2025 NHPBC Women's Conference - Session 1

So much.

Those are two really good songs.

And thank you for going with the theme on those.

I haven't heard that first song in a long time.

It was it was really lovely to sing that.

So thank you.

I'm Anna Moore.

I'm happy to be here.

Just honored that Royal would call and ask me to do this and have been looking forward to it for a long time.

It's really great seeing some familiar faces and then meeting some new ones already tonight.

And I look forward to getting to know some more of you tomorrow.

Um we uh yeah, it's uh it's always it's always tough on a Friday night, and I'm really happy to see you.

When you come into a conference or a retreat on a Friday night, you're tired, but you've been refreshed with sweet treats that were absolutely delicious.

I love how you cut them so small so that we didn't feel so guilty eating multiple ones of them.

And we got to taste them all, and they were delicious.

Thank you for that.

We've had sweet fellowship, and now I hope we have a great time around the word.

So let me pray as we begin.

Father, thank you for these ladies that have come out after a long week and I'm sure are tired.

Lord, would you just refresh us tonight as we listen to your word, as we fellowship together?

Thank you for the hard work that's gone into planning this conference.

Thank you for all of the ladies on the ministry team that did this, Lord.

How beautiful it is for us to come and enjoy.

And now, Lord, help us to focus as we listen to your word, as I teach your word, God.

I pray that you would cause me to rely upon you and help me to say what you want me to say and not say what you do not want me to say.

And Lord, please just cause us to have open ears and open eyes and an open heart because of you tonight.

May we leave here different than when we came.

Uh may we leave here changed.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

So you have that handout.

I I am blown away.

That's like first class stuff that I've never seen before, this packet.

So uh just for the sheer fact that it is so nice, why don't you just use it tonight?

I don't know.

Maybe it's too pretty to write in or something.

But yeah, if you are accustomed to following along with a handout or want to write or take notes, you have a lovely space to do that.

So please do so.

Some of the verses will be on the screen.

Matthias has been so great to take those, and because I'm not technologically savvy and has put those up.

Some of them I'm gonna say will not be behind me.

Some you have on your handouts, some maybe not, but listen attentively as you do hear the word tonight.

Hopefully, we will have lots of verses, lots of scripture throughout our lessons, and um, and so make note of those.

Um and and we, yeah, we'll we will we will get through tonight and have two great sessions tomorrow, I hope.

A wonderful day, lots of good small group time.

I love that as well.

Royal did say if I wanted to tell a little bit more um about myself, Ed and I have we actually met at the University of Georgia.

I'm a Georgia native, Go Dogs.

Anybody in here care about college football?

I don't know.

All right, and um, but Ed is from Western Pennsylvania.

However, he met a girl on a campus crusade summer project way, way back in the early 80s, uh, that was from Georgia.

So he decided to transfer from the University of Pittsburgh to the University of Georgia.

That girl was not me, but thankfully that did not that did not work out.

And I yeah, the Lord brought us together in his providence down there.

So um, but we are we have uh enjoyed being at North Shore for these uh last 33 years.

So very, very happy to um be continuing in the ministry there and thankful for what the Lord is doing in our evangelical community in this area, this region, it's really so encouraging to see churches that are strong, gospel preaching, Bible teaching churches.

So thankful, very thankful for New Hyde Park Baptist Church for many, many years.

Um, all right.

How many of you watch home improvement or renovation shows?

You have some that you like.

Boy, I hope so.

Somebody raise your hand.

Okay.

Well, if you're like me, and I'm totally dating myself on this one, but you would watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

I don't even know if that still exists.

I think they tried to revive it at one point.

But there are plenty of them out there, many that are you know popular today.

Some of them start with a dilapidated house, like it they just totally demolish it, and then they build a new one.

Some remodel a specific room, like a bathroom or a kitchen, maybe the yard or the deck or the you know pool area outdoors, whatever.

And in two days or two weeks or two months, all of a sudden you have this finished product, a totally renovated, beautifully decorated, whatever.

And it just appears on the screen for you.

But we're not dealing with a house here, we're dealing with our lives, our hearts to be more specific, the heart of a godly woman, and that's what this weekend is about.

It's the extreme makeover heart edition instead of home edition.

So tonight we're gonna look at God's word, the Bible, and we're gonna see what our heart actually is, what God has to say about it, and we're gonna look to him who is the only one who can change a heart for his glory and for our good.

Tonight we're gonna lay some theological groundwork, if you will, for the more practical lessons that we will have tomorrow.

And just as on Extreme Makeover Home Edition, some of you may need a complete heart transplant tonight.

Removing the old, making something brand new.

But some of you may only need some renovations and a little remodeling.

But whatever the case, I believe that a sovereign God has brought us all to this place at this time for his purposes.

And our first order of business on your outline is Roman numeral one.

What is the heart and why is it so important?

Well, to clarify, we are not talking about the four-chambered muscle that's pumping blood through your body.

Actually, just yesterday fittingly, I went for some routine medical tests.

Thankfully, nothing wrong.

And I had an echocardiogram.

Have you ever had one of those where they're doing like the sonogram ultrasound on your heart?

Wow.

I thought, first of all, how appropriate when I'm about to teach this lesson that I have this illustration, but how fascinating to listen to my own heart beating and to see the four chambers on the screen of my heart.

And it just, I mean, praise God, our creator.

I just thought, how can anybody, I don't know the spiritual condition of the gentleman that was the, you know, the technician, how could anybody do that and not believe that there is a God?

It was just amazing.

But ladies, that's not, we're not talking about that organ tonight.

We are talking actually about our heart, as we know, is the seat of our emotions of all human operations of human life.

Easton's Bible Dictionary says the heart is the center not only of spiritual activity, but all the operations of human life.

Last week, Christina Cook did a great job speaking to our ladies at North Shore Baptist Church, and she did a much better job of like breaking down the Greek word and telling all about the heart.

So you can listen to that on our website if you want a better explanation of heart stuff like that.

But often you will hear the heart described as our mind, our will, and our emotions all wrapped up in one.

There's a wonderful sermon I found by Charles Spurgeon titled The Heart of Flesh.

And Spurgeon says, the heart is the ruling power of manhood.

If the heart is renewed, the judgment will before long follow in the same track.

But as long as the heart is wrong, the affections govern the will and bias the character of the man towards evil.

Great quote.

So, ladies, we see that our hearts are extremely important.

And having a right heart is extremely important.

And we need to take matters of the heart very seriously because God does.

So let's see what he says in his word about our hearts.

In Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 26, he says, And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26

So what is this heart of stone, and why would we want it out or need it out?

Roman numeral 2, the heart of stone.

And I happen to have a heart of stone tonight.

This came from, I was talking to some of the sisters from Jamaica, and I said, Oh, you're gonna love the lesson tonight.

Listen carefully.

You'll get a Jamaica illustration.

About 20 years ago on our mission trip, we've gone there in the same area, worked with the same pastor, same church, churches there for about 35 years, a long time, and since 1989.

What did you say that was?

How many years ago was that?

I don't know.

Anyway, the this came from Orange Bay, uh, Jamaica on the beach, and one of the kids on the mission team found it.

And they're collecting shells, and they're like, wow, look at that.

And I said, Wow, look at that, is right.

That is such a perfect illustration of our heart, and it is so hard.

You could come feel it.

It is a stone, a hard heart, a heart of stone.

And it's the perfect illustration that I've been able to use all of these years.

I did take it away from that child.

I did let them keep their shells, however, to go home with.

But I took this thing home.

So, as it was just too good of an illustration.

Um, without Christ, ladies, without a supernatural transformation, this is our heart.

It's just like this rock from Jamaica.

Hard hearts, stony hearts.

The heart of a man is dead.

There's no sensitivity, there is only a propensity to do evil.

Now you've got to get this point, or nothing else will make sense.

We are totally depraved.

And you say, you just acknowledge that we had a long, hard week, and I came here and gave up my weekend for you to tell me that I am totally depraved.

You say, I'm not that bad.

Well, let me define before you get too upset.

Let me define total depravity.

Total depravity does not mean that we are as bad as we possibly could be, it means that our whole being is infected with sin.

Like every area of us got infected with sin at the fall.

And within us lies the propensity to do more evil than we could ever imagine.

Take Romans 3, 10 through 12 as your proof.

As it is written, none is righteous, know not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God, all have turned aside.

Together they have become worthless.

No one does good, not even one.

I love it in scripture.

Some I guess sometimes I don't love it, but it's very helpful in scripture when you see very clearly from that passage, there's no way to wiggle out of that.

None, no, not one, no one, no one, all, no one, not even one.

And you're probably familiar with Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

So, ladies, no one is exempt from sin from this stony heart.

Every one of us is born with a hard, dead, stony heart.

What does the Bible say about our hearts?

Jeremiah 17, 9.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.

Who can understand it?

We cannot trust our hearts.

Follow your heart is really bad advice to give to someone.

Did you know that you know more about yourself than anyone?

But you don't truly know yourself.

According to Scripture, you are more wicked than you know, you're more wicked than you think you are, and we don't even have the capability of knowing how wicked we really are.

You and I are so wicked that in order to redeem us, the perfect one, Jesus Christ, God's only Son, had to leave the splendors of heaven to come to this wicked earth to die a cruel death on the cross to forgive us of our sins and to appease the wrath of a holy God.

Let me ask you a question tonight.

I do not know most of you.

Do you see yourself as wicked?

Unless and until you see yourself as God sees you, you will never look to Christ, the mediator.

Because why would you need him if you don't see yourself as wicked?

Some may listen to this hard-hearted explanation and say, Well, it doesn't apply to me, Anna, because I've got a really soft or tender heart.

So let's look at the difference.

Look at Roman numeral three: the soft heart versus the heart of flesh.

You say, I cry at Hallmark Christmas movies.

Well, I happen to cry at those, and I cry when I see them do the big reveals on the renovation shows.

It just takes my breath away.

I don't know.

You may take in stray pets, to see your child's suffering breaks your heart.

I understand all of those things, but that's not what it means to have a heart of flesh.

It's not bad to be emotional or tenderhearted.

That's a good thing, but it's not the same as the heart of flesh.

The Bible is talking about.

And here's a very scary thought.

Matthew 15, 8 says, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

So let's take it into the church realm or to the things of God.

Just because you are emotionally moved by a worship service on Sunday morning and the great music and the accurate preaching, and you can say all the right things, that's not the true measurement of a heart of flesh.

I know ladies that will cry and be so moved by a Sunday morning service or a conference like this one.

They give God lip service, but there's no heart service.

There's no change.

Now, please do not think that I want or that God wants you to sit unmoved during this during this conference as the spirit moves.

I'm not asking you to sit here and listen like the rock of Gibraltar or to sing with a stiff upper lip.

That's not what I'm asking.

Because you may even see me cry and get emotional.

Sensitivity to the spirit is a good thing, and it will often lead to being emotional.

But you see, ladies, here's the key.

It's not just emotion, it's not just those soft, tender feelings, although they can be good, but a heart of flesh is one that conforms in word and deed to the will of God.

I'm going to repeat that.

A heart of flesh is one that conforms in word and deed to the will of God.

Not one that just talks the talk and cries buckets, but one that is a doer of the word.

James 1, 22 through 24 says, But be what?

Doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

For he looks at himself and goes away, and at once he forgets what he was like.

There's that word deceiving again.

Just like in Jeremiah 17, 9, we are easily deceived by other people.

And guess what, ladies?

We're easily deceived by ourselves.

We're gonna look more later at what this heart of flesh in obedience looks like for a Christian.

But for now, remember, we're building that foundation, we're laying the theological groundwork.

Number four, Roman numeral four.

A heart of flesh is a work of God.

A heart of flesh is a work of God.

We cannot muster up a soft heart, meaning a heart of flesh.

I don't want, I'm using these terms kind of interchangeably, so I don't want to confuse the issue.

When I'm saying a soft heart here, I'm talking about the heart of flesh, soft versus hard.

We can't muster up this soft heart, this heart of flesh.

We can muster up emotions and tender feelings, but remember it's more than emotionalism, and it doesn't matter how hard we try on this, we're never going to be able to uh to muster up our heart of flesh.

You know how on some of the home improvement shows, the homeowners actually help with the demolition and the renovation, and they'll pull them in for you'll see them painting and sawing and sledgehammer demoing, you know, like that's but they'll always say, you know, the ladies, oh, this is so fun.

I've always wanted to do this.

And I'm thinking, I don't even know how you pick the thing up, but they're doing the work on their own houses and their own renovation projects.

They must contribute their time and energy.

They must work for it.

Well, that is absolutely the opposite with our salvation.

It's absolutely not the case with our hearts, with our with our transformation, because God does all the work.

We do not do any of the work.

We cannot make the swap from this heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

It is a sovereign act of God to which we contribute absolutely nothing.

Remember back in Ezekiel 36, 26, we looked at that early on.

God says, I will give you a new heart.

I will.

Not you're gonna get one, but I will give you a new heart.

God's the one who takes out and puts in.

God is the one doing the heart transplant, the extreme makeover in us, and that is such a good thing.

Because, ladies, he's going to do a perfect job at that.

He's going to do exactly his will, and he's going to do it exactly how it should be done.

Wouldn't it be awful number one if it was left up to us and we had to work for our salvation?

And wouldn't it be awful number two to see what a poor job we did at that?

But we don't ever have to know that because it is none of us, it is all of God.

If I was contributing to my house renovation, it would be pathetic.

I would not do a good job.

All the more so, I would not do a good job contributing to my salvation.

So thankfully, we cannot.

It's an impossibility.

God does it all.

Romans 9:18 says, So then he has mercy on whom whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Romans 9:18

It's up to God.

And as the hymn writer so accurately put it in the second verse of Jesus paid it all, Lord, now indeed I find thy power and thine alone can change the lepros spots and melt the heart of stone.

An impossibility for us, but not for a loving, powerful God who is sovereign over all.

A few years ago, a pastor from out of state came to visit with us, and he was describing his talking about his brother and how he had over the years just shared the gospel and witnessed to his brother so many times, and just shared the word and sent it through various means.

Over and over, his brother had heard from his mouth all the truths of the gospel.

Never responded.

It was like one ear and out the other.

He did not in any way, he was not moved in any way.

And then he said, My brother came to visit us recently, hadn't seen him in months.

We're riding in the car together, and it was like I was sitting with someone I didn't even know.

It was a different person.

He started speaking about what the Lord was doing in his life, and that he had heard this wonderful gospel from I don't know who.

And and and his brother turned and looked at him and said, Hang on a second.

I've been saying this to you for 20 years.

And he said, I didn't, I don't know.

I didn't know that kind of thing, you know, kind of response.

But isn't that the way it goes?

The Spirit of God?

Perhaps you can relate and have stories in your own life about people like that.

Perhaps you can look back at your own conversion and think about that.

You were blind and now you see.

It just happened because God did it.

You were lost and now you are found because God did it.

And so, yes, ladies, we are to faithfully and joyfully share the gospel.

We are to share our testimonies, we are to pray for people to be saved, and then we are to point them to Christ.

However, ultimately, do not forget that we are not the ones changing their hearts.

That's up to the Holy Spirit.

So we pray in that uh manner.

Listen carefully as I read a quote from Charles Spurgeon from that same sermon, The Heart of Flesh, and this is on your handout if you want to follow along as I read.

A heart of flesh is a gift of sovereign grace, and it is always the result of divine power.

No heart of stone was ever turned into flesh by accident, nor by human persuasions.

You might argue with a rock a long while before you would persuade it into flesh.

Neither is such a change worked by a man's own actions.

How shall a stone being a stone produce in itself flesh?

A power from above the man must work upon him.

According to the language of the Scriptures, except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The Spirit of God must change the nature, or the heart of stone will never become a heart of flesh.

Ladies, just like I do not have the power or the ability, I don't possess the power to turn this heart of stone into a pile of jello, or even just a harder, rubbery substance, just get a little loose.

I can't do that.

Just like I can't do that to this heart, I don't possess the ability to change my own heart.

But praise God he does, and praise God he did.

And do you know one of the many things that is so wonderful about this?

Truly, all the glory must go to God.

There is no way we can take any glory for this.

We cannot take any of the credit.

Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, verses that are very familiar to you.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We cannot boast or take the credit, because it is all 100% not a smidgenless, a work of God.

Now, there are many things this heart of flesh looks like.

It's soft, not just emotional.

It is pliable, it is teachable, it's sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit of God.

And we're going to end with a few statements that will summarize and then some application within those.

So, number one, these are the last things on your handout, I believe.

A soft heart means a change in behavior, not just emotionalism.

A soft heart means a change in behavior, not just emotionalism.

You want application?

Obey.

Obey.

A changed heart.

Look, our works are not getting us to heaven, our works are not saving us, but a saved person, once they are saved, will have good works and will look different than the world looks.

And so that's what we want to do as Christians.

We want to obey.

Obey the word of God.

Don't just listen to it, but do it.

Speaking of building houses, let's look at Matthew 7, 24 through 27.

A little lengthier, if you want to turn in your Bible, you can.

I know that it'll be on the screen as well.

Matthew 7, 24 through 27.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

We often put kind of the wrong emphasis on this verse.

We kind of miss some of it, I think.

We'll say, Well, Christ is the rock.

Build your house on the rock.

The foundation must be Christ.

And we sing the Sunday school song, which I love, and I'm sure you know the wise man built his house upon the rock, the wise man, you know, the foolish man built his house upon the sand.

And all of this is true.

We must have Christ as our solid rock and our foundation.

But how does this come about?

You gotta look at the first, the phrase in in in there.

There's it's twice, you see it.

Look carefully at that.

Remembering that Jesus has just preached the Sermon on the Mount, saying some very tough stuff in Matthew 7.

It says, Forgive others if you want to be forgiven by God.

Where your treasure is, there's your heart.

Don't give and pray to be seen.

Eye for an eye, turn the other cheek, love your enemies.

And then what are the two verbs in the first phrase?

All of you English teachers or homeschool moms, what does it say in the first line?

But be doers of the word and not hears.

I'm sorry, I'm reading the wrong line.

Where is it again?

Everyone, who has your Bible open that has it there?

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them.

Where are your two verbs there?

Look up there.

There.

What is it?

Hears and does.

That's right.

Hears and does.

Not hears and knows them, not hears and teaches them to others, not hears and remembers them, not hears and can repeat them, but the man who hears and does them.

Obedience.

That's what makes you a wise man.

You hear the commands of scripture and you do them.

A foolish man.

Yeah, he builds his house on the sand, but why did he get to that point?

He heard the word and did what?

Did not do them.

There's your key in that passage.

Be a hearer and a doer.

Same as it is in James 1, 22 through 25.

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts.

He will be blessed in his doing.

Doers, persevere, a doer who acts.

Ladies, a heart of flesh is a changed heart, and it is one of obedience.

Obeying the word of God.

That's what our heart of flesh looks like.

Number two, a softening of the heart is a sovereign work of God.

We've talked about this.

We are summarizing.

Here's your application.

Dear Christian, be thankful.

Remember what has been done for you, something that you could not do and you did not deserve.

Your hard heart has been changed into a heart of flesh by a loving, loving, sovereign triune God.

Be thankful.

And number three, not contradicting number two, a soft heart is something we are commanded to have and we are responsible for.

Hmm.

Hebrews 3, 7 and 8 say, Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness.

Oh dear ladies in this room who might not know Jesus, you might not be born again, you have not trusted Christ for your salvation.

Here is your application.

Cry out to God for mercy, for grace, for forgiveness.

Do not.

Harden your heart.

Now, are we able to do what I just said?

We're responsible.

Are we able?

We're not.

Our hearts are stone.

We've made that point.

We're completely dead in sin.

And we are responsible.

Why?

Because in Adam we all fell.

In the garden, we were all infected by sin.

We are all sinners.

We looked at Romans chapter 3, several verses in there.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

Here's an illustration that I'm sure you've heard dozens of times.

A guy robs a bank, steals a lot of money, but he loses all the money.

Is he able to pay it back?

No.

Is he responsible?

Yes, he is responsible.

Ladies, our hearts and our lives and our eternities are hopeless without a touch from God.

We are guilty sinners deserving of everlasting punishment in hell.

We have hard, hard hearts.

But the good news of the gospel is that God sent his perfect Son, Jesus Christ, His only Son, to die on the cross for us, to take the punishment for our sins, His so that we might have eternal life.

His perfect life, his atoning death, and his very powerful, amazing resurrection.

Ladies, look to the cross today, look to that gospel, look to Jesus, for he alone can change your hearts.

Maybe you're sitting here tonight, you didn't even know that you needed a heart transplant.

You came in thinking you were okay.

Maybe you've been struggling and been convicted for a while and you really don't know what to do.

I will say to you, we pray that you know Jesus.

Seek him and he will forgive you.

And maybe you're the one that just has a few cobwebs in your heart, and you came in, you said, you know what, I have been growing cold and insensitive to the things of God.

I am not, I'm not sensitive to the conviction of the Spirit, conviction of sin in my life, and to the things of God.

Well, you came in to this conference needing some work on your heart as well, and may God grant you restoration in that.

Let's all pray that God will convict us and show us areas of our lives that need to conform to His will.

Pray that God will give us a renewed joy in the gospel, for it is the gospel not only that saved you, but also gives you the power to live the Christian life.

I'm so happy that we sang, create in me a clean heart, Psalm 51, 10.

Let's make this our prayer tonight.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Oh ladies, I'm looking so forward to tomorrow as we will jump into two areas of our lives that will change when God changes our hard heart to hearts of flesh.

Let me pray for us.

Father, thank you for the attentiveness of these dear ladies as they uh have come off a long and hard week, I'm sure.

Lord, it the hour is late, but God, you have been so kind to let us hear your word, to let us be together.

Thank you for the sweet spirit that has been in this place tonight.

And I do ask that you, Holy Spirit, would do a special work, a convicting work, a changed, changing work in all of our hearts uh over this weekend.

I pray in Jesus' name, amen.