The Danger of a Hardened Heart - I

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by harvest partners, helping people everywhere know God, to find out how to know God personally go to know God.org K NOW know God.org he would you do me a favor sure this message was someone who needs to hear it is not of the world walking version ritual and Pastor Greg Morris is a coalition of competing messages world is filled with all kinds of religious ideology. So all the religious leaders of they have the truth. What is the genuine article is the Christian faith. That is the only genuine article.

Everything else is in way with an interesting sound certain recording sound like the word moral people like adding to other very interesting on we see the same thing on a spiritual level. Two people can respond to a single gospel message way today on a new beginning for Greg Laurie danger of listening with mission. I was a good I collected snake. I was just in the reptiles and I'm not really sure why I actually was thinking of becoming a pathologist which is someone who studies reptiles and that I had all kinds of snakes. I got snakes I caught like gopher snakes kings. Thanks Bo was Python's and I have this one.

Python's name was Monty. No, not really.

I was, but I don't the guy gave him a name exit. We had a very hostile relationship.

This they can. I whatever I put my hand the newest terrarium get strike and bite me and so I was paranoid of the snake and I think he knew but WAP a little bit of money form so I had to feed them know you know what you feed a snake right snakes eat live mice my son Jonathan when he was a little boy said that I want to get a snake. Is that okay son, I'll get you snake. But first going to go to the pet store number to show you what you feed snakes and so we went down and there were these little cute newborn mice that you bought to feed snakes and even want to think anymore, so that in the vet because it is kind of a sad thing to watch a little creature be eaten by a snake.

Well it was time to feed Monty my Python and so I put a little mouse in their and normally the mouse would be put on the train be walk around and see the snake be paralyzed with fear. The snake would coil up and strike okay, but this was a whole different scenario.

I put the little mouse in their and the snake got ready to strike and the mouse is a K what's up buddy starts walking around he sniffs the snake in the face that break the snake taken a pullback that said handle. The mouse is standing on top of the snake that I got. This is the coolest mouse I've ever seen. I'm sparing the life of this mouse so I resent took the mouse out BBQ my pet so but we're all getting up to face the serpent sooner or later. Maybe you know what I mean by that because the Bible more than one occasion tells us that Satan is the serpent he came to Eve and Adam in the garden as a serpent and is described in Revelation 20. As the old serpent, who is the devil, and now in our story of Moses he has the face of the serpent of Egypt because actually the symbol of ancient Egypt was a cobra that even the Pharaoh would wear on this headdress and you remember that the Lord directed Moses to take his shepherd's staff thrown on the ground became a cobra, presumably a snake at least he grabbed her by the Taylor Turnage will rot again and he was to go in and perform this miracle in front of the barrel, which was God's way of saying the Moses take the snake by the tail.

Face your fears.

You're going to overcome the Pharaoh in the my of Egypt. But the thing is is despite the many miracles that Moses was about to do for the Pharaoh. This man's heart became hard, but in contrast to the hardened heart of Pharaoh iron had entered the heart of Moses. He was full of faith and courage.

The Lord spoke to them at the burning bush, Moses offered a lot of excuses which God rebutted and now Moses is ready for action. How was he able to do it. Hebrews 1127 gives us a little commentary it says it was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king's anger, and he kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. That's a Moses going and that's what will keep you going. Having your eyes on the one who is invisible. In other words, looking to the Lord. So let's pick the story up here from round one with Moses and the Pharaoh Exodus 5 a reverses 1 to 3 and by the way I'm reading from the new living translation. Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh thus says the Lord God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness and the Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go.

I don't know the Lord nor will I let Israel go and they said, but the God of the Hebrews is met with us. Please let us go three days journey into the desert and sacrifice of the Lord our God, less steep fall upon us with pestilence or with sword. There so the big moment is finally come. Moses knew it wasn't any BZ but I think he was a little shocked by how unresponsive the Pharaoh. What's I think sometimes in the same way we think that once we commit our lives to Christ they choose to follow him and even take a step of faith and obey him that were going to just have green lights and smooth sailing, but instead we find we face opposition we face pushback from unexpected places. Maybe your family.

Maybe your friend, sometimes even your Christian friends certainly from nonbelievers you face opposition all around.

By the way, that doesn't mean you're doing the wrong thing that probably means you're doing the right thing that's called spiritual warfare. And it's been said conversion is made our hearts a battlefield. The moment you become a Christian you enter into a spiritual battle, you're either gonna fight and win or you're going to not fight and lose, but there's no other option jury begin to gain ground in this battle for you to lose ground in this battle and Moses was discovering this for himself. That being in the will of God does not mean that you will not face opposition.

So what is Moses do. He's a little put off by this is a little disappointed and disillusioned. So he calls on the Lord in Exodus chapter 5 verse 22 we read Moses went back to the Lord and protested, why have you brought all this trouble to your own people.

Lord, why did you even send me ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman.

He's been even more brutal to the people and you've done nothing to rescue them while that's a pretty office prayer reminds us of the prayer of Mary and Martha after their brother died and Jesus showed up this the Lord if you would've been here, my brother would not have died. That's a complaint by the way, there's nothing wrong with complaining or lamenting in your prayers as long as it's in your prayers.

Not crying out against God, but crying out to God, Lord, I kept this I don't understand this.

I don't know what you've allowed this to happen to me and that's exactly what Moses did and if we would've read the next verse which would've been in the Lord smote Moses that he was no more. It would've made sense, but we don't need that. Instead, God responds to Moses in Exodus 6 verse six the Lord says therefore say to the people of Israel.

I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression all rescue you from your slavery in Egypt will redeem you with a powerful army, great acts of judgment I will claim you as my own people.

I will be your God and you will know that I am the Lord your God was freed you from the oppression in Egypt. I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I'll give it to you as your own possession were I am the Lord. So basically God says repeatedly.

I am the Lord.

Verse six I am the Lord. Verse seven.

I am the Lord. Verse eight take away message is the Lord and then he says in verse six. Help free you. Verse six all rescue you. Verse six all redeem you. Verse seven. I'll claim you. Verse seven. I will be in verse eight I will bring you and finally verse eight.

I will give Moses I want to take care of you, to rescue you, redeem you claim you because I am the Lord that Sakata seem to you right now because maybe your face in the Pharaoh you're facing some scary person or some frightening situation or a set of overwhelming circumstances, and you don't know what to do when you're looking to the writing you're looking to the left number one Moses said that before he killed the Egyptian this way look that way killed the guy she looked up and this is what we need to do look up, but the problem is we can sometimes go a day without a single thought about heaven, we can go a month with any thoughts about the afterlife, but sometimes when you're down in your back. The only way to look us up and I might be talking to somebody who's on their back right now, figuratively or literally, and you don't know how you got there. But you're looking up to the Lord now, and that's a Moses needed to do.

He needed to look to the Lord. It wasn't honest prayer you remember. Isaiah was a bit overwhelmed by the moral breakdown in Israel and the situation of his nation. But then he writes in Isaiah 6 I saw the Lord sitting on his throne. He was high and lifted up in his glory filled the temple and the Angels quite holy. Have you ever noticed that when you come to church and you worship the Lord.

They can change your perspective. Have you even noticed that your drive along you're stuck in traffic and you're not happy and and you turn on some praise music you listen to a message from God's word and it changes your outlook.

That's called looking up. That's a Moses was doing now is a Lord was preparing to do an amazing thing. Mr. Greg Laurie will have the second half of this message in just a moment.

Many write or call us to share their stories, pain and loss but also of hope in our program every day and very helpful for me ever going to Martin were murdered oldest daughter. Although the three tiers look extremely dirty and are about 30 Greg Laurie Berkley helped me tremendously focused on the Lord help other people put garbage and I'm getting ready for this ministry. I will continue well find out online store.harvest.org we hear it's not a blessing. It also confirms that the program is touching lives here in this community.

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Will Pastor Greg is offering insights from Mosher's confrontation with the Pharaoh of Egypt today in a message called the danger of a hardened heart. So let's shift gears. It's around two round one didn't go so well here's round to Exodus chapter 7 verse 10 I'm reading so Moses and Aaron went into Pharaoh and they did so just as the Lord commanded. And Aaron cast on the rod before Pharaoh before his servants. They became a serpent and Pharaoh also called his wise men and sorcerers and the magicians of Egypt. They did so in like manner with their enchantments for every man threw down his rod and they became serpents but I love this little commentary but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods and Pharaoh's heart grew hard and he did not heed them, the Lord had said okay it's time for the conflict to begin Lord predicted this is going to happen.

So basically a series of 10 plagues are going to fall upon Egypt and upon the Pharaoh, each gaining in intensity as Pharaoh's heart God harder. This includes the Nile River turning the blood a plague of frogs, a plague of lice and mortar come. What is interesting is there's a strategy to these judgments because it affects every one of these judgments from God was directed toward God. A beach you see the Egyptians worshiped just about everyone and everything in the mind of the Egyptian the Nile River was a deity. They even worshiped out frog in God, believe it or not have the body of a woman, the head of a fraud not very appealing was called ahead, get translated to our English word Kermit known around Kermit the frog Sesame Street nears here but they really worship the prop, which is pretty bizarre so the Lord said all you want fraud you were surprised I give you more fraud then you can shake a stick at all the now River you think this is a deity alternate to blood and this brings up an important point. It shows us one of the devils most effective tactics. It's a tactic of imitation notice said Moses was able to turn the Nile River to blood and the Pharaoh's magicians and by the way, these guys were like occultists. They were serving in the court of the king as astrologers and astronomers and they were deeply into the occult. So these guys were somehow able to re-create this miracle a replication of sorts.

I don't know what was they were able to do it in Pharaoh's heart got harder and this brings it to the point of the devils a good imitator seek.

Here's what he does. He floods the market with all kinds of cheap imitations making it harder for a person to know what the truth this world is filled with all kinds of religious ideology with all kinds of gurus and self-proclaimed prophets in other religious leaders all think they have the truth. What is the genuine article my going out on a limb when I say it's the Christian faith. That is the only genuine article. Everything else is an imitation. Jesus put it best when he said I am the way the truth and the life no man comes of the father but by me. Jesus told a parable of the wheat and the tares set up farmer went out to so we than the night. A neighbor relic an enemy came and sowed tares or the Darnell seed. No tear is basically of thing that one plants it looks just like wheat initially but later it actually uproots the week so the devil puts all of these fake virgins out there. We have Jesus Christ. He ultimately will have the antichrist we have real Christians to live fake Christians. I don't know who the Christians are people to have a Christian of a quote versus and then they'll attack you and I wonder are you a Christian. I don't know not seen you are, but I'm not certain you are, by their fruits you shall know them. But ultimately will know in the end who the real believers are so God will determine that for us, but this was an imitation to confuse and Pharaoh's heart got harder comes plague number one because the Pharaoh Arden to start the Nile River's turn to blood.

That's in Exodus 714 to 18 Moses takes his rod touches the river.

It turns the blood kills all the fish and got to strike the Nile was to strike the very heart of Egypt thrown away. The Lord is in a Kingfisher God, to take your guard down to reveal to you.

There is no God but me. People make gods out of a lot of stuff. The Bible tells us little children, keep yourself from idols and idle a God to be anyone or anything that takes the place of the true God in your life. For some it might be a career. For another, it might be there fame for another their beauty or their money and they worship at the altar of that God. And when I say worship. I mean, that's all they think about.

That's what they're passionate about. That's the first thing they do when they get up in the morning.

They think about that. They pursue that thing and sometimes the Lord will bring our gods down so we will understand there is no God but him with this didn't even impact Pharaoh one bit. We read in Exodus 723 he returned to his palace about the whole thing out of his mind. Yeah until plague number two came along he changed his due.

That was the invasion of frogs Exodus 8, 1 to 2.

All of these frogs show up God's if you want to worship your frog God you want. Kermit, you got Kermit you have frogs in your oven. You are frogs in your bed. You are frogs in your fridge. You are frogs in your vehicles you have frogs in your shoulders under your feet wherever you go, there will be frog frogs everywhere and this kind of freaked out Pharaoh anyone to Moses and said, please pray.

Dear God and tell him to remove the frog so the frogs all die, so I love the King James version of what happened. It says the land stank that sometimes you gotta pull out a King James word and stank is a great word Thailand stay command God so Pharaoh sicko preview God told me LJ Lord intervene in the Lord in the throes like yeah, see you next plague that we do the same thing. The good people to make great promises to God, oh God, if you get me out of this mess I'm in. Usually a mess you created for yourself in the Lord intervenes and helps you, then you go do it again and again so the Pharaoh Kephart Nina start fascinating encounters in the Bible. Pastor Greg Laurie is leading our study of Exodus today on a new beginning and the confrontation between the prophet Moses and the Pharaoh of Egypt and to get a replay of today's insight you can go online to harvest.org and look for the title. The danger of a hardened heart or call us for a CD copy at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 will Pastor Greg it's confession time. Are you ready yes when you first saw the movie, I still believe it did. The eyes get a little bit moist today. Yes they did. Did you utter the words. I'm not crying you're crying tell you it's it it's a tearjerker because it is a true story.

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I still believe it's a story of Jeremy Camp and his bride Melissa who are newly married in Melissa had cancer and so they fought together, hoping that God would spare her and give her many years.

He had but of course, tragically, that did not happen. So you say while that's something really depressing story will believe it or not it's a hopeful story. It's a powerful story.

It's a gospel story. And so now this is a film and it's been directed by the Irwin brothers and I think by the way they make the best Christian films out there today.

Their films are beautifully done, expertly directed to get the best actors out there these films are great storytelling and their well-crafted it's turnkey GF. Of course he's featured on the Riverdale TV series Britt Robertson is a well-known actress Shania Twain was she's a country superstar, Gary Sinise course remember him as Lieut. Dan and Forrest Gump been on the CSI TV show for years, but this is an amazing cast a powerful story and it is going to move you deeply. Yes, it will bring tears to your eyes, but it will also bring joy to your heart. You're gonna love it all stitched. Do I understand why Melissa no I know you chose willingly to walk in the fire with the wind in the but then that's exactly what I do for your mom and you boys. That's what love is. I want to get you a copy of.

I still believe, and it is yours for your gift of any size know some can send a lot. Some can only send a little but whatever you said. I can promise you it will be used to continue to bring this radio broadcast the new beginning the people around the world. He could really use a good dose of hope right now. So get your copy of the brand-new just-released. I still believe DVD that's right. And we have one available for you right now and if you feel led to help us on a regular basis so we can help more people find hope in this time of uncertainty. Ask about becoming a harvest partner. One of the close friends of the ministry who support us on a regular basis and with your first gift as a harvest partner would be glad to send you this new movie I still believe on DVD just write a new beginning. Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org everybody Greg Laurie here in finding you to join me every weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a church service. It's a worship service. It's a Bible study and its wherever you wanted to be in your home in your car sitting on a beach walking down the street watching it on your phone wherever you are taking with you and be ministered to every weekend. Join us for Harvest at Home@harvest.org will next time more insight on the danger of having a hardened heart.

Pastor Greg continues her studies of the life of Moses. Next time you beginning and possible by harvest partners, helping people everywhere know God sign up for pastor grades free daily email devotions and harvest.org