What does Tribe teach about guarding your heart?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on guarding your heart starts with Proverbs 4:20-22. Brian Hunter walked the congregation through that passage carefully, showing that the Hebrew behind the word translated 'penetrate' carries the image of a watchtower standing at the corner of a field, positioned on high ground to guard what comes in and what goes out. When God's word is planted deep in your heart, Brian said, it functions exactly like that tower. A man in the room who had worked in Somalia confirmed he had seen those towers himself, women cracking long whips from the top to drive birds away from crops. Brian took that image and applied it directly: the word in your heart can crack like a whip to keep the enemy out.
The concern underneath the whole message was that most people are carrying scripture only in their heads, not their hearts, and a word that stays in the head cannot do what a watchtower does. Brian had asked the congregation weeks earlier how many verses they had memorized and not many hands went up. What rose in him was not frustration but the kind of concern a shepherd feels when the sheep are undernourished. He waited long enough to bring it back without it sounding like a scolding. He also pointed out what happens when the word is not kept carefully: the phrase 'do not lose sight of them' carries a warning against going crooked, and Brian said he has watched that play out in real time, with verses like 'love thy neighbor' quoted and twisted by people with no interest in what the text actually meant.
The positive picture Brian kept returning to is agricultural. The Hebrew behind 'bring life' in Proverbs 4:22 means green, thriving, reviving, springtime. God's word planted in the heart is meant to produce an abundant harvest that affects every single aspect of your life. Brian says, 'When you memorize God's word, you are putting Jesus deep into your heart because he's the embodiment of the word.' The Pharisees are the cautionary tale: they had the words in their heads and missed the life entirely. The goal is not information stored up top but a heart that is genuinely guarded and genuinely fed.
Taught from Proverbs 4:20-22 · Proverbs 4:23 · Romans 12:1-2 · Psalm 1 · Philippians 4:6-7
“This is the only book that reads you. Not just you reading it, but that book reads you.”
From What Do I Memorize？
The passage taught · 2 Peter 1:3
3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue;
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- May 26, 2025 What Do I Memorize？ Brian Hunter teaches from Proverbs 4 on burying God's word deep in your heart, with practical ways to memorize scripture and let it guard and transform your life.
- May 25, 2025 Rooted In The Word A Wyoming pastor and congregation dig into Proverbs 4:20-22, exploring what it means to guard your heart by burying Scripture deep enough to change your life.