As the heart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee. Oh 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? Oh my soul and why aren't thou just quieted in me?
Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Oh my oh 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 bizarre
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts all thy waves and my billows are gone over me yet
The Lord will command his loving kindness 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
Says do you indeed speak righteousness? Oh congregation. Do you judge uprightly? Oh you sons of men. Yay 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 death adder that stop at her ear which will not harken to the voice of charmers
Charming never so wisely break their teeth. Oh god in their mouth break out the great teeth of the young lions
Oh 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 melted
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 it. 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's 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 song 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 got what therefore God hath joined together
Let not man put asunder. So Jesus is answering this question here. The Pharisees asked 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 commit at the adultery who so marryeth her which
Is put away death 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 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 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 to they 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 just shouldn't get married and you know
This is very applicable in our day and a that we're living 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 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 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 three Colossians three 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 a man 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
Well, 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 431
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 that 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 to 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 as 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 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 to your 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, it'll help with that. Just read the bible
You know, we need wherever 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 better 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 going to hold their feet to the fire for every little thing
You better believe that that's how your life is going to 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
Then 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 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 going to cause our hearts to be hardened
Let me show you that deuteronomy 15
Verse number six the bible says for the lord thy god blessed 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 giveeth 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 givest 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 givest 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 going to be extremely blessed. I mean they're going to be in charge
They're going to be ruling they're going to 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 have 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 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 going to 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 uh 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 have 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 safe
Meaning, you know if two people are asking you for help one saved one's unsaved. I'm going with a safe person every single time
But that doesn't mean that we can't even help unsaved people, you know in 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 under 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
Shelly, we should be praying for other churches that are going through issues be praying for our evangelist brother urbanic 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 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 single guys and she's single then you be a friend
Okay, but you know some some lady comes maybe she's married her husband doesn't come, you know ladies that's on you
Okay
Don't 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 gotten 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 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 moms 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 has forsaken them and you know what no one talks to them
No one spends time with them and you can go there and you could 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 there. 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 hard, 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 3 2 says for men shall be lovers of their own
Selfs 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 6 because I think this story
Illustrates how even good christians even disciples can harden their hearts
Mark 6 verse 31 and he said unto them come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while
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 a while
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 look 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 afoot 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 vacations canceled your time off is canceled
He sees all these people that need him to do some more work they need him to minister under them
What was his response? He was moved with compassion. Why because jesus was not selfish selfish
He's the most selfless person that's ever lived because they were as 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
5,000 men in straight way
He constrained his disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side before under the bethsada
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
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 site that they're seeing
And wouldn't all of us love to have seen this site 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 so 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
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 gonna go take a vacation
we're gonna go apart in the desert and it's just immediately ruined like that and you're 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 day 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 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 could 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 as 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 could 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 gonna miss it if you harden your heart
You're gonna miss it if you start, you know ingesting a bunch of junk and not the Word of God
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 gonna 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 and you 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 hearts
You know, 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 and one last song to conclude the service if you would grab a hymnal and turn to him number
97 I need the every hour him number 97 or 97 to start there right on the first
I need three
most gracious
Lord say voice like die can't we?
For a savior I
[Music]