The Hard Heart

sayings like, “God does not like ugly,” “Birds of a feather flock together” and “The grass is not always greener on the other side” were common colloquialisms of the day.

A hard heart makes a soft

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 19

3 A person’s own foolishness leads him astray,

yet his heart rages against the LORD.n

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 10

8 A wise heart accepts commands,af

but foolish lips will be destroyed.

Jonathan Edwards A hard heart AN unaffected heart Nothing is more apparent than this: our religion takes root within us only as deep as our affections attract it. There are thousands who hear the Word of God, who hear great and exceedingly important truths about themselves and their lives, and yet all they hear has no effect upon them, makes no change in the way they live.

The reason is this: they are not affected with what they hear. There are many who hear about the power, the holiness, and the wisdom of God; about Christ and the great things that he has done for them and his gracious invitation to them; and yet they remain exactly as they are in life and in practice.

Ex8:13 The Lord did as Moses had said: the frogs in the houses, courtyards, and fields died. 14 They piled them in countless heaps, and there was a terrible odor in the land. 15 But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heartb and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

EX 8:28 Pharaoh responded, “I will let you go and sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but don’t go very far. Make an appeali for me.”

29 “As soon as I leave you,” Moses said, “I will appeal to the Lord, and tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people. But Pharaoh must not act deceptively again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to the Lord.” 30 Then Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the Lord. 31 The Lord did as Moses had said: He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his officials, and his people; not one was left. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not let the people go.

Ex 9:27 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned this time,” he said to them. “The Lord is the righteousi one, and I and my people are the guilty ones. 28 Make an appeal to the Lord. There has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go;j you don’t need to stay any longer.”

29 Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my handsk to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know the earthC,l belongs to the Lord. 30 But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the Lord God.”

31 The flax and the barley were destroyed because the barley was ripeD and the flax was budding,m 32 but the wheat and the spelt were not destroyed since they are later crops.E

33 Moses left Pharaoh and the city, and spread out his hands to the Lord. Then the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured down on the land. 34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his officials. 35 So Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not let the Israelites go, as the Lord had said through Moses.

Heb 3:12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns aways from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardenedu by sin’s deception.v 14 For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.w 15 As it is said:

Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.K,x

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 6)

21 An opportune time came on his birthday, when Herod gave a banquetai for his nobles, military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee.22 When Herodias’s own daughterD came in and danced,am she pleased Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 He promised her with anan oath:ao “Whatever you ask me I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”ap

24 She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?”

“John the Baptist’saq head,” she said.

25 At once she hurried to the king and said, “I want you to give me John the Baptist’sar head on a platteras immediately.” 26 Although the king was deeply distressed,at because of his oathsau and the guestsE he did not want to refuseav her.

Different kind of king

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 6

14 When the people saw the signB he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophetk who is to comel into the world.”m 15 Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king,n he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

The Boat:

The boat is that thing that they do. Sending a group of fishermen into a boat is like sending a race car driver to a car.

•This is what I do.

Sometimes to soften one’s behind you let a thing happen.

Have you ever struggled to get traction in your area

Divine opportunities to chill and listen

The Process

Ex 13:17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby; for God said, “The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.”h 18 So he led the people around toward the Red Sea along the road of the wilderness. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt in battle formation.i

In sanctification, both God and the Christian have specific responsibilities.

to sanctify something is to set it apart for God’s special use and purpose. Therefore God’s people are sometimes said to be sanctified because they are set apart for God’s special purposes in the world:

“Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy; for I am the LORD your God. Keep my statutes, and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you” (Leviticus 20:7-8).

most of the time when Christians use the word sanctification, they are referring to the progressive work of God to make a believer more like Jesus Christ. As such Paul can write, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). He commands Christians to “present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification” (Rom 6:19). Because believers have been set free from their slavery to sin, “the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Romans 6:22).

Paul commands believers to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).

God is the one who does the work of making us more like Christ, and we participate in that work by a life of continually turning away from sin and demonstrating our faith in Christ by obeying God’s commands. The Holy Spirit plays a key role in this process; as we walk in the power of the Spirit we “will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

The Tinkerer

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

Charlie Steinmetz was an electrical wizard – one of the greatest minds in the field of electricity that the world has ever known, so much so that Henry Ford hired him to design the massive generators used to supply electric power to Ford’s first manufacturing plant in Dearborn, Michigan. One day, those powerful generators ground to a halt, They brought in ordinary mechanics and helpers who couldn't get the generators going again. Ford called in Charlie.

Steinmetz poked around a little, made a few adjustments, and flipped the switch. Instantly, the generators came back on. A few days later, Henry Ford was stunned to receive a bill from Charlie in the amount of $10,000. He penned a note to Steinmetz asking why the fee was so steep “just for a little tinkering.” Soon, he received this reply:

For tinkering, $10. For knowing where to tinker, $9,990.