The Path | A Hard Heart
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Teaching Notes
How do you experience growth that truly lasts?
Good Seed + Good Soil = EXPONENTIAL HARVEST
Good soil doesn’t happen by ACCIDENT; it’s CULTIVATED.
THE PATH | A HARD HEART
When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
Matthew 13:19
What is a hard heart?
A hard heart is a spiritual condition where a person is resistant to God’s voice, truth, and presence. It’s a heart that has been hardened by pain, pride, or sin so that it is closed, unresponsive, and often unaware.
What are the symptoms of a hard heart?
A hard heart is DIFFICULT to SELF-DIAGNOSE.
Personal Assessment:
I am guarded and protective about my imperfections and flaws.
I focus on the “positive,” strong, successful parts of myself.
I am highly “offendable” and defensive.
I naturally focus first on the flaws, mistakes, and sins of others.
I hold onto past hurts and replay them in my mind.
I fill my life with noise & activity to avoid facing what’s beneath the surface.
I give my opinion a lot, even when I’m not asked.
I have to be right in order to feel strong and good.
I am highly self-conscious and concerned about how others perceive me.
I deny, avoid, or withdraw from painful realities.
When I am offended, I write people off.
I give answers & explanations to those in pain, hoping to fix or change
them.
I blame others.
I like to control most situations.
I don’t get close to people.
I see people as a resource to be used.
- Adapted from Pete Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Church
What creates a hard heart?
A hard heart doesn’t happen OVERNIGHT—it’s COMPACTED over time.
- UNHEALED WOUNDS (Hebrews 12:15)
- HABITUAL SIN (Hebrews 3:13)
- CRITICAL SPIRIT (Matthew 7:3-5)
- PRIDE (1 Peter 5:5-6)
How do you cultivate the soil of a hard heart?
- ASK God to reveal any hard places.
What’s one area of your life where you need to invite God to soften your heart?
Heavenly Father, I surrender ________________ to You. Break through the hard places in my heart and make it soft toward You.
- ADMIT what is keeping you stuck.
Confession is the tool that breaks through the hard soil.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
James 5:16
- ALLOW others to walk with you.
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Hebrews 13:3
The Promise:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Ezekiel 36:26-27