I grew up in Sarnia, Ontario, right on the Michigan border. Crossing into the states was just a normal part of life, and in my teenage years, we would drive down for concerts and sporting events. Now, one weekend, the Ska Mania Tour was scheduled to stop in Detroit. It was the 90s, and Ska music was a thing, so we were all in. The only problem was is that we didn't have a ride. After a bunch of phone calls and a little persistence, we managed to convince a volunteer youth worker from our church to take us. We promised him gas money, and we'd buy him a ticket, so off we went.
As we got close to Detroit, he casually asked us, all right, boys, where are we going? The three of us looked at each other, expecting the other to answer, but no one spoke up. The youth worker continued, you do know where we're going, right, boys? None of us had paid attention to the address of the venue, other than it was in Detroit. This, of course, was the 90s with no smartphones, no GPS. And so if you didn't have the address written down before you left, you were guessing. Like we had a map of Detroit, but it didn't help us because we didn't have a destination. And that was a problem.
Welcome to Mountain View Church. My name is Jeremy. If you're new to our feed and our faith community, please drop us a note at mountainview.church slash connect or on social media at Mountain View Whitehorse. Now, let's come back to that story of that night in Detroit. Thankfully, we had left early. We drove around the city, stopping at venues where we'd seen other bands play, but couldn't find it. We even stopped a couple times to ask for directions, but their responses to, we're looking for Ska-mania without actually having a dress.
It added insult to injury. It went nowhere. They just looked at us like we were crazy. So we would come to an intersection, for example, and one of us would say, I feel like it's this way and pointing right. The other one would say, oh, I feel like it's to the left. And then another one of us would say, oh, I feel we need to go straight. So we had lots of feelings about which way to go, but we had no idea. We had no idea where we're going. We didn't have a destination. We were just going on our feelings. And eventually we pulled up to a gas station and we saw an attendant who had a promising look about him.
He had flared baggy jeans and bleached spiked hair. Sure enough, he knew what ska was, and he knew about the tour. He told us the name of the venue, and for the first time all night, we had a destination. And everything changed in that moment. The debate stopped, the guessing stopped. Once we knew where we were going, we just followed the map that we had, and every single turn, right, left, or straight, they were all intentional. We got to the show, and our tickets were waiting for us, and although we missed the opening act, it ended up being a great show and a very memorable adventure.
That was almost 30 years ago. And when I think back on that night, two thoughts come to mind. First, I marvel at the patience and grace of that youth worker. He deserves a medal, even to this day. But secondly, I think about how that situation is a picture of the human experience. The common Western mantra is to follow your heart. But just like us in that vehicle, the heart is often divided which way to go. To truly follow your heart is to let your feelings lead.
which becomes a constant cycle of reacting, evaluating, and recalculating, and over and over and over again. And there lies the problem. Human beings need a destination. We need to know where we're going. And we can't just live off our feelings. We have to eventually think about it. We have to use logic. We need a plan. We need a place. We need a destination. Well, we're in our second week of our series called Emotions, Getting a Grip of Your Heart and Your Mind.
Throughout the series, we're looking at Old Testament prophecies and biblical wisdom literature, pulling out the key truths and the practical applications from each text. Today, we'll discover that following your heart only works if your heart knows where it's going. And so instead of following your heart, we're going to form it around God's truth and then move forward. You see, God has given us the destination and shows us the way if we're willing to accept it and if we're willing to follow him. Hi, my name is Camilla. Our description reading is from Joshua 24, verses 14 through 18. You are welcome to follow along with a physical Bible. You can search the table of contents to locate the corresponding page number for Joshua. Alternatively, you can download the Bible app or visit Bible.com.
Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. And if it's evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your father served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose lands you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Then the people answered, Far be it from us that we shall forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went, among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore, we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God. In the 24th chapter of the book of Joshua, we find Joshua at the end of his life. Now, he gathers all the elders and leaders of Israel together for one final address.
Now, at that moment, Joshua could have reminisced about the journey they'd been on, or maybe he could have mapped out a new vision for Israel. But instead, he gives them a choice. In verse 15, we read, And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in those land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You see, in the past, their forefathers had been pulled away by false teaching, often mixed with idolatry and sensuality. It was a mess. And their hearts were divided and their hearts caused them to wander. Now, as they start their new lives in the promised land that God had given them, Joshua was drawing a line in the sand between those who would follow the one true God and those who would continue to worship pagan gods. And so this was a mind over emotions moment for Israel. Joshua was calling them to it.
he was addressing the divided heart that had been a struggle for God's people in the past. And within his own choice, for him and his family, he was pointing them somewhere, but it points us somewhere too. If your heart's divided, you need to learn to trust God completely. And that starts by choosing God's destination. Although Joshua is letting them choose, his actions are making a statement. His actions are showing them the best path forward.
Now that was then, but now idolatry hasn't really disappeared. It's just rebranded. It still calls for our loyalty, our time, our energy, and it pulls us away from the life God has set out for us. We don't often know it's happening really until we face a crisis through a loss or sometimes an internal crisis of faith or identity. And then all of a sudden we see where our allegiances lie. You know, I've sat with people.
a lot of people over the years who are genuinely confused about their lives and where they're going and where they should be going. And they want my advice on which direction, maybe for their careers or their relationships or finances or all sorts of topics. And as I listen to them, there's always so much emotion, so much feeling at the forefront of it. And they have these desired outcomes and maybe they want to try to make them predicted outcomes. It's like their heart is leading their mind down each road and they have that backwards.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not dismissing these significant life decisions, and I'm not saying that emotion isn't a part of them, but I often question the motivations behind them. You see, if God's will is the destination, those other forks in the road, they become a lot easier to navigate. Perhaps they become far less significant within the bigger picture that he's revealing and following God. getting aligned with his will should be primary before all those other things. But for some reason, his will comes secondary, which brings us to our second text and our second principle. We read, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6.
You see, once you've chosen God's destination, leaning on God's direction is the next piece. This proverb was written by Solomon, said to have been the wisest man who ever lived. And it sounds simple enough when you read it until you're actually living inside a hard decision. Your soul might sense God's conviction in a particular direction. But your feelings, your heart condition, it's being pulled in another way. Or maybe it's a mental struggle, working through something that doesn't have a clear answer. Or maybe even more difficult, you're walking through a season and you're not getting the resolution that you would hope for. In any of those scenarios, leaning on your own understanding is probably going to be the natural human response. It's what we do automatically as human beings. And it might even feel like the right decision, which is kind of evidence that the human heart's divided.
We can be striving to follow God and still have that internal division. We can be praying for God's guidance while still wanting to be in control and wanting our outcome. That's that division. We have to not lean on our own understanding and place his way first. This is when we need to make a conscious effort to lean into God's direction and make a choice, acknowledging that his way is best. It's purposeful. Even if it costs us something, our thoughts will start leading our desires after that instead of the other way around. And with that in mind, it's worth noting that there's no guarantee of the journey getting easier.
We need to be clear. This isn't prosperity gospel stuff. Sometimes life is hard. Life is hard. But we'll be able to see where we're going because God's taking lead, not us. And the destination that we're heading towards and seeking God's will, it'll be worth it in the end. And over time, sometimes a long time, with an ongoing pursuit of God's direction focused on his destination, the divided heart can experience transformation. And we read about that in a song of David in the 86th song.
We read, teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord, my God, with my whole heart and I will glorify your name forever. With God's destination in sight, leaning on his direction, we can arrive with a united heart, that united heart that David's talking about. And what I love about this prayer is that David doesn't arrive at a united heart and then write the song.
As you read the prayer, he's kind of praying his way to it or toward it and then through it. And through that whole psalm, we see the process. And David asks God to do something inside of him that he can't manufacture on his own. He's desperate for God to transform his divided heart into that united heart under God's authority and in step with God's will. It's beautiful. And this is a prayer for anyone who's struggling with that divided heart. I'm telling you right now, write it down, write down the reference, pray through it, read through it, give it to God, memorize it maybe. And then you'll have those moments where you feel divided and you'll be able to pull that prayer out. And when you're headed in those two directions, you can bring that prayer back to God and it can center you. And in a way, David's prayer is a picture of what God wants us to do.
You see, even though Israel had Joshua's challenge and Solomon's wisdom and David's leadership, they still drifted. Israel, generation after generation, they'd choose well for a while, but then their hearts would divide and then they'd wander over and over and over again, which tells us something about the human heart. You see, the problems of the heart were never a lack of good teaching or wise leaders. The human heart needs transformation from the inside out that David was praying about, that he was longing for. And throughout the Old Testament, God was doing more than just giving instruction and commands. He was preparing his people for a day when he'd come and lead them himself. You see, the ancient writers pointed forward to a time when God would send his only son, Jesus, fully revealing the direction and the destination, fully God and yet fully human, like a good shepherd calling his sheep to follow him. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them.
and they follow me. Later on, Jesus proclaimed, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus wasn't just making a claim about himself. When he said those words, he was making a way. He was showing the way. And at the cross, Jesus took the punishment for every divided allegiance we have, every divided heart, all the times we've drifted toward comfort, approval, or control, or whatever it is, all our idolatry and the things we idolize or that we seek out instead of seeking God's direction. He paid for it all. And he died and he was buried, sacrificed for the sins of the world, for the sins of you and I.
But thankfully, the story didn't end there. Three days later, God raised Jesus from the dead. And soon after, Jesus ascended to heaven, promising a return one day. And that return may even be close. We don't know for sure what day or hour, but it could be close. And for those who choose to follow him, the promise would be that he would send his Holy Spirit upon our belief, that the Spirit would walk with us on this earth before our eternal life begins. And the Spirit of God is like an ongoing voice that directs our hearts, especially when they're divided. It's called conviction.
And if you've never chosen to follow Jesus, if you've been wandering this world, seeking the way to God, seeking God's destination, the invitation is open today. God is opening that door for you. A heart that walks with Jesus doesn't mean a life without hard seasons. Please don't hear that. But Jesus walks with us through every decision toward that eternal destination, everlasting life with him in the heavenly kingdom.
And over time, the beauty is that something does shift. Some things do get easier with God's spirit aligned with your soul. The decisions that used to feel impossible start to have a lot of clarity. And the convictions that used to be optional, maybe, they're compelling. It's like you can't resist. You feel pulled toward God's way and you start walking with more intention. Not because you've got it all figured out, that's not it, but because you're actually walking with Jesus and you're following him and the Holy Spirit is walking with you as you move forward in this journey. And so...
At the start of today's message, we were in a car and we were driving in circles without a map, no destination, right? A bunch of teenagers with a lot of feelings about which way to turn, but we had no clue where we were actually headed. And it wasn't until someone gave us the destination that everything changed for us. And for some of you, this is a metaphor for life, the life you've been living. You've got lots of feelings about which way to turn, which way to go, and maybe you're all over the place. Maybe you tried all sorts of stuff, but that's the problem with the human heart.
You have no real sense of where you're headed, which is why God loved us enough to give us Jesus. And what if Jesus is the destination and also the guide all wrapped into one? Instead of following your heart, form it around God's truth, that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life as he promised, and that he's the way to God. And so if you are ready to follow Jesus and let him lead you toward God's will for the rest of your life and into eternity, I want to give you an opportunity to pray this prayer with me. Receive Jesus and receive a new way of life. Receive that destination and stop wandering. Let's pray.
Dear God, I confess that my heart has been divided. I've been following my own instincts, drifting from the destination you set before me. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, taking the punishment I deserved. I believe you raised him from the dead and that he's alive today. Today I'm choosing to follow Jesus, take the lead in my life, unite my heart around your truth, and walk with me from this day forward. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for watching, listening, joining us, whether you're here in the Yukon or beyond. I'm so glad that you watched, listened, that you're here with us. But if today is your first time, we would love to hear from you and connect with you. Please, again, reach out at mountainview.church slash connect, or on social media, wherever you're watching, at Mountain View Whitehorse, and one of our team will get connected with you. Now, if you're watching on YouTube and haven't subscribed yet, please do. And then hit that notification bell so that next week's message will automatically find its way into your feed, and you continue to watch this series. Now for a couple of updates to make you aware of.
Hey Mountain View, happy Sunday. Senior youth tonight is not at the church. We're going to be at the V in Riverdale, sledding and tobogganing. So drop-off will be at the bottom of Grey Mountain Road, the parking lot by the trailhead. And we ask that you bring your own toboggan or sled and dress warm in something that's waterproof. So we're going to be playing in the snow and having a lot of fun. And we'd also like to invite the junior youth students to join us. And I look forward to us being all together in a group. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I hope to see you there.
It is so cold. It's snowy. It's basically still January forever. But hope, hope is about to get loud. Have you registered for the Mountain View Women's Retreat yet? Because March 20th and the 21st, we are warming this place up. I'm Tess Scott, speaker, author, former black sheep turned Jesus girl, redeemed daughter. And we are gathering for one reason, hope. And listen, when the days feel long, when dark feels heavy, when life has not gone exactly the way that you hoped it would, this weekend is for you. Real laughter, real stories, real Jesus. Grab your girlfriends and bundle up.
Get your tickets at mountainview.church slash women. It may be the coldest place in Canada right now, but it is about to be the warmest room in the Yukon. I can't wait to see you there. Get your tickets right now. We've got our first Connect lunch scheduled for today at 12.30 p.m., striving to move people from attending to belonging. So if you're new to Mountain View and looking to get more plugged in and you live in the Whitehorse area, this is a great way to meet some of our team, maybe learn more about our church community. Please RSVP via email to admin at mountainview.church. That's admin at mountainview.church. As a reminder, another great way to get connected is by joining one of our community groups. We have a variety of groups to choose from happening every week. Simply visit mountainview.church slash community to see a write-up about each group and when they meet so you can join.
Lastly, we are two weeks away from the Listen Sister Women's Conference, a gathering of hope with author and speaker Tess Scott on March 20th and 21st. Tickets are $55 for all three sessions on Friday and Saturday. Visit mountainview.church slash women to buy your tickets and maybe buy an extra ticket for a friend. Before you head out, we have three questions to help you connect and get the most out of today's content. So if you're watching or listening with someone else, ask them these questions. If you're on your own, drop a comment in the feed or send us a DM to Mountain View Whitehorse and we'll connect with you.
Question number one, what's driving your big decisions right now? Your emotions or your convictions? What's driving your big decisions right now? Is it your emotions or your convictions? Next question, how have you been leaning on your own understanding instead of trusting God's direction? How have you been leaning on your understanding instead of trusting God's direction? And our last question for this week is,
What's one area of your life where you need God to unite your heart with his? What's one area of your life where you need God to unite your heart with his? Lastly, we're back next Sunday with week three of our emotions teaching series. In week one, we looked at the deceptive heart. And this week, we looked at the divided heart. But now it's time for God's divine diagnosis, letting God examine our hearts. We're going to learn from that. We're going to learn how God's word doesn't just give us good advice. It digs out the infected areas of our heart and lives and brings lasting healing.
And it can start that healing process. So if that's something you need, we would love to see you back next week. And if possible, bring a friend to watch or listen with you. And we'll see you then. Thanks a lot. If you pray to receive Jesus today or would like to connect with our church community, visit mountainview.church and click the connect link. If this podcast and radio ministry has been a blessing to you, please consider partnering with us or making a tax-deductible donation at mountainview.church. Thanks for listening to Mountain View Church Audio. Join us next week for more Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City of Whitehorse UConn.