In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of listening to the heart of the Father and seeking His guidance. He compares this to how children look to their fathers for approval and guidance. The preacher highlights the need for understanding and closeness with God, rather than being stubborn and distant like a horse or mule. The sermon also emphasizes the role of God as a loving Father who instructs and teaches His children, and encourages believers to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, even if they seem insignificant.

It's got to be a miracle. It's going to take a miracle to fix this. All the mighty kings, all the money, and the riches cannot buy it. The most influential men in the earth cannot change what's wrong if we've got this leprous heart. And that's really what this verse underscores. So it was when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he had sent the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. Then Nahum went with his horse and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house, and Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean. So Nahum became furious and went away and said, Indeed, I said to myself, He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. Are not the Abana and the Pephar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he returned and went away in rage. And his servant came near and spoke to him and said, If the prophet had told you to do something great, you would have done it. How much more, then, when he says to you, wash and be clean? So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child. Boy, isn't that a picture of what kind of heart God wants to give you? Just like a heart, just like a little child. And he was clean. You see what the test was, what the route was, if you will, back to a heart of brokenness? We're not talking about now the route to a hard heart, we're talking about a route back to a broken and contrived heart. It was obedience, regardless how foolish it sounded. And a lot of times, God's promises of healing come with a test, don't they? God doesn't ask us to do some great thing, to do some mighty act. He often asks us to do something that strikes at the problem in the first place. That proudful heart. Something that we despise, that it seems so silly. You know, dipping in this muddy Jordan seven times. But yet, like that act of dipping seven times, we need to repeatedly obey the slightest and most foolish sounding promptings of the Holy Spirit. This is where you get back on track with a broken heart. You know, we'll be so busy and we want to hear God for all... You know, I've talked to some people and they say, Oh, I just need to hear God about this situation where we need to move, I need to sell my business, I need to get married. And they want to hear God about the big things. And suddenly they can't. But yet they've been neglecting the slightest promptings all through the week, all through the months, all through the years. And then they wonder why they can't hear God. Why their heart isn't sensitive to the voice of God. This is where we get back on track. Obey the still small voice. Even if it seems silly. You know, a lot of brothers are bound up with a hard heart, eaten up with sin. And God says, I want you to go to that brother and just confess it. Get it out on the table. Oh Lord. See that strikes at that prideful area. You know, sometimes I've been in a meeting where God wanted me to do something a little different in worship. It was a real battle, you know, where I was in my seat. I mean, God was after me to do something and I said, you know... And I didn't even realize it. I've been praying for all kinds of things to happen. And yet He tested me. He's done it many times. He says, you need to really release yourself to worship me right now. I was afraid, though, what people might think. And I let go. And you know what? The blessings came, the other ones that I was praying for. The smallest acts of obedience, though sometimes a little humiliating, may really be what's holding up that broken heart from being restored. Amen. Amen. Turn with me to Mark 1.40. Speaking of Jesus, now a leper came to Him, begging, pleading, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, if You're willing, You can make me clean. Here's the only source, the only one that can fix this stuff in our heart is Jesus. It's Jesus. We'll never do it by ourself. We've got to get on our knees and seek Jesus. Verse 41, Then Jesus moved with compassion. And I promise you that when you come with this kind of heart, pleading, imploring, getting on your knees, meaning business, recognizing that He and He alone is the only source to a broken heart, to a clean heart, to a restored heart, He'll be moved with compassion. Then Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out His hand, and touched him and said, I am willing, be cleansed. Hallelujah. Jesus is the one. Isn't that good news, folks? We just need to get honest and admit that it's there. That is half the task. And come into grips with where we're really at. Quit hiding from that leprous heart. You know, that's how we do. We stay so busy sometimes. Also involved in other things We never get time to get alone and get quiet before God to see really what's in there. Take some time to let Him show you. Agree with Him and do just what this man said. And the cleansing will be there. That's good news. Amen. God wants to do that. I've been seeking that this week. I've been saying, Lord, I need some brokenness restored back to my life. There's some places that I've walked in in the past that I recognize that they're not as tender as they used to be. I don't believe that old thing that says, well, that's how you were when you were a brand new babe and somehow you mature into a brittle old dry thing. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it a bit. I want a tender heart towards God. Amen? In closing, let's look at a couple passages. Psalms 32.8 and 9. This is basic stuff, isn't it? Nothing new for y'all. Just kind of maybe coming at it a little different route. This is all stuff that we know is true. Psalms 32.8 and 9. This is precious. This is the heart. This really is the heart of the Father. I've heard Him say this to me so many times. I will instruct you and teach you. You know, some of us never had a daddy to show us how to do it. Amen? We had to figure out a lot of stuff by ourselves. Thought we were anyway. And I'll tell you these kind of promises. You know, I need a Father in my life. And I'm a mess without Him. Just last week I was crying, Oh God, I don't know how to do this. I don't got a clue what's up and down. Father, I need you. Instruct me. Isn't that what dads are for? Isn't that what fathers are for? I will instruct you. And teach you in the way you should go. Hallelujah. That's good news. I will guide you with my eye. That's how fathers do it too. You know, my kids, they just look and see if it's okay. We don't have to say nothing. They just look at dad and see if that's alright. And I let them know. And they go on their way. I'll guide you with my eye. And then listen to the heart of the father. You can hear the hurt here, the pleading. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with a bit and bridle, else they will not come near you. You see what he's after? He's after his children coming near him. And what is that horse, that bit, that bridle doing the horse or mule's mouth? That cold steel thing causes pain. They yank on those reins this way and it hurts and they turn their head that way. God does not want a relationship with Him to be like that. He wants it to be like a father and a son to just guide you with His eye. He is so bent though, so desperate for a relationship with you, He will do what it takes. He will orchestrate circumstances and bring things into your life, hard things if necessary to put pressure on you to make you get back on your knees and to make you break up that fallow ground. He doesn't want to do it that way though. That's what this says. Don't be like that. I don't want to do that. And this is one of the things in relationship to the church and revival in these days. I honestly say I am fearful for America. I am fearful for the church in America. Because I believe with all my heart, just as Jesus in Mark 140, 41 said that yes, I'm willing. God is willing to bring revival to our country. But we are so stubborn, so hardened, I'm afraid that it may take some severe pressures and circumstances to get us back to Him. But I do not believe that's His first choice. I believe there's still a window of opportunity for the church to respond. To some extent, we are already experiencing judgment, folks. We are already living in the midst of it. But I believe there still is time to stay the hand of a severe judgment if we will respond in brokenness. Don't be like the horse and the mule. Hear the heartbeat of the Father. The last verse. Go to John 12. Just to underline this with two more verses. John 12, 24 and 25. Most assuredly I say, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. This whole theme of brokenness is the theme of the crucified life. Think about that kernel of grain. What does it do? It falls into the ground and then it's buried. It's hidden. You know, a lot of times, God brings brokenness into our life by hiding us for a little while. Putting us aside. And we've got to be willing to let Him do that if necessary. But in that place, hidden and covered up, that damp, warm place, that outer shell breaks so that life can come out. And then a multitude. Just as Jesus broke that loaf, those few loaves and a multitude were fed. As those grains, those single grains, break and let that new life out, multitudes of more grain is produced. That's how it works, folks. This is how the Christian life works. It takes death and dying and brokenness, humility, for the life to flow through us. That's how it flowed from the cross and it hadn't changed for us. We follow the example of Christ. And as we die daily, the life is produced. It flows through us. The exchange of life, our death for His life is happening there. Matthew 21, verse 44. And this is the only two choices we have right here, folks, in the Christian walk. And whoever falls on this stone, speaking of Christ, the cornerstone, and whoever falls on this stone will be broken. But on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. This is the choice that Scripture commands us. Humble yourself. Fall and break on the stone of Christ Jesus. Or else, He, through circumstances and all kinds of judgments, will have to break us, crush us, humble us. It's true for us, churches, our nation, the world. It's all the same. This is spiritual truth. It doesn't change across the board. So I just say to us this morning, let's embrace a life of brokenness. Don't shun it. Don't run from it. Because your reputation may be at stake or it may seem inconvenient to take the time that it takes to really look, to let the high priest examine your heart to see if there's any leprous sore there. Let's get rid of the leprosy. Amen.