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  OPENING THE CLOSED HEART
  by David Guzik
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Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of having an open heart in
ministry, recognizing our own weaknesses and inabilities, and being
quick to ask for forgiveness when we hurt our people.

Duration: 42:31 Topics: "Open Hearts", "Spiritual Renewal"
Scripture References: Matthew 6:33, 2 Corinthians 6:11-12, 2 Corinthians 6:14

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DESCRIPTION
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In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of opening our
hearts to God and to others. He encourages the congregation to pray
intelligently and to ensure that their own hearts are open. The speaker
also urges the removal of any sense of injury that may exist between
individuals, and encourages an on-fire walk with Jesus. The sermon
emphasizes the need for open hearts, both from the congregation and from
Jesus himself.

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CONTENT
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Good morning It's such a blessing just to be a part of this conference
and to attend the sessions and to hear wasn't that a great message from
Pastor Sandy and you know, it's wonderful to see the moving of the Holy
Spirit because you'll see how beautifully The message the Lord's given
me for you this morning relates to what Sandy has just shared with us So
I really want to express my gratitude to all of you to Pastor Sandy to
all the staff here to to Pastor James Just just what a blessing it is
for me to be here Father we come before you and we ask that you would
open up the eyes of our understanding this morning Help us Lord God To
hear from your spirit We know Lord that this is your living word It's
not just ink on a page. And so we come with hearts full of expectancy
Asking you to meet us in your word. We pray this in Jesus name Amen Open
up your Bibles to the book of 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 If I could put a
title to this message this morning, I'd call it opening the closed heart
And I do think it relates very closely as an extension of what Pastor
Sandy just shared with us this sort of deals with some of the fallout or
or the the outworking of Having a pen and aya in your life or in the
midst or perhaps of being one the 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 beginning at
verse 11 Oh Corinthians Corinthians We have spoken openly to you.

Our heart is wide open You are not restricted by us, but you are
restricted by your own affections Now in return for the same I speak as
children as to children You also Be open Think in your mind Maybe you
can remember or maybe you can just imagine But consider in your mind for
a moment that person or that family they come to your church and They
are so excited They're absolutely thrilled That they never heard
somebody just open up the Bible and go through a passage and explain it
You know, all they've heard is sort of sermonettes for Christian acts
And the pastor lecture and go on and on But they're thrilled that here
it is the Bible's right in front of us and we can understand it and and
all they grow and boy, do they get plugged in and And you know, it's not
just that they're there but there's a personal relationship with them
And they're they're fed They're supporting they're loving They're
present You say oh these these are some of the very precious precious
people that the Lord has given us And then it's hard to put your finger
on it But over time maybe something kind of changes it begins a sort of
a slow progression You know, you just don't see them around as much
anymore You know, it used to be that just about every time the church
was open there they were Now, well, yeah, they're pretty consistent on
Sunday, you know, unless this or that or the other thing comes up And so
they're still there. I mean you're still their pastor and this is still
their church But but you think about and it's not the same They they
stop serving perhaps Maybe they stop or cut back on giving You hear
whispers around the church that they're dissatisfied And it's hard to
put your finger on it. You don't really have anything hard It's just
sort of the whispers the rumors and you don't know exactly what to do
You see less and less of them and it's more and more awkward Until the
day that you get it and you know what I'm talking about.

You get the letter Have you ever received the letter? If you have you
know exactly what I'm talking about if you haven't just give it a little
bit of time And you wonder what happened you think back to when you
first knew them and when they first started coming They used to like it
here what happened That they used to support you and stand beside you
and behind you what happened They they used to get fed They used to brag
on you to other people What happened to that? I? Want you to know that
the Apostle Paul had the same problem and he talks about it here in 2nd
Corinthians chapter 6 Let me read the text to you again as he appeals to
the the Corinthian Christians. He says Oh Corinthians We've spoken
openly to you. Our heart is wide open You are not restricted by us, but
you are restricted by your own Affections now in return for the same I
speak as to children you also be open Paul knew What it was like to deal
with people who had closed their hearts to him and Who had closed their
hearts in one sense at least to the work of the Lord Paul knew what it
cost Closed hearts are costly You know the word isn't sweet to people
anymore When their hearts closed, you know, sometimes you can look at
somebody in the congregation.

You just have that sense They're not open They have just a particular
countenance about them where they're not drinking it in They're just
kind of yeah pastor blah blah blah closed hearts are generally cranky
and Dissatisfied you just get that feeling about them That they no
longer seem to want to joyfully serve the Lord They don't seem to want
to share in the hardships of the ministry anymore Then there's another
aspect to the closed heart It's when the pastor closes his heart and
when the pastor Loses or diminishes his Shepherd's heart for the people
Well, I'm excited about this text Because to me it shows that Paul
Attempted to open closed hearts. I can't say that. I've always had that
attitude Sometimes when I've seen closed hearts, I've just given up
Well, what can you do look either they like me or they don't and Maybe
in the end that is the final analysis, but but Paul said that's not
where I'm going to start Paul said I want to speak to these closed
hearts.

Look at how he speaks verse 11. He begins. Oh Corinthians You can't read
that without sensing some of Paul's passion I Mean he's stopping him
some just Oh Corinthians, it's a plea to dear brothers and sisters
people.

He deeply loves I am absolutely amazed that the Apostle Paul when I see
his passion and this is what amazes me about him is We know that Paul
was a man of staggering intellect Many of you read the book of Romans
lately Have you read the letter to the Ephesians lately? This was the
man who could get together on Mars Hill in Athens and go at it with the
most Brilliant minds of the day the Apostle Paul was an intellectual
giant But he was also a man of deep passion of real heartfelt conviction
for the people Man just just as an aside and I won't walk down this
trail more than just a couple of steps Don't don't think that you're
progressing in your intellectual or Academic things of the gospel and
theology and all don't ever let it rob you of your passion for God's
people. I See that happen sometimes perhaps you have to You know, we're
not behind the pulpit as the as the chief egghead in the church And if
there's anything that we can learn from from pastor Chuck and Other
teachers and we really respect in the Calvary Chapel movement. It's the
simplicity believe me It's a simplicity that's backed up with with
tremendous understanding of the scriptures It's not simple mindedness,
but it is a simplicity Paul was a man who could have incredible
Intellectual achievement and understanding the man he loved God's people
and he pours it out right here, but when he says Oh Corinthians, but
then notice what he says next in verse 11.

We have spoken openly to you That's how we've responded to you openly.
Our heart is wide open. He begins now if you want to deal with the
problem of closed hearts in your congregation Maybe it's just one person
you're thinking of as I mentioned this Let me tell you where to begin.

It's where you begin with every problem you begin with yourself You've
learned this in your marriage haven't you I I'm beginning to learn it. I
Must confess that there were years when I kind of had the attitude I
would never say it I was too smart for that, but it was in my heart I
thought the main problem in our marriage was my wife and when my wife,
you know started really getting right Then then then things would look
up in our marriage What a fool I was. I can't believe how foolish I was
and Now I guess generally I used to pray this About my wife.

I used to pray Lord bless me and change her You Know what that to live
one week with with that kind of foolishness is sinful To live a few
years with it is an absolute crime. I Tell you if you want to pray for
your marriage if you want to pray for your congregation Pray Lord bless
them and change me Now in the scenario that I spelled out for you in the
beginning One of the sheep close their heart towards the shepherd But
you and I know that the opposite can happen as well now I'm gonna say
pastor a lot and refer to pastor I know that many of you are not
strictly in pastoral ministry But please just apply what I say to pastor
and apply it to you in your own ministry because most all the same
principles apply But you know that a pastor can close his heart towards
the people Either certain people in particular or the congregation in
general And here Paul is is telling the Corinthian Church this wonderful
testimony that he has not Closed his heart towards them Notice how he
puts it in both ways verse 11. We have spoken openly to you In other
words our words were completely open and sometimes that's far easier for
us to be open with our words Amen, I preach the whole gospel to those
people.

I didn't hold anything back. I taught them the whole counsel of God's
Word We'll praise the Lord. That's what you should be doing pastor at
the same time.

Look at what Paul adds to that in verse 11 We have spoken openly to you.
Our heart is wide open Couldn't we say that for effective ministry
pastor you need both? You need to preach the whole word. You need to
have an open book before them, but you also need to have an open heart
and when we think that there's a problem with with closed hearts either
with the congregation as a whole or or More likely it's with one or two
individuals that six to eight people that Sandy mentioned in the
previous message Look first to yourself Because you can get to the place
in ministry.

We're honestly you just don't love the sheep You don't care for them as
you once did It's not a good place to be But here's the good news Closed
hearts can be opened They really can God can change closed hearts and we
don't always think that way Sometimes we take a fatalistic attitude
about them either in others or in ourselves. Well, you know, my heart's
closed I guess the love's gone time to move on They may say it or you
may say it but friends. It doesn't necessarily have to be that way
Although God uses all things for his glory and sometimes when God wants
to move somebody on You'll find this opening or a closing of hearts and
that but you know, it doesn't have to be such a mess Do we really
believe that Paul in Barnabas that the only possible way that they could
have split up into two more effective Missionary teams was for them to
have a big conflict If they were really listening to the Lord and guided
by the Spirit I suppose it could have happened in a very peaceful
amicable way.

I Mean God used it the way it did happen but maybe there was a higher
way a better way that it might have happened and And I think that we
should always look for closed hearts to be open and never be fatalistic
about it The mere fact that Paul appeals to the Corinthians and says
open your hearts to us It shows that that it can be done. Maybe it's
hard. Maybe it doesn't happen all the time Maybe your odds of success
are low.

Maybe you'll be successful less than half the time Maybe it'd be 10% of
the time But shouldn't we take the example of the Apostle Paul and say
I'm going to appeal to closed hearts whether that closed heart is in me
or in somebody else Again, it's no guarantee, but you can at least do
what Paul did But friends let me say especially that if it's your heart
that's closed that can change You can return to your first love not just
for the Lord, but for your congregation It can be that sweet again.
Don't tell me it can't Because it can be that way in your marriage,
right? Somebody comes to your office for marriage counseling Pastor the
fire is just kind of out in my marriage and I don't love my wife the way
that I used to and and you Know it's just hard. What do you say to the
guy? What move on better find somebody else? You'd never say that You do
the right thing You you encourage and you comfort that mean it can be it
can be better than it ever was before It won't be easy.

It'll take some work, but it really can be better Although you have to
say that the worst situations probably are when it isn't just a closed
heart on behalf of the congregation or a few individuals or Not just a
closed heart on behalf of the pastor, but when both of them have closed
hearts That's a disaster in the making, isn't it? Now here's something
else about open and closed hearts that you'll notice here. Look at what
Paul says in verse 12 He says you are not restricted by us This gives us
an important indication as to how hearts become closed Paul says we
didn't do it We're not restricting you as a matter of fact, he says in
verse 12, but you are restricted by your own affections Here's the
principle Hearts often close out of perceived injury Look down to
chapter 7 verse 2 Paul's continuing on in the same theme He says open
your hearts to us. We have wronged.

No one we've corrupted No one and we've cheated. No one Why would Paul
have to write that? Unless it was the opinion of some of the Corinthian
Christians that he had in fact wronged them That he had in fact cheated
them That he had in fact injured them in some way You see the Corinthian
Christians played the victim before Paul out of godly Necessity the
Apostle Paul had to be firm with them on previous occasions Have you
ever read the letter to first the first letter to the Corinthians? He
really gets down pretty strongly with them, doesn't he? He really
confronts them and there they are in the Corinthian Church. Oh Paul
you're hurting our feelings.

I Guess you don't love us. I guess you don't really you probably are a
mercenary Paul just like some among us say you are and Because they
perceived that Paul injured them They closed their heart to him Suppose
that we would love to reconcile with you Paul, but the pain that you
caused us Restricts us. We just can't get over it What does Paul say
look at verse 12? You are not restricted by us He Lays it right on the
line.

You see the real problem was that the Corinthian Christians were
restricted by their own Affections it wasn't that Paul did not love them
enough. That's how they wanted to feel as victims Now, you know the real
problem was and we'll touch on it more in just a little bit The real
problem among the Corinthian Christians was that they loved too much
their own Affections restricted them Friends when you find closed hearts
Most all the time There's a sense of injury Involved, you know what Paul
said in chapter 7 verse 2 Open your hearts to us. We've wronged.

No one we've corrupted. No one we've cheated. No one That's our desire
to be able to say that in the ministry, isn't it? at the same time We
know that sometimes we hurt our people don't we Isn't that a terrible
burden to live with in the ministry That thing you said that you really
wish you could take back The decision that you made and you know, it was
the right decision, you know, the decision was from God but man, you
were like a bull in a China shop the way that you implemented it and you
just shouldn't have done it that way and People were hurt Or that thing
that you really should have said to somebody but she didn't Phone call
you didn't return and that person has never forgotten You know what I'm
talking about, don't you As pastors we we injure folks prayerfully never
ever deliberately But it's just sort of the in the in the give-and-take
of normal relationships with people there's always going to be a little
bit of stepping on them toes and that's why Paul says that there has to
be grace and Love and forgiveness among Christians and our people need
to be taught to have forgiving hearts towards us Not that it's some kind
of blank check for us to hurt and offend people and and drive them up
the wall Anyway, we want well, then you just forgive me brother.

I'm sorry, but but you know what I'm talking about that people need to
be able to deal with our own weaknesses and our own inabilities and
Friends I think what's really required of this Us in this I should say
is to be humble as as ministers to recognize that we're capable of
hurting our people and when we do To not endlessly beat ourselves up
about it Oh, I know that there's some folks who would like you to don
sackcloth and ashes and walk around, you know Depriving yourself of all
but bread and water for about 30 days just to demonstrate your
repentance to everybody No, but but a sincere Heartfelt apology and
asking for forgiveness and then moving on That they deserve that from
us, don't they?

They don't deserve a proud or an arrogant pastor Who just refuses to see
that he was wrong Say I I am sorry, I wish I would have done that
better. Please forgive me now What amazes me about this is that the
Apostle Paul had given them no Reason to feel injured and yet they still
did feel that way And we shouldn't be surprised that people will feel
injured by us when they have absolutely no reason to feel injured or
Sometimes they will feel Greatly injured by us when really we've done a
very small thing Satan is there not only to create some things out of
nothing but also to Amplify and to pump up things that are really very
small But friends we need to take our role and be humble be Be quick to
ask for forgiveness among our people If we can't be the examples of
perfection among them then let us be the examples of repentance But
maybe it's even more problematic of what we should do when our people
hurt us Have you known a betrayer or two in your congregation Have you
known somebody who stabbed you in the back?

Have you known people who they would never do it openly but behind the
scenes? it just seems like wherever they go conflict goes and It hurts
us as pastors doesn't We can't just act like the cold technical CEO and
just say well, you know, it's just a business thing It's not a bit. It
is personal for us God wants us to love our people and to extend our
hearts towards them and friends having an open heart means that you're
going to be hurt sometimes So, what do you do when your people hurt you
when you feel I've man what's going on here?

It's like the pastor who said well, how big's your congregation and the
other pastor said well, I've got 50 active members 25 are active for me
and 25 are active against me But you know, you're going to face some of
that and so you just have to deal with it as the cost of ministry you
just have to be grown up about it and Say I'm serving the Lord Jesus
Christ Lord, even when people injure me don't let my heart become closed
Don't let it become contracted because that's always the temptation you
hurt me And so I never want to go near you again God forbid To be in the
ministry means to lay your heart out on the line where sometimes it's
going to get hurt And if you think that you're some unique case just
follow the life of the Apostle Paul follow the life of our Lord Jesus
follow the life of David in the Old Testament follow anybody's life
You'll see that it's just part of ministry the kind of attacks and
criticism and things that you have to bear But friends you have to bear
it without closing your heart Let me say one other thing before we move
on to the next point here in in verse 12 If you're not the pastor But
you're in a support role.

I Want you to take special care that you don't let your heart grow
closed towards your pastor You see you're involved in ministry with him
in a special way Honestly you see things that other people don't see
Your pastor is around you in more of his unguarded moments And he may
say things that you know, you just have no business being hurt by just
forget about it Charles Spurgeon in his wonderful book lectures to my
students Has a chapter in there that I recommend to everybody in
ministry It's called the blind eye and the deaf ear and the basic theme
of it Is there are many things in ministry to which you should just turn
a blind eye and a deaf ear And maybe you're in one of those support
positions to your pastor and you said well, you know I mean, I never
knew my pastor might might say something like that or do something like
that Listen he's a man just like you Don't you say foolish things in
unguarded moments? Of course you do don't you wish other people would
just forget about those things, of course you do Realize that hurts are
just part of the ministry forgive him and get over it Plead with God for
an open heart This is where it begins So verse 12 tells us in part that
hearts are closed out of a sense of injury whether it's justified or not
if People have a sense of injury from a pastor They may close their
hearts towards him or if the pastor has a sense of injury from the
congregation He may close his heart towards the congregation But that's
not the only reason Look at it again here in verse 12. You are not
restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections Say
well, what do you mean by that Paul? You know, he's going to explain for
us Look at it right here in verse 14. You might be surprised by the
context here verse 14 Do not be unequally yoked together with
unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness and
what communion has light with darkness? You know that passage you've
used it many times in counseling You use it many times in teaching and
it has a wonderfully broad valid application, doesn't it? But I want you
to see Paul's context here He's pleading with the Corinthians that they
would open up their heart to him and As he pleads with them, he says
listen, I'll tell you what part of the problem is is your worldly You're
not thinking in the pattern of Jesus Christ.

You're thinking after the pattern of this world You are too closely
joined to the thinking and the actions of this world And that's one of
the reasons why you've closed your heart to me I'll put it this way
closed hearts can also be caused by worldliness I've never heard it
myself Maybe you have but but it would be new to me if somebody said I
am so in love with Jesus that I can't stand my pastor and that's why
Paul deals with the unequally yoked section immediately following this
And the problem with the Corinthian Christians was as I said a little
bit earlier. They loved too much You see it. Well sure they loved Paul,
but you know, their love towards Paul was cooling off because what they
really loved was the world But they also loved themselves too much And
when Paul tried to deal with them, they responded in a selfish worldly
attitude We have to in ourselves in our congregations draw ourselves and
our people so close to Jesus that their hearts will be open Friends if
you're really close to Jesus, I can't see that you have a closed heart
To whatever degree your distance from his love from his heart from his
fellowship that's going to be the same to degree your hearts closed We
live in a very cynical age It's worldly thinking that makes people say
well, you know, I know the pastor says he loves us But he really doesn't
there has to be another motive Now he must be in it because he can't get
another job He must be in it for the glory Right the glory That kind of
cynical thinking is is unequally yoked to the worldly thinking of this
age and Because the Corinthians didn't have the mind of Christ.

They were unequally yoked I Guess what? It means is that when we see
Closed hearts in our congregation. We have to exhort them to a close
daily walk with Jesus Now I want to are you really walking with the Lord
closely and is your fellowship sweet and beautiful with him? I Would say
probably most the time not if they're closing their heart towards you
But friends it also applies to the pastor You Must be exhorted to a
close daily walk with Jesus It's not as easy in the ministry as many
people think is it? It's possible just to get in that mechanical routine
We don't want that We want our own Experience with Jesus to be fresh and
beautiful and filled with life Where we love him and we're not connected
with the things of the world But rather we're just so close to Jesus
that our hearts are open The heart of Jesus towards his people towards
your congregation. Is it open or closed? He loves them He sees all of
their faults.

He sees him better than you do He knows it all and he loves them with an
open heart Well, if we're close to the heart of Jesus our hearts going
to be open to now for the next point look at verse 13 Now in return for
the same I speak as to children You also be open That's another very
important point We can make an appeal to the closed heart You can't just
say well, okay, sir. Ah, sir. Ah Whatever will be will be if it's open.

It's open if it's closed. It's closed I think we can do what Paul did it
won't always work to be honest We don't really know how well it worked
among the Corinthians with Paul, but we can appeal to people in love
Look again at 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 verse 2 where Paul says Open
your hearts to us Literally in the ancient Greek Paul says make room for
us in your heart You know there used to be room They used to sit and
listen to you and get so fed Now what why don't they anymore? Is it
because you've suddenly become a terrible Bible teacher? Probably not
It's because something has probably happened in them a sense of injury
not walking as close to Jesus as they should and So now their hearts
closed and they'll look you square in the eye and say pastor. I don't
get fed by you anymore It's strange how people will say that sometimes
Now I understand completely that not every teacher is for every person
There are some people that you're going to get more from than others
Some people will connect better with just the way you think and and your
bizarre mind than than other people will But I I scratch my head
Sometimes if I hear somebody said well, you know a pastor Chuck doesn't
really feed me What are you talking about? That's I say well reading the
Bible doesn't really feed me Enough not that Chuck speaks the oracles of
God just like the scripture.

I would never want to imply that of course But you know what when a man
has a track record like that This is a man who feeds the sheep It's not
like he's not on a valuation anymore He's proven it's like the person
who goes to the to the Art Museum and they're looking at the Rembrandt
And I'm trying to decide if I really think this Rembrandt guy can paint
anything You know, it comes to the point where it's not the painter
that's on trial. It's you and your judgment and so the point is is that
people can make room for us in their heart as pastors and Then suffer
from a tightening or a closing of that room and it can come back. I
Think sometimes we need to just appeal to them.

It's something that we as individuals have some control over. It doesn't
just happen to us sometimes we want to tell ourselves and we follow
again a worldly way of thinking when we think this way that having your
heart open or closed is like being in love or out of love and You know
what the world tells us look either you're in love or you're not in love
if you're in love There's nothing you can do about it. If you're not in
love.

Well, there's nothing you can do about it It's in people apply that same
thinking to having an open or closed heart towards the pastor Hey either
I have it or I don't if it's open. Well, praise God nothing I can if
it's closed nothing I can do about it. It's not true.

You know, it's not true in terms of romantic love You know that in a
marriage where romantic love is dead that if those people will follow
what the Bible tells them to do There can be a beautiful and a glorious
resurrection of romantic love in that marriage Many of you have lived
that It's the same way in the relationship that people have with their
pastor You see the person with a closed heart likes to think that
there's nothing that can be done about it Oh, and I've seen pastors that
way before their congregations They have closed their heart to the
people that they minister to and that pastor wants to act like well
There's nothing that can be done about it. No Pastor your heart can
change you see when when we encounter closed hearts This is what we will
endeavor to do. First of all, I think we need to pray intelligently You
know when I started to understand of some of what Paul said here in 2nd
Corinthians I think one of the greatest Encouragements it was for me was
in my prayer life because I felt like I had a handle on something to
pray for Not only in those people but in myself Lord have I injured
those people in some way? Let me let me Lord help me to deal with that
Lord help them to have an open heart I remember it once was open and and
and it saddens me to see it closed Lord open up their hearts again I
think the first thing we need to do is take this understanding and use
it to pray intelligently But the second thing we need to do Is make sure
our own heart is open Pastor isn't that where it always begins Doesn't
good ministry always flow through us God's done a work in us and then
can move it through us to other people So check your own heart get down
on your own knees before God and say God open up my heart to this person
I know they've hurt me But help me to be much like my Lord Jesus who
even when he was hurt he opened up his heart towards other people If you
want an illustration of Jesus with his marvelous open heart picture
Jesus Putting forth that special piece of bread that denoted special
honor and privilege and holding it out to Judas That's an open heart So
first we pray intelligently secondly, we make sure our own heart is open
third.

We try to remove any sense of injury My friends you you can't always do
this Because if they were felt injured by the Apostle Paul, and he did
nothing sometimes there's nothing we can do about it, but we can try We
can do whatever we can before the Lord to try to remove any sense of
injury that that person may have towards us Fourth I think we exhort
them to an on-fire walk with Jesus. We make sure that we're in the same
place Then fifth we we passionately appeal if that's the direction that
God leads us to You know Maybe if the Lord would lead you with that
Particular person that you can't get out of your mind as I've been
speaking on this subject here this morning Maybe you need to sit down
and have a little Bible study with them From 1st Corinthians chapter 6
verses 11 12 and 13 And say you know what? I'm wondering if if hearts
aren't getting closed here when God wants them to be really open But you
can make a passionate appeal to the folks Then finally after all of
that's done. What do you do next? Well, you leave it with Jesus You
really do because you can appeal to their heart, but don't ever think
for a moment that you can change their heart That's the work of the Lord
alone, isn't it? But you can't appeal to their heart.

That's what the Apostle Paul did But at the end of the day all you can
do all you really want to do is leave it with Jesus the real key my
friends is with our own heart Open hearts will be hurt Sometimes I tell
people about the ministry. I tell them that The ministry will give you
the greatest joys you can imagine and It will also break your heart It
will it's just part of it. That's that's where God wants us to be With
hearts that are open and vulnerable enough so that they could be broken
Open hearts will get hurt from time to time but friends open hearts are
the ones that are close to Jesus And that's where we want to be Father I
pray you would touch my heart Make it always open before my brothers and
sisters Help me to have an open heart before my congregation God and
Lord, especially with difficult people There are always a few Lord that
That especially need an open heart for me, but God I pray for a deep
work of your spirit among us now We've heard your word.

We understand it God You know Lord doing it is not easy And so we plead
with you to keep our hearts open I pray especially Lord for the pastors
wives Lord oftentimes they bear hurt and injury That that just seems so
far out of proportion That God we pray that such a beautiful work of
your spirit would take place And That you'd mend some broken hearts and
keep them always very open before you I Pray for the person here this
morning Lord That even if they never put it in these words, they vowed
that they would never have an open heart again They're just tired of
being hurt Give them the heart of Jesus Keep us close to the heart of
Jesus and thank you Lord for the ministry that you've given us We pray
this God in Jesus name Amen

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Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/6/SID6757.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/david-guzik/opening-the-closed-heart/
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