Are we hardening the hearts of sinners????

sermonindex Mar 21, 2005

Directed towards laborers in the harvest fieldIt's hard going out and witnessing sometimes because of the envioments that we have to go into. It's hard enough watching sinners sin, but even harder is watching sinners reject Christ. The more I go out, the more I see people reject Christ. Places such as Sundance Square, Deep Ellum, and other places are going to hell just as quickly as before we had passed out thousands and thousands of tracts. They were just as lost before our open-air meetings as they are now after them. But now they were put in the "Valley of Decision", and yet chose death, This is my charge. If we do not pray, seriously pray, before and after our outreaches, we will only harden sinners hearts and cause their condemnation to be worse on Judgment Day. If we will not pray then neither should we preach. This may be extreme and not work well in our theology, but if our prayerful tears made up the river by which men would sail to heaven, would they be able to make it all the way there? So brethren, may we hit our knees in prayer!! May these hardened hearts be softened and these dry eyes become wet with the tears of God!!

R

RobertW Mar 21, 2005

This is very good Bro. Jesse. I am also finding that there is a whole lot more to preaching repentance than simply thundering a message. Preaching without prayer will certainly harden people. Prayer is so so vital. It not only prepares them to hear but it prepares us to be filled with the Spirit so that we can speak to their individual lives. Like Jesus and the woman at the well. When we have the mind of Christ we can minister things directly relevant to the hearers. I am so afraid for the whole repentance and revival message. I am afraid that we are trying to be John Baptist's when what we need to be is Paul and Silas. We need to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ- that God can take a sinner (as he/she is) and transform them into a New Creature. The can be a New Birth. I am afraid that we need to gain a real understanding of the Gospel. The Gospel is about saving sinners from the clutches of Sin and making them new people. It is "Good News." Yet it so often comes off as 'bad news.' People get hardned when "I" get in the way of what God is doing. When I add my perspective or seek to see people repent of my pet peeves. God wants the people to turn to Him in a willingness to forsake all if necessary. Too often, and I even see this in Finney's writings a lot, is thet there is a tendency to try to get people to repent into some form of dead legelism that has not the Life of God. Suddenly it becomes a sin to salt your food! (I'm not kidding here) Suddenly if you go fishing to enjoy the day and not merely for 'food' it is compromise. This type of preaching hardens sinners. I have no doubt about it. Where did God say such things? When we strain at a gnat and swallow a camel there is no wonder the people revolt. They are not always rejecting God- they are rejecting what we say God wants- when it is not God at all. You see, just because I have never tried alcohol or drugs or smoked does not mean I should rail (focus) on these sins. we need to get people delivered of Sin itself. Just because I have never done things or was even delivered from things does not mean I should focus on that. if I hate sports- I am not at liberty to preach against sports unless God did. Simple chapter and verse type thing. This is my fear and this is what I am seeing. The enemy is working to get people into such extremes that I have felt like abandoning the whole thing. There are some really radical people out there that have no business with a platform of ANY kind. That is a grim truth. If people had hearkened unto some of these folks the whole of society would be plunged into ruin. We need to get back to the Cross and to preaching Christ and Him crucified- sensitive to the fact that God loves them enough to die for their sins. Keep up the fight brother! Pray and seek God until your heart breaks for the people without measure. minister to them as though that were your mother standing out there or your lost brother and sister. Minister like that was your best friend listening. God will give your a heart of deep compassion that spills out and the people will see it. When they see how much you care and love them- it will make a difference in many and God will save some of them. God Bless,-Robert

sermonindex Mar 22, 2005

I said a while ago that prayer without evangelism is hypocrisy, and evangelism without prayer is stupidity. I have recently added that evangelism without prayer is a tragedy, in fact, it is a monstrosity.

sermonindex Mar 22, 2005

God forbid that the hearts of men be hard because the knees of Christians are soft.