Stony Hearts

STONY HEARTS Welcome & visitors For story time - invite kids to sit near on the floor? It was not a very good day for Tony. Being the oldest kid sometimes is tough. This morning, everybody was rushing to get ready for the day. And who gets asked to help clear up after breakfast but Tony. Life just isn’t fair. “I have stuff to do too,” Tony thought. And why does it always have to be me? The day didn’t get better at the bus stop. Usually Tony’s two friends, Andy and Josh, made the wait fun. But for some reason today they weren’t there. And to make matters worse, there were just girls there. Girls made Tony feel weird, and so he stood by himself. The girls talked and giggled, and Tony was sure they were talking about him and laughing at him. When the bus got to school, everybody rushed to the front of the bus. Most days that was okay, but today one girl’s foot caught on the leg of the bus seat and she fell. Her backpack flew off, her lunch spilled. A book flew near Tony and brushed his leg. “Dumb girl,” Tony said and pushed passed her and the mess as he got off the bus. School went okay but Tony couldn’t shake the bad mood he was in. When he got home, his mom was there and reminded Tony that AWANA was tonight. Tony liked AWANA. He especially liked his AWANA leader, because he helped Tony learn the verses, and he was also a scientist. He thought Tony had some real talent and might someday be a scientist too. That made Tony feel good. Tony had been to church all his life. In fact, his mom laughed that Tony had been the first baby when the church nursery was new. Each Sunday Tony went to church. He used to like Sunday school, but now he rarely heard what was said. He had fun if his friends were there - they had little games they played while the teacher wasn’t looking. But after a while, church just sounded like bla-bla-bla. Council time was sometimes fun. One time the AWANA leader pretended to be a fortune teller and they all laughed when she got things wrong. Tony didn’t remember really why she did this. He kind of checked out. Some kid got a package of Starbursts but Tony wasn’t listening much so he didn’t know why. This week, the AWANA leader was talking and Tony noticed she had a big stone on a table. That got Tony’s attention. Tell me some things you observe about this stone, she said. For a change, Tony raised his hand. “They are hard.” Right, said the AWANA leader. Now I want you to look at me, and then look at the stone. Any ways we alike? The kids all shouted NO. Why not, she asked. And the kids said things that for Tony were very very obvious. A stone is dead, you’re alive. What if I told you that in the Bible, God tells us that you and I are like more like this rock than you know - in a very, very important way. Tony looked up and listened. God says that sometimes my heart has more in common with this hard, dead stone. Now God isn’t talking about this heart beating inside of me, the AWANA leader said. But when the Bible talks about a heart, it means the way we feel or think about things - what I really care about deep down. Maybe your heart is hard, Tony thought, but he didn’t like someone saying his heart was hard and dead. This AWANA leader didn’t know him at all. Hearts get dead when they push God away and little by little they can die. If you had x-ray eyes and could see inside what people really care about, you’d see that all of us have stony hearts. We’re all dead because of sin. That’s what Romans 3:23 says. And a person who has a heart that is dead – even a kid - can walk right by someone in trouble and not care. (Ow, Tony thought. He remembered the girl who fell on the bus and how he just got mad at her for being stupid enough to fall and let her book hit him). What can get this stony heart alive? The AWANA leader had a big bag and took out something Tony had seen only on TV - those paddles doctors use in the ER to jolt a heart back to beating! Cool! If I zap this stone with 10,000 volts, can I make it alive? “No way” the kids said, but the leader tried anyway. Zap! But the stone just stayed a stone. What can make a stony heart come alive? Can a giant jolt of energy? Boys and girls, if you could see into your heart, would it be like stone? Tony squirmed So maybe you, clubbers, understand that your heart is hard. Tony squirmed. Maybe even today you’ve seen how hard your heart is. But now Tony wasn’t squirming – he was listening. He was thinking about all the things that had happened that day. If you have a stony heart, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, a heart of stone cannot be alive. The only solution is a brand new heart – a heart transplant and God does the operation. When Tony heard this, It was as if God was talking just to Tony, saying, Tony, YOU need a new heart today. The leader went on - Maybe today is the day God will do a heart transplant in you - to lift out the stony dead heart and give you a soft living heart - Look with me at Ez. 36:26 Tony sat there, listening hard, surprised that all this made so much sense to him, and a little excited. If he told you the truth, he really didn’t like the way he was feeling most of the time. But until tonight, he never felt like doing anything about it. But for Tony, tonight wasn’t like other nights. The leader went on - When a doctor needs to do a heart transplant, he asks for permission of the patient. If you feel God needs to do a heart transplant for you, I want you to give him your permission to do it. Tony was really listening now, and somehow he knew God was asking him - Tony, do this tonight. And instead of it feeling hard to think about this, somehow it was easy for him to do it. “Okay” he said quietly to God, “you can do it. Please give me a new heart,” and that was it. Tony didn’t do it because he had to, he didn’t do it because mom and dad expected it or even to please his AWANA leader. He did it because he knew, very clearly, that he his heart was cold as a stone and he badly needed a new heart and wanted it. The AWANA leader asked the clubbers to close their eyes, and if they wanted, to pray along with her. And this is what she prayed: Dear Father, I confess to You all of the wrong and sinful things that I have ever done in my life. I ask that You please forgive me. Give me a heart of flesh in the place of this stony heart I have. I don’t want my old life, I need a new life with you as the center. Thank You. Amen. Then she said - if any of you prayed this tonight, I’d love to talk with you. Usually Tony raced out of the room the second the last word was spoken to get to the bake sale table. Tonight, he hung back from the other kids, and when the AWANA leader was alone, he walked up to her and said - I did it, I asked God for a new heart. Now Tony didn’t know it, but that moment in heaven a huge party erupted. Luke 15 says that when a sinner repents, all heaven erupts in joy, and the angels break out the balloons, and confetti and birthday cake and whoop it up. Because a changed heart is God’s greatest miracle. Boys and girls, that’s the end of my story about Tony. If you heard this story and thought - my heart is like a stone, and I want a heart transplant - then you can pray the simple prayer I just read. Will God do it? Remember the words in Ezechiel that I just read…