The Stony Heart

By Pastor Young Joon Park

May 17, 2009

The field is our heart.

We have 4 different kinds of hearts according to Jesus’ teaching.

Four different Hearts

1. Beside road field: Hardened Heart

2. Rocky ground: Stony Heart – Lordship and commitment

3. Among the thorns: Thorny Heart – value & commitment

4. Good soil: Good heart – Good vision

I. The Rocky Ground Heart

1. The parable

  1) The seed fell on the rocky ground

  2) It did not have much soil

  3) Immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil

  4) The heat of the sun

     a) It was scorched and withered away

     b) Because it had no root

2. Meaning

  1) Sower sows God’s Word

  2) God’s Word was sown into rocky place

  3) Immediately receive the Word with joy when they hear the Word of God

  4) The joy will be temporary because there is no firm root

  5) Immediately they fall away, when the hard time arises because of the Word.

  Hard time: affliction or persecution

The true rocky heart will be manifested when this heart is to face the affliction or persecution.

Affliction – torment, pain or conflict when the Lordship is challenged

Persecution – treated injustice because of our faith in Jesus Christ

1)   The sower sows the Word of God.

The seed is God’s Word.

The seed being sowed into your heart means that every word of God is released to your life as the prophetic word for your destiny from the Lord.

In every Service and every Cell Group Meeting, God releases His Word to your life with His Prophetic Word for your destiny.

He releases the prophetic word during the worship, the announcement, the offering, the testimony, the prayer, the sermon, the ministry and also during fellowship time.

2)   The rocky place – honeymoon faith

I named this as honeymoon faith, because our marriage should continue honey season all throughout marriage life, but the reality is that this honeymoon season is very short. According to some collection of stories of the honeymoons and divorces, the shortest honeymoon, (marriage)  was the one that they got divorced on the way to the honeymoon right immediately after getting married.

When people get married they were excited because they love each other, but as time goes by they start to see each other’s true ugly other side, and that is why man and woman make a covenant each other.

Married couple will see the dark side of their spouse sooner or later, because we all carry our own stony heart that was not known to other before.

When the stony heart shows up, the honeymoon will be over, and they will go through all kinds of the difficult times. Sadly many people break their covenant and get divorced before they solve the problem.

I do not condemn any divorced people at all, but this is what many married people are going through.

In the same way, many Christians were exciting with joy to know Jesus Christ because of the new experience of Christian life in the beginning, but as the time goes by they lose their excitement of joy. So their heart are starting to struggle, and they break the relationship quickly when they face conflicting situation inside of them.

They could not stay in one church but keep moving from one church to another all the time.

I am not talking about the people who are led by the Lord to connect to church. I am talking about the people who have so many self conflicting interests in the church because of their own selfish stony heart.

When the conflicting situation arises, then it is time for your life to go through breakthrough, but some people fall away instead of breakthrough.

More over the people deny their faith when the difficult times come.

The difference between the path and the rocky

The side of path – World stream effects life

The rocky place – build up the rock deep inside of us by inner wound

a)    This field is covered with shallow soil.

^{MK 4:5} “Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.

This field has a very shallow soil over the rocks, but the soil cannot hold the water, and the moisture will be drained out because of rocks.

The seed can spring up right away and spread the root, but root cannot be covered with enough soil. The root will be exposed to the air.

The root should be covered with enough soil to be protected from the harmful air.

The plant should spread the root down under the ground deeply, then the plant grows and reproduces the fruit, but there is no way for the plant to survive in this field.

b)   This field is full of rocks and pebbles

^{MK 4:6} “And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

Because of these rocks and pebbles, there is no way for the plant to spread its root down, but it blocks the root.

When the sun has risen, all the rocks will be heated, and the heat will dry out all the moisture of the shallow soil, so the root will be dried out and be burnt out. At the same time the plant will die quickly.

3)   Immediately receive the Word with joy                        when they hear the Word of God

^{MK 4:16} “In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;

^{MK 4:17} and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.

When people find the truth of the gospel, most get excited about the good news, and they jump into the fellowship and attend many meetings with joy.

Many times people will be busy for the excitement and to be satisfied. When people start to taste of the truth, they want more and seek those kinds of things.

When I found Jesus Christ as my Savior and the Lord clearly, I was so excited because of the salvation and His Love. So I did read the bible as much as I could, and was studying the Word of God in depth, and attending all kinds of Christian fellowship as often as I could. I started understanding the Word of God more and more and deeper and deeper. I was growing gradually in the Lord.

I did want to grow in the Lord, so I have been firmly rooted in Him continually until today.

When I encountered with the Holy Spirit in 1999, I had another level of excitement. I started sensing in the spiritual realm, I started continually getting the taste of the spiritual things deeper and deeper. My life was full of excitement and joy in the Holy Spirit until today.

I felt like that I do not know anything about God and the spiritual realm in 1999.

I was hunger and thirsty to grow in the new things. I have been firmly rooted in the Holy Spirit since 1999.

When we come to the Lord we have to get rooted down deeply, then we can grow.

Colossians 2:6-7 

⁶ Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

⁷ having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

It was very interesting to watch the high rise building construction.

First thing I saw was that they dig ground deep for a long time, and then they put the huge construction iron bars on the foundation, and followed by doing all kinds of concrete job to build up, and finally they finish the high rise building.

It was very important to make the deep foundation for the huge building. We cannot see the underground structure of the building from out side, but the deep foundation is holding the huge building.

Likewise, the root of the plant is the source of the life.

But this rocky field has a big problem, because there is no way for root to be firmly rooted down.

They can receive all kinds of word of God, and bring the great understanding quickly, so they have a great joy in their heart, but they cannot grow at all.  

They might have a great knowledge about the Bible or the spiritual realm, but their lives are not going to change, and there is no growing.

They might have experience of wonders and signs in their life, but there is no growing. They might lead the revival meeting, ushering or ministering many people, but they are not growing, because they have so many rocks in their heart.

The spiritual maturity is not about the knowledge, power or performance, but the deep relationship with the Lord and become like Jesus Christ.

We can discern the people by their fruit.

Jesus emphasized about the fruit in Luke 6:43-44

Luke 6:43-44

The fruit is from the evangelism and the disciple making through the ministry, and also the character of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

This rocky field will not definitely have the fruit of evangelism and disciple making, and this field will not have the fruit of the Holy Spirit either, because there is no root.

Someone who has a prophetic gift claimed that God is going to use them as God’s voice, so they are not interested in sharing the gospel and the great commission.

This is not aligned with the Lord’s will at all.

Brothers and sisters, we have to have the discernment in this time.

The basic discernment is through the Word of God.

Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of the Holy Spirit is reflected on the life style, and this person will bear fruit of the evangelism and many disciples too.

Love – you cannot keep silent about God’s love from the lost

Joy – when you have a joy, you cannot keep your joy to yourself alone and ignore the lost.

Peace – our duty is bring the peace between God and men, so we have to share the peace with the lost, and this is our duty and obligation in the Lord.

Patience – what is this patience for?

Kindness – what is the real kindness?

Goodness – what are you going to do with your goodness

Faithfulness – are we going to follow the Lord faithfully?

Gentleness – what are you going to do with your gentleness?

Self-control – What is this for?

Every single fruit of the Holy Spirit is related with the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

No fruit in our Christian life means that there is no connection with the Lord at all.

When we abide in Him deeply we are going to bear the fruit.

John 15:4-5

⁴ “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

The Lord Jesus clearly mentioned about this area.

John 15:6

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Jesus spoke to His Disciples during His Private time with His Disciples, so this Word is for the Christians today.

So it is important to focus on Him alone and go into the intimate relationship with Him continually.

This rocky heart cannot keep any root at all, so there is no way to bear fruit either.

They cannot have intimate relationship with the Lord at all because of the rocky heart.

4)   The joy will be temporary because there is no firm root

^{MK 4:17} and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.

And also whatever this person have joy, revelation or wonderful things, but all of them exist just temporarily in him/her life.

The joy with this person is just temporary because of the shallow root before scorched.

Firm root means

a)                 Born again

b)                 Lordship

c)                  Intimate relationship with the Lord

d)                 The calling and the destiny

e)                 To be equipping in the church

a)    Born again

John 3:3,5,7

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

⁷ “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’.

Some pastor’s testimony – after 7 years ministry – received Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

There is no life at all if we are not born again.

John 1:12-13

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

b)   Lordship

Romans 10:9-10

⁹ 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;

¹⁰ for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

If we do not have the Lordship, then there is no salvation at all.

The Lordship does not much to do with a spiritual growth, but your decision in giving up yourself completely 100% to the Lord, and you rely on the Lord’s leading your life. It is unbreakable commitment and covenant between you and the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the entirety of your whole life.

Just as the marriage is the commitment and covenant between the husband and the wife until they die.

c)    Intimate relationship with the Lord

John 17:3

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Without this intimate relationship there is no true relationship.

A married couple live together, however if there is no communication or relationship between each other, it really is not a true marriage.

Jesus is warning us about this area.

Matthew 7:22-23

Know: two meanings of the word know in Greek

d)   The Calling and the destiny

We have to know what we are, where we are going and what our destiny is.

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.

Let’s remember our destiny in simple way through Genesis 1:28.

“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue (rule over, conquer) it.”

God called everyone and assigned the destiny and with no exception.

That means that God called you, and He assigned your destiny already.

John 15:16

You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

e)    To be equipping in the church:

Ephesians 4:11- 13

One of the major ministry of Jesus Christ our Lord is the discipleship ministry because of the equipping the saints through the four gospels. We do focus on the cell ministry because of this reason.

Many people could not see this core value of the church, and they do not put the value about the church.

They treat church however they want. They quickly move into church and quickly move out. Even they have strong gift of the Holy Spirit, but God cannot use them if they do not have this kind of firm foundation.

Some people said that they come to church to help or support in building up the church.

My question is who is supposed to be helped or supported to grow.

People need to be supported by and be helped from the church.

Each person needs the covering from the Body of Christ that is Church.

We need to remember that Jesus is the builder of His Church.

Matthew 16:18

I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

We should have a heart to see how to be equipped for ourselves in the church and how to commit to the Lord.

So many people do not have this firm foundation and root, that’s why they fall away from the church and the Lord quickly whenever any kinds of affliction comes in their life.

At the end time when people face the persecution, people will fall away if their heart is rocky heart.

5)   Immediately they fall away, when the hard time arises because of the Word.

^{MK 4:17} and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.

Everyone will face the hard time, and no one exception.

Only the difference might be the degree of the hard time.

This person will betray quickly when he sees the situation is not good for him.

When this hard time is come, this rocky heart people will fall away from the Lord.

Jesus mentioned about the hard time as two different words.

Affliction and Persecution

Affliction is the torment, pain or conflict when we face the challenge of the Lordship.

Persecution is the mistreatment because of our faith in Jesus Christ.

This is the issue of the Lordship no matter what situation you are in.

Affliction:

Luke14:25-27

^{LK 14:25} Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them,

^{LK 14:26} “ If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

^{LK 14:27} “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

This is our daily life that we are facing the challenge of our faith.

Persecution

Mark 13:9-13

^{Mk 13:9} “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.

^{Mk 13:10} And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

^{Mk 13:11} Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

^{Mk 13:12} “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.

^{Mk 13:13} All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

This is about the great tribulation time, that we are going to face in the near future. But we are dealing in this area today in different degrees and ways.

Illustration) in Korean War 1950 – communist – persecution a church – only one young girl kept her faith.

God wants us overcome today every single case, then we can over come for the future.

Hebrews 3:15

while it is said, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.”

3. The root issue

1)      Forming of a heart of stone

The stony heart is built up throughout our life, from all kinds of hurts throughout our life. Like a baby – mistreatment, misunderstanding the baby’s desire, adoption

Many reasons of the problem – the baby forms his own heart of stone

All of having formed hearts of stone, have to that degree failed to become fully human.

To that same degree, we have closed down the very faculties needs for real interchange of heart and mind. We will not let the spirit be vulnerable, open to touch and embrace. It hurts too much. We hide behind stone walls.

Our sprit’s faculties, shut up and imprisoned, wither.

They get along by surface, monkey-see-monkey-do sharing, insensitive not only that their heart and spirit has not met the other but ignorant that something else is available.

2) Symptom

Action without emotion like a duty

Perform very well but no heart or feeling

Depression no reason or easily fall in depression

Controlling issue

The Character could be very mean

All kinds of the judgment, complaint, jealousy, rebellious, criticism, accusation

All different kinds of problem among the relationship

Easily hurt by any word or action from the people.

Easily defense by themselves

Comparing in many areas for many reasons.

Complain easily any circumstances.

Look for their own comfortable (selfish) than other

Short patience with fierce anger

Unforgiveness

Quickly betray

Very prideful and arrogant

Not teachable

Jeremiah 5:3

O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?

You have smitten them, but they did not weaken;

You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction.

They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.

2)      Result of a heart of stone

Spiritually they cannot grow at all.

They cannot go into the intimate relationship with the Lord.

They will fall into the depression when they face the difficult time.

They will break the relationship when they start getting conflicting issues.

They will deny their faith when they face the persecution

This foundation was based on stony heart with a honeymoon faith.

We know that this rocky heart will not survive even though people were given the power of the Holy Spirit.

I understood why Paul dealt with the problem in Corinthian church very seriously 2000 years ago. His letter was very strongly challenging and rebuking.

II Corinthians 13:5

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

Please remember that the donkey did not see the vision of the symbol things, but this donkey’s spiritual eye was opened to see the real spiritual realm and received a tongue to communicate with his master.

Why did God give this gift to the animal donkey? Did God put more value on this animal than the animal’s master, Balaam?

The reason was to teach and warn the man, Balaam.

The donkey was neither holy nor spiritually mature than Balaam at all, but God used this animal to give the instruction to the human being Balaam to protect Israel people.

God used the donkey as a tool to fulfill His will.

God used another donkey to fulfill His will 2000 years ago.

Jesus rode on this donkey, but people did not praise the donkey. They welcomed Jesus as their King, not the donkey.

God uses us as His tool to manifest the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to fulfill His Will alone, so there is no reason to pride ourselves.

Please remember that we are not in any different position than the donkey.

Donkey does not need any attention or to be glorified, but only Father God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit have to be glorified through us and among us.

If we remember the donkey, then there is no reason to be prideful or claim my gifts are better than others.

Some people were looking for more power, and jump all around from one church to another, one conference to another, one famous person to another, on and on…

They have a good heart for the hunger and thirsty, but they are headed in a wrong direction and with wrong reason, because they did not realize Father’s heart and the purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We have to look after the Lord who is the source of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We need to focus on the Lord alone and do our best to follow Jesus wherever we are.

4. God’s plan for us

Israel people were formed through many different kinds of the slavery stony hearts from the birth for several hundreds of years.

During the Exodus, They were exciting to be freed from the slavery, but whenever they face the hardship or uncomfortable, they complained to God quickly and went against the Lord all the time and even they compared about the times of the slavery in Egypt to against God.

They have so many slavery stony hearts in their heart to be against the Lord.

Hebrews 3:7-11

⁷ Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His Voice,

⁸ Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the

   wilderness,

⁹ where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My Works for forty years.

¹⁰ Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their

    heart, and they did not know My Ways’;

¹¹ As I swore in My Wrath, ‘They shall not entry My Rest,’

We could see what the Lord did in the wilderness for Israel people for 40 years.

He had a special plan to remove the stony rocky heart among the Israelis for 40 years, because He cannot use the people with full of slavery mind and arrogant and stony hearts to conquer the Promised Land.

Yes, God did destroy all the people who had the rocky heart before letting them into the Promised Land. God raised the new generation who did not have the slavery and arrogant stony heart, and assigned them to Joshua.

Rick Joyner – one part of vision

He saw the army of the Lord.

One group was well trained and equipped for the war with orderly.

The other group was not trained well and poorly equipped for the war, on top of the fact that they were very disorderly.

God is raising His Strong Military continually, and we are a part of it. I want God to raise you all as His strong warrior such as Delta Forces, Navy SEALs or the Green Berets for the Kingdom of God in this last time among us in One Glory Church.

When we pray for people and we could feel or see the rock inside of people. Through the prayer the rock was cracked and the anointing flowed inside of it and destroyed the rock.

God destroyed all stony heart people in the wilderness for 40years, but God spared and raised only Joshua and Caleb among them to lead the new generation to the Promised Land.

It means that God does not destroy only the people, but change our heart as well, because Joshua and Caleb were the only ones to follow the Lord among the rebellious people. They were not a part of their evil at all.

When we give our life to the Lord as a living sacrifice, God will change our life.

God spoke to me

Isaiah 49:17-18

¹⁷ Your builders hurry; your destroyers and devastators will depart from you.

¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around; all of them gather together, they come to you.

As I live,” declares the LORD,

He will send builders quickly, and He will remove the stony heart from us.

I can see that two things that will happen among us.

God is going to bring the massive healing to the stony heart among us.

Not only that, but God is going to replace many builders among us quickly.

We received this kind prophetic word from the Lord through other prophets too.

As you know, I had a surgery to remove the gallstone in the neck of the gallbladder last Tuesday. I had experienced so much pain for very brief periods, and one Monday night our Cell members prayed over me, I felt some kind of bubble popped up inside and the pain was gone. And then following next week Wednesday I had a severe non-stop pain, so my wife took me to ER and we found that I had stones in my gallbladder.

I never thought stones in my gallbladder, but I thought it was my stomach upset. After surgery, the doctor told my wife that my gallbladder was real bad, and he was baffled that I had severe pain only once. According to his knowledge I should have continuous severe non-stop pain. I totally believe that your prayer was answered and protected me from the pain attack. I praise the Lord and thank all of you.

Now my source of the stony is gone, and I have no more problems.

It’s the same even in spirit, we are in so much pain because of the stones, and God is going to remove all the stones in us and heal us.

Ezekiel 36:26

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

God is going to surgically remove our spiritual stones in our heart from now on, so we need to open our heart to transform from the rocky heart to good soil.