Sermon Central
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Do You Have A Heart Condition? Series
Contributed by Joe Bedy on Mar 7, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: It is God’s kindness toward us that softened our hearts towards repentance, therefore the believer must be kind hearted to lead others to where God has taken us.
Do you have a heart condition?
Joe Bedy
Central Christian Church
St Petersburg, FL
March 7 2002
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Kindness_ chray sto tays, from G5543; goodness, excellence, uprightness:-- meaning the goodness that is in one’s heart.
The word heart is used 726 times in 677 verses in the NASB.
What does the Bible have to say about our hearts?
Do you have a heart condition? Yes! Everybody Does!
All of these heart conditions are described in the Bible.
Naturally what is in our hearts?
Gen 6:5 Man’s heart was evil all the time.
Gen 8:21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.
Deut. 8:14 hearts are proud, our hearts turn away from God, they are unfeeling, hearts can gather wickedness, the harlot’s heart can be cunning, hearts can hold bitterness, anger, anxiety, pain, rage, perversity, derision, division and discord.
Supernaturally, what is in our hearts?
The heart can be pure, glad, joyful, cheerful, pleasant, trusting, loving, steadfast, blameless, gracious, it can be wise, it can be a hiding place for the word of God. It can be tranquil or it may be in painful turmoil.
Yet is with this very heart that we called are to love God with all of it.
The heart can be watched over, it can hold fast to the word of God, it can be tender, it can be broken or it can be hard? The heart can be healthy or the heart can be sick.
What Kind of Heart Condition Do you have?
Prov 27:19 As in water face reflects face, So the heart of man reflects man.
Prov 15:13 A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.
Prov 15:28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, But the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
Do we have a heart condition? Of course we do!
Jesus said. Mat 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Then he said this, " For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart."
It is not what goes into the body that makes us unclean, it is what is in our hearts. I tell you that what is in your heart will ultimately come out of your mouth, if your heart is truly hard, unkind words will come from your mouth.
Luke 6:45 "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Mat 15:18 "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.
Mat 15:19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
James says it this way "
James 1:26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
See James is telling us that we are deceiving ourselves, if we think we can speak unkindness and have a pure heart.James is saying your religion is worthless if we speak unkind words.
James 3:8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.
James 3:9 With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;
James 3:10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.
James 3:11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?
James 3:12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh.
About right now you are asking yourselves what does this heart condition sermon have to do with kindness?
EVERYTHING
Kindness carries a cost that most of us are not prepared to pay.
It is simply too demanding, too likely to interfere with self and what I need to do. Kindness messes with my own cherished plans, I must give up self to be kind to you.
Lady MacBeth believed her husband was way too kind. In the pursuit of her self-centered goals there was no room for kindness which was inconvenient, time consuming and counter-productive. Why spend the time to be kind to someone who has no usefulness in the completion of your goals?
To her people existed until their usefulness was exhausted.
