate and

know those who are laboring amongst us by using

Scripture as the standard. to ensure that they

are aligning with God's Word. You wouldn't just

let someone come into your garden with you that

you've been working on all season without first

evaluating their ability to do the work and make

sure they were going to care for it properly,

would you? Why then would you not evaluate what

you hear to make sure it's in proper alignment

with God's Word so as to not just agree with

every wind and wave of doctrine? but to know

for sure that you are aligning with what is true

and pure concerning the Word of the Lord. So

as we close out, let's recap. The heart is sacred

ground. Weeds must be removed before they take

over. The garden must be watered by the Holy

Spirit. What you protect today determines what

you produce tomorrow. So practically, Know the

Word. Stay grounded and rooted in truth. Develop

a life of prayer and the fear of the Lord. And

test everything biblically. Protect your prayer

life. Protect your purity. Protect your peace.

And protect your worship. Protect the intimacy

that you have with God. Because what grows in

your heart will eventually shape your destiny.

So if you are here today and you want the Holy

Spirit to come in and help you safeguard the

garden of your heart in a greater way, some of

you do this in an amazing way already. But if

you're here today and you want to make a commitment

to allowing the Holy Spirit to help you manage

the garden of your heart a little bit better,

would you stand with me? So we're going to pray

and we're going to ask the Holy Spirit to come

in and be our helper today. He's always our helper,

but we need Him in this because we can't do it

alone. And then we're going to have a time of

baptisms, which is my favorite thing. So Father,

today as we close out our service, we just thank

You for the helper that You've sent, the promised

Holy Spirit, that He leads us into all truth.

He sets us free. and He convicts us of sin. But

Lord, as we're talking this morning about safeguarding

the garden of our hearts, we pray that the Helper,

the Holy Spirit, would come in and help us in

this season to better manage and better safeguard

our gardens so that our hearts can be whole and

pure, allowing in only that which is good and

pleasing and perfect to You. and pushing aside

everything else that is unhealthy, unholy, and

unnecessary for our lives. So, Father, we know

that this can only be done by you. So we release

our lives to you. We submit them to you. And

we say, come and have your way in each one of

us. In Jesus' name, amen.