Your Faith Affects Your Heart
by Zayne Parkey
April 23, 2023 · Cornerstone Apostolic Church (Chattanooga, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Proverbs 4:23, Mark 11:23, Luke 6:45, Genesis 6:5, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Matthew 9:1-8, Matthew 9:22, Galatians 6:9, Jeremiah 17:9, Acts 1:8, Luke 24, Matthew 6:21, Psalms 26:2, Psalms 34:18

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/zayne-parkey--your-faith-affects-your-heart
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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I'm thankful to be in the house of the Lord this morning I'm thankful to have my wife and my son linen with me but this week this weekend has been a a a great time I'm so thankful for your leadership here and uh for what they are and how they have accommodated accommodated us you guys are blessed with good leadership I'm thankful to meet some some new people as well as to see some familiar faces my brother Hunter this morning in class I'm a I'm glad to create new relationships and meet new people but today I feel like the Lord has given me a word for the church and um I feel faith in this room and when I was praying about this message and when I was just seeking the voice of God this is what I heard that your faith affects your heart your faith affects your heart and I hope to prove that point to you today and we're going to have another alter moment at the end of this service and I want to talk to you a little bit but Proverbs chapter 4 verse number 23 you would like to find that in your Bibles Proverbs chapter 4 I'm going to be balanced into a few different places in scripture but this will be my starting point Proverbs chapter 4 verse number 23 says keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life One translation says guard your heart with all diligence for from it flows the Springs of Life I'm going to allow you to be seated wait on the Lord and be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy heart wait I say on the Lord the Hebrew word heart in the Old Testament is isleb which means spoken and this word stands for our innermost person and refers to our will and to our mind and our Consciousness and our emotions and understanding in it also refers to a person's moral character and determination their heart heart is cited 826 times in the Bible so I would say something referenced that many times is probably pretty important Mark 11 and 23 says truly I tell you that if anyone says to this mountain go throw yourself into the sea and does not doubt in their heart but believes what they say will happen it will be done for them so what the Bible is saying and what what Mark is saying here is that it's important what you believe in your heart it's important and God sees it as necessary for things to happen in the spiritual realm that your heart must be in the right place so I want to tell you this morning that your faith affects your heart and if your heart is to be in the right place then you need to have faith the Bible says but without faith it is impossible to please God so I want to prove to you this morning that faith is important and it's not only important because the Bible says and it's needed to please God but in order for our hearts to be in the right place in his kingdom in order for our hearts to be in the right place in relationship we must have faith I was uh I went to Bible school in St Louis Missouri at Ocean college and my first job there was I was a nanny and um the more masculine term as it was referred in the student body was Manny so um I was a Manny and I had uh three young boys that I would watch and uh they were they were they were fun and you know we had a good time most of the time and one day I decided that I was going to take these young boys fishing and they had never really done a whole lot of fishing and I love to fish it's something that I enjoy doing so I set them up as best as I know how to do and you know I I got them some bait and we went to this little local pond and we went out and we started to fish and um we weren't catching anything weren't catching anything and and you know I was uh thinking you know what this could be a great object lesson for these young boys and um these young boys they grew up in a in a Catholic uh school system and their parents were catholic and I spent a lot of time around these boys I picked them up from school until their parents got home from work and sometimes it was real late nights anytime they wanted to go out I would I would hang out with these guys and and I may have uh been swimming in the pool with someone with them a couple of times and we played baptized you know I I I'm not saying I'm just saying that I spent a lot of time around these boys and um I I have a moment where we're fishing and I see an opportunity to to you know I'm always playing worship music they're always asking questions you know and if you've been here uh if this is your first service welcome but if if it is your first service you may have recognized that this is maybe a little bit different than a a church you've been to in the past if you've never been to a Pentecostal church we We Do It um the way that the Bible says and I'm thankful for that but uh I I sometimes would have to over explain things to them and I would maybe be listening to an Eddie James album them and somebody would speak in tongues they said what in the world was that and I I would explain it to him and um of course Through the Bible just kind of show them where it's at but I had an opportunity here and they had been hearing some Bible stories for me and actually recently I told them about a fisherman in the Bible and I'm talking to these boys and they're frustrated because they aren't catching anything as many of us probably in this room would be if you have set some time aside to go fishing so I thought you know what God you're gonna have to help me here because I looked at those boys and I said you know what God may not be helping you guys catch any fish because you've got sin in your life and they said oh my goodness you Zane you really think that's what it is I said it could be I don't know I'm not going to tell you for sure but I need to tell you guys that if you're going to catch some fish it's quite possible you could repent and God may help you catch a fish and uh so we we got we gathered and we held hands in that little circle there and uh we kind of looked at each other and they said well what did we do and I said well repeat after me I said Jesus I'm sorry for everything that I've done for all of the cuss words that I've said and you know we went into to us uh a eight to 14 year old sinner's prayer and um we talked about it and I said you know what all right let's go fish and I promise you it was the very first cast that one of the boys she said you know what I'm gonna get the first line out and it was it was the moment that that uh that lure hit the water it oh you know he starts reeling it in and and so so I mean I was just grinning from ear to ear and I'm watching and and I look at all the boys and they drop their polls because he's finally got one and they're all sitting there and we're at a park and there's people fishing around us and they're going Jesus Jesus and I'm like wow this is this is cool this is cool your faith affects your heart I don't know why I needed to tell that story but I I'm telling you that whenever you have faith that something is going to happen it begins to affect you down deep and God that's when he truly can can begin to touch you and change your life Luke chapter 6 verse 45 says a good man out of the good Treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good an evil man out of the evil Treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil for of the abundance for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks for out of the abundance of your heart so what that's saying is what's inside what your nature is what's your innermost being is out of the abundance of that your mouth begins to speak have you guys ever met anybody don't look around with just a nasty attitude and they're just terrible to be around and you know you're trying to make plans or you're trying to go out to eat oh I don't like that place and you're like oh what's new nobody likes being around anybody like that and um I believe and sister Brandon did a great job teaching to the ladies I'm sure I wasn't there on the fruits of the spirit this weekend hyphen weekend I would say has been a success Community weekend it's been good but uh Genesis 6 and 5 tells a story and it says and God saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil and continually before God so what that's saying is that God is literally here and he is about to destroy an entire civilization because of what that last part of their heart it says that their heart was evil continually before God their heart was continually evil before God and if you don't hear anything else that I preached to you today I want you to understand this point that faithfulness creates a clean heart faithfulness is your faith in action faith we know that we need faith in order to please God but I want to tell you that it is not just a declaration statement of accepting Jesus as your lord and savior it's much more than that the Bible says faith without works is dead so the Act of Faith when you say I put my faith in and I'm admonishing you if you come to the altar today and you say I'm making a declaration that I am putting my faith in God that is awesome and we're going to help you along that process but that does not mean that the moment that you leave this altar you're supposed to say you know what I've made it this is where my I've reached my point of salvation but Salvation is a process and faith is a process and what I'm saying is that if you have put your faith in Jesus there is some faithfulness that comes along with that your level of faith can begin to affect your heart and the Bible speaks of God being able to work with the faith of a mustard seed but I would urge you to ask yourself do I work with only the faith of a mustard seed so every single time that you come into this building every single time that you're asking God for something I'm wondering if it affects your heart when you say you know he can probably do it if your faith is low and it's that Mustard Seed of well I don't know if he's going to do it and we know that God can work with the faith of a mustard seed but but I ask you how is how is it affecting you when you're continuing to work with that little faith we're meant to grow in our relationship we're meant to grow in our walk and whenever God begins to do things for us when God begins to affect our heart and whenever he he answers prayers it's meant not for our faith to remain the same but it's meant to affect our walk and to affect our faithfulness when God begins to do things for us when he died on a cross for us so the expectation is that we live lives not out of just saying I have faith in God not of just saying it but doing the things that are required in faithfulness your level of Faith affects your heart your mind is where your faith is born but it can just as easily die right there it can start as something in your mind it can start as a thought that you know you have the greatest intentions and and you believe for God with something in your mind and it's a thought but nothing ever ever comes of it so I want to give you a few points faith can die in your mind number one the Bible says be not conformed to this world but be be transformed by the renewing of your mind your mind is where faith is born but it can just as easily be like I said where Faith dies your mind is a gateway to your soul which you allow to to enter into your mind what you're thinking about what your thoughts are are constantly on is ultimately what you will become we talked about a verse yesterday yesterday and and whatever you see whatever you're you're allowing inside of your mind your eyes are a gateway to your soul and you can either you can either accept Darkness or you can accept light but you can't have both so I I want to tell someone this morning that you need to make up your mind that I am only going to chase after the things of God I'm not going to be lukewarm I am not going to play with the world and play with this church but but God is looking for somebody today that's saying I'm gonna make up my mind that I'm gonna put my faith in you and I'm not just saying that I'm going to put my faith in you but God I'm going to start doing the things that I need to do I'm going to start praying I'm going to start I'm telling somebody today that if you will accept that God is going to begin to affect your heart because your faithfulness is going through the roof God will begin to do something in your situation God will begin to answer those prayers the fervent prayers of a righteous man or a woman of veileth much I'm telling you this morning that when you begin to do the right thing whenever you say I've got faith and whenever you begin to be faithful when you show up to the house of God when you show up to prayer on Monday night when you show up to Wednesday night bible study God begins to recognize that you know what there's faithfulness and there's righteousness that's attached to this person that's being faithful in my house and I'm here to tell somebody today that you've been looking and you've been searching in all of the wrong places but God has something for you today that is going to turn your life around and it's much more than just a declaration declaration statement of faith but it is faithfulness that is attached to your heart God's going to touch somebody's heart today amen sometimes you have to just say a prayer let this mind be Anew and I know that sounds much easier said than done but I'm telling you that if you will give it to God and if you will begin to create the boundaries and set the precedent for faithfulness in your life if you will look at your family and you will say you know what we're not going to miss another Monday night prayer because it's important that we have a relationship and what was the quote that Pastor said earlier foreign come on I like that what you what we receive from God is what we ask for right so your Miracle begins in your mind but number two the tongue out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks life and death is in the power of the tongue so something that can begin to start in your mind has to eventually be spoken out loud and there's power there's life there's death that begins when you begin to speak things into existence when you say God I believe that you can do it I believe that you're going to do it and when you speak it in faith the second place that comes out is your mouth the Third is your hands in Germany during World War II a church was totally destroyed except for a statue of Jesus Christ that was almost unharmed in the hands of the statue were missing rebuilding the church a famous sculptor offered to replace the hands and the people of the church refuse declaring Christ has no hands but hours to do his work Christ died so that we can represent him each and every single person in this church plays an integral part in his kingdom each and every person in this room has a specific person purpose outside you guys have have access to people that I will never even look at you guys have relationships with family members with with people that you work with that God is calling you to reach for but you have to recognize that Faith starts in your mind it goes to your mouth but then you have to be the hands and that you have to reach for the people that are in your community you have to touch the people that are in your family and let them know hey there's something that can change your life and I've got the answer for you it's not me but it's Jesus so the third is your hands and the fourth is your feet second Corinthians 5 and says and says for we walk by faith and not by sight you have to walk with God and sometimes we have to come to a humble place of realization and understanding that there is nothing on this Earth that's more important than our relationship with God so Faith starts in your mind it starts as something okay I believe you Lord and it starts with you saying you know what I'm I'm going to change some things but then it then it starts with your actions and it gets in your hands and and what you do and who you talk to and then the way that you're living your life begins to change and then it gets to your feet and you go about and you start to walk with God in your relationship with God begins to change and you begin to grow we had a conversation this weekend about Holiness and how God has called each and every person women and men alike to be holy and it's root means for us to be separate and we have to ask ourselves the question if God has called us without Holiness no man shall see God is what the Bible says so I'm telling you that we need to be separate there needs to be something about us that is distinguishable from the world and if we are in our workplace and there's no ideals that are separate from what other people are talking about with uh with what other people are conversating I'm telling you that we need to have our faith in our heart affected and God's going to do it today God's going to do it today Matthew 9 9 says Jesus stepped into a boat and crossed over and came to his own town and some men brought to him a paralyzed man lying on a mat and when Jesus saw their faith it says whenever he saw their faith he said to the men take heart son your sins are forgiven take heart he's talking about faith here Jesus saw their faith Jesus sees in the spiritual I see these guys faith and he tells them to take heart son your sins are forgiven and at this some of the teachers of the law said to themselves this fellow is blasphemy knowing their thoughts Jesus said why do you entertain evil thoughts wait a minute thoughts in your hearts as what he says which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk but I want you to know that the son of man has Authority on Earth to forgive sin so he said to the paralyzed man get up and take your mat and go home and then the man got up and went home and when the crowd saw this they were filled with awe and they praised God who had given such authority to man because each of these individual's Faith was great enough to act on it Jesus saw their faith he looked at them without even seeing it was a part of what they are doing but he looks and he says I see their faith and because they were willing to act not okay I believe that if I if I would bring my friend to Jesus he would be saved but but you don't bring your friend to Jesus then you know okay I I you know your faith you know it may be in your mind but but it takes literally Jesus sees these people's faith and because their faith was great enough to put their hands in their feet in action they received a miracle your faith affects your heart Jesus saw the evil thoughts of of these religious teachers and accuse them of having evil thoughts in their hearts they didn't believe what was going on they they thought that there was something wrong with Jesus healing these men here and their lack of faith is what led them to a corrupted heart later in that same chapter we find Jesus telling the woman with the issue of blood Jesus turned and seeing her said take part daughter your faith has made you well and instantly the woman was made well here again we have Jesus telling the woman with the issue of blood to take heart because her faith had made her whole Jesus was willing to affect this lady who had something that nobody else could heal that she's been dealing with were for years and years and years and I'm sure there was prayers I'm sure there was things that conversations and there was doctors that she had spent all of her money on and nobody could heal what was going on in her life nobody could help her nobody could do anything and she has a moment where she recognizes that the savior is in town and that the savior is in the room and if that she can just have a moment with him that her life would change forever and everyone else around her did not even recognize what was going on but she had a mission that if I can have a moment with the savior he can do something on my behalf because she recognized that you know what I believe number one in my mind that he can do it and that she she began to it was a conversation I'm sure that she was having with her friends that were around her have you heard about this Jesus do you think that he can save me we don't know all the details but I'm sure that this was something that was on the very Forefront of her mind mine and she was worried about whether or not she was going to make it to tomorrow and she recognized that Jesus was in town so she let her faith begin to affect her heart it wasn't her who changed her heart but it was because she had faith in the man that could change her heart and because she was willing to act on her faithfulness because she was willing to act and she was willing to go God affected this lady's heart your faith affects your heart this morning that's what I want to tell you if you will begin to act in faith if you if you will begin to make up in your mind that today I'm going to start doing some things not only that I just say okay I believe God for it but if you will begin to act on it God is going to begin to touch some people's heart in this place faith in Jesus will affect your heart Galatians 6 and 9 says in let us not grow weary in well-doing for in due season we will reap if we don't give up don't grow weary and doing good don't grow weary and being faithful the I want to tell someone today that you've been praying praying some prayers for a long time and I could give you testimony after testimony and I had one recently that that I could share but keep on praying the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man of elth much sometimes we think that God the moment that we are are praying is he's supposed to answer it number one God says no sometimes but other times he's trying to work some of the other details out and God's Got A Plan but if you will keep pressing towards the mark Jesus is going to help you if you don't give up don't give up if you've been told the lie that God can't do something for you that lack of faith is not only tearing God's heart to pieces but it's tearing your own don't let a lack of faith begin to don't let it affect your heart when you're in a good place when you've got good leadership and you've got good people and you've got a family that's around you and then you have these these thoughts that you're fighting in your mind that you know what God can't do it you're not good enough there's things that that I've done and you may say to somebody I don't know if God could ever forgive me and you don't know what I've done and you don't know my my story and you don't know where I've come from but but I'm telling you today that Jesus he doesn't care what you've done he doesn't care and I promise you there is no sin that is too great for Jesus to affect your life there's no sin that you have done there's no thing that you have done there's no crime that you've committed that is great enough for Jesus to affect your heart if you will just put your faith in him it is God's desire and his will to change our heart with one condition that our faith would be in him the Bible says in Jeremiah the heart is deceitfully wicked who can know it on our own we struggle and we fight but with our faith in Jesus we have peace we have tranquility we have an opportunity at a family how many are thankful for that in this morning I feel God's peace in this house God's touching somebody on our own we struggle on our own we can't do it but when you allow the spirit of God to begin to enter into your life acts 1 and 8 says you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you and I'm telling you that if you have never received the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues the Bible says that the holy spirit gives us power to keep from sin power to keep from the devices of the enemy we cannot do it on our own we cannot do it by ourselves so so if you're struggling and you're hard and you're struggling in your faith one of the first steps I would one of the first things I would tell you to do is number one say God I'm sorry for everything that I've done and God's it the Bible says that he throws your sins into the sea of forgetfulness into the sea of forgetfulness God said I'm putting it behind me in my memory so that's step one but then you allow God in that moment and that step of faith for God to really start turning your heart around some of the best advice that I've ever been given is to follow peace and any big decision that I make in my life and any job opportunity in in anything I follow peace and if you are looking in the face of something that you don't feel peace about if it's a relationship if it's a job and you just walk home and you say you know what I I don't feel at peace about this I urge you to number one seek the counsel of your pastor but to follow peace in Luke chapter 24 we find a story that follows the resurrection of Jesus and the disciples were mourning the death of Jesus who is to them supposed to be their savior and in these days past Jesus is not resurrected yet but unbeknownst to them Jesus had made his way out of the Tomb and he approached Two Men and he asked them and these men were were disciples why are you Mourning and they seem not to recognize Jesus In This Moment The Travelers were shocked and how could this man be so unaware of the events that had caused so much uproar in Jerusalem and even so since the man seemed eager to hear the story they began to elaborate and explain the treachery of the chief priests and the rulers and the horror of the crucifixion and the perpetuous tales of the woman who had visited the tomb earlier that morning they didn't believe it they didn't understand and Jesus is literally standing before these men that he's walked with for years and they don't even recognize him and Jesus's response is interesting here instead of offering condolences and saying here I am it's Jesus don't you recognize me he says oh foolish ones in slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken although the scriptures don't tell us of how cleopas and his fellow traveler responded to Jesus's words they were probably surprised by this rebuke why didn't Jesus react in a way that sympathized with these men why didn't he ooze and and say it's me and the answer is revealed in Jesus's sentence cleopas and his companions were slow of heart their faith was crushed by the idea that their savior had died they had believed all that had been prophesied was now gone because Jesus in their eyes was no longer there to the point where they did not even recognize him their faith had affected their heart in Jesus name God's going to touch somebody's heart today if the musicians would like to come Matthew 6 and 21 for where your treasure is there will your heart be also maybe God's asking somebody in this house this morning to realign some things that we treasure some things that we hold dear maybe he's asking you for time maybe he's asking for a relationship or for friendship for him to just be able to commune with you for him to just to be able to talk to you for him to be able to love you maybe you've already recognized that you need to go a little bit deeper in this message today and and maybe you recognize that there's some heart problems and there's some Faith problems but you've already made up in your mind that I'm going to do differently I'm going to show up I'm going to be on time I'm going to ask what do I need to do where do I need to be David said in Psalms 26 and 2 test me Lord and try me examine my heart and my mind let's try that today can we Jesus is asking us today is our heart in the right place is our faith in the right place God wants to touch somebody today in Jesus name God I ask you Lord to touch your people right now I feel your faith in the house today God lord and we've already felt your presence so strong but Lord I pray Lord that someone would make the message that you've given personal today and say you know what maybe I I haven't been as faithful as I need to be maybe I I haven't been giving the way that I should be but Lord I recognize that my faithfulness is attached and it's affecting my heart and it's affecting the way that that I talk to people it's affecting the the fruit of the spirit that's that's coming off of me I want to tell someone today that if you will step out in faith and say God examine me examine my heart even if you're somebody today and you said well I feel like I've been doing the right thing I want you to ask yourself that question sometimes even when we're doing the things that we know that we're supposed to do we can still miss the voice of God in the busyness and the craziness so these altars are open for someone this morning that you recognize that God maybe there's something in me that I need to change maybe there's something in me that I want to give to God maybe it's a secret sin maybe it is a relationship God wants to touch somebody's heart today and if you will step out in faith right now and if you will come to this altar God will begin to touch you God will begin to heal you Psalms 34 and 18 says the Lord is close to those with a broken heart and save those who are crushed in spirit if you are broken in your heart today if you feel like your spirit is crushed this altar is the place that you should be because I know a Healer I know someone that can cure anxiety I know someone that can heal cancer right now if you need something from God I wonder if you would begin to lift your hands in this place and God is going to begin to touch you right now in Jesus name God I pray Lord that you would begin to affect us right now God Lord that you would begin to meet us here right now God there are people that are stepping out in faith I pray Lord that right now you would begin to honor the faith of your people Lord in Jesus name right now I pray right now I pray right now I pray in Jesus name in Jesus name again you leave me here again come on church pray come on his prayers are here come on the altar's a great place to be right now come to love you Jesus is our faith in you Lord to believe to believe your lord oh come on that's right that the spirit of the Lord working you right now Jesus to come we need you Lord and we trust in you today great is your faithfulness that's right come on Church come on friend reach out to the Lord and I I want to believe Lord I want to believe you help my unbelief push it aside put it in its place Jesus trust in you Jesus come on let the Lord use you go pray with somebody find them get up close to them let the let the spirit of the Lord work in you right now Lord honor their faith today I must believe the Lord is in this place this place reach over pray with someone else God you can do a work in them today Lord you can do a miracle in your life today Jesus you can open doors for this you can make a way God I need you Lord I trust in you