God Will Restore Everything About You
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
There are many times that people have quoted that scripture:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
This the the Lord’s response to the prayer King Solomon prayed at the dedication of the newly built Temple. The finished Temple was the fulfilment of the vision that his father, King David, had and passed on. The reason that that David wanted to build the Temple was for a place of gratefulness to God for all that He had done for Him. David one day looked back over his life and saw where the Lord had brought him from. From the sheep fields of his father. From the fight that he had with Goliath. From being pursued by King Saul who wanted to kill him. From giving him victory in all the battles he fought. David was now sitting on a throne of a united kingdom, in good looking palace, with peace on every border. What David knew was that he would not be where he was if it was not for the Lord. It was not by coincidence that he was blessed like this. He was blessed like this because David was a man that was after God’s own heart.
When a person is seeking after the heart of God, they are seeking to do the will of God. When one is seeking to do the Will of God they are really seeking to walk with God. In order to walk with anyone, let alone God, you must be agreed with that person.
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
In walking together the people are in fellowship with each other. They are also in one accord, or of one mind, with each other because they share the same purpose and desire the same goal. This is the way God wants us to be with Him. To be in fellowship with Him. Agreeing with Him and being of the same heart and mind, sharing the same goal. This was working for a while with the people of God, until they began to think that they did not need to walk in agreement with Him anymore. The people wanted to do their own thing. They came to the belief that there was another path that would get them to the same goal. The belief that there was another form of conveyance that would get them to the destination quicker. Walking along the way the feeling of “there has to be quicker way”. Still with Lord by our side we walk but not with the same focus. We become distracted with what is around us. Some just stopped walking with God and went another direction at the crossroads saying, “You go your way and I’ll go mine. I’ll see you when you get there.” This what happened to the Nation of Israel in their walk with God.
In them taking the other fork in the road and leaving God they were no longer in agreement with God. In taking another path Israel broke fellowship with their God. With a broken relationship Israel could not depend on the protection from the Lord that had done it before. This is where we find the nation at this time. They were now a defeated and conquered people. The glory that they once had was now gone and they were being lead away from their homes and land to a place they knew nothing about. Some were wondering if they were ever going to recover what they once had. But thanks be to God that even when are at our lowest God doesn’t forget about us and gives us a word to encourage and lift us. The word came to came to Ezekiel in a foreign land.
One Heart
One Heart
The heart is the center of spiritual activity and everyday life. This is much like the physical heart, when it is well the quality of life is good. When it becomes diseased the quality of life is poor. With continued the illness the heart will stop functioning at all and death ensues. The spiritual heart of man reflects the spiritual condition of man. If this spiritual heart is good condition then good activity flows from it. If this heart is in a poor condition then dark and poor activity flows from it. Jesus states:
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Jesus then highlights what these evil things are:
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Before the Israel lost the war with Babylon its heart was bad. In other words their core values were corrupt. Nothing that they did was pleasing to God. Sure they stated that they were God’s people but they sure did not act like it. They did not treat their neighbors right. They twisted justice to a point it could not be found. They did what they wanted without concern for others of the consequences. Abuse and denigration happened on a wide scale. And even though they claimed to know the Lord God of Israel they pick up and worshiped other gods on the side. Their heart was dark. Their heart was sinful.
A heart that is marred by sin is a heart that can not stay focused on God. It will always seek a way to please itself and not God. It will always be a heart that is divided in its loyalty to whom it is going to serve.
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Which in turn made the nation double minded and unstable:
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
A disloyal, double minded and unstable anything is no good for use. Especially if that use was to be a witness for the goodness of God. Thankfully God is a god of grace and second chances. He truly loved His people and He was not going to leave them out there like that. God was going to pick them up, clean them off and give them a another chance. And the first step was to give them a new heart.
This wold be heart that was not focused on the worry that this life brings, but on the overcoming power the God brings. This would be a heart that is consistent with proclamation of the belief in God and in action. A heart that is fixed in who God is, and does not let the wind of the times change that position. A heart that is patient, joyful, enduring, and full of grace and mercy. This new heart is one that urns to seek the Master’s Will desires to perform it. This heart does not tire of the journey but takes joy in it, for it yields the fruit of the Spirit which is a witness to fellowship it as with God.
New Spirit
New Spirit
With a new heart comes a new spirit. Some time ago my mother had triple by pass heart surgery. One morning she got up went to the bathroom and passed out. After being taken to the hospital test were performed and it was found that she had three blocked arteries. Well the they could not open those arteries with a stint and they couldn’t leave alone. The only option was to perform the a by pass. After the operation was done my mother said she had more energy after the surgery than before. That is because the bypass made her heart feel like new. Better blood flow, better energy. I say all that to say that when God gives you a new heart you are going to get a new energy. This energy is not physical energy, it is spiritual energy or Spirit.
This new Spirit is one that moves you closer to God. It is a spirit that gives you the power to have a principled walk. Meaning that this is a walk that has a moral character, a moral purpose. Some folks would call it a “straight” walk. Before God gave a new heart the walk was crooked. Feet were quick to walk any wicked path. A path that had its own rules that ended in dead end.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
But the end thereof are the ways of death.
However with this new spirit the walk ends in everlasting life. That is because we do not act the same as before. We know what our purpose is. We know what the goal is. And because of that we will let anything stop us from reaching that goal.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
It is this new spirit that changes your outlook on life and makes claim this scripture with certainty:
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
The Stony Heart
The Stony Heart
But before God gives this He must take some thing away. What he wants take is that heart of stone that you have. This is a heart that does not beat. If one’s heart does not beat then there is no life in that person. Some thing that is dead does not have any part with Jesus, because Jesus is Life.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Our hearts have become rock.
Our hearts can become hearts of stone. They can become stone because of the things that we experienced in our everyday life. From the loses that we had, to the way others have treated us they have hardened our hearts. Our hearts become hardened because we do not want to feel that pain again. We have now become closed up, cynical and cold to those that are around us. These stony hearts are hearts that do not feel compassion for others. Cries for help fall in deafen ears. Deafened because our own pain and sorrow. Our ears have become deaf to the voice of the God, because we feel like Martha.
Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.
We blame God for the bad that has happened to us. We trusted Him, believed in Him and terrible things still happened. We close our ears and hearts thinking that God has failed us. All because we don’t want to get hurt again, all the while we miss the comforting words of Jesus saying that He is the resurrection and the life. The resurrection for your hopes and dreams. The life for your today. What you have just been through is not the end because I hold your future. However for you to live again the stony heart must be removed. So that a heart of flesh can be given.
This heart of flesh will now beat with new life. Beating and pumping the life giving blood of hope, compassion, and love to every fiber of our being.
Heart Transplant
Heart Transplant
The only way that people get a new heart when the old fails in through a transplant. However that heart must come from someone has died and donated it. There are many that are on a waiting list for new heart. Many pass away before becomes available. It is not like anyone is going to willingly die so that someone else can get there heart. The other issue with this is while there might be hearts available not everyone is going to be a match. The blood type is wrong or even if it is correct the recipient’s body might reject the heart because it is foreign to it. Let us use the same criteria here.
First of all no one from the Nation of Israel could be a donor, because everyone had the same disease. All of them a divide loyalty and sin that effected them all. It would be like swapping out a bad part for another bad part. Everybody would have been same condition they started out with. So where was God going to get this heart from. Thanks Be to God that He is never stumped. He always has an answer. That answer is Jesus, His only Son.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
God gave His Son.
A Son that had a good heart.
A Son that was without sin.
A Son that did His Will.
A Son that He was pleased with.
This son was given so that man could have a new heart. A new spirit and a new life.
This son showed everyone that His heart was good
This son showed everyone that he had compassion.
This son showed everyone that he had mercy.
This son showed everyone that he had fellowship with the Father.
When took that Cross it was prep time for the transplant.
When that hammer drove those nails in His hands the first cut was made.
When that spike went through His feet the ribs were spread.
When He was hung high the bypass machine was turned on.
When he hung His head and died the heart was stopped.
When put in the tomb the heart was removed.
When He stayed in grave all night Friday and all day Saturday the recipient was getting prepped.
Then early Sunday Morning the Son Rose with all power in His Hand to put His heart in you.