Open Heavens Saturday 17th August 2013 “WORKING ON HARDENED HEARTS” – Pastor E. A. Adeboye

WORKING ON HARDENED HEARTS – By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memory Verse: Acts 2:37:“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

Read: Acts 2:37-41.

1 Samuel 1:9-18:“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

Message:
In 1 Kings 18:38, when the fire fell upon Elijah’s sacrifice, it consumed everything there including the stones. This speaks of the power of the Holy Spirit in dealing with men. Ezekiel 36:26 says men’s hearts are stony. Jeremiah 5:14 says, “Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.”

This tells us that when the Holy Spirit is working with you, He will turn God’s Word in your mouth into fire and the hearts of men into wood; and when fire comes in contact with wood, it will become more fiery, turning the wood also into fire. This was what happened in Acts 2:37-41. Here, Peter preached and the hearts of men were pricked. It is the declaration of God’s Word going forth with the power of the Holy Ghost that pricks men’s hearts to lead them to repentance.

Today, many of us think that it is the grammar with which the Gospel message is packaged that brings in the souls. Those who share this view, place much emphasis on grammar, oratory abilities and charisma rather than the Holy Spirit. Many years ago, when it was still unpopular to be born-again, our little fellowship had a programme in conjunction with other fellowships at the University of Ibadan. Many lecturers and professors were invited. I was allowed to preach on the first day and I simply spoke on ‘I am the Bread of life’, which any preacher could talk about. At the end of the message, I made an altar call and 40 lecturers and professors came forward to surrender their lives to Christ. The following day, the other preacher came and spoke a lot of beautiful grammar but at the end, not one soul responded to the altar call. You cannot imagine what the Holy Spirit can do with a simple message. Are there men or women whose hearts are so hardened that you think they cannot change? Simply commit them into the hands of the Holy Spirit, and He will work on their hearts and by the time He is through, you will have a great testimony.

ACTION POINT

• As the physician, Doctor Jesus specialises in working on men’s stony hearts. Do you have any He should work on? Tell Him.

Bible in one year: 2 KINGS 18 – 20