Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: HLFT
Program Code: HLFT000021B
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00:01 Welcome back. We're talking today about the washed heart:
00:03 how the word of God transforms us, 00:06 how the word of God empowers us and sets us free. 00:10 You might notice I've got a couple bowls 00:12 up here in front of me. 00:14 This is a rock that my husband Greg went out and picked up. 00:18 It actually comes from our gravel road 00:20 out front of our house. 00:21 What happens if I put it in the water? 00:24 Now is the rock getting soft? 00:29 This is a funny question. 00:33 Obviously, you know the rock's not going to get soft. 00:36 I can soak this rock all day, I could soak it a year, 00:39 you could throw it in the ocean, and it might become 00:41 a little smoother. 00:43 That might happen, but that's it. 00:45 Now what about the sponge? 00:48 What if I put this sponge in the water? 00:52 What's going to happen? 00:53 Can you see what's happening? 00:55 It's becoming soft. 00:57 It's absorbing the water. 00:59 Pretty soon I can buckle it, and it's absorbing the water. 01:03 I like to think of that as what happens when the word of God 01:08 comes to touch us. 01:09 What if the word of God... 01:11 What if I have a hard heart and I read the word of God. 01:15 And I'm like, I'm reading it to start an argument. 01:18 I'm reading it to prove a point. 01:21 I'm reading the word of God just to criticize someone else. 01:25 I think that's a hard heart. 01:27 And if you read it you're not going to get a whole lot of 01:29 benefit, or softening from the word of God. 01:32 However, if we ask God to come into our heart, and we say, 01:39 Please, I want to become soft. 01:41 I want to become pliable. 01:43 You know what happens when we get into the word of God? 01:46 It's going to soak in. 01:48 We're going to absorb the word. 01:50 It's going to become a part of who we are. 01:54 The difference is in the heart. 01:56 And in Ezekiel it tells us, A new heart I'll give you, 01:59 and a new spirit I'll put within you. 02:01 God wants to take away from us this heart of stone, 02:05 give us a heart of flesh, so that we easily soak 02:08 up the word of God. 02:10 Now this week what I want you to do, if you followed along with 02:14 Heart Lift from the very beginning, then I pray that God 02:18 is already working in your life transformation. 02:23 Write down... It's good to chronicle a journal and see 02:26 where God has brought us from. 02:28 So write down... Get out your journal, and write down 02:32 in what ways has God transformed me? 02:35 How am I different? 02:37 You might say, My interactions with other people are different. 02:40 Maybe the ways I respond to other people are a 02:43 little bit different. 02:44 Maybe the way I treat people is different. 02:46 Maybe some of those habits, God is in the process of 02:50 breaking off, and you notice a difference already in your life. 02:54 Maybe the things you used to like, 02:56 you're starting to dislike. 02:57 And the things you used to hate, you're starting to like. 03:00 That's evidence of the Lord working in your heart. 03:03 Maybe motivations, why you do the things you do, maybe you 03:07 notice that that's starting to change. 03:09 Maybe your desire for God, and for His word is strengthening. 03:15 All of those are signs that God is working in your life. 03:19 It's a beautiful thing. 03:21 All He asks is a willing heart. 03:23 All He asks is for us to come to Him and say, Lord Jesus, 03:28 I want to be changed. 03:30 I want to be made into Your image. Please change me. 03:35 Our next program we're going to be discussing the pruned heart. 03:40 You won't want to miss that program. 03:43 In conclusion is our Scripture, as we always share. 03:46 Romans 15:13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy 03:52 and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, 03:56 by the power of the Holy Spirit. |
Revised 2016-05-03