What if the joy, peace, andgratitude you were designed to display have been stolen—not from the outside,but from within? In this powerful message, we explore Jesus's revolutionaryteaching in Matthew 15 about the real source of our struggles. It's not aboutbehavior management or following more rules—it's about surrendering our heartsto the only One who can restore what's been taken.
Using the imagery of a museumheist, we examine how we can look secure on the outside while the treasureinside—the fruit of the Spirit—has been stolen. Jesus exposes the Pharisees'obsession with external religion while their hearts were far from God, and Hechallenges us to stop building our own security systems and instead allow Himto do the deep work of heart transformation.
Key Scripture: Matthew 15:1-20,John 10:10, Galatians 5:22-23
In This Message:
• Why behavior modification never leads to lasting change
• The symptoms that reveal your joy has been stolen
• How to identify the real heart issues behind your struggles
• The difference between religious performance and heart surrender
This is Part 1 of our "WhoStole Your Joy?" series. Join us next week as we tackle one of the biggestjoy-stealers: Guilt.
Visit us: https://bbcconline.com
Service Times: Sundays at 9:00am & 10:30am
Location: 9515 Boynton Beach Blvd., Boynton Beach, FL 33472
#ChristianSermon #JoyInChrist#HeartTransformation #BoyntonBeachChurch #Matthew15 #SpiritualGrowth#ChristianFaith
Primary Texts: Matthew 15:1–20; John 10:10; Galatians 5:22–23 (NIV)
YOU WERE DESIGNED TO DISPLAY THE SPIRIT’S TREASURE
Galatians 5:22–23 (NIV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
THE EMPTY DISPLAY: WHO STOLE YOUR JOY?
John 10:10 (NIV)The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
INEFFECTIVE SECURITY SYSTEMS: EXTERNAL RELIGION
JESUS’ CONFRONTATION AND DIAGNOSIS (MATTHEW 15)
Alarms: How to Know Joy Has Been Stolen
The Way Forward: Surrender, God’s Power is better than Higher Fences
Bottom Line: Behavior management can’t fix a heart problem. Surrender your heart to Jesus—the only One who can restore the treasure of joy.
Everything we experience is processed through our hearts, the good and the bad. Life comes at us from all directions, but it all gets channelled through our hearts. Unfortunately, our negative experiences have a tendency to get stuck there. Eventually they make their way out through our words and deeds; but because of the delay between entry and exit, we often have a difficult time making the connection.
So we’re mad but don’t know why. We’re discontent, but can find no real reason to feel that way. We’re resentful toward certain types of people, though they’ve done nothing to deserve it. We’re jealous while knowing all the time that it’s foolish to dislike somebody for having something we don’t. None of these things make any sense, but they’re real. And left unchecked they have the potential to drive us into self-destructive and relationship-wrecking behaviour patterns. So maybe Jesus was right. Maybe all that junk we don’t like about ourselves really does come “from the heart.” - Andy Stanley
The heart is a maze that only God can solve (Jeremiah 17:9–10). Computers can’t decipher its floor plan. We modestly admit we don’t know someone else’s heart, but the truth is we can’t even know our own. Do you always know why you choose chocolate over vanilla? Why one day your passions sizzle and another you’re a dead leaf in the wind? Can you number all the events and images that impress your heart and make it lean this way or that? Haven’t you been surprised by the insincerity and even intrigue you’ve found in your heart? But the heart is more than complicated and unsearchable: it is “deceitful above all things” (verse 9). Every night Tom Brokaw tells us about shady politics and business scams. People finding loopholes in the law to use their sweat-earned money to build stately pleasure domes in Xanadu. But the sleaziest back-room Mafia deal can’t equal the deceitfulness in your heart. The heart is “deceitful above all things.” Do you doubt it? Think how fickle you are. One day you’re a sage, the next a clown. You can be open and cheery or reserved and gloomy, easy to get along with or a real crank, romantic or frosty. One day Jesus is all the world to you; the next, you love the world more than King Midas did. And think of your inconsistencies. Your mind says tithing is right, and your will puts the money in the plate—but all the while you wish God weren’t so demanding. Or you know that secret communion with God is a feast for your soul, and you long for it—but you can’t roll out of bed, or if you do, your mind zooms everywhere in the universe except to heaven. Or your mind knows that lust is evil and dangerous, but you put yourself to sleep at night imagining a weekend in Monterey with the hunk two apartments down. This unsearchable, deceitful heart is where sin hides. The Preacher said, “The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live” (Ecclesiastes 9:3). Jesus called the heart the fountain of sin (Matthew 15:19), and a treasure chest where we sock away evil (Luke 6:45). Put all this together and you have a scene no director could stage. He could never design a house as complex as your heart, or gather enough monsters to fill it. - Kris Lundgaard
Pastor Sam Sutter //Sam@bbcconline.org
