Pure In Heart

“Blessed are the pure in heart” can feel like a crushing standard if we read it as “blessed are the flawless.” We go straight at that tension by slowing down in Matthew 5:8 and asking what the Bible actually means by “heart” and what Jesus is really promising when He says the pure in heart will see God.

We talk about motives and intent, not just outward behavior. The why behind what we do matters, because words, choices, and even our patterns of sin flow from an inner place we don’t fully control. That’s why David is such a disruptive example: his story is messy and painful, yet God still calls him a man after His own heart. We connect David’s Psalms, Romans 7’s inner war, and Romans 8’s reminder that there is no condemnation for those in Christ, so we can fight sin without drowning in shame.

From there, we get practical about what it means to “see God.” We explore James 4:8 and Jeremiah 29:13, the way idols sneak in when we want something tangible, and the honest question underneath so many prayers: “God, I just want to feel You.” We end with a simple challenge to reshape your desire and your schedule: spend 30 minutes a day seeking Jesus, using real tools that fit your season of life.

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Transcript

Prayer And The Beatitude

Josh 0:00

Let's jump into this morning with this. Our big idea is happy are the pure in heart. And there's a lot that we're going to get into on this one. And I'm not trying to run out of time, so I'm just going to open with prayer and jump in without the clever illustration. So, Father, I just thank you so much for your word. And I ask and I pray that as we go through it this morning, that it is your word. That, Father, that it is your words that are cut into our hearts, that we look more like your son when we leave here than when we came in. Father, I ask and I pray that you cleanse our heart, that you create in us a new heart, Father. God, we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so our verse for today is this, Matthew 5.8, which says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now I'm gonna be honest with this verse. This is one of those that the church can tend to use as a hammer on people, because we see that word pure heart. And a lot of the times we can act like what we saw in the Pharisees throughout Scripture, where we can we can really attack people that aren't pure in heart. And I want to warn us as we we try to jump into this. Number one in Romans 10, Paul warns us against that, that it is not our job to decide who ascends into heaven or who descends into the abyss, because none of us in this room can see another person's heart. We can see the outward, but God does not judge on the outward, but on a man's heart. Right? And so Jesus here is saying, happy, blessed are those who are pure in heart. Now here's what he's not saying. Happy are those who are perfect in every way. And a lot of times that's how we translate this verse, that pure in heart equals perfect in every way. And that's not what this verse is saying.

What The Bible Means By Heart

Josh 2:20

First and foremost, we have to understand when we see this word heart what it's actually talking about. Because I'll tell you, it's not talking about the literal organ inside of our chest. Now, the word in the Greek is this, it's cardia, which sounds familiar, right? Because what do we use to refer to a heart? Cardiac, right? That's where this is coming from. And that word literally does translate into that literal organ inside of our chest that beats and pumps blood. However, to the first century Jew that is that would have seen this word, they would have known immediately that they're not talking about the muscle inside your chest. In fact, I love the way that John MacArthur describes this word in his commentary on Matthew. He says this, in scripture, the heart represents the inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the center of personality, encompassing not just feelings, but also thinking and the will. Anytime we see this word heart throughout scripture, it's talking about that thing inside of you that causes you to do all of the things that you do. Think about this really quick. What separates us from animals? Conscience, thought process, we're made in the image of God. All of those things are true. Think about it like this. My dog, we we just came back from vacation. My dog refuses to use the restroom at any place we stop. Because when we get out to him, every place we are at is a brand new place. And so he is sitting here trying to understand all of the different things, and he thinks everywhere we stop is where we're going to live. And so, because he's overstimulated, because he doesn't understand, hey, we're on a road trip, and we're stopping so that I can use the bathroom so that I'm more comfortable, he just waits and waits and waits. And until we get to a place where he sees his crate come inside and he knows, okay, this must be our new home. Like when we got to Michigan, our dog probably went. Doesn't smell the same. Every morning the sun comes up and our dog doesn't go, oh, it's a new day. He just knows, okay, it's time to eat. It's time to go to the bathroom. It's time to do all of these things. See, we, unlike anything else in creation, have thought. We can reason. We can look at things and go, okay, I have a motivation and a desire. And all of this is controlled by something. If you're, you know, someone who is like an atheist or an agnostic, you would call this the universe. If you're like in other religions, this may be your chakra, this may be, but everybody knows that there's just something different about us. And think about it. Can you control your desires? Not can you control what you do with your desire, but can you actually control your desire? No. These things just hit you. Any of you are you like me, where you're like, oh, I just, I just really, I I have a taste for something right now. I can't even explain what it is. I know what it's not. It's not what we had for dinner. Let's go to Dairy Queen. Maybe it's that. And then you leave Dairy Queen and you're like, nope, whatnot. So when you get home, you're like, let me open up my gummy bears. Nope, wasn't that. See, we can't control any of those things. We can control what we do with those things, right? Like, I don't have to go to Dairy Queen just because I want to go to Dairy Queen. But I can't control that I want to go to Dairy Queen. And see, this is what the ancients would have referred to as our heart. This is where our desires come from, this is where our will comes from, this is where our actions come from, this is where our motivations come from. This is where all of our emotions and all of that come from. And Jesus is saying, those who are pure in heart, they're happy. Those who are not, the other side must be true, or not. But they knew that this heart was where everything flowed from. This is why Jesus in Matthew

The Why Behind What You Do

Josh 7:30

15 would say this, but what comes out of the mouth, so the words I speak proceed from the heart. And this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, immorality, theft, false witness, slander, these are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone. Now to put that in context, the Pharisees came to Jesus and they were like, hey, your disciples, your followers, they don't wash their hands before they eat. They go against our ceremonial washing. Now, should you wash your hands before you eat? Okay, everyone except one of you went, yes. Yes, you should wash your hands before you eat, right? Because you don't want to take the outside world and put it on the inside, right? But what Jesus is trying to explain to the Pharisees isn't about the physical washing of the hands. He's trying to explain a more spiritual truth that everything we do comes out of. In other words, it's not the thing, it's the motivation behind the thing. And I know Miss Amanda isn't here this morning, but if you were a lawyer, specifically a prosecutor or a criminal defense, do you know what the one thing you have to prove in everything is? The intent. See, like, think about homicide, for instance. In order for you to be charged with, what does the state have to prove? That you had the intent to do this. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't lesser charges that you can be charged with if even if you didn't have the intent. There are. But see, what the intent is matters. The why matters. And this is what Jesus is talking about. We get hung up on the what. We get hung up on the outward expression of the inward. And what purity of heart is, is all about the things that come out of us. And Jesus is making the point that the heart is where it starts. In other words, the why matters more than the what. And this is very hard for us because everything we do is judged on the what. Everything we do is based on the what, not the why behind it. When you get in trouble, you're for the most part, your parents aren't concerned about the why. They're looking at the what. You hit your brother. That's it. They're not going to sit down and go, why are you hitting him? I understand, I understand there are exceptions to everything. See, the things we say, the things we do, whether they're good or bad, they come from the same place. In fact, I would argue that you can't even control if they're good or bad. This is why in Psalms 51, David starts with, created me a clean heart. Because David, as he's praying to God, he's sitting here going, I know who I am. And God, I don't want to be like that. I don't want to do those things. And he's understanding that it's not always him. We're going to talk about David here in just a second, but Jesus here is saying that if we want to be happy, we have to have a pure heart. In other words, our deepest desire, the thing we should want more than

David’s Sin And God’s Verdict

Josh 11:30

anything else, is Christ. And that's what Jesus is really driving about. Because again, if we think about this in the natural, going back to David for a second, David's not a good person. For someone that has worshipped so much in Jewish thought, the Messiah is going to be basically a reincarnated David. David is not a good person. And all we have to do is look in 2 Samuel 11, and I'm not going to read through the whole chapter, but in 2 Samuel 11, this is where we see David meets his wife Bathsheba. And I'm going to be honest, they didn't meet on Christian mingle. Okay, they didn't meet at a church mixer for singles. It starts with when David should be at war. He is at his palace. He is standing on his roof, and he looks over, and there is a woman bathing. And at all of these different points, David knew, okay, A, I shouldn't be here to begin with, I should be at war. B, I know that that's not mine. I should look away. But he doesn't do any of that. In fact, he sees her and he goes, I want her to come talk to me. And I'm going to be careful because I know it's Family Sunday. So you adults understand and connect the dots here, right? Because next thing you know, Bathsheba is with child. And David now goes, in order to cover up what I've done, I'm going to have her husband come and be with her. And when that doesn't work, because her husband goes, No, that's wrong. I'm supposed to be at war. I'm supposed to be doing all these things. David goes, okay, well then we got to get rid of the evidence. So he sends her husband out to die. And that way he can make it look legit, right? Even though the math still wouldn't be mathing. But yet, this is a person that especially Israel looks at and goes, hey, this is someone. This is someone who's a good person. Why? Because David expanded the kingdom. Because David united all of the kingdom. Because they sit here and go, David is the one we got power from. Because they sit here and go, David is the one that made us a nation, even though Saul came before him. But see, it's easy for us to look at David and go, you're not a good person. You're not pure in heart. You're a terrible human being. Like, understand, there are reality shows made about this nowadays, right? And as we look through scripture, guess what? You know who else isn't a good person? Samson. Terrible human being, right? Moses. Moses has a wicked anger issue. I mean, you know what kicks off Moses' like journey to God? He kills an Egyptian because the Egyptians beating an Israelite. Like he couldn't even withhold his anger. And at the time, he was pretty powerful in Egypt. He probably could have made this a lot worse for the guy. You know who else isn't a good person? Abraham. The father, the patriarch of the Israeli faith, or the Jewish faith, I should say. He's not a good person. He lies, he cheats. Like that's who he is. In fact, anyone in the Bible outside of Jesus is not a good person. If we base it on their life and what they've done. It's one of the reasons we can know that the Bible is true. Because you know what the Bible doesn't do? Shy away from going, hey, here's all of their faults, here's all of their flaws, here's who they are. Because think about it, if you were to write a book about your life, are you going to include all of these things? Or are you going to make yourself look like the best possible version of you? You're going to downplay the bad and you're going to upplay the good, right? The Bible doesn't. The Bible just lays it all out here and goes, hey, look, here's all of these people, here's all of their flaws. In fact, if we think of all of these people, is there anyone that we can look at and go, hey, they're pure in heart? Most of us are going, no, no, not at all. But yet when we read Acts 13, 22, what does the Bible tell us about David? That he is a man after God's own heart. And who does Paul say is saying that? God himself. That he calls out David. Says, and when he had removed him, that's talking about Saul, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he, God, testified and said, I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. Seeing, I don't know about you. But those two things don't really go together in my head. Because I go, God, how can you sit here and say David's a man after your own heart, knowing the things we know about David? Knowing what David has done. Knowing who David is. How then can you sit here and go, he's a man after my own heart? And this goes all the way back to what I started with. Being pure in heart does not mean being perfect in our actions. We have it so wrong

Pure Heart Versus Perfect Behavior

Josh 17:30

because all we care about is the outside. Listen to me, there is not a single person in this room who is going to be perfect today. I just did a 14-hour trip from Tennessee to Florida two days ago. Anyone want to guess at some of the thoughts that were running through my mind as I'm driving for 14 hours on the highway? You really think I was pure in heart? You really think like that person that cuts me off, I'm not sitting here going, man, I could just shoot right through the windshield. And I'm not even trying to kill them, I just want to like pop their tire or something, right? Go for the tires. See, none of us are gonna get through today without sinning. But pure in heart doesn't mean perfect in action. And that doesn't give us an excuse either. Because as so many people quote back to me, because apparently I say it a lot, Romans 6.1 says, Should we continue to sin so that grace may abound? By no means. Paul is sitting here going, if your thought is, oh, I can do an act and live however I want and go, hey, I follow Jesus, you have it incredibly wrong. However, grace covers a multitude of sins. See, being pure in heart has more to do with the why than the what. Anyone in here, you're that person, you just constantly beat yourself up, you constantly look at the negative, you constantly sit here and go, oh, I failed again. Anyone in here you're like me and you're just like the most performance-driven person of your life? I get it. My biggest enemy in life is not people outside. It is definitely the things that happen in my own head. It is definitely the battles and the wars that I fight within my own mind. See, and and we get it tied because for us, our biggest concern is the what, not the why. Our biggest concern is to look and go, oh, I failed again. I did it again. And I'm not sitting here going, oh, I live a life in unrepentant sin. That is not at all what I am talking about. I am literally sitting here going, but our focus isn't on the why. See, God called David a man after his own heart. How? Read through the Psalms. Like you read through the Psalms and you can see the gut wrenching that David endures on a day-to-day basis. Like, think about Psalm 42. Why are you so downcast? Oh my soul. David is literally having a fight out loud with words, but an internal fight. He's sitting here going, You know who God is. Trust in God. Why are you so downcast? You get to Psalm 51, and David goes, like, my sin and my transgression is ever before me. Blot out my transgressions. You get to Psalm 23, and David is sitting here going, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. See, David is a man after God's own heart because David knows one thing very clearly that without God, I'm nothing. See, so many of us, we we we try to depend on ourselves. Let me ask you who lets you down more than you let yourself down? Who talks bad about you more than you talk bad about yourself? Who lies to you more than you lie to yourself? And yet we have this twisted understanding that self is the answer to this. See, David is a man after God's own heart because David knows who he is without God. David knows that his life is not just a sum of all of his mistakes. If you have a child, you'll be able to see this a lot more clearly. Because when you look at your child, do you look at every single thing they've done wrong throughout their life? Like, is that what you focus on when you're looking at your kids? Like every Single mistake they've ever made, every sin that they've ever done. Or do you look at your kids and you go, hey, just keep striving. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep moving down the road. Forget the bad, hold on to the good, and keep pushing forward. Because that is how your Heavenly Father looks at you. He looks at you and He goes, I've already paid the price. Don't worry about that. Keep moving forward. Keep pressing in. Keep leaning on me. I've got this. The same way every single good parent would look at their own child. Your child is not the sum of every mistake they've ever made. You don't even think about that 99.9% of the time. And that shows our imperfection is parents, not God's. Because God goes, I've already cast it as far as the East is from the West. Trust in me. Believe in me. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and doing the things that you know you're supposed to do. And that's what Jesus is reminding us of here. That is what being pure in heart is. See, for some of us, we think being pure in heart, and it's this crushing weight because you're reminded of all of the failures. As soon as I read, you have to be pure in heart, you're like, dang it, I missed it. There's no way for me to be happy now because I'm not pure in heart. Because I'm just a flawed person. Because we know that we are not pure of heart, because we know who we used to be, and we know the things that we still desire. Listen, if you are someone in here this morning and you're like, hey, you know what? Like, you don't get it, Josh. Like I've never shared this with you because I don't want you to look at me differently, but like there's some things that rumble around in here that um I know I shouldn't have rumbling around in there. There's some things that I'm drawn to that I know I shouldn't be drawn to. There's some things that I struggle with that I know I shouldn't struggle with, and therefore I am not pure in heart, and therefore I will not see God. If that's you, listen, you are in good company. Because every single other person sitting in this room is in the same exact place. And to do you one better, this guy, Paul, not this Paul, but a different one, a wiser one, one who has been to the third level of heaven. Here's what he wrote about this in Romans 7.15. That Paul said, For I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. If Paul understood it, and just a chapter later, you know what he's gonna write? For there is now no condemnation for those who are found in Christ Jesus. He's sitting here going, Hey, the things I want to do, I don't do those things. Those things I know I'm supposed to do, I don't do those things. The things I don't want to do, these are the things I do, and then in just a couple of verses later goes, but there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Because it's not about the what, it's about the why. Because listen, if you are in Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in you, you do not need me this morning to sit here and go, hey, that's wrong and that's wrong, and that's wrong, because you already know it. What you need is someone to come along and encourage you and go, hey, yeah, you tripped and fell again. It sucks. Pick yourself up and let's keep walking. Because that's why Jesus carried that cross, because he went all of those things I'm carrying for you and nail it all to the cross. Because I'm here this morning to encourage you. Pure in heart isn't perfect in action, it is desiring Jesus with all you are. It is realizing your need for Jesus in all you are. Listen to me very carefully. In 2 Corinthians 12, and it's not going to be up on screen, Paul is talking about how he knows a guy who went to the third level of heaven, and he describes all of this and how amazing it is. And right after that, he says, But God sent a messenger of Satan, a thorn in my flesh, to keep me humble. Some of you that are sitting here and you're struggling, understand God will force you to struggle. We go all the way back to Saul. Saul chose to not devote to destruction all the Amalekites. He chose to keep some because he wanted, you know, to show his mercy and goodness. And what did God do? God sent a messenger to torment him. An evil spirit, the Bible says, to torment him. Understand, some of us, like, here's why you're struggling. Because God is sitting here going, hey, look, we have to stay humble. Like any of you, do you ever look at a struggle and go, that's God's way of going, hey, depend on me. Be more dependent on my mercy, on my grace, because it's not your goodness, it is my grace. Like for some of us, we need that reminder. Because if we don't have it, you have no idea how high I can fly. Right? Because we're gonna sit here and go, oh, it's it's my clever wit. It's my high intelligence, it's my ability to say things that are funny but yet deep at the same time. And God's going, no, it's not. You're so cute. It's my grace and mercy alone.

Seeing God By Seeking Jesus

Josh 27:53

See, pure in heart means seeing Jesus for who he is. See, Jesus tells us here that those who are pure in heart, here's the promise he gives us in Matthew 5.8. Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they shall see God. Okay, this isn't a salvific promise. This isn't, hey, if you're pure in heart your whole life, then one day you'll get to go to heaven. That's not what Jesus is talking about. He is sitting here, just like later in the book of John, when when Jesus tells his disciples, no one has seen the Father except the Son who is from the Father. And if you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father. See, when we see Jesus for who Jesus is, we get to see God. And I want us to really wrap our heads around our desire here. See, in James 4, 8, there's this promise that James gives us that says this, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. One of the biggest complaints I get, and I don't even know if it's a complaint, but one of the biggest things I talk to as a pastor with people is they go, I just want to see God. I just want to hear God. I just want to feel God. And my explanation to everyone is always the same. Okay, what do you do to feel that though? What are you putting in for that? Because see, a lot of us we go, no, no, no, no. I don't want God to like mess with anything in my life. I just kind of want him to come along the side of me and keep like I'm already going this way. I just want God to come walk with me this way. Where God's sitting here going, no, no, no, no, but I'm walking this way. And if you want to spend time with me, great. Here, come walk with me. But everywhere we see in Scripture, it's the same thing. People just want to see God. In fact, if we go to Exodus 33, Moses goes up on the mountain, right? And he's talking with God. And in verse 17 it says, And the Lord said to Moses, This very thing that you have spoken, I will do. For you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name. God, do you know how amazing that would be to hear from the Lord Almighty, hey, I know your name? Like you guys in here, you remember like that pretty girl in class that the first time she used your name, and you were like, What? Like you know me? Uh oh. You played football, like the first time the coach actually called your name? You were like, oh wow, he like knows my name. And yet, here Moses is standing before the Lord Almighty and he goes, I know your name. I couldn't even imagine how he must have felt. And Moses in that moment responds with this please show me your glory. Show me who you are. Let me see you. Now I will tell you, like, it doesn't end with God going, here's my glory. In fact, he gives Moses a warning you can't handle my glory. Like, here, you hide in this cave, I'm gonna walk by you, and when I pass by you, you can come out and you can see the back half of my glory. Because if you were to handle my whole glory, it would literally melt your face off. And that's what happens. And Moses is so struck with God's glory that when he goes down to the bottom of the mountain and he's in front of Israel, Israel goes, Hey, you gotta you gotta cover up your face. Like, we can't handle the glory that is coming off of your face just from the reflection of the backside of God's glory. And what Moses is saying here is what most Christians are sitting here thinking, God, I just want to see you. I just want to know you're there. Because we have a really, really hard time worshiping things that we can't see, touch, smell, hear, or I don't know. I missed a sense somewhere, but feel. There we go. And honestly, this is why we struggle with idol uh you know idol worship so much. Think about it. Moses is up on the mountain. The people know he's talking to God because the people tell Aaron, hey, tell Moses he can talk to God. We don't want to talk to him because he's gonna kill us if we talk to him. They know who Moses is talking to. They know Moses is up on the mountain with God, and they go to Aaron. This is a chapter before what we just read. They go to Aaron, and here's what they say in verse 1 of chapter 32. Make us gods who shall go before us. This is where we get the golden calf from. They're literally sitting here going, hey, we know God's up there, we know God's talking to Moses, but hey, make us a God that can go before us. And this is where we live. Why? Listen, because we want to see God. Because we desire to see God. And we replace that with idols. Because we're sitting here going, I just want to see him. I just want to feel him, I just want to know he's there. And that's because we don't see Jesus for who Jesus is. Because we are too busy looking at the idols that we replace Jesus with. And idols come in all shapes and sizes. Like, I doubt very seriously. If I went to everybody's

The Idols We Replace God With

Josh 33:40

house here, I doubt very seriously any of you have like a giant golden calf in your front yard that you pray to when you walk into the door and you're like, no, no, no, I believe in Jesus. But like this, this is a God to go before me. Okay, I just want to make sure no one was like, wait, I do. But idols come in all different forms. Anyone want to guess like some of the idols in my life? Because you should be able to. All right, fishing, Debbie, my kids, my boat, my mom. Thank you, Tom. Hear that, mom?

unknown 34:18

Thank you, Tom.

Josh 34:22

See, those can all be idols. Your job can be an idol. Your business, your status, all of these things can be an idol because it's what takes the worship that is meant for God. Because I just want to see God. And Jesus is sitting here going, those who are pure in heart, they will. They will see God. You know why? Because going back to James 4, those who seek God, God draws near to. Anybody in here, you ever been in a one-sided relationship? You're the only one that sends texts, you're the only one that calls, you're the only one that reaches out. What happens? Eventually, what? This distance becomes too great, and it just kind of goes away. Anyone in here, you know those people in your life that only call when they need something? Like you may not hear from them for months, days, weeks, years in some cases, and then all of a sudden they need something, and man, um like I've had people call me literally, and I went, I didn't even know you had my number. Like, I've never heard from you. How did you get my number? And what winds up happening? That relationship dies. Why? Because they're not seeking out that relationship. It's very one-sided. And that's why James 4 says, draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. He's making a promise. My dad used to say this all the time. Like, if I see you do a little bit of work, I'll come by and help with the rest of it. And he was like every single time, as long as he saw me trying, he would come through and do whatever he could to make whatever it was happen. And you know, one of the first things I say at parrot night every single year? If your kid tries, I will make sure. I'll stay lay, I'll private tutor, I'll do whatever has to happen to make sure your kid gets it. Your kid doesn't want to try, I will not do anything. They can take that F because I already have a degree. I don't need another one. But if I see them try, and see, in most of us, that's not us. We're not seeking God, and then we wonder why we don't feel them. In Jeremiah 29, 11, most of you know this one, right? For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Some most of you, I'm sure, have this somewhere in your house and you're like, oh, God has great plans for me. Understand, he's telling that to Israel, who's about to go into captivity and slavery for an entire generation to die off. So if you think those are good plans that are meant to prosper, cool, run with it. That's not what that verse means. But two verses later, as Jeremiah is telling Israel, here's what's about to happen. You're gonna go into slavery. You're gonna go into captivity. But then he encourages them. And we get to verse 13, and God is promising them through the prophet Jeremiah, you will seek me and find me. Like God is promising them, if you seek me, you will find me. What's the clause with it though? When you seek me with all your heart. See, too many Christians, Jesus is just an add-on. Jesus doesn't get our whole heart. Jesus gets our Sunday morning heart. Jesus gets an hour and a half out of the 168 hours of your week. And I've told you this and told you this and told you this and told you this. If I only talk to Debbie for an hour out of the week, do you think we're gonna have a good, strong relationship? Do you think I'm gonna be like, man, I really love my wife? No, because I have this whole other life that exists. She only gets a little part of it. We do the same thing with Jesus, and then we go, well, I don't feel God. Well, of course not. You gave him an hour out of 168. You gave him one 168th of your time. Why would you feel a deep connection and relationship? Like some of us, and I've gone through all of these statistics and all of that about how much TV we watch and how long we're on our phones, and God forbid, like you have social media. So it's not a time issue, right? You have the

Seeking God With Your Whole Heart

Josh 38:50

time, we know that. It's a heart issue. Like God goes, when you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me. We just don't want to seek with all of our heart. Like our heart isn't in it. We're not seeking after God. We're seeking after the things that like actually give us pleasure. Right? Like we're seeking after the office. We're seeking after the redfish and the snook. We're seeking after Xbox or PlayStation. Like those are the things we actually seek. Those are the things we actually do. It's our switch and our steam pad. Those are the things we seek. It's not God we're seeking. See, what does it mean to be pure in heart? It means desiring God more than I desire anything else. And when I desire God more than I desire things, guess what I'm gonna do? Seek Him with my whole heart. And if I seek God with my whole heart, what is going to happen? I will see God. I will find Him. I will draw near to God and He will draw near to me. See, some of us we look at other people and we go, I don't understand it. Like, how are they so close with this? Like, how are they so into all of this? How are they so wrapped up in this? Here's why: because they seek with everything they are. God isn't just an add-on to them. Jesus isn't just this thing they go do. Jesus isn't just a book that they read one time. It is everything. Jesus becomes everything to them. That is what being pure in heart is, is my heart isn't divided among all these other things in my life. My heart's sole focus is Jesus. In other words, like we'll see, I don't know, next year. I seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness. And then I let everything else be added to that. See, we we do it backwards. We we think it's a priority list. And this goes back to what the heart is. The heart is the why. So here, let's do a quick test. You ready? You don't have to answer any of these out loud. These are all for you. But it's a litmus test in your own life. You have 30 minutes to sit and watch TV. What are you watching? Like, what show is that first show that popped in your head? I said you didn't have to answer it out loud. These were just for us. You have a 30-minute drive to work. What are you listening to? Like what what music and and or talk are you going ahead and going, hey, this is what's coming in. You have 30 minutes to just sit and be. For me, it's like right before I go to bed. If you couldn't guess it, Debbie goes to bed way earlier than I do. There's a joke in our house that Debbie is solar powered. Because as soon as the sun goes down, so does Debbie. So I have 30 minutes where I'm just sitting there before I go to sleep. What is it I'm meditating on? Like what is captivating all of my thoughts? For the most part, it's whatever I have to do the next day. Right? I'm just running through the day in my mind. But see, the problem we have is it's it's not impossible to find Jesus. Jesus isn't lost. Our problem is we're not looking for Jesus. And listen, guys, it is impossible for you to find something you're not looking for. Like anyone in here, do you know where my hat is or my glasses? I mean, most of you are like, no, why would I know where your hat and glasses are? Great, you got the illustration. Because you're not looking for my hat and glasses, because they're not your hat and glasses. Some of you, yeah, you were like, oh yeah, it's right back there. Because you were talking to me when I took them off. Or you knew, hey, this is where he always puts them. But see, if you're not looking for something, you'll never find it. How are we gonna sit here and go, hey, I'm looking for Jesus, but then none of those questions we just answered had Jesus in them. Because if we only had 30 minutes to sit and watch TV, I'm gonna be honest, Salt Strong puts out a lot of good fishing videos. If I only had 30 minutes to sit and listen to stuff, I just had 14 hours to sit and listen to the radio. And yeah, there was a couple of playlists that were all about Jesus. And then there were playlists that had nothing to do with Jesus. See, our problem isn't Jesus is impossible to find. Our problem is that we're not looking for Jesus. We're looking for idols that we can touch, that we can see. And what Jesus is sitting here saying is, happy are the pure in heart. Happy are the ones whose greatest desire is me. Because if you seek me, you will find me. And that's why, honestly,

The 30 Minute Daily Challenge

Josh 44:20

the last couple of weeks, our challenges have been pretty much the same, right? Like, our challenges have really, like, if you were to like sum up all of them, is this spend time intentionally throughout your week looking for Jesus. You want to know what our challenge is this week? You guys ready? Spend 30 minutes a day finding Jesus. Now remember, when I say finding Jesus, I am not saying Jesus is lost at all. I am saying we are. But like, if you're if you're like me, and this might be blasphemous, I don't know. But it's the best illustration I could think of. Play hide and seek with Jesus. You're just the seeker in this. And if you're sitting here going, I don't even know where to start looking, come talk to me. 8 to 80, I can give you resources that fit wherever you are. I can give you videos, I can give you books to read, I can give you essays, I can give you podcasts to listen to. I mean, Mission Cent does all of these, by the way. You had uh mission media missionscent.org forward slash mission media. They're all right there. Like today, I'm gonna be here for hours making sure that you have devotionals throughout the week to do. I'm gonna make sure you have a devotional that goes up every day at 6 a.m. that literally is five to six minutes long, just so you can start your day going, okay, here's what I need to do today. And I sit here and go, but we have to start seeking. So take 30 minutes a day and seek Jesus. 30 minutes a day is how many hours a week? Does anybody know? 210. 210? There's only 168 hours in a week.

unknown 46:26

Three and a half?

Josh 46:28

Three and a half. Oh so we're gonna take our hour and a half and our three and a half. We're gonna add them together. What's an hour and a half plus three and a half? It's five hours. That still leaves you with 163 hours in your week. You have plenty of time to do all the other things too. Because our problem isn't a time thing, our problem is a heart issue. Our problem is we don't want to go look for Jesus. We want Jesus to just be where we are. And Jesus is sitting

Final Prayer And Encouragement

Josh 47:00

here going, no, no, no, no, no. You come to where I am. So as we close, that is our challenge. So, Father, I ask and I pray that as we move from this spot, Father, that you purify our hearts. That God, we leave here pure in heart, sitting here going, our desire is not more of the office. Our desire is not more of the same 90s music that we've been listening to since we were 15 years old. Our desire, Father, is you. That our deepest desire, regardless of anything else, is you. Father, I pray for those in here that needed encouragement this morning that you encourage them, that you remind them that their pure heart has nothing to do with perfect actions, and that it's not too late, that they can start right now in today. Father, I ask and I pray that those in here who are sitting here going, I want to see you, that God, you give them a new heart. A heart that desires to see you. Father, I ask and I pray that as we move forward, that you create in us a clean heart, a heart that just desires more of you. Father, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.