The Danger Of A Hardened Heart (With Greg Laurie)

hey everybody thanks for watching our YouTube channel we're constantly updating it with new content and never-seen-before content so if you want to get the latest from harvest hit the subscribe button well let's pray Lord that is who you are you are the great I am you are our provider you are our protector you are our friend you are our Lord and we come to you now with a heart open to what your word will say to us as we talk about the heart as we talk about how our hearts can get heart help us Lord to never have a hardened heart and if there's someone listening or watching right now whose heart has grown hard help it to soften and become tender and beery sensitized to the nudging of your Holy Spirit so we commit this time a Bible study to you now in Jesus name we pray amen you can all be seated hey let's uh grab our Bibles and turn to Exodus chapter 5 and the title of my message today is the danger of a hardened heart I was talking with pastor Adam a few moments ago he mentioned a letter I wrote to Kanye West actually it's an open letter and it just is posted today on Fox News and you can go and read it Fox news.com or you can go to my Twitter feed or you can go to my facebook page and it's there as well but I just used this a story that a lot of people are talking about about Kanye's profession of faith to just talk about what every young Christian needs to know also wanted to mention that this last week I had the privilege on Tuesday to go to Washington DC and be at the White House and we were able to meet [Applause] I'm a part of something called a faith advisory board to the president with well there's probably about sixty people on it all together new names are being added to it but around twenty five of us went to the White House we met with White House staffers and I have to tell you that this administration is very open to the input of Christians and without question and they're asking us what what are you thinking what are you concerned about and they're taking notes and they're listening and they're passing this information on to the president so here's a picture from one of our meetings that we had there in the White House you can see there's the president and the foreground I'm Way in the background with a bald head and so that that was where we met I with the president then this next picture is is he's addressing us I'm way in the back there they kept pushing me to the back they said we don't want you anywhere close to him so there I am in the back there once again and then this final photo is the most important there we are praying for the president and so [Applause] some might say oh that's just a photo-op that's just politics that's just look any time a person in a position like our president would ask for prayer you better believe I will pray for them and I'm told in Scripture to do that and he and he wanted it and he received it and it was not a short quick little prayer and so I think this is a great thing and you know sometimes people are critical because people get really worked up over anything political right and I've said this before believe me or don't believe me but I'm just telling you right now I would pray for any elected official if I was asked to do it Republican Democrat independent any of them I would pray for them and why why would I do that because oh well I didn't vote for that person so we shouldn't pray for them excuse me you should pray who for whoever is in office because if you believe the Bible you believe that they've been placed there by God and first Timothy 2:1 says I urge petitions prayers intercession and Thanksgiving be me for all people for kings and those in authority so when the most powerful men on earth asks you to pray for him why would you not want to do that so that's exactly what we did and and we'll continue to do as the Lord opens up the doors and I know you support this but I just wanted to give you a little update cuz you know it's always a lot of fun to go and be in the White House have to tell you and and in to me it is the greatest of privileges and and I'm not trying to be humble when I say this I have no idea how I ended up on this Advisory Group but there I am even though they pushed me toward the back I'm glad to be there all right so let's uh come to our message now again Exodus chapter 5 the danger of a hardened heart I told you about for when I was a kid I used to collect snakes I was obsessed with snakes and reptiles in general I actually considered a career in this a herpetologist is what it's called someone who is studies reptiles also known as someone who's weird no I'm kidding because I don't think that at all but but I had every kind of snake imaginable I had boas and pythons and I had King snakes and gopher snakes and garter snakes I caught a lot of them some I bought and the pet star well I bought this one python and he was really a very aggressive snake and I think I hope this doesn't come as a shock you know what you feed snakes right you ought to feed them live mice they will not eat kale or anything like that they want live mice my son Jonathan when he was younger said dad I want to get a snake I said fine I'll get you a snake son but first I wanted to take you to the pet store and show you what you feed a snake so we went down and they pulled out the little mice he didn't want to stink anywhere so that was the end of that but so I bought this mouse and I put him in the terrarium where my snake was and by the way whenever I put my hand in this terrarium this snake struck and bit me every single time other people would put their hand in there and he wouldn't strike but when I put my hand in I don't know if he sensed fear or what but he bit me so I didn't love this snake okay I put this mouse in the normal scenario is when the mouse is in the cage he's looking around then he sees the snake he freezes he's shaking this snake coils strikes bites the mouse swallows the mouse that's how it works okay so in this case there's the snake coiled on the corner mouse jumps and this mouse was unlike any mouse I've ever seen he's just walking around looks at the snakes nips him in the face climbs up on top of the snake he's standing on the snake eye that okay this mouse is going to be spared today because this is the coolest Mouse I've ever seen so I reached in grab the mouse took him out made them my pet right so I just love that story because it happened and and it just reminds me that sooner or later we all have to face the serpent so to speak you can coil up in fear and wait for the snake destroy or you can dominate the snake no I think you know who I'm talking about right now when I say the serpent because the Bible refers to the devil or Satan as that old serpent in Revelation 20 and also this is a reminder of Moses who was being called by God to face the serpent the symbol of Egypt was the Cobra in fact the Pharaoh had it on his headdress so when the Lord told Moses to cast his staff to the ground and it turn into a snake probably a Cobra and he was it taken by the tail and it turned back into a staff again he was saying face your fears because you're gonna overcome the Pharaoh so just quick recap Moses has heard the Lord speak to him at the burning bush he's offered all of all of his excuses as to why he cannot serve the Lord every one of them is rebutted by God himself and now the Lord says go to Egypt and demand the release of the Hebrews but the Lord also told Moses this is not going to be easy because Pharaoh is going to harden his heart and refuse to let the people go hardening one's heart is something that can happen to anyone certainly an unbeliever can harden their heart against God but even a Christian can harden their heart we're gonna read that Pharaoh hardened his heart then we're gonna read that God hardened Pharaoh's heart and for some that is perceived as a contradiction in the Bible so which is it did God harden his heart or did Pharaoh hardened his heart so I'm going to address that in a few moments but let's just dive right into the story in contrast of the hardened heart of Pharaoh iron had entered the heart of Moses his heart was full of faith and courage and the key to the faith and courage of Moses as he was looking to the Lord offering commentary on him over in Hebrews 11 27 we read it was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt not fearing the Kings anger he kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible that's what's gonna keep you going to keep your eyes on the one who is invisible keep your eyes on the Lord that's what Moses did and so now he's getting ready for his first confrontation we're gonna read about it Exodus five and I'd like to read verses 1 2 3 afterwards Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh thus says the Lord God of Israel let my people go that they may hold a peace to me in the wilderness and Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go I do not know the Lord nor will I let Israel go so they said well the God of Hebrews this the God of the Hebrews has met with us please let us go three days journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God lest he fall upon us with pestilence or was sword so we'll stop there so the big moment has finally come you know I think sometimes we think when we're doing the will of God all the doors are gonna open all of the lights are going to go green everything's gonna work out for us when in reality for the most part the opposite will happen when you are doing the will of God you can anticipate and expect opposition from the devil himself and this is what Moses is seen on the Lord warned him okay I'm gonna give you favor I'm gonna do miracles through you but the Pharaoh is going to harden his heart against you when you become a Christian you enter into a spiritual battle it's been said salvation has made our hearts a battle field and so this is what happens to Moses now as he's accepted the call of God but the Pharaoh is not having any of it and the fare was the most powerful men on the face of the earth this is a man who was worshipped by his people as a God and the landscape of Egypt was dotted with money to the Pharaoh with a single word from this ruler you could be put to death and here comes this Shepherd into his court Moses is not the cool young athletic Egyptian looking guy that he once was now he is old and his hair is gray and his beard is probably long and he's dressed like a common Shepherd and by the way the Egyptians looked down on the Shepherd's they thought that was the lowliest of professions and what does Moses have as his symbol of authority a shepherd's rod of all things the Pharaoh had a scepter with a Cobra on it probably cool red eyes you know inlaid with gold and precious metals Moses has a wood stick that's cooked on the top of what could this rod that the Lord gave him do some amazing things so here now as now Moses facing opposition to what God's will is for his life and so he's very discouraged by this and we can be discouraged too you know we finally stop fighting with God we give our life to Jesus Christ we ask him to forgive us of our sins we have that peace come over us we're so thankful we made this decision and all of a sudden all this garbage starts coming out us sometimes it's from family sometimes it's from co-workers or from friends or other issues and you're saying well I didn't know this who's gonna come well then that spiritual warfare man so you're gonna put your armor on because we're all in the battle and it's not a choice of whether you're gonna fight or not fight it's a choice of whether you're gonna win or lose you might say well I'm not in the fighting man peace and love well then you're gonna die and you're gonna be defeated are you gonna man up a woman up and be a person of God and put on your armor and say I'm not gonna get beat down I'm gonna move forward because greater is He that is in me that he that is in the world Moses ultimately had the victory big time as we'll see but it wasn't smooth sailing there were challenges there were bumps in the road there were doors that were closed shut but yet he persisted on well Moses did what any Christian should do when they're overwhelmed by circumstances or opposition or difficulty he called on the Lord exodus 5:22 we read Moses went back to the Lord and protested listen to his prayer why have you brought all this trouble on your own people Lord why didn't you even send me ever since I came to fryer was your spokesman he's been even more brutal to your people and you've done nothing to rescue them Wow that's an honest prayer wouldn't surprise me if the next verse said and the Lord smote Moses and he was no more right I mean what a way to talk to God but it's interesting how the Lord responds to Moses he doesn't rebuke him and I bring this up because it's okay to bring your complaints to God remember when Mary and Martha had their brother Lazarus died and Jesus finally showed up they were very disappointed and they said to Jesus Lord if you would have been here my brother would not have died that's a pretty accusatory statement is it not but the Lord patiently responded your brother will live again and anyone on this day that he was a resurrection on the life it's okay to complain to God it's okay to pour your heart out to God it's okay to bring your concerns to God your pain to God just read the Psalms the Psalms are filled with complaints but they're also filled with solutions so it was an honest prayer and look how the Lord responded Exodus 6 verse 6 therefore say to the people of Israel the Lord speaking to Moses I am the Lord I will free you from your oppression I will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment I will claim you as my own pea I will be your God then you will know that I am the lord your god who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham Isaac and Jacob I'll give it to you as your very own possession I am the Lord look at how many times God says I am verse 6 I am the Lord verse 7 I am the Lord verse 8 and verse 29 I am the Lord take away message he is the Lord so what are you facing right now oh this is so hard it's so difficulty he is the Lord and God is greater than your problem that's what the Lord is saying to Moses he here was the problem with Moses he was looking to the right and left again remember what happened the last time he did that it's when he saw an Egyptian taskmaster cruelly treating a Hebrew slave the Bible says he looked to the right he looked to the left then he killed the God and this his robe egan overwhelm we look to the right and we look to the left and by that I mean I look at circumstances but I don't look up and the Lord saying look up at me Moses remember this was my idea remember I'm more powerful than Pharaoh and I'm gonna get you through this see this is the problem is we don't look up enough we don't look up to heaven enough you know why we don't look up cuz we're all looking down and what are we looking at today our phones everywhere you look what are people doing they're looking down right they're walking across the street they're looking down looking down standing in a line looking down always looking down and that's also a symbol of life just looking down on what do people think about me how will this come off Oh what about all that you know look up look up to the Lord that's what the Lord was saying to Moses the problem is we can go through an entire day without a single thought about heaven we can go through an entire week without thinking about eternal things and sometimes we have to have a calamity to get our attention because when you're on your the only way to look is up right I might be speaking to someone on their back right now and they're saying why am I in this place why did God allow this the Lord wants you to look up and remember he is the Lord look to Jesus right now because circumstances will overwhelm you people will disappoint you at times health will fail but Jesus never fails he never fails so look to him now come on you've had an extra hour of sleep seriously you should all be well rested right but Isaiah he was troubled by the spiritual and moral State of Israel he was overwhelmed by circumstances and I love what happened when he wrote in Isaiah 6 I saw the Lord writes the Prophet sitting on his throne he was high and lifted up and his glory filled the temple and the angels cried holy suddenly he got perspective again why because he saw the Lord so see the Lord look up remember he is the great I am so the Lord told Moses I am five times now he'll tell him I will seven times read Exodus 6 start universe 6 therefore say to the people of Israel I am the Lord I'll free you from your oppression I'll rescue you from your slavery in Egypt I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment I will claim you as my own people I will be your God and then you will know that I am the Lord your God so notice verse 6 I will free you verse 6 I will rescue you verse 6 I will redeem you verse 7 I will claim you verse 7 I will be verse 8 I will bring you verse 8 I will give so Moses I am in control Moses got the message loud and clear now we come to round 2 with Pharaoh at to the 7 verse 10 so Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh and they just as them did just as the LORD commanded Aaron cast down the rod before Pharaoh and before his servants and he became a serpent but Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers now and the magician's of Egypt these were men who were schooled in the occult who would serve the Pharaoh and by the way side note as we approach Christmas the Magi that we celebrate were actually from this class of people Magi magician they were astronomers and astrologers so these were men who were deep into the occult who were directed by the Lord by a star to the newborn Savior but so he brings in all of these at court a cultists to give him counsel and amazingly they're able to do the same thing every man threw down his rod and they also became serpents but I love this little footnote but Aaron Trump's swallowed up their rods and underlined this Pharaoh's heart grew hard and he did not heed them as the Lord said now the Lord is gonna send 10 plagues or judgments to bring Pharaoh to his senses each one gaining in intensity but we see the Pharaoh's heart growing harder and harder this is include this includes a plague of the Nile River turning the blood which we'll look at in a moment a plague of frogs lice and much more and it's interesting because there's this tragedy a strategy to these judgments or his former president george w bush used to say a strategic right there's a strategic to the judgments because they're leveled at gods of egypt small g the egyptians worshipped many gods - then the na river which was their source of so many things was a god they worshipped all kinds of creatures they worshipped frogs they worship insects they worshipped the pharaoh so the Lord directed his judgments against their gods notice that the first miracle of was a-rod becoming a serpent probably a cobra he's calling out the false God of Egypt and they're able they imitate the miracle now was this sleight of hand or trickery I have no idea but all I know is it reveals a satanic strategy and one of the devil's most effective strategies is that of imitation whenever you have the genuine you will have the imitation so whatever is real there always be a fake version from the devil so you have a conversion a person has really come to Christ and you'll have a fake conversion someone who professes to be a follower of Jesus but is not at all the Lord has Jesus Christ the Messiah Satan will ultimately have his Antichrist the false messiah and so what we see is in the world today there's all these religious ideas there's one genuine article and it's the faith given to us in the scripture it is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ Gregg are you actually saying that the only true faith is the Christian faith yes I that's exactly what I'm saying and that's exactly what the Bible says if you find this controversial I'm sorry I think Jesus put it best when he said I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes of the Father but by me so all these other religious ideas though they may have little bits of Christianity in them mix with Hinduism or mixed with some other idea these are all imitation so here you are an unbeliever and you're trying to sort it all out what is the real faith what is the right path which way should I go that's exactly why all that other stuff is out there and you remember that Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the tares and is this story he told him a farmer who sowed wheat and then a neighbor really an enemy came in sold tares also known as the Darnell seed right next to the so when he went out and inspected your crops as a farmer the Darnell of the terre looked just like the wheat initially but as it grew the Darnell of the terror would overpower the wheat sort of like a weed that would undermine the wheat if you don't know to the crop shows shows the productivity so in the same way there we have a roomful of people everyone says they're a Christian time will tell who the Christians are time will reveal who the true believers are if somebody go astray but then they return some may start with a profession of faith and then with a profession of faith that was genuine some may be good actors but we'll see who they are but this is the whole idea that devil floods the market with cheap substitutes to miss lead us now let's look at the first plague plague number one the Nile River turns the blood and you can read about it next to this 7 14 to 18 so the Lord directs Moses to go to the bank of the river and wait for the Pharaoh Pharaoh shows up Moses takes his rod he touches it to the Nile River and the entire massive river turns to blood all the fish float to the top pretty horrible kind of situation so the Pharaoh calls in his and by the way this happened to the drinking water as well so wherever they had water supplies all the water in Egypt turned to blood for the most part and so along come now the magicians and the Magi type guys and they came and were able to replicate the miracle and also turned water to blood seems like if they were of any use they would turn bloody water back to clear water we didn't need to take one little clearer water we had and turn that to blood too but as I've said many times whoever said that sin made sense a sin makes you stupid right as the great theologian Forrest Gump once said stupid is as stupid does really bad Forrest Gump imitation now again I want to remind you that the now river was regarded as a God so their God has failed them now their God is not able to protect himself to strike the knowledge that strike in the very heart of Egypt so it reminds them your God has no power and people make gods of a lot of stuff today besides the Lord sometimes I mean could God out of a career they'll make a God out of a relationship the make a God out of an object the most important thing to them is their attraction or their beauty or their money or their fame or whatever it is it's all wrapped up and sometimes the Lord has to take our gods down so we realize how empty and futile they are do you have another God in your life right now no the Bible says little children keep yourself from idols a God with a small G is anyone or anything that takes the place of the true God in your life let me ask you this what do you do first thing in the morning what do you read what do you watch I couldn't defined you a little bit you know what do you give your money toward the Bible says where your treasure is there will your heart be also what are you passionate about what gets you excited and people have different things that they get fired up over is that the Lord or is it something else and if you make a god of something or someone else it's only gonna disappoint you sometimes the Lord will bring those gods down to bring us to our senses so what did the Pharaoh do we read the next to the 7:23 he returned to his palace and put the whole thing out of his mind Pharaoh didn't give it a passing thought but this next one would get his attention plague number 2 is found in Exodus 8 1 2 2 an invasion of frogs the Lord told Moses to go back to Pharaoh and demand the release of the Israelites which he did and if the Pharaoh did not agree the whole nation would be covered in frogs and that's exactly what happened I'm not a fan of frogs I like reptiles I don't like frogs yet especially big frogs right croak and it's a funny thing because the Egyptians actually worshiped a frog God called Hecate also known as Kermit no wasn't Kermit but basically it was the body of a woman with a head of a frog that's kind of a scary picture to me yeah and this is my idea of beauty a woman's body and a frog's head so they worshiped the Frog and the Lord said oh you you like to worship frogs have at it frog's more frogs here's some more frogs everywhere they went there were frogs frogs in their bed frogs in their oven Florida floor wall-to-wall frog carpeting you know frogs I remember when we lived in Hawaii years ago as a little kid there were frogs a lot of frogs in Hawaii and it rains a lot in Hawaii and so we would walk around barefoot everywhere and so I remember at nighttime the frogs would come out indication you would step on a frog that is not a happy experience especially a big walk along so what would happen is it would rain all the frogs that come out and then the rain would stop and there's someone come out and all the frogs are qu you know in the middle of the streets and cars had run over the frogs and so they make great little frisbees because they they would be run over sort of in frog position like this would pick him up they were good for one throw they fall apart but anyway I digress this one got the attention of the Pharaoh that surprises me the water supplies turned to blood yeah we can find a way around that but Frank I am sick of frogs so the Pharaoh actually calls Moses in and says call on your God and ask him to remove these frogs and Moses did it he prayed and the frogs died I love with the Bible says and the land stink that's King James the land stank that's a perfect word isn't it think of that all those dead frog yeah heed the Lord killed him but they're still dying and so what did the Pharaoh do Exodus 8:15 when the Pharaoh saw there was relief he hardened his heart and he did not heed them as the Lord had said this is so typical of so many non-believers the call on God in a moment of crisis which is often the result of their own sin they'll make great and lofty promises to the Lord as to what they will do if he gets him out of the mess they put themselves in and God comes through and what do they do they say effectively thanks God see you next crisis and they forget all about the Lord that's exactly what the Pharaoh did so now let me loop back to something I raised earlier this so-called contradiction in the Bible we read that Pharaoh hardened his heart many times Exodus 8:15 is one of them then later we read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart Exodus 10:1 the idea might be that fairley had no choice in the matter and just did what God made him do but maybe a definition of the word hardened will help the word hardened means to stiffen or to strengthen stiffen or strengthen so God has given to each of us a free will that we can exercise we can choose to do right and we can choose to do wrong the Lord will not violate your free will so effectively the Lord was strengthening the Pharaoh and the decision he had already made the Pharaoh saw a miracle after miracle performed and his heart just got harder and harder which reminds us that seen miracles will not necessarily make our faith grow Jesus had a wicked in an adulterous generation seeks after a sign but no sign will be given without of the prophet Jonah and as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea creature so will the Son of man speaking of himself be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth allow me to paraphrase that you want a miracle you want a sign here's your sign I will die in the cross of the sin of the world and I'll rise again from the dead that's my message that's our message to the culture right we might think of only I can perform a miracle my friends would believe well maybe and maybe not what's really gonna bring them around is a simple message of the gospel proclaim to them but how do we get a hardened heart listen to the answer it might surprise you you get a hardened heart by continued exposure to the truth of God and a refusal to obey and respond to it let me say that again let me restate it you know the easiest place to get a heart heart right here yeah no no somewhere else like a bar drinking oh well maybe but there may be more hope for a person in a bar hope there's not someone in a bar at this hour but there probably is there's more hope for some people in that situation than some people in church and I'll tell you why because the person in the bar getting lit at this early hour might be saying my life sucks and I hate it and I need to change and they might be on their way to turning to Christ while person sitting in church would say I know everything there's nothing I can learn I have it all together and their heart is actually getting hard they're hard because it's like a very cynical view of the world you become critical you become angry there are signs of having a hard heart for one you stop caring you stop caring another one is you you don't want to worship God I think a person with a hard heart is someone that would say I don't want to worship God and not only do they not want to worship God they're critical of other people who do so they'll stand in church then look around with their arms folded they look at that person no look at you friend you're getting a hard heart a person who is a hard heart thinks they know way more than they know and so they're not open to hearing what the scripture says a person with a heart person with a hard heart or person a person with a heart heart is someone who would actually be irritated when a service might go a little long because you want to invite people to accept Jesus Christ who could watch people get saved and say yeah whatever it's inconvenient watch out you can get a hard heart in the church you say no only Numb believers get hard hearts on known believers can get them to prior to performing this miracle of the multiplying of the loaves and fishes he asked his disciples how are we going to feed all these people and they didn't know what to do and then Jesus actually said to them have your hearts grown so hard guys come on you've seen me do miracles have your hearts grown this hard and so don't allow yourself to get one of these hard hearts you want a tender heart and we're told over in Hebrews 12 and I'm reading from the Phillips translation excuse me Hebrews 3:12 it says you should therefore be most careful my brother speaking to Christians that there would be in any of you that hardness of heart which refuses to trust the Living God and instead you desert him help each other to stand firm in the faith every day while it's still called today and beware that none of you becomes death and blind to God to the delusive glamour of sin probably continue to Sharon all the Christ has done for us as long as we steadily maintain until the end the trust with which we begin you know sometimes some of the most notorious sinners are pk's you know what a PKS preacher's kid everyone's shocked when the pre-k goes rogue they can't believe that PK is not living a godly life are you kidding me I'm surprised when they do live a godly life because I have raised two sons and both of them went prodigal for a time you said what would that makes no sense they she'd be perfect and these poor kids it's the pressures on you know from the day they're little kids they going to send you oh the pastor's son is here oh well he should be telling it should stop don't put extra pressure on him don't make them have to live up to some random standard they're just a kid doesn't matter that they're born in the home of a Christian or a pastor or a leader Franklin Graham my friend was a notorious sinfully prodigal boy and his dad was Billy Graham hello and his mother was Ruth Graham these are probably the two most godly people I've ever met but people rebel and sometimes they'd make wrong choices so you need to pray for those people but it can happen when you're exposed to godly things I remember speaking of Billy Graham years ago I was with him at a crusade that he did in Oregon and I've told the story before but we're leaving the crusade and he made a point I thought was really important I said Billy I loved your point when you said Christ can resynthesize your heart and that's so true see maybe your hearts going a little hard maybe you would say wow this is me you're talking about I'm becoming cynical I'm becoming supercritical I'm becoming unresponsive to the Word of God I don't want that to be me what do I do you ask God to soften your heart ask him to resent it eyes your heart he'll do it we'll have a moment as we close now in prayer where you can do that but let me say one last word if you're an unbeliever and you're hearing this message today and you say no to it your heart will get a little harder then you'll hear it again maybe a week from now and your heart will get even harder then you'll hear it a month from now or a year from now and your heart will get harder you get a hard heart by hearing the Word of God and not responding to it Jesus told a parable that we call the parable of the sower the seed of the word of God went on different kinds of so some soil was resistant it was the asphalt of the road and it didn't even penetrate other seed was picked up by the birds other seed was choked out by weeds but then he talked about the good ground he said those were the ones who received the word so here's the word man you're hearing it this is the Word of God and you can have a relationship with him that you can be forgiven of your sin that you can know God in a personal and we're real way and that you can go to heaven when you die no it's up to you what you do with this because the same Sun that softens the wax hardens the clay so to sum that would hear this and say yes I want it and they're like wax or soft and others would say I don't like that I reject it and their hearts are like clay so you decide if you have a heart of wax or a heart of clay you decide if you have a heart of flesh or a heart of stone it's on you yeah you'll harden your heart and then the Lord will strengthen you in the decision you've made he won't harden your heart to start with but if that's your decision of the Lord says that's what you want the way you want to go alright go ahead I don't think this is the way you should go I don't want you to go this way but I've given you a free will and I'll respect that free will so the Lord strengthened or hardened Pharaoh's heart man if your heart is being tugged on today you realize it I need to get right with God respond now as we close in prayer let's all pray together father we thank you for your word to us today we ask you to speak to us now and I pray for any person here any person watching or listening wherever they are if they don't know you yet if they don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ let this be the moment let this be the day they believe because today is the day of salvation when our heads are bowed their eyes are closed and we're praying if you've never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sin if you've never asked him to come into your life why don't you just pray this prayer right where you are after me you could even pray it out loud if you like just pray Lord Jesus I know I am a sinner and I know you are the Savior I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it now and I choose to follow Jesus Christ from this moment forward in your name I pray and while the heads are still bowed maybe some of us would want to pray that God would soften our hearts so father help us not to have hard hearts help us to have responsive hearts help us to hear your word believe your word and apply your word help us not become cynical help us not to be so critical help us Lord to be in the place you want us to be with the heart of a child so we commit ourselves to you again and we thank you for your word to us now in Jesus name we pray amen I bless you guys [Applause]

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

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Keywords: harvest, greg, laurie, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie Sermons, hardened heart sermon, did god hardened pharaohs heart, pharaohs heart was hardened by god, is my heart hardened by god, my heart is hardened i cannot repent, how to not have a hardened heart, bible study, youtube sermons, christian youtube sermons

Id: mKAc07C9hSI

Length: 44min 16sec (2656 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 06 2019