Plowing The Heart

Plowing the Heart

February 1, 2026 Morning Service

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK

Rick Boyne

Message Point: Allow God to break up the hardened ground of your heart.

Focus Passage: Hosea 10:12-13

Introduction: Revival does not begin with comfort. It begins with disruption.

God interrupts hardened hearts, stagnant routines, and self directed plans so He can restore fruitfulness. Hosea’s call to “break up your fallow ground” is a summons to welcome God’s holy interruption.

1. A Disruption of the Heart Revival begins when God exposes what we have allowed to harden.

a. “Break up your fallow ground.” Hosea 10:12 (NASB)

Fallow ground is soil that was once fruitful but has become crusted and resistant. God calls His people to let Him plow through the hardened places.

b. “Search me, God, and know my heart… and lead me in the everlasting way.” Psalm 139:23–24 (NASB)

David invites God to interrupt his inner life, revealing what he cannot see on his own.

c. “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.” Jeremiah 4:3 (NASB)

God warns that spiritual fruit cannot grow where the heart remains untouched.

Emphasis

Revival requires honesty. God disrupts the hidden places—attitudes, habits, resentments, secret sins—so He can restore tenderness and obedience.

2. A Disruption of the Church Revival interrupts religious routine and calls the church back to genuine devotion.

a. “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up.” Revelation 3:1–2 (NASB)

Jesus confronts a church that looks active but is spiritually asleep.

b. “This people draw near with their words… but their hearts are far from Me.” Isaiah 29:13

God exposes worship that is busy but empty.

c. “They were continually devoting themselves… and everyone kept feeling a sense of awe.”

When God interrupts the church, devotion deepens and awe returns. Acts 2:42–43 (NASB)

Emphasis

Revival is not about better programming. It is about renewed presence. God disrupts our routines so the church can rediscover awe, unity, and mission.

3. A Disruption of the Mission When God interrupts a life, He redirects it for His purposes.

a. “Suddenly a light from heaven flashed… ‘Lord, what do You want me to do?’” Acts 9:3–6 (NASB)

Saul’s life is violently interrupted so God can plant a new mission.

b. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Matthew 9:36–38 (NASB)

Revival always pushes God’s people outward with renewed compassion.

c. “We are ambassadors for Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:17–20 (NASB)

Those whom God interrupts become His representatives to a broken world.

Emphasis

Revival is never inward only. God breaks up the ground of our comfort so He can send us into the harvest with urgency and love.

Conclusion

Hosea’s call is clear:

Break up your fallow ground.

Seek the Lord now.

Let Him interrupt anything that keeps you from fruitfulness.

Revival begins when God’s people stop resisting His plow and start welcoming His presence.

The Bible says “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9-10