Evangéliumi Hírnök, 2003 (95. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
2003-02-01 / 2. szám
February. 2003 lűÍrni Page 9. D. The heart could also mean a lot of other things, but it most commonly stands for the mind, or our thoughts, and this is what I really want to focus on today. Guarding your heart means guarding all of the different meanings of your heart, but guarding your thoughts is such a vital part of the Christian life, so I want to spend the majority of the time talking about that.- So as you can see, your heart is important and it’s very important to protect, and that’s why it is constantly under attack. scribes a story of a greek war with a group called the Trojans. These Trojans were in a city called Troy, and the Greeks layed siege to the city for about 10 years, but they could not overtake it. Finally, they designed a new war machine, a giant wooden horse. They presented it to the Trojans and pretended it was a gift of peace and the troops that were seiging the city hid in the hills close by. However, when the horse made it into the city, they unleashed their trap! A bunch of troops hid inside the horse and when they came out, they opened the city gates for the rest of the troops to come in. That’s how Satan attacks us. He tempts us and makes it seems that sin is pleasurable. That sin helps us. That sin is the only way out. B. The world also presents a huge threat to us. By “world” I mean the part of society that promotes ideas like lying, stealing, lust, and selfishness. There are so many things in our society that just feed us false information, such as the governments, schools, television, movies, music, etc. II. Your heart is under attack from three different sources: The Devil, the world, and the sinful desires of your own flesh. A. The Devil- Your life is essentially a battleground. If you are a Christian and have accepted Christ into your life, than He now dwells in you. But Satan also wants to have a piece of you. But the problem is, you can’t have two masters. In the middle ages, if a person committed a crime, a common form of the death penalty was to tie a person’s hands and his legs to a different horse, and then have the horses run in opposite directions. Needless to say, the person was literally “tom” in half. But the battle for our hearts is the same way. You can’t hold on to your sin and try to serve God at the same time. It rips you apart. Satan doesn’t come right out and attack us though. He doesn’t say “ha-ha! Here is sin! Do bad things!!” Not at all. He is a smart enemy. Perhaps the reason the North Vietnamese were so successful in the Vietnam War was because they used guerilla war tactics, like hit and fade attacks. They knew that if they attacked the Americans head on that they would lose the battle. That’s why they hid in the jungles and set up traps and ambushes. The devil is like a roaring lion looking seeking someone to devour. And even when he does attack, the Bible says that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. The Greek writer Homer, who wrote the Odyssey and the Illiad, de1.) When Sir Edmund Hillary completed his first climb of Mt. Everest, he was so grateful to the efforts of the Buddhist Nepalese people that he asked them “What can Ido for you? " They answered “Give us schools!" Since there were almost no Nepalese teachers, they brought in Hindu Indian teachers. The result was that the Buddhist beliefs became watered down and the whole culture changed because of the teachers, since they spent many hours a week teaching them, and they were taught something other than what their parents were teaching them. I just read an article in U.S. News that said that 90% of the teachers in colleges across the US are liberals and only 10% conservatives and Christians. But I’m sure that similar statistics can also be found in high schools across the US and Canada. Biology is based on evolutionary theories. History discussions leave out any types of contributions of Christianity. Literature’s themes are often morally inappropriate and teach that Jesus is just another philosopher like Plato and Socrates. 2. ) TV and movies can also pollute the heart. Sex outside of marriage is the norm. Children disobeying parents is respected. Lying, cheating, and stealing is OK unless you get caught. Pleasing yourself is the most important thing in life. Profanity is OK if it makes you laugh. I am not telling you that TV and movies in and of themselves are wrong, or that you should go home and chuck your television sets out the window, but you need to be aware of the danger that some TV shows and movies possess. 3. ) Music can be a very powerful tool to persuade young people. Why? Because it is emotion-based. Music caters to your emotions more than anything else can or does and it can be a very hurtful - and dangerous - thing. Music can promote anything from love and kindness to rape, incest, homosexuality, rebellion, rage, hatred, suicide, and the list goes on. 19-year-old John McCollum committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a .22 caliber pistol while listening to Ozzy Osbourne albums for five hours prior to his death. Lyrics such as “Suicide is the only way out” and “Can you help me? Oh, shoot out my brains” were running through his mind during the final moments of his life. If you would come up to me and tell me that you listen to music not because of the words but because you like that style of music, I’d believe you. I think there is some really good music outside of the Christian music industry. But don’t tell me that the words of the songs don’t have an effect on you, because they do. Maybe just subconsciously, but those lyrics are still filling your head. C. So we know that Satan attacks us and the world around us attacks us, but maybe the most harmful attacks come from ourselves. In Galatians 5 it talks about the acts of the sinful nature, such as sexual immorality, idolatry, hatred, jealousy, rage, selfishness, drunkenness, etc. And Satan is never even mentioned in this verse. This means that even if there was no devil to tempt you, your human nature would still desire these things. The sinful flesh tells you “go ahead. It’s ok. It will make you feel good. It will make you feel popular and accepted.” So let me ask you a question. With all of these battles going on in your life, how can you possibly do the right thing? And also, what is the point? Why should I live the kind of life God wants me to? I’m going to give you four steps to overcome sin and guard your heart! (To be continued) Mikó István szolgálata a Torontói Ifjúsági Találkozón hangzott el, 2002. október 13-án. T T
