WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:25.600 We're in a series called Cultivate: The Secret to Spiritual Growth. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.199 Growth is something that we all desire, long for. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:33.920 We look around, it's hardwired into the fabric of the universe. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:37.039 We long for growth personally, relationally. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:43.200 And yet true lasting growth feels so elusive, doesn't it? 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:48.320 How do you experience growth that truly lasts? 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:52.640 That's not just this fleeting beginning of the new year. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:57.119 You had a really good start, but then it just kind of nosedives. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:05.519 And how do you experience growth that lasts in a world addicted to speed? 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:10.560 We're obsessed with quick hacks and instant results. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:18.159 But what if the secret to lasting growth is neither flashy nor immediate? 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:20.959 But profoundly simple. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:30.319 In fact, Jesus told this parable, the parable of the soils, and in it, it contains for us how do you experience growth that lasts? 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:34.560 He tells this story of a farmer of some seed and some soils. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:39.680 He says, a farmer went out to sow a seed and he had some seeds and he began to scatter it. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:48.719 And if you look at the farmer, you go, he's a really bad farmer, because he throws it onto the path, and it goes onto the path, and the birds came and ate it. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:53.439 And then he throws it into rocky soil, and it is shot up for a season. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:59.040 But the heat of the sun, because it didn't have roots, it was shallow, it just withered and died. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:08.159 And he threw it over into some thorns and and it grew up, but it got choked out by the thorns, and then he threw it into some good soil. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:18.400 And he says, in that good soil, well, it produced a harvest of 30 or 60 or a hundredfold. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:24.159 See, the the farmer represents God's generosity, that he's lavish. 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:29.280 He's not waiting for you to fix yourself up or to be just in the right place. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:31.759 He's sowing, he's giving it everywhere. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:34.479 The seed is God's word, Jesus tells us. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:36.639 That it's the word of God is powerful. 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:38.719 This little seed is a sunflower seed. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.319 We planted them last week. 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:50.159 And this little seed has everything in it to produce a beautiful sunflower that probably will get taller than me all in here. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:53.120 And Jesus says the word of God is like that. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:54.719 That it's powerful. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:03:00.080 Everything you need for life and godliness. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:02.960 He's like, I've already given it to you. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:04.159 And then the soils. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:06.319 Well, he gives us four types of soils. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:13.280 Those represent the condition of our heart and really the response of our heart to God's word. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:20.719 The path, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and then the good soil. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:22.879 And here is the whole point of it. 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:28.560 Good seed plus good soil equals an exponential harvest. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.879 Good seed plus good soil equals great growth. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:36.400 You want to have growth that lasts, well, get good seed. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:40.319 Okay, we got good seed right here, the Word of God, plus good soil. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:46.240 And you'll begin to see things in your life that you never dreamed possible. 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:54.240 And yet, here's what we know: it doesn't matter how good the seed is if the soil is bad. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:00.560 And so, good soil doesn't happen by accident, it's cultivated. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:07.599 And that's what we're gonna spend the next three weeks talking about is how do we cultivate the soil of our heart? 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:16.959 Last week I had you grab one of these cups right here, fill it with some dirt, and plant your sunflower seed to remind us that God is in process. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:20.560 That change and growth doesn't happen overnight. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:22.560 No, it happens over time. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:27.439 How many of you oh actually I have a picture of someone's right there? 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:28.879 It's already sprouting. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:29.199 Yeah. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:30.720 He's an overachiever, by the way. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:32.560 Don't feel bad if yours hasn't sprouted yet. 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:36.319 Just so you know, if you know his name, then you go like makes sense. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:37.680 Um okay. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:42.160 And and some of you are like, oh, I I was so beautiful when people came forward. 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:44.160 It became this sacred moment. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:50.079 Uh, friends were doing it together, couples were doing it together, and made sure they had their own cup, which was awesome. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:53.600 Even a few families went and got their kids to come forward to do it. 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:59.040 If you still are wanting a cup with some seed in it, you can come forward at the end of service. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:05.519 But just to be this visual reminder, one, isn't it great? 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:11.040 Like the farmer, God's heart towards you, is he actually longs for you to grow? 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:14.800 That's his disposition towards you and has provided it. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:16.560 The good seed. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:20.639 So then how do we cultivate the soil of our souls? 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:23.680 Uh, today the sermon titled is The Path. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:25.839 Would you go ahead and say, the path? 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:28.079 A hard heart. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:33.279 Jesus said the farmer scattered seed along the path, birds came and ate it. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:37.600 Now, the path, uh, well, let me show you what the path is. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:40.240 Um, here's a picture of the path. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:42.480 There it is. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:43.680 Right? 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:45.680 That that's you know what that is? 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:47.759 That's actually my yard. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.519 That's my yard next to my driveway. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:06:00.560 We park two cars in our driveway, and we get out, and you know, we get out, and so we walk along the grass right there. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:09.360 And so we get out and we just walk along there, and we also have a basketball hoop, and that happens to be the place where you stand when you're kind of shooting or checking the ball in. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:13.600 And so this didn't happen overnight, by the way. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:16.399 When two years ago there was grass there. 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:20.399 And yet today it is dirt. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:20.879 Why? 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:28.639 Because it's been trampled down, it's been stepped on, it's been pushed down, and over time there's seeds still underneath there. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:31.279 If we stopped trampling on it, grass would grow. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:35.600 Um, here's the truth about the path. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:41.600 The path is compacted, well-worn, trampled down, lifeless. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:43.759 Nothing grows there. 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:47.920 Jesus is going to talk about the path and what do we do? 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:49.600 How do we cultivate that heart? 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.079 Listen to what he says, Matthew 13, 19. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:07:01.120 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:04.319 This is the seed sown along the path. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:16.480 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom, and then he says, and doesn't understand it, that word understand means to have an intellectual grasp of something that challenges one's thinking and practice. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:23.680 It's to take God's word and to be so challenged by it that it impacts your thinking and your practice. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:34.079 It's not just to read it and go, oh, that's nice, but you read it in such a way that it challenges who you are and it begins to change how you live. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:41.759 You know, life has a way of hardening us, doesn't it? 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:55.199 Hurt, disappointment, the endless noise of life can leave our hearts just closed off, making it nearly impossible for God's truth to sink in. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:57.600 Here's what I want to do with our time. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:04.000 I want to first identify what exactly is a hard heart, what are the symptoms, okay? 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:14.560 What produces it, and then how do we cultivate the hard heart so that we begin to be receptive and experience the flourishing and growth that God longs for us. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:16.160 Well, what is a hard heart? 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:24.560 A hard heart is a spiritual condition where a person is resistant to God's voice, truth, and presence. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:36.399 It's a heart that has been hardened by pain, pride, or sin so that it is closed, unresponsive, and then here's what's so important: often unaware. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:45.919 When we think of a hard heart, often we think of perhaps the prodigal son that's turned to his father and said, Dad, I want nothing to do with you. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:46.559 I hate you. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:47.600 Give me my inheritance. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:53.840 And he goes and lives wildly, and certainly that is a hard heart. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:58.720 And yet Jesus told that story, and the point of it was the older brother. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:05.120 The older brother that stayed with the father and obeyed bitterly. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:12.720 The older brother also was hard-hearted. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:18.799 You know, it's interesting that twice, at least twice in the gospels, the disciples are called hard-hearted. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.080 They're with Jesus and they're called hard-hearted. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.240 And then the Pharisees, we get this. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:27.759 Oh, the Pharisees, yeah, of course, they were kind of against Jesus. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:29.279 They were hard-hearted. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:39.440 But think about the Pharisees, don't miss this because that was the point of the parable, is the Pharisees identifying as the older brother, that they're still missing the heart of the Father. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:42.320 The Pharisees memorized God's word. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:50.399 They had the entire Torah, plus, most of them, many of them had the entire Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, memorized. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:54.559 They prayed three times a day at least. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:57.840 They tithed 10% at least. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:01.440 They fasted twice a week. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:06.240 They served in the temple and they were hard-hearted. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:16.639 See, spiritual functions and duties doesn't mean we will not become hard-hearted. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:23.039 I said last week that I think I have all four of the soils in me. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:34.000 There's places where I'm hard-hearted, there's places that are crowded out with the thorns and weeds of life, there's the rocky places, and there is good soil. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:35.440 So, friends, listen to me. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:38.080 This is not a sermon for someone else. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:42.799 This isn't a sermon for the person, they just didn't show up today. 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:45.600 I wish my friend, I wish my spouse would hear this. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:52.639 Would you begin to go, Heavenly Father, would you give me a receptive heart to what you want me to say? 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.320 What you want to say to me? 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:59.440 Would you begin to do heart work in me? 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:02.879 Show me the hard places. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:06.639 Well, what are the symptoms of a hard heart? 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:13.519 Last week I talked about my camellia that's dying, and it's an evergreen, and there's no green on our camellia. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.720 Um and so we got we got this. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:18.159 This is a soil tester. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:19.200 This is amazing. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:29.360 Um it tests pH, it tests water, uh, it's sunlight, and you put it into the soil, and it tells you what is needed in the soil and what to do. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:33.919 Well, how do we then begin to test the soil of our souls? 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:36.720 And to discern, okay, what do I need to do? 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:38.320 How do I cultivate this? 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:41.679 First thing I want to just tell us about a hard heart. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.399 Remember, I said it was unaware, we're often unaware. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:47.519 A hard heart is difficult to self-diagnose. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:51.759 A hard heart is difficult to self-diagnose. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:55.360 This is why we need community. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:04.000 We need authentic community that speaks truth and love, bears with one another, works through the heart, practicing the one-anathers. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:05.840 In fact, I want you to do this this week. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:17.120 Just Google the one another's in the New Testament and you begin to read all the one another's that we're to love one another, we're to forgive one another, we're to bear with one another. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:18.159 I always like to say this. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:20.879 Why would that God tell us to bear with one another? 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:23.360 Because sometimes you're a bear to live with. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:24.879 And so am I. 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:31.600 We're to speak the truth in love to one another. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:55.120 Listen, if you find yourself as a serial church hopper, small group hopper, if you've gone to about three or four churches in the last three or four years and you're not moving, chances are is you're setting yourself up for a hard heart. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:00.399 We do this all the time. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:12.240 We get into a community, we think it's great, and then it gets real, and we have to address some stuff with them and within ourselves, and then instead of doing that, sitting in it, allowing God to do the work, we leave. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:17.279 Here's what I want you to do this year. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:21.919 Don't just join a small group, commit to one. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:24.080 And commit to growing. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:30.960 It is the soil or the fertilizer that God wants to use to soften the soil of your soul. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:34.080 All right, so how do we then begin to diagnose? 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:36.159 I want to give you a personal assessment. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:40.320 I uh got this from Pete Schazero Emotionally Healthy Church. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:48.960 Um and as we do this, what I want you to do is just put a little tick by the areas you go, oh, that's I think that might be me. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:52.879 If you're confused, not really sure, ask a close friend, a spouse. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:53.759 They know. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:55.440 Okay. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:13:58.480 Personal assessment. 00:13:58.639 --> 00:13:59.039 Go ahead. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:01.759 You got pens, you got your notes, open them up. 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:07.039 I am guarded and protective about my imperfections and flaws. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:14.399 I focus on the quote, positive, strong, successful parts of myself. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:19.919 I am highly offendable and defensive. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:27.279 I naturally focus first on the flaws and mistakes and sins of others. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.360 I hold on to past hurts and replay them in my mind. 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:39.039 I fill my life with noise and activity to avoid facing what's beneath the surface. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:45.279 I give my opinion a lot, even when I'm not asked. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:50.960 I have to be right in order to feel strong and good. 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:53.519 You know, there's this story of Dallas Willard. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:58.399 Dallas Willard, one of the great Christian writers thinkers of our day, passed away a few years ago. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:06.320 He was a uh professor of philosophy at USC and teaching one course in this, you know, philosophy hall there at USC. 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:14.879 Uh, the student guy was, you know, kind of tearing him one at the very end of class, and and the bell rings. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:20.720 And if you've ever seen or listened to him, he's a very gentle, calm man. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:26.000 And he says, Well, class, that's all the time we have today. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:28.480 I'll see you next week. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:34.799 And class is dismissed, and as students are starting to file out, a handful of students come around and Dr. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:35.600 Willard, Dr. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:37.679 Willard, why didn't you put them in your place? 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.320 You could have just torn them to spread, you could have done this. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.000 Why did you end class that way? 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:43.200 They're so frustrated. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:44.480 Why didn't you? 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:52.480 And he says, Well, I was practicing the discipline of not having the last word. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:03.120 I have to be right in order to feel strong. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:10.000 I'm highly self-conscious and concerned about how others perceive me. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:14.799 I deny, avoid, or withdraw from painful realities. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.960 When I'm offended, I write people off. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:25.039 I give answers and explanations to those in pain, hoping to fix or change them. 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:27.519 I blame others. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:31.440 I like to control most situations. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:34.480 I don't get close to people. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.879 I see people as a resource to be you. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:50.480 And as you go down that list and as you've checked a few marks, those are some of the indicators, the testers that say there's some hard-hearted places. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:59.840 Now, if you have no checks, then friend, you are checked out and you're deluded. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:04.400 So talk to someone else, they'll fill it in for you. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:14.240 But the question then, okay, if that's where I'm at, what what produced this? 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.359 What creates a hard heart in me? 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:19.359 How did this happen? 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:22.640 What was the trampling that took place? 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:28.960 Well, a hard heart, friends, doesn't happen overnight, it's compacted over time. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:34.559 Uh that little path patch of non-grass in my front yard. 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:39.200 That little patch of non-grass that two years ago was grass. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:45.759 And we started just walking on it and we started playing basketball on it, and the next day it was still grass. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:47.680 The next week it was still grass. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:52.880 You know, a few months later it kind of thinned out a little bit, but it was still grass. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:58.480 And then all of a sudden, it wasn't grass and it was starting to be dead, just barren. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:04.880 I even tried to do a little seed there, but it doesn't matter because I kept trampling on it. 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:09.039 What are the things that are pressing down and hardening our hearts? 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:10.960 I just want to give you four. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:21.440 Uh, the first thing that I believe uh probably most foundational that hardens our hearts is unhealed wounds. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:24.000 Unhealed wounds. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:36.000 A deep wound or hurt that has caused us to put up a productive shell where we avoid vulnerability and keep people and even God at a safe distance. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:47.200 Hebrews 12, 15 says, bitterness, or see to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:52.960 Unhealed wounds often turn into bitterness and resentment. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:56.880 Or then we just experience numbness and indifference. 00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:03.599 Past pains harden us into having holding a grudge, coloring how we see others, even ourselves. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:09.839 Or maybe you struggle to feel anything deeply joy, sorrow, compassion. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:15.200 Richard Wars says that pain that is not transformed will be transmitted. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:17.519 These are, you know what this is, by the way? 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:19.359 I forgot I almost forgot this, oh boy. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:20.400 You know what this is? 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:24.319 This is a soil tamper. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:25.599 That's right. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:30.400 You go up to soil and you that's fun, right? 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:34.160 And as you do this, it just compacts the soil. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:36.720 And here's what I want you to know through all four of these. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:39.759 Each of these is just doing this to our hearts. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:48.960 It's just starting to compact it until we begin to identify it and dress it, it's just gonna keep compacting our hearts and hardening them. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:51.839 Unhealed wounds and then habitual sin. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:55.599 Hebrews 3.13 says this. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:01.680 But encourage one another as long as it's called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:03.680 Encourage one another. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:04.960 Encourage, why? 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:09.119 Because sin hardens hearts through repetition and deceit. 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:17.119 Encourage one another as long as kid today, uh called today, so that you may not be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:28.319 Here's the thing: sin it hardens our hearts with things that we allow in and that we consistent consistently do. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.759 It just begins to numb us to the things of God. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:39.599 And we might have even had a conviction about it a few years ago, and now today we just call it normal. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:46.000 And we allow things, we go, it's not that big of a deal, it's just a small thing. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:46.799 And we allow them. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:49.039 So, friends, and I'm I'm preaching to myself. 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:54.240 I was on a run, and God was showing me the habitual sin of my life, and He's like, That's the hard, hard places. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:56.720 Deal with those. 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:01.519 Scripture would tell us. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:07.039 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you're sealed. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:14.240 That when we sin, it actually grieves God and it quenches his work in our lives. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:19.839 Habitual sin closes us off to God's word and spirit. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:24.720 You may find it hard to hear from God through his word and prayer or community. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:27.279 We become resistant to correction. 00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:34.960 Pride or fear makes it difficult to accept feedback or conviction, and we become apathetic in worship or our spiritual growth. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:37.279 We feel dry or empty. 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:41.680 What compacts our heart? 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:46.960 Unhealed wounds, habitual sin, and then a critical spirit. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:53.759 Jesus would say this Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own? 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:55.119 So good. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.599 A judgmental negative attitude hardens our heart towards God and others. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:04.559 And this seems to be our default mode today, doesn't it? 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:06.880 A critical spirit? 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:11.039 It's what gets you noticed online, social media. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.720 It's easy to criticize. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:19.359 It's easy to like be so negative. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:27.279 And it actually just begins to harden our hearts. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:37.680 We begin start defaulting to criticism where we look for flaws in others, ignoring their humanity and our own weaknesses. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:41.440 Cynicism over compassion. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:44.880 Trust is replaced by suspicion. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:47.519 We struggle to see the good in others. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:54.319 It suddenly or slowly becomes a chronic dissatisfaction. 00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:56.720 Nothing and no one ever measures up. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:12.880 Several years ago, I remember Jenny, my wife, telling me, it's like you just be you're you're you have a critical spirit. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:17.279 And I was like, no, I don't. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:19.920 Good, good defensive, you know. 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:23.680 It's like, no, like everything you say is negative. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:25.839 Everything, really? 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:28.240 See, because I'm gonna pick on the words right there. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:31.039 Um, not everything. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:36.240 And then I begin to justify, well, I'm a leader and I see things and we need to fix things. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:44.480 Yeah, you can be a leader, and there's a a place to have good critique, but it can easily move into a critical spirit. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:24:01.519 And after, I would love to say, after minutes of like just pondering this, after days of the Spirit of God beginning to do work in my heart, I began to hear it because once she said it, I began to see it. 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:02.960 That's why we need community. 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:11.519 Once she said it, I was unaware, I was blind to it, I didn't know that I was heading down this path, but once she said it, then I all of a sudden began to see it, I began to notice it. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:20.799 I saw words come out, I'm like, oh, I would love to get that back, but those words represent something in my heart, and in my heart is like, oh, that's not good. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:36.079 Things that compact and harden our hearts, an unhealed wound, spiritual sin, critical spirit, and finally pride. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:40.079 Finally, pride, a me-centric view of life. 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:45.119 1 Peter 5 says that God opposes the proud. 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:52.640 God, should we just be so aware and be a community that wants to be so far from pride? 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:57.039 I don't know about you, but I don't want to be in a place where God's opposing me. 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:09.599 And it and Scripture tells us he opposes the proud, and yet we don't talk a lot about pride, and we don't give it a lot of credence in our lives, and yet everything in our world's built for pride. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:23.200 He opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:26.799 The application, humble yourselves is an activity that we do. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:31.119 See, pride, we always need to be right. 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:36.400 Conversations become a battle to win, then opportunities connect. 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:39.519 Pride fundamentally is a distorted view of ourselves. 00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:40.480 We're at the center of it. 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:41.839 It's me-centric. 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:45.119 We think of it as thinking too high of ourselves, which is true. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:46.720 I'm God's gift to humanity. 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:48.640 Hello, here I am, right? 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:50.400 But that's not too many of us. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:54.160 Most of us, we think too low of ourselves, and that is prideful as well. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:58.480 Where you become the center of your story instead of God Himself. 00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:02.880 Woe is me. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:03.839 I'm no good. 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:05.039 I'll never measure up. 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:06.400 I'm these sort of things. 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:09.440 That is just as much pride as the other way around. 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:16.000 And it hardens, it cuts us off our heart. 00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:21.599 And we become fearful of vulnerability. 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:26.640 The thought of being honest about your struggle or pain feels unbearable. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:34.160 So, how do you cultivate the soil of your soul, of a hard heart? 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:40.240 I really thought I had a much bigger pickaxe than this. 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:44.640 It's just embarrassing. 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:50.079 Seriously, I had to borrow this, and I should have borrowed a pickaxe. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:55.519 I go yesterday in my backyard, I'm like, I know I have one of these, and I pull it out, and I'm like, come on. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:58.319 Are you serious? 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.240 See, but here's what here's what you want to don't miss this though. 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:07.119 Hard places actually need something that is going to break through. 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:14.000 Business as usual will not cut it. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:17.920 So, what do we do? 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:19.519 I just want to give you three things. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:22.880 First, ask God to reveal any hard places. 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:24.480 Ask. 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:30.240 Prideful people do not ask for help. 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:34.240 Surrendered people do. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:38.559 Ask God to reveal any hard places. 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:39.839 We started off the message. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:46.160 I asked you to invite your heavenly father to show you any of the hard places. 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:51.839 What's one area in your life you need to invite God and to soften your heart? 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:54.000 Would you pray this prayer? 00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:58.640 Heavenly Father, I surrender blank to you. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:03.119 I surrender my past wounds to you. 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:06.000 I surrender that relationship to you. 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:08.720 I surrender my sexuality to you. 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:10.079 I surrender. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:18.640 Would you break through the hard places in my heart and make it soft towards you? 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:25.279 You know what's amazing though about God? 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:30.079 Because some of us are in a place where pretty, we're like, Ryan, that sounds really good. 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:36.000 I want to want God to do that in my life. 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:42.240 Like, if I'm really honest, my heart is in a place I don't want that. 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:45.759 Like, I don't want to ask God for that. 00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:49.039 I don't want him to break through. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:55.519 But I'm in a place where I want him, I want to want that. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:58.240 And God answers that prayer. 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:06.400 God answers the prayer of God, I want to want you to do something in my life. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:12.960 I'm not ready to want you to do something in my life, but I'm in a place where I at least want you to want to do something in my life. 00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:15.359 And he says, I'll meet you right there. 00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:16.880 Would you ask God? 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:19.279 And then admit what's keeping you stuck. 00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:23.599 Confession in community is the tool that breaks through the hard soil. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:27.759 Confession in community is the tool that breaks through the hard soil. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:28.799 It is the pickaxe. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:30.000 Ooh, that made a dent. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:32.400 James 5, 16. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:36.799 Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed. 00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:39.200 We talk about confession vertically to God. 00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:41.279 Yes, that is true and important. 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:46.480 And we miss dearly to our detriment in our society confession to one another. 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:51.680 And shame keeps us in hiding, and in hiding keeps us stuck. 00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:56.640 Ask God. 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:02.559 Ask Him, God, would you show me anything in me? 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:05.759 And then admit this is what's keeping me stuck. 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:07.599 I need help. 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:10.720 It's the reason we're doing healing path. 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:13.279 It's the reason we have small groups. 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:21.839 The spiritual life was never meant to do on your own. 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:23.759 It's actually impossible. 00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:28.720 The Lone Ranger, self-made person is a lie. 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:35.279 And so would you allow others to walk with you? 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:50.000 Hebrews 10, 24 says, and let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day approaching. 00:30:50.319 --> 00:30:53.839 Would you allow others to walk with you? 00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:07.039 You know, just recently an example of a receptive heart in a really difficult area within our church came across. 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:12.559 And I just want to share a story of just because it's sometimes it's helpful to see what this looks like. 00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:20.319 There's a young couple, while they're dating, they did just what um well, just what many people do in our day. 00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:24.160 They started sleeping together, eventually moved in together, started a life together. 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:34.640 In the process, they gave their lives to Jesus and started coming to awakening, got involved in a small group, began doing premarital counseling, wanting God's best for their lives and relationship. 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:39.039 They began honoring God with their sexuality, not sleeping together until they got married. 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:40.720 This is where they pick up their story. 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:42.960 I want to read what they wrote. 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:46.880 We decided to get married at the courthouse for a couple reasons. 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:58.720 First, after talking to Sherman, our small group leader, about premarital counseling and living together before marriage, our eyes were open to the fact that it may not be God's design for us to live together before marriage. 00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:12.880 Despite setting physical boundaries and stopping physical intimacy since September 2024 while living together, so we pondered on the idea of doing a courthouse marriage in our original destination wedding, or just doing our destination wedding in June. 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:15.440 You see the tension that they're wrestling with. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:25.839 We also went to Pastor Dave during this time for additional guidance, and he was extremely helpful and non-judgmental while also giving us clear advice we need in this needed in this situation. 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:33.440 We prayed to the Lord about our situation, and he softened our hearts to having a courthouse wedding in addition to our June destination wedding. 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:41.359 Second, we realized how strongly we desired our wedding day to be an intimate and intimate and focused on only each other and the Lord. 00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:45.680 God helped us realize that a courthouse wedding would also fulfill this desire. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:52.400 We are preparing our hearts for marriage and continuing to maintain abstinence to honor God in our current situation. 00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:58.000 Although we are not and have never been perfect in our relationship, by the way, none of us are. 00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:07.279 We do believe God sees our hearts and our intention to honor Him, and we can't wait to enter the next season of life in full obedience to Him. 00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:08.880 Isn't that amazing? 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:11.759 Can we just celebrate that for a second? 00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:14.640 It's beautiful. 00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:23.839 An area that's so easy to be defensive, and here's how I've been living, here's what I've been doing, and to just begin to respond with a hard heart. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:26.880 You just watch this beautiful, receptive hard heart. 00:33:27.039 --> 00:33:31.279 It wasn't without struggle and process and challenge. 00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:33.680 And notice what they had. 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:42.079 They had God's word, they had prayer, they got wise counsel and people in our lives. 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:43.839 That's what we need. 00:33:45.200 --> 00:34:00.240 Whether it's healing path or a small group or a wise mentor, find someone at least 10 years older than you, who's got a vibrant faith, and you pay for their coffee and come with a list of questions and share your heart. 00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:02.799 It'll change your life. 00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:09.599 Hard heart doesn't happen overnight. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:18.079 It's compacted over time by wounds, sin, pride, your busyness of life. 00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:21.280 Good news. 00:34:21.679 --> 00:34:23.920 God doesn't leave us in that condition. 00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:26.559 He offers us something better. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:29.760 A brand new heart. 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:34.400 Ezekiel 36, 26 is a promise of God. 00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:38.000 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. 00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:40.320 I will remove from you a heart of stone. 00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:41.679 Isn't that good news, by the way? 00:34:41.760 --> 00:34:47.599 Because some of you are like going, Ryan, you don't know where I've been, you don't know what I've done, you don't know how hard this thing is. 00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:49.199 This thing is rock solid. 00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:51.679 Jesus is going, that's my specialty. 00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:56.719 And give you a heart of flesh. 00:34:56.880 --> 00:35:03.199 I'll put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:04.639 Think about that. 00:35:06.079 --> 00:35:07.039 The gospel. 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:08.800 This is the gospel. 00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:12.400 God not asking you to fix yourself up, to better yourself, to work harder. 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:18.719 He's inviting you to surrender to him, to let him do the deep work of transformation in you. 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:21.599 Maybe you felt it today. 00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:30.079 An ache and a longing, a sense that there's a hard place in your heart that's keeping you from fully and experience God. 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:38.559 Maybe it's an old wound, a sin pattern, or just the numbing effects of culture addicted to speed and distractions. 00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:49.119 Whatever it is, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart and he's knocking, will you let me in? 00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:53.440 This is the gospel, friends. 00:35:54.960 --> 00:36:01.519 Jesus came to heal what's broken, to forgive what's wrong, to soften what's hard. 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:09.440 Through his life, death, and resurrection, he made a way for us to be fully known and fully loved. 00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:13.920 To trade our heart of stone for our heart of flesh, to be made. 00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:26.239 And if you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, or if you've been walking away and you're ready to come back, this moment is for you. 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:28.800 Don't let it pass. 00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:32.239 Right here, right now. 00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:34.880 You don't have to have it all figured out. 00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:38.159 Just come to Him as you are. 00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:47.119 If you're here and you want to begin a relationship, you want to do the beautiful trade, my heart for your heart with Jesus. 00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:48.079 Would you pray with me? 00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:50.239 And friends, would you go ahead and pray with me? 00:36:51.840 --> 00:36:55.840 Jesus, today I open my heart to you. 00:36:57.440 --> 00:36:59.119 Thank you for loving me. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:02.719 Even when my heart has been hard and closed off. 00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:07.679 I confess that I've tried to do life on my own and I've fallen short. 00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:14.000 Jesus, I believe you died for my sins and rose again to give me a new heart and a new life. 00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:20.800 Right now, I give I surrender my heart to you. 00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:25.199 Remove the hard, broken places and make me whole. 00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:29.599 Fill me with your spirit and help me follow you every day. 00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:38.079 Thank you for forgiving me, loving me, and making me and if you wouldn't mind, just if everyone would keep their eyes closed. 00:37:38.159 --> 00:37:45.760 And if today you, for the first time, trusted Jesus, invited him into your life, would you raise your hands just so I could pray for you and see and know? 00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:46.719 Amen. 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:47.119 Go ahead. 00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:48.079 Yeah, raise them up high. 00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:48.480 Amen. 00:37:48.559 --> 00:37:48.880 Amen. 00:37:50.719 --> 00:37:51.039 Amen. 00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:52.960 Amen. 00:37:54.239 --> 00:38:05.280 Jesus, I thank you for my friends who today have invited you into their life, that you are the God of transformation, the God who the God who does heart uh transplants. 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:11.599 And so we thank you for the work you're doing in us. 00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:14.000 Invite you to continue that. 00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:15.760 In Jesus' name. 00:38:16.079 --> 00:38:16.639 Amen. 00:38:18.800 --> 00:38:21.039 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:38:21.280 --> 00:38:25.679 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:27.920 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:33.760 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.comslash card.