As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before
God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me,
Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. For I
had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice
of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast down, O
my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet
praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast
down within me. Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the
Hermanites from the hill Mazar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy
waterspouts. All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the Lord
will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall
be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. You know, are you noticing about
these Psalms that this isn't just some intellectual book that's being read here?
This is someone crying out to God, saying that their their soul is thirsting for
him, their tears, describing their tears, you know, being their meat day and night,
and this person just seems to be in despair, right? But usually at the end of
these Psalms they're reminded the fact that we need to trust in the Lord, that
God's gonna deliver us, that God is there for us, God cares about us, God loves us.
Go to Psalm 58. There's even some emotional Psalms in the Bible that are
negative emotions, too. And let's be honest, Christianity is not just this
rainbow butterfly Joel Osteen creepy Joker smile on our face at all times.
There's a lot of negative in this life, too. And I like the fact that the Bible
actually has some pretty gnarly Psalms because, you know, I've lived this life
when there's times where I feel the exact same way as the psalmist does. Look
at Psalm 58. It says, Do you indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do you
judge uprightly, O you sons of men? Yea, in heart you work wickedness. You weigh
the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb.
They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the
poison of a serpent. They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which
will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Break
their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O
Lord. Let them melt away as waters which run continually when he bendeth his bow
to shoot his arrows. Let them be as cut in pieces as a snail which melteth. Let
every one of them pass away like the untimely birth of a woman that they may
not see the sun. That's pretty intense right there. That's an emotional
Psalm that we're reading. But, you know, at times don't we feel like we just want
God to break the teeth of the wicked? You know, I felt this way yesterday when I
saw some clip of Kamala Harris at one of her rallies and someone stood up during
a rally and started shouting that Jesus is Lord. And what did Kamala Harris
respond? You know, she's so wicked she can't even play lip service to
pretending like she loves Jesus like the Republicans do, which the Republicans
don't love Jesus, but at least they pay lip service to it, right? Well, someone
shouts out, you know, Jesus is Lord and what does Kamala Harris say? Oh, you're in
the wrong rally. You're at the wrong rally. What is she saying? She says, I
hate Jesus Christ. And by the way, Democrats hate Jesus. Democrats are of
the devil. They are demonic. You cannot be a Christian and be a Democrat. No, you
cannot. These people are wicked. Why? Because Kamala Harris wants to butcher
and murder children. Oh, pro-choice. You're not pro-choice. You're pro-death, you sick
freak. You disgusting communist whore is what you are. To stand up and say, oh,
you're in the, you're at the wrong rally because you said Jesus is Lord. You know
what? I hope that Kamala Harris just melts like a snail. I hope that Kamala
Harris, just her heart hardens like a stone and she keels over and dies before
millions of people on live television. Why? Because look at verse number, number
10. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. You know, if I saw
that stupid, God-hating whore die, you know what I would do? I would rejoice. I
would be happy. I would be shouting for joy if I saw Kamara Kamala Harris die. He
shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked so that a man shall say, barely
there is a reward for the righteous. Barely he is a God that judges in the
earth. And you know what? Our God is not a God that just sends people to hell
when they die. He's also a God that judges people in the earth. And when
you're gonna get up and you're trying to be the leader of our nation and you
want to mock the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm telling you, God is gonna come after
you and I'm gonna pray that God comes after you. You know what? And honestly, I
wouldn't even be surprised if Kamala Harris won the presidential election
just because of how wicked our nation is and how much we deserve to have a
stupid woman whore communist president. It's what we deserve. And maybe God
needs Kamala to be our president just so he has one more reason to judge our
nation. One more reason to pour out his wrath on this nation. Because you know
what? Donald Trump is a complete fake. Donald Trump wants to stand up and act
like he's godly. He wants to act like he believes in Christianity. Well, you know
what? Kamala Harris, at least she's just the true reflection of America. Because
America is not full of godly people right now. You know what America is full
of? America is full of people that just openly despise God. And so maybe we
deserve a whore like her to be our president because it's a reflection of
who we are. And maybe we'll get to see God's judgment on our nation and we
could rejoice over him destroying the wicked. You know, Psalms is pretty
emotional, isn't it? I get a little emotional thinking about that Psalm
right there. But hey, at least I don't have a hard heart like that female dog.
Go to Matthew chapter 19, Matthew 19.
You know, a hard heart comes from not getting the right nutrition. Number two, a
hard heart comes from hanging on to grudges. Matthew 19 verse 3, the Bible
says, the Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him, is it
lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and
said unto them, have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made
them male and female? And said for this cause shall a man leave father and
mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore
they are no more twain but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined
together, let not man put asunder. So Jesus is answering this question here.
The Pharisees ask him, hey is it lawful to put away your wife for every cause?
And here's the short answer, no it is not. It absolutely is not. Look at verse 7,
they say unto him, why did Moses then command to give a writing of
divorcement and to put her away? Verse 8 is the key verse here. Look, he sayeth
unto them, Moses, notice, because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to
put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so. So what is it
that caused these people to seek a bill of divorcement under Moses? The hardness
of their hearts. Look at verse number 9, and I say unto you, whosoever shall put
away his wife except it be for fornication and shall marry another
commiteth adultery. Whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
So you know in this passage we learn what is the root cause of why people
seek divorce. The root cause is people hardening their hearts. Hardening their
hearts. And what does that come through? Well, it comes through bitterness. It comes
through holding on to grudges. Because why is it that people get divorced? It's
because they perceive that their spouse did something wrong to them or their
spouse actually did do something wrong to them and instead of forgiving them,
realizing that we're all sinners, trying to reconcile the relationship, they
harden their heart against that person and bitterness grows and so what do they
seek divorce? And Jesus is teaching that you can't get divorced. That if you put
away your wife and marry another, you're committing adultery. And here's the thing,
he says that there's one exception to this which is fornication. And notice the
King James Bible, it does not say sexual immorality like the new versions do or
does not say adultery. It says that except for the cause of fornication. Now
what is fornication? It's when people go to bed together before marriage. So
according to the Bible, you know, if you got married and you go to the wedding
bed on the wedding night and you find out that she's not a virgin, that there's
some uncleanness in her, that she's lied to you, that she's been a whore, well
before that marriage is consummated, you can annul that marriage and it would not
be adultery according to the Word of God. But even so, you know, why would someone
want to do that? Well, it'd be because of the hardness of their hearts, right?
Because, you know, you had Joseph who he thought that his wife Mary had been
through this exact scenario, but yet the Bible says that Joseph being a just man
did not want to put her away publicly, right? So what is the reason why people
get divorced? Well, it's because of a hardness of heart. Look at verse number
10, it says, his disciples say unto him, if the case of the man be so with his
wife, it is good not it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, all men
cannot receive this saying, save today to whom it is given. So, you know, when they
hear this truth from the Word of God, what do they do? They harden their
hearts even further and saying, well then maybe we should just shouldn't get
married. And, you know, this is very applicable in our day and age that
we're living in, because there's a lot of young men that have this
exact same attitude, where they're just saying like, well, you know what, it's
probably best just not to get married because, you know, she could divorce you,
she could take your money, she could do all these things, she could cheat on you,
right? And men today are just hardening their hearts away from what God has
taught that we should get married, that we should stay married, and they're just
deciding not to get married at all. But here's the thing, people in marriage, you
are going to have issues in your marriage. Why? Because it is one sinner
being married to another sinner. So, if you think you're gonna get married and
not have problems, not have fights, not have that person sin against you, you
know, you're living in a fairy tale, you're living in La La Land, that's not
reality. The truth is, you, husband, are a sinner, and you're gonna do things
against your wife that are wrong. And you know what, it's up to the wife to say, you
know what, I do things that are wrong too, I need to forgive my spouse and still
love and respect him. And vice versa, you know, ladies, you are gonna do things
wrong to your husband. You are going to transgress against him, you are gonna
have bad days, and it's up to the husband to realize, hey, just like I'm a sinner, my
wife is also a sinner, and you need to just let go. You need to forgive. Why?
Because if you just build up bitterness, if you decide to just hang on to grudges,
you know what it's gonna happen? It's gonna harden your heart. And you want to
know why people get divorced? Through a hardening of their heart. And just like
we talked about, this does not happen overnight. You don't drink one Coke and
you die of a heart attack. Well, your marriage does not die in one night.
Oftentimes, it's day by day, hanging on to grudges, hanging on to bitterness,
hardening your heart a little bit here, a little bit there, till all of a sudden
your marriage is destroyed. Till all of a sudden someone's filing a divorce. It
comes from hardening your heart. Go to Colossians chapter number three,
Colossians 3.
Colossians 3. Now, here in Colossians, the Bible gives a very quick statement,
instructions to the wife and to the man. And God gives the instructions that it
seems that each party struggles with the most. And in verse number 18 of Colossians
3, the Bible says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it
is fit in the Lord. And, you know, when it comes to ladies in a marriage,
probably the thing that they struggle with the most because of their sin
nature is submission unto their husband. And especially in this day and age where
everything is promoting feminism, everything is promoting for wives to
rebel, for wives not to listen to their husband. You know, women are called a
doormat if they obey their husband. They're looked at as a poor little house
slave, right? It could be easy for a woman to harden her heart against what
the Bible teaches and think, I don't need to submit to him, right? But what does
that come from? Hardening your heart. And men, look at verse 19, husbands, love your
wives and be not bitter against them. What do men have a tendency to do when
their wife does something wrong or their wife is doing something that's not
pleasing to them? What do they often do? They often hold bitterness. Instead of
correcting the issue, talking about it, men are the ones that usually don't like
to talk, right? Men are the ones that just keep everything bottled in. And so God is
telling us to not be bitter against our wives. Why? Because if you decide to be
bitter against your wife, you're gonna start hardening your heart. And it makes
no sense whatsoever to do this because you're literally shooting yourself in
the foot. Because you're the one that has to live with her. You're the one that has
to be married to her. You can't divorce her. The Bible's against divorce. It's
till death do us part. So it makes no sense whatsoever to sit here and just
harden your heart against your wife who you have to see tomorrow and the next
day and the next day until you die. It makes a lot more sense to actually be
humble, to actually be spiritual, and to soften your heart to your wife, to
forgive her, to not hold bitterness against her because you're only hurting
yourself. You're only hurting your children when your marriage is hurting.
You know, men today are very selfish and they want to just hang on to bitterness
against their wives. But you know what? You're hurting your children by them
seeing a bad marriage and you're hurting yourself by having a bad marriage
because you're with her till death do us part. Now let's go to Ephesians chapter
number four, Ephesians chapter number four.
You know, not only should we just make sure that we're not being bitter to our
spouse, which this is usually the person that people are the most bitter with
unfortunately, but we should apply this to every human relationship that we have.
Look at Ephesians 4 31. It says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and
clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one
to another. Notice, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you. So notice, what is the opposite of bitterness?
Being tender-hearted. What are we talking about this morning? Not hardening our
hearts. How is it that we can keep our hearts soft? It's by being forgiving of
one another. It's by not holding on to bitterness of one another. And yes, this
applies to our marriage. But you know, this also should apply to our friends
too. Because let me just tell you something. Not only is your wife a sinner,
not only is your husband a sinner, but your friend is a sinner too. Your fellow
church member is a sinner. Your pastor is a sinner. Your boss is a sinner. Every
single human being on this earth is a sinner. And if you just have this
unrealistic expectation that people could just never cross you, people can
never say something wrong, people can never do something dumb in your presence,
or you're just ready to cut them off and ruin a relationship, you know, you're
gonna be a very lonely person. And our church is gonna be a very cold place
where there's not a lot of love if we're not forgiving and tender-hearted towards
each other. You know, you don't have to call out every single dumb thing someone
says. You don't have to nitpick every single thing that your friend does. You
don't have to, you know, unfriend someone for every single stupid thing that they
post, though it's tempting sometimes, I know, right? But here's the thing, we should be
tender-hearted towards each other, forgiving each other. Notice, even as God,
for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. You know, God is looking down from heaven and
seeing us do so many stupid things every day, and saying stupid things, and
thinking stupid things, and doing stupid things, and you know what, God never takes
His love away from us. God never forsakes us. God never takes away His mercy from
us. God continues to love us no matter what we do. And you know what, the Bible
says, a friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. And that
is how we should be as a church, where, you know what, we just love each other at
all times, on our good days and on our bad days as well. Continue to love each
other. Go to Mark 11, and I'll read for you Hebrews 12 14. The Bible says,
follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. You know, when
you allow bitterness to enter your heart, you're allowing it to trouble you. You're
not hurting anyone else necessarily by being bitterness, at least not at
first. Who you're hurting at first is yourself. Plus, what you're doing is
you're allowing someone else to control you, which is really weird. You know, your
friend does something mean to you, and you just think about it all day and all
night and the next day. And what you're doing is you're allowing someone's
transgression to run your life. They're living rent-free in your head.
You know what you should do? You should rather just forgive them. Let all
bitterness be put away from among you. You know what will help with that? Just read
the Bible. You know, whenever you feel like that mentally, you know what you need
to do? You need to turn off the phone. You need to get away. You need to just read
the Bible by yourself, and it'll help renew your mind. Mark 11 25, and when you
stand praying, forgive if you have ought against any, that your father also which
is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive,
neither will your father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. So notice,
again, it hurts yourself by being bitter, by being unforgiving, by holding on to
grudges. What are you doing? You're hardening your heart. You're ruining
relationships that you have in your life. You're allowing other people to control
your emotions, control your mind, and on top of that, now God is against you. Now
God is not going to be as forgiving to you of your sins, of your issues, when you
are not forgiving to others. So you say, I want God to be very merciful with me. I
want God to have a very long leash with me before he comes down hard on me. Well,
guess what? You have to be that way with others. But if you treat other people
like you're just gonna hold their feet to the fire for every little thing, you
better believe that that's how your life is gonna be with God. And so, you know
what? We need to err on the side of grace, err on the side of being too
forgiving than just holding everyone's feet to the fire because that's going to
be unprofitable for your own life. Go to Deuteronomy 15, Deuteronomy 15. So, you
know, we've talked about how a hard heart, what causes it? Bad nutrition, bad
spiritual nutrition. What happens when you have a hard heart? Well, it comes from
being bitter, comes from being unforgiving towards people. Number three, a
hard heart comes from being selfish, being selfish. When we live lives that
are focused too much on ourselves, we're the only person we're thinking about,
it's gonna cause our hearts to be hardened. Let me show you that in Deuteronomy
15. Verse number six, the Bible says, For the Lord thy God blesseth thee as he
promised thee, and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow,
and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. If
there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in
thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, notice, thou shalt not harden thine
heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother, but thou shalt open thine hand
wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he
wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The
seventh year, the year of release, is at hand, and thine eye be evil against thy
poor neighbor, and thou giveth him not, and he cry unto the Lord against thee,
and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be
grieved when thou giveth unto him, because that for this thing the Lord thy
God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand
unto. So if you notice in this situation, in verse six, God is describing how this
nation is gonna be extremely blessed. I mean, they're gonna be in charge, they're
gonna be ruling, they're gonna be blessed by God, but yet sometimes when we're
blessed, when we're in a good position, you know, it could be tempting to only
think about ourselves, right? People have a good career, people start making good
money, and what are they obsessed with? They're obsessed with themselves, and
they're obsessed with buying the next car, buying the next biggest house, you
know, as getting as much goods as they possibly can, but we have to remember
sometimes there's a brother that needs help. Sometimes there's other people out
there that need help, and the Bible says thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor
shut thine hand from thy poor brother. So notice, when someone needs help,
especially your brethren, and you can help them, but you refuse to do so, you're
hardening your heart. Now the Bible doesn't say, hey, you don't have
money, you know, you're barely making ends meet, well just give all your money to
someone else. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible doesn't say like, hey,
you know, you have no time, you don't have any time you could give to someone else,
you know, just forget your family, don't give your family, just help other
people at the expense of your own family. That's not what the Bible's teaching, but
the Bible's teaching, when you can help, when you do have extra to help someone,
when you do have some extra time, when you do, you know, have nothing going on,
and you could give more time to your brothers or to someone that has need, you
should do that. And when you don't, when you refuse to do that, you're hardening
your heart. And the Bible says that it's a thought in your wicked heart, right?
Saying, oh, the seventh year, the year of release is at hand. You know, this person's
thinking like, hey, this person's gonna be fine financially in a few months anyways,
you know, why should I, why should I help him, why should I give him help? Well it's
like, if he needs help right now, he needs help right now, and you shouldn't have
this wicked thought in your heart. Go to Galatians chapter number six, Galatians
chapter number six, you know, we live in generation selfie, generation me, right?
This is a generation that loves themselves, that only thinks about themselves, you know,
and that is, that is anti-Christian, you know, the Bible is constantly telling us
to love others, to esteem others better than ourselves, to put other people's
needs first, to serve other people, you know, whoever's greatest among you is the
person that serves, right? Look at this verse in Galatians 6-7,
be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,
for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the
spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. Notice, and let us not be weary in well-doing,
for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. So notice,
the Bible doesn't say do good to everyone, no matter what, at the expense of yourself,
at the expense of your family's finances, at the expense of your family's time, no, the Bible says,
as we have therefore opportunity, meaning you are able to help someone else, you do have extra,
you can assist someone, it says, let us do good unto who? All men, especially unto them
who are of the household of faith. So you know, as we have opportunity, if God has given you
financial means, if God has given you time or some other way to help another individual,
to bless another individual, you should be willing to do that to anyone, saved or unsaved,
but especially to someone that's saved. Meaning, you know, if two people are asking you for help,
one's saved, one's unsaved, I'm going with a saved person every single time.
But that doesn't mean that we can't even help unsaved people. You know, and us in our lives,
we need to make sure that we're not hardening our hearts by being selfish, because there's
some things that all of us can do for other people, regardless of our situation. How about
praying for other people? You know, this is a good way that you could do good unto other people,
to all men, but especially to those that believe, is by praying for other people. And you know,
in our bulletin, we have the prayer list. It's not just some decoration to fill space in our
bulletin. It's so that we could actually love each other, so that we could actually think about
other people, not just hardening our hearts, thinking about ourselves. And I have a feeling
that a lot of people, when they pray, it's me, me, me, me, me, me, me. And look, there's nothing
wrong asking God for things for you, but you know what? It says something about your heart when you
only pray for yourself. You know, men, you better be praying for your wife. You better be praying
for your children. You know, we should be praying for each other. We should be praying for Pastor
Shelley. We should be praying for other churches that are going through issues. We should be
praying for our evangelist, Brother Urbanik, in the Philippines. You know, we should be praying
for other people. How about, you know, when a visitor comes to church, you know, let us,
when we have opportunity, do good unto all men. You know, be a friend to that person,
you know? And let me just help you with something. Ladies, when a lady visitor comes,
please you be the friend to them, all right? Unless you're single guys and she's single,
then you be a friend, okay? But you know, some lady comes, maybe she's married, her husband
doesn't come. You know, ladies, that's on you, okay? Don't just sit around waiting for all the
men because we're not going to go do it. If a lady comes, go be your friend. And men, if a man comes,
go be his friend. Go be kind to him. Go be nice to him. You know, that's how we should be as a
church, that we're doing good unto all men. When someone's sick in our church, pray for them,
ask them if they need something, you know, bring a meal to them, whatever you can do.
You know, when I think about as we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
I often think about the story of the Good Samaritan, how someone's on the side of the
road and they're in bad shape. I often think about just emergencies in day-to-day life,
where, you know, you're going to drive past someone, you know, perhaps in your life that
just had a car accident and no one's there to help them. You know, police isn't on scene yet,
EMS isn't on scene yet, or there's an accident at work, someone's hurt. You know, us as Christians,
we should be the first people willing to help. When someone needs help, we should be the first
people that, yes, it's inconvenient. Yes, you know, it's going to bother our day. Yeah, we
might be late to an appointment or something like that. But you know what, when someone needs help,
we should be the example to this world. That, yeah, we're, as Christians, we actually love
people, we actually want to help individuals. And, you know, if you're ever late to work
because you're helping someone that's got in a car accident, I'm never going to be upset,
or late to church for that, I'm never going to be upset about that. And hopefully, you know,
if your boss, if you're late to work because you just helped someone that got in a car accident,
I doubt your boss is really going to be upset at you. You know, he's probably going to say,
hey, good job, thanks for doing that. You know, if he has any character whatsoever.
That's how we should be as Christians. How about doing good unto all men? How about
preaching them the gospel? Look, if you want to have a soft heart, if you want to keep your
heart from hardening, soul winning is the way to do that. Because, you know, we live our lives,
and us as Christians in America, we're very blessed the way we live. But you know what,
what softens your heart is when you go to some ghetto apartment complex, and there's all these
kids running around, their parents don't care about them. They're just running around the
street. Where's mom and dad? Who knows? You know, mom's on drugs inside, or mom's a whore inside,
dad's not in the picture. And you see these little kids that have no one. No one loves them. No one
takes care of them. You know, when you preach that person the gospel, that'll soften your heart
right there. Or when you go to the nursing home, and these people are old, and they their kids
don't care about them, or they didn't have any kids, or their family is forsaken them. And you
know what, no one talks to them. No one spends time with them, and you can go there, and you
can preach them the word of God. That will soften your heart. And I just, I know this about someone,
if they have a hard heart, here's what I know about them. They're thinking too much about
themselves. They're not thinking about the word of God. They're not getting the nutrition they need,
right? They're not forgiving other people. They're saying, well, I'm right. I have a right to be mad.
I have a right to be bitter. They're being selfish. They're not serving other people.
They're not helping other men, especially their brothers in Christ. And you know what,
that is a recipe for hardening your heart. And your spiritual life will slowly decay and die,
just like a man that eats McDonald's every day of his life. His heart will, you know,
slowly harden until he has a heart attack and dies. That's what your Christian life will be
like. And I just know that if a Christian is at a point in their life where their heart is hardened,
I know that they're being selfish. Go to Mark chapter six.
While you turn there, second Timothy three, two says, for men shall be lovers of their own
selves. And that is the day that we are living in today, where men just love themselves. They
wake up every day. Their thought is not what would God have me to do? How could I be a better husband?
How could I be a better father? It's just me, myself, and I. And the way that they spend their
money is just on themselves. The way they spend their time is just on themselves. And it's the
same thing a lot of times for ladies, for kids, for everyone. This generation loves themselves
way too much. We have to remind ourselves to love others. Now we're wrapping up here soon,
but I do want to read a large portion of scripture here in Mark chapter six, because I think this
story illustrates how even good Christians, even disciples can harden their hearts.
Mark six, verse 31. And he said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest
awhile. For there were many coming and going when they had no leisure so much as to eat. So
understand the context of what we're about to read here. Jesus and the disciples are working so hard.
They don't even have leisure to eat. I mean, they're, they're so busy serving others,
preaching gospel. They don't even remember if they had a lunch break or not. They don't have the
luxury of having a meal. That's working really hard, right? And Jesus is saying, Hey, I want you
to come apart to a desert place and rest for awhile. So Jesus is saying like, Hey, you guys
are about to have a much needed vacation. And if you've ever, you know, been working super, super
hard and you get this opportunity, you're really looking forward to it, right? You're looking
forward to just having some rest, having some leisure. Keep that in mind as we read verse 32,
and they departed into a desert place by ship privately. And the people saw them departing
and many knew him and ran a foot thither out of all cities and out went them and came together
unto him. So when they're going on this vacation, they depart, they go away by themselves, but all
the people see Jesus that he's departing and they go out in front of him and meet him to where he's
going. Verse number 34. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people and notice his reaction and
was moved with compassion toward them. So notice Jesus, when he's about to take a break and he
realizes that's about not to happen, you know, the vacation's canceled, your time off is canceled.
He sees all these people that need him to do some more work. They need him to minister unto them.
What was his response? He was moved with compassion. Why? Because Jesus was not selfish.
He's the most selfless person that's ever lived because they were a sheep, not having a shepherd.
And he began to teach them many things. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto
him and they, and said, this is a desert place. And now the time is far past. So I kind of sense
some sarcasm here from the disciples. He's like, yeah, yeah, this has been a great camping trip.
We are in a desert place. Yeah, we're really alone here. And now it's over, right? They're kind of
disappointed. And you can't really judge them too harshly here because I'm sure many of us would
have the same attitude, you know, where you're looking forward to vacation and it's canceled.
It's frustrating. Right. But look at verse number 36, send them away. They said that they may go
into the country roundabout and into the villages and buy themselves bread for they have nothing to
eat. He answered and said unto them, give ye them to eat. And they said unto him, shall we go and
buy 200 penny worth of bread and give them to eat? So the disciples are saying, Hey, Jesus, send
these people away. They need to go buy some food for themselves. They need to go take care of
themselves. And Jesus is saying, well, why don't you just take care of them? And they're not really
in the frame of mind, ready to hear that at this time, right? They want to eat. They want to have
vacation. Verse 38. He saith unto them, how many loaves have ye? Go and see. And when they knew,
they say five and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the
green grass. And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties. And when he had taken the five
loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven and blessed and break the loaves and gave them to
his disciples to set before them. And the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did
all eat and were filled. So notice Jesus says, Hey, I want you guys to take care of them.
But the disciples, they didn't feel like they could. They felt like they were too weary.
They were at the end of their rope. They wanted a vacation. But Jesus said, Hey,
how many loaves do you have? And you know, one of the lessons I think we can learn from that
is that God will always equip us with what we need to continue serving others.
It's not like we are going to just, you know, burn out and not be able to serve him anymore.
If we're doing things under the power of God, if we're trusting in God, if we're trusting in the
Holy Spirit, if we have the right nutrition coming in, you know what we will always have enough to
give other people we're not going to run out. We have we have the fishes, we have the loaves,
we can give it out to people. But it's just our own hardening of our heart that wants us to stop
serving others. This is why the Bible says be not weary and well doing. Because it's natural for us
to get tired of doing what's right, to get tired of serving others. And that's what is happening
to them. Look at verse number 43. And they took up 12 baskets full of the fragments and of the fishes.
And they that did eat of the loaves were about 5000 men. And straightway he constrained his
disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent
away the people. When he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even
was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling
and rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them. And about the fourth watch of the night he cometh
unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon
the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit and cried out. For they all saw him and were troubled.
And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid.
So when they see Jesus walking on the sea, they're kind of missing out on the epic sight
that they're seeing. And wouldn't all of us love to have seen this sight of Jesus walking on the
water? But instead of the disciples taking it in, and soaking it in that, wow, we're seeing the Lord
Jesus Christ walking on the water, they're screaming, they're losing their mind, they
think that they're seeing a spirit. And the reason why is because where their heart is, and I'll show
you that, notice verse number 50. For they all saw him and were troubled, and immediately he
talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And he went up
unto them into the ship, and the wind ceased, and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure
and wondered. Notice verse 52, this is very important. For they considered not the miracle
of the loaves. Why? For their heart was hardened. What was the problem with the disciples here?
You know, their heart was hardened. Why? Because they were being selfish. And look, we may even
look at their situation and sympathize with them. And from a carnal humanistic perspective, be like,
I kind of understand why your heart was hardened, right? I mean, you're not even, you're working so
hard that you can't even get a lunch break. And Jesus says, hey, we're going to go take a vacation.
We're going to go apart in the desert. And it's just immediately ruined like that. And you're
now looking at other people. And instead of being moved with compassion like Jesus is, you're saying,
send them away. I don't want to deal with them anymore. And you know what? People can get like
this today. You can get like this today, where, you know, you maybe feel like you're weary,
like you're working a lot. You know, it's like, oh man, I work a job. And on top of that, I'm
going soul winning. I'm going to church three times a week. And it's just like, man, do I
really have to go soul winning? Do I really have to preach this person the gospel? And you could
just be like, man, I just want to send this person away. That is a thought that probably all of us
will have at some point in our life. But remember and notice, if you feel that way, you're feeling
that way because your heart is being hardened, because you're being selfish. Because at the end
of the day, you know, this life is not about us. This life is not about can I have leisure? Can I
have comfort? Can I have vacations? This life is about serving other people. And that's the model.
That's the example that the Lord Jesus Christ showed us that he's working harder than anyone.
And even when he gets to take a break, he's willing to scrap all of it to serve someone else.
He's willing to get rid of his time off to preach someone the gospel. And the apostles,
they're living through this amazing time, seeing the Lord Jesus Christ in action, seeing his
earthly ministry, seeing him perform miracles, seeing him walk on the water, but they're missing
out on it because their heart was hardened. And, you know, this is what I want us to close on this
thought is that I truly believe that God wants to do a great work with you as a person and with your
family as individuals. And I just worry for people that they're missing out on what God is doing for
them in their life and what God has planned for them because they're allowing their heart to be
hardened. You know, especially like when you have young kids, it's very overwhelming. It's crazy.
It's very hard. Okay. It's not an easy thing when you have lots of little kids, man, you could just
feel burnt out and you can just feel like, man, I can't do this anymore. But what be careful though,
because if you're, if you have that selfish attitude, that selfish thought you could be missing
seeing what God is doing in your children's lives. I'll give you an example. You know,
I got saved at about 15 or 16 years old. I don't remember exactly how old I was. I think 16 years
old, but you know, I read the Bible for the first time when I was 16. And so like the first time I
ever read the days of creation or the plagues of Egypt or any of that stuff, I was 16 years old.
Okay. Then my daughter, Bethany and Leah are five and four years old. And they're telling me all the
days of creation. And I just, I think that's amazing. I think that is so cool that our
children are growing up and having this benefit that at a very young age, they're learning things
about the Bible and they're learning how to love God. I was outside in the backyard with my kids
the other day. We're looking at the moon, looking at the stars and my kids just out of their own
hearts, they just said, dad, I love God because he created everything. And I'm just like,
that is amazing. Right. But you know, we can just focus on, it's so hard to raise kids
and there's all these problems. There's all these diapers. It's so expensive. You could get so
hardened in yourself, thinking about yourself, that you're missing what God is doing in your
family. And you know what? We could do that as a church too. I believe that God has a great future
for this church. I believe that God wants to do great things through this group of believers right
here. But you know what? You're going to miss it. If you harden your heart, you're going to miss it.
If you start ingesting a bunch of junk and not the word of God, if you start caring more about
politics and podcasts and TV shows and movies and music, if that's all you care about in your life,
you're going to harden your heart. You need to make sure you have the right nutrition.
Okay. You need to make sure also that you're loving other people, that you're not just focused
on yourself, that you're not just thinking, what can I do with my life this week? But you're
thinking about how can I serve other people? You need to make sure that you're not holding
bitterness in your heart towards your wife, towards your husband, towards the preacher,
towards your brothers or sisters in this church. Because if you do that, you know what? You might
be a great person. You might be saved. Guess what? So were the disciples. And yet they missed out
on some awesome things in the Lord's ministry because they hardened their heart. And you know
what? I want to make sure that us as a church, we're not missing out on the great things that
God has for us by hardening our hearts. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you for this
day. Thank you for the word of God. I just pray that you'd help these truths to sink into our
hearts, that we would never harden our hearts against you or against the word of God or against
our brethren. Help us to read the Bible every day, to let it sink in. Help us to not hold on
to bitterness, but to be forgiving and loving towards each other. And help us to dedicate
our lives, not to pleasing ourselves, but to serving other people. We love you. In Jesus' name, we pray.
Hymn number 97.
We'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord. No tender voice like thine can please afford.
I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now my Savior.
I come to thee. I need thee every hour. Stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power when thou art nigh.
I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now my Savior. I come to thee.
I need thee every hour. Enjoy your pain. Come quickly and abide, for life is vain.
I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now my Savior. I come to thee.
I need thee every hour, most holy wine. Oh, make me thy deed. Thou blessed sign. I need thee, oh, I need thee.
Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now my Savior. I come to thee.