Ezekiel 36:25-27 25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 1. Deal with a Heart. 2. Deal with a Heart. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. God wants us to live with an open hand and a soft heart. 3. Develop with a Heart. Luke 6:38 38 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” 4. Develop a Heart. Deuteronomy 15:15 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Today I want to talk us about the disastrous effect of a hardened heart. The heart of Jesus is revealed at the cross. Isaiah 53:3-8, 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of deep sorrows who was no stranger to suffering and grief. We hid our faces from him in disgust and considered him a nobody, not worthy of respect. 4 Yet he was the one who carried our sicknesses and endured the torment of our sufferings. We viewed him as one who was being punished for something he himself had done, as one who was struck down by God and brought low. 5 But it was because of our rebellious deeds that he was pierced and because of our sins that he was crushed. He endured the punishment that made us completely whole, and in his wounding we found our healing. 6 Like wayward sheep, we have all wandered astray. Each of us has turned from God’s paths and chosen our own way; even so, Yahweh laid the guilt of our every sin upon him. 7 He was oppressed and harshly mistreated; still he humbly submitted, refusing to defend himself. He was brought like a gentle lamb to be slaughtered. Like a silent sheep before his shearers, he didn’t even open his mouth. 8 By coercion and with a perversion of justice he was taken away. And who could have imagined his future? He was cut down in the prime of life; for the rebellion of his own people, he was struck down in their place. Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Every destroyed relationship begins with a hardened heart. In 5 years you will be in the direction of your heart right now. Colossians 3:12-13 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Ephesians 4:17-18 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; TOP 3 CONTRIBUTORS TO A HARDENED HEART 1. Ignored Conviction Hebrews 3:7-10 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” is an invitation to turn away from what you’re doing. Conviction is not the voice of condemnation. **2. Unresolved Offense ** Hebrews 12:14-15 14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; An offended heart will eventually become a hardened heart. “The only thing that ever gets offended is your flesh, your Spirit never gets offended.” Dr. Edwin Louis Cole Ephesians 4:27 nor give place to the devil. Unresolved offense gives a position to the enemy. John 14:30 “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 3. Isolation Proverbs 18:1 A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment. We are designed for 5 fold ministry Ephesians 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 5 QUESTIONS FOR US ALL OF US TO ASK: • Will you bring your betrayed heart back to the cross for healing? • Will you bring your offended heart to Jesus to receive and release forgiveness again? • Will you bring your hardened heart back to His presence to be watered and softened again? • Will you trust God through disappointment and delay? • Will you turn the vengeance over to the Lord and trust him to repay? TOP 3 KEYS TO A CULTIVATING A TENDER HEART 1. Be quick to . Forgive even before the emotions catch up to the act of faith. Ephesians 4:31-32 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Has God graciously forgiven you? Then graciously forgive one another just as God through Christ has forgiven you. 2. Check-in for frequent heart examinations with the Lord. Psalm 139:23-24 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. 3. Continually tenderize your heart in His Presence. Saturate your heart in His Presence. Acts 3:19 19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, AMP So repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking] and return to God [seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Ezekiel 36:26 26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.