Introduction:
Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the
human heart is mysterious and deceitful.
We cannot know what lies at the
heart of our own nature and personality;
it is beyond our ability to penetrate
and understand.
The planet on which we live provides
an interesting illustration of
the problem: Deep inside the Earth,
spinning in a watery pool of iron,
the Earthâ€s
core is a giant iron crystal slightly
smaller but more dense than the
moon. Beyond that, the substance
at the heart of our planet always
has been a mystery. Scientists
have learned that the Earthâ€s
core is turning in an eastward
direction and spinning faster
than the Earth itself. Every 400
years, the core is a full turn
ahead of the Earth.
The more that earth scientists
learn about the heart of our planet,
the greater the mystery becomes!
But no matter how strange, it
canâ€t rival
the mystery and darkness of the
human heart.
Transition:
The spiritual consequences for
not knowing what you look at when
you peer into the human heart
can be even more disastrous! Though
man looks at the outward appearances,
God looks at our heart.
I. God Examines Our Heart
A. God looks within our heart.
B. God inspects our heart.
C. God observes our heart
D. God evaluates our heart.
II. God Touches Our Heart
A. We can say, â€God,
go ahead and do in my heart what
needs to be done.â€
B. We can say, â€God,
take what is wrong and make it
right.â€
C. We can say, â€God,
clean my heart out.â€
D. We can say, â€God,
straighten me out.â€
E. We can say, â€God,
touch my heart.â€
III. God Changes Our Heart
A. When our hearts change, our
attitudes change.
B. When our hearts change, our
intentions change.
C. When our hearts change, our
ambitions change.
Conclusion:
When God looks at the human heart,
he knows what heâ€s
looking at. 1 Samuel 16:7 suggests
that we donâ€t
and canâ€t, even
when we look at our own hearts.
The results of not seeing the
heart for what it is can be disastrous.
An Illinois man died waiting for
a donor kidney a month after his
transplant operation was halted
when doctors found a Chicago organ
bank employee sent a heart to
the downstate hospital by mistake.
The patient was in the operating
room May 12 undergoing surgery
when the mistake was discovered.
Doctors closed the manâ€s
incision and he died Sunday still
awaiting a replacement kidney.
"They
got him ready for surgery, took
him in to the operating room,
did the incision, got all his
nerve endings prepared, and when
they went to open the box, it
was a heart. They had labeled
in wrong," Daniel DeVore
Jr., a friend of the deceased
patient told Wednesdayâ€s
Chicago Sun-Times.
A spokesman for the Regional Organ
Bank of Illinois said two organs
were mislabeled by an organ-recovery
coordinator. The kidney should
have gone to Memorial Medical
Center in Springfield, Ill., and
a heart to a Chicago research
laboratory.
The surgeon called the organ bank
but the lab had already opened
the package containing the kidney
and it was no longer suitable
for transplant.
John
Sherman, 31, who had been waiting
for a kidney for 13 years, went
back on the organ waiting list.
DeVore said Sherman was crushed
and devastated by the mix-up. He
died during the weekend.