The Fixed Heart

My brother reminded us the title “Fixed Hearts” comes from a sermon my father, Dr. Ford Philpot, published many years ago. His sermon, “A Fixed Heart for a Confused World” was published in a collection of great evangelistic sermons of the 20th century.

As a young preacher, I decided to be original or nothing. I was. So I quickly learned to borrow good sermon outlines and illustrations from other more gifted speakers.
My version of “The Fixed Heart” ended with a story from the life of Dr. Christian Barnard, who performed the world’s first open heart surgery on December 3, 1967. (December 3 was the day of my 2009 heart attack)

So in looking for a title to describe my heart attack and the physical and spiritual experiences related to it, I thought of Fixed Hearts.

In the south, we use the word “fix” for many things. Some people repair a car, we fix it. Some prepare to go the store while we’re just fixin’ to. We also end sentences with prepositions if we want to.

So it is a play on words. December 3, 2009, my heart was repaired (fixed). As a result, my heart (my core beliefs) are confident and “fixed”.

Psalm 57:7 in the KJV “My heart is fixed o God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise” is King David’s heart felt description of his assurance and commitment to God. The more modern translation is “My heart is steadfast” (NASV). Today’s English Version says “I have complete confidence O God; I will sing and praise God”.

The ancient mariners used an instrument known as the sextant for early navigation. With it they could get a “fix” on the stars and thus determine where they were and where they were going. So the sermon became a vehicle to state things I was completely certain of.

1. My Heart is Fixed The Bible is God’s Word.
2. My Heart is Fixed God is my Creator.
3. My Heart is Fixed Satan is my Enemy.
4. My Heart is Fixed Jesus is my Savior.
5. My Heart is Fixed Heaven is my Home.

I’ll come back later and put some meat on those bones for you, but as an outline, it still describes my heart, before and after death.