Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
June 6, 2010 - W1023

The Heart that Pleases God

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro

June 5 & 6, 2010

Pastor Wayne has recently returned from his trip to the Holy Land and shared pictures including ones of a group of the travelers in front of the Sea of Galilea, three of our pastors praying for our church at the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock (erected over the site where Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac), and a baptism of 90 or so travelers in the Jordan River.

Today we’re going to talk about the heart that pleases God.  It’s more than just the state of one’s heart that is necessary to please God, it is also about a heart’s willingness to be corrected.

When we were in Israel, we were waiting in line to get into this one particular location.  Our group was rather large and the line was long.  At one point when we were waiting there, a woman from the back of the line walked rather determinedly to the front of the line where an armed guard stood manning the gate.  There was a rather intense exchange between the two, including some glances our way.  We couldn’t understand anything that was being said because the woman was speaking in Hebrew.  After a while, the woman turned around and got back in line.  Well I was curious about what had occurred so when we reached the gate where the guard was standing, I asked him what that was all about.  He said, “You don’t want to know.”  I assured him I did so he said the woman was upset about the long line and she said that she was Jewish and we were gentiles so she should be allowed to go to the front of the line.  That was surprising, so I asked him what his response to her was.  He said he told her, “You may be right but they’re our guests and you need to be a better host.”

The heart that delights God is a correctable one; that’s why God loved David so much.  “I have found David, the some of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.” “…and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people…” (Acts 13:22, 1 Sam 13:14).

God delights in hearts after His own but it must not only love like His, it must also be obedient.  It sounds easy enough, but is it?  Not really.  It’s not necessarily easy but it is necessary.  In fact, the key to success is knowing that sometimes your heart doesn’t want to do it but you’re obedient anyway.  “Listen my son and be wise, and direct your heart in the way” (Prov. 23:19).

MY HEART IS MY RESPONSIBILITY.

Our hearts are our responsibility because at the end of the day, when everything else is gone, it’s all that we’re left with. That being the case, knowing that we struggle with our hearts sometimes, it’s good to also know that when you’re obedient, it helps to correct your heart.  Sometimes our hearts need to be directed and obedience helps to do that.

GOD LOOKS FOR PURE HEARTS.

“Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature…for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7)

“The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chr. 16:9).

God delights in and supports hearts after His own, and it’s not because they’re perfect.  In fact, consider David. God delighted in David and it wasn’t because he wasn’t flawed, in fwas God’s chosen one but we all have flawed hearts but that’s okay, as long as it’s correctable  Let’s take a look at the example of David

We must all be willing to receive correction, sometimes it even comes at the hand of an armed guard.