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JACKSON, Tenn. — Oct. 11, 2004 — The exhortation was loud and clear: do not harden your hearts.

Dr. Henry Blackaby, president of Blackaby Ministries International, encouraged 51���� students to make sure their hearts were ready “to see, hear and obey (God).”

Blackaby was speaking during a chapel service on Union’s campus Oct. 8.

“I have one life to live and I will face eternity,” Blackaby said in his opening remarks. “God has created me for eternity.”

Blackaby’s message from Matthew 13:10-17 emphasized the importance of living one’s life for the Lord because time is limited and recognizing the awesome privilege of hearing and seeing from the Lord.

“God is in the process of shaping you,” Blackaby said. “You may not recognize the Potter’s hands, but any child of God is being shaped.”

Blackaby directed his sermon directly to Union students.

“Do not harden your hearts while you’re college students,” Blackaby said. “The major decisions you face during college will affect the rest of your life.”

Blackaby mentioned text from Matthew 20 and his thoughts on the role this generation may play in ushering in the kingdom of God.

“This generation may be the eleventh hour laborers,” Blackaby said. “We may be the last generation God sends. There will be an eleventh hour.”

A sense of urgency was in Blackaby’s voice as he told students to stop and listen to the Lord and see what the Lord was at work doing. He encouraged students to let God be at work in their lives, to throw away their own agendas and to listen to the voice of the Lord.

“God has an agenda,” Blackaby said in his closing remarks, “and He has put you in the middle of it.”