Proverbs 4:23
Philippians 4:8-9
Have you ever been to a party with a piñata? What happens to the piñata when it is broken? (Candy) What if the person throwing the party put soggy, wet spaghetti noodles in it instead of goodies? Would that be as fun? No, of course not. What they put inside the piñata is pretty important. Our hearts are kind of like that piñata. What we fill our hearts with will come out in our words and actions.
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." God is telling us to guard our hearts because everything we do and say is an overflow of what is in our hearts.
Present/hold up 1st heart (smaller and a little wrinkled, torn…with a door in the middle which opens to an envelop or baggie with paper slips).
I have a heart here that has not been guarded very well. Let’s reach in and see what kinds of things are being stored up in this heart. Maybe you can help me think of ways we can guard our hearts from these situations and clean this heart up.
Read slips and respond in the order they are picked out by kids.)
Slip A: I was playing on my computer and a picture came on the screen that I know I wasn’t supposed to look at. Does this happen sometimes, when pictures come on the tv or computer that are not ok? We don’t have to stop using our computers forever but we do need to guard our hearts from those things. How can we guard our hearts? Close out of pop up, turn it off…
Slip B: My little brother was taking a long turn with a new toy so I got angry inside and then I yelled at him. How did this person start to feel about their brother? Right! Sometimes we need to guard our hearts from angry or hateful feelings. You can tell the feelings inside their heart overflowed out when they yelled at their brother.
Slip C: I was watching a cool tv show and the kids were using really bad words. Sometimes we find ourselves near a group of kids who are using words that are no good and talking about things that are just not appropriate. We have to make a choice to guard our heart and walk away or change the channel.
Remember Proverbs 4 said “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
If you want to have a shorter message-this is a good stopping point to wrap up and pray or you can move on to refilling the new heart with good things, part 2.
Present 2nd heart (larger and clean, pure looking with a door in the middle).
Well, if we do a good job guarding our hearts from the yucky stuff, we will have lots of room to put in the good stuff! So I have a bonus bible verse for you and this verse gives us some good instructions on what things we should fill our hearts up with.
Phillippians 4:8-9
“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things, And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9) So I will ask for some examples and you can add them into our heart.
Have you ever done the right thing? Kids give an example. (Kids put the word right into heart)
Can you think of something lovely? Add it to our heart.
Is there someone you admire or look up to? Put it in.
So I have for you a copy of our two verses. Remember to guard your hearts and think about those lovely, praiseworthy things!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we praise you for each heart here this morning. We pray that you would help them guard their hearts against those things that are unpure.
Philippians 4:8-9
Have you ever been to a party with a piñata? What happens to the piñata when it is broken? (Candy) What if the person throwing the party put soggy, wet spaghetti noodles in it instead of goodies? Would that be as fun? No, of course not. What they put inside the piñata is pretty important. Our hearts are kind of like that piñata. What we fill our hearts with will come out in our words and actions.
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." God is telling us to guard our hearts because everything we do and say is an overflow of what is in our hearts.
Present/hold up 1st heart (smaller and a little wrinkled, torn…with a door in the middle which opens to an envelop or baggie with paper slips).
I have a heart here that has not been guarded very well. Let’s reach in and see what kinds of things are being stored up in this heart. Maybe you can help me think of ways we can guard our hearts from these situations and clean this heart up.
Read slips and respond in the order they are picked out by kids.)
Slip A: I was playing on my computer and a picture came on the screen that I know I wasn’t supposed to look at. Does this happen sometimes, when pictures come on the tv or computer that are not ok? We don’t have to stop using our computers forever but we do need to guard our hearts from those things. How can we guard our hearts? Close out of pop up, turn it off…
Slip B: My little brother was taking a long turn with a new toy so I got angry inside and then I yelled at him. How did this person start to feel about their brother? Right! Sometimes we need to guard our hearts from angry or hateful feelings. You can tell the feelings inside their heart overflowed out when they yelled at their brother.
Slip C: I was watching a cool tv show and the kids were using really bad words. Sometimes we find ourselves near a group of kids who are using words that are no good and talking about things that are just not appropriate. We have to make a choice to guard our heart and walk away or change the channel.
Remember Proverbs 4 said “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
If you want to have a shorter message-this is a good stopping point to wrap up and pray or you can move on to refilling the new heart with good things, part 2.
Present 2nd heart (larger and clean, pure looking with a door in the middle).
Well, if we do a good job guarding our hearts from the yucky stuff, we will have lots of room to put in the good stuff! So I have a bonus bible verse for you and this verse gives us some good instructions on what things we should fill our hearts up with.
Phillippians 4:8-9
“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things, And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9) So I will ask for some examples and you can add them into our heart.
Have you ever done the right thing? Kids give an example. (Kids put the word right into heart)
Can you think of something lovely? Add it to our heart.
Is there someone you admire or look up to? Put it in.
So I have for you a copy of our two verses. Remember to guard your hearts and think about those lovely, praiseworthy things!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we praise you for each heart here this morning. We pray that you would help them guard their hearts against those things that are unpure.
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