Resuscitating Tired Hearts Series

The Heart of the Matter (Part Four)

"Resuscitating Tired Hearts"

Introduction

A. Example - A married couple sits in a counselor’s office. She says, "He comes

home on time, buys me an occasional gift, he provides for the family, but I just

don’t feel like I have his heart any more!"

1. (Please don’t elbow your spouse while I say these things and tell them, "Listen

up honey! He’s talking to you!")

B. Sometimes the counselor will run through a list of questions, "Have you done

this? Have you tried that?"

C. Example - A husband was told by the marriage counselor to try and be nice to

his wife. One day he comes home from work. He’s dressed up in a suit, he has

cologne on, he has a bouquet of flowers and a box of candy in his hands. He’s

trying to make a good impression. The wife says, "Oh, I can’t believe it! Little

Johnny has been throwing up; the dishwasher just broke; your parents are

coming to visit this weekend and to top it all off, you come home drunk!"

D. There are times in a marriage when we think, "I don’t care how you are

behaving, I know without a doubt that your heart isn’t in our relationship."

1. You give your spouse a kiss on the cheek, mutter "Love ya," as you walk out the door to work, but you could have done without it because the heart wasn’t in it.

(Some say, "Kiss? What kiss?")

E. The scenario I just mentioned might be an accurate description of our "marriage"

to Jesus. In fact, some of us aren’t married to Christ; we’re just living with him.

F. Jesus doesn’t just want us to show up for worship services, or say our prayers,

or read our Bibles—He wants our hearts! He wants ALL of our heart, not just a part of our heart.

G. We’ve come to the final lesson in our series on "The Heart of the Matter."

1. Why have we been talking so much about the heart? Isn’t it obvious?

2. If Jesus can have our hearts, then everything else—the good attitude, the songs

of praise, the right view of His word—will fall into place.

3. Example - An elderly Christian lady, who was crippled with arthritis, used to

hobble to the services of the church on crutches. It was a great ordeal and

required of her a considerable amount of toil and pain. A friend of hers observed

her regular and faithful attendance and asked, "How do you manage to be at

every service?" Her answer was, "My heart gets there first, and my old legs

just follow after."

H. God truly wants what is best for us and what’s best for us is to give Him our

hearts! To give him ALL of our heart!

I. We’ve talked about heart trouble, broken hearts, and spiritual cholesterol.

J. Today’s Lesson: "Resuscitating Tired Hearts"

1. Are you a Christian whose heart is worn out by guilt, worry and frustration?

2. Are you fatigued spiritually? Have you lost your zeal, enthusiasm and devotion?

3. Are you a Christian who has experienced tremendous pain, heartache and loss

and you are weary from the burdens you’ve had to bear?

K. Occasionally, a doctor will view an elderly patient and say, "Their heart is just

giving out! Their heart is tired and worn and it’s been beating for so long. There’s

not a lot we can do."

L. What is really frustrating is when a young person has a heart that starts giving

out on them. (12 year old boy, 22 year old wife) The doctors scratch their heads

and say, "We don’t know what’s wrong—but their heart just wants to quit!"

M. From a spiritual standpoint, I have seen Christians whose hearts have given up.

They’ve quit!

1. The minister will go to visit them and say, "We miss you. We haven’t seen you

in a while."

2. They’ll look at the preacher and say, "Look, I did everything. I served on

every committee. I was there at every service. I’m absolutely worn out. I just

want a little space. I ran myself ragged. I burned the candle at both ends. I did

all I could and it still wasn’t enough."

N. Could it be that we have people who are right on the edge of being "burned out"

spiritually?

1. Some are right at the core of everything we do. Some are the "back bones" of

this congregation.

2. And some are on the brink of saying, "I’ve had it! I don’t want to do anything

else! I can’t take it anymore. I’m tired, I’m worn and I want out!"

O. Point: And SATAN is waiting on the other side of the door.

1. He says, "How would you like a little vacation? What do you say we start