Dear God, we again pause and we recognize that
we are here because of you. And as was already
mentioned, we pray for our society, we pray for
our world, for our nation, and we pray for our
church. We pray for our families and for each
one of us. And as we spend some moments together,
may we dive into your word and may we remember
what an incredible treasure you have given to
us. In your name we pray, amen. So, do you remember
when you first started to appreciate the Bible?
Do you remember the first memory verse that you
ever learned? I see a few heads nodding. I remember
growing up in the Knoxville First Seventh -day
Adventist Church, and I think it was the primary
class, that if you memorized all 13 Bible verses
for the quarter in Sabbath school, that you would
get a prize. And the ladies that taught that
class, the prize that they would provide was
a stuffed animal. And it wasn't just any stuffed
animal, but it was a homemade stuffed animal.
And so the one I remember, there may have been
some other variations, was a frog. It was a frog,
homemade stuffed frog. And it had inside, you
could feel it, it was like dried. beans, like
pinto beans is what it was stuffed with. And
if you memorized all of those memory verses,
you could get this stuffed frog to take for yourself,
to take home and to have it at your own home.
And so that was an early memory. And maybe you
have a similar memory, or maybe you have a memory
of the Bible that was at a different time. In
ancient Israel, they had something for young
people called bet. Sefer, Bet Sefer. This was
for young people, probably particularly boys,
but I believe girls could attend as well. And
this was a type of schooling or learning where
the young people, age six, would go to the synagogue
and would begin to learn the scripture, would
begin to learn about the Bible. And on the first
day that they would show up at the synagogue,
the rabbi would take something, Something precious
for that time frame. Something precious for that
society. A little bit of... You may not be able
to tell what this is. Let's see if I can... Oh,
that was a little bit more than I was anticipating.
A little bit of honey that was the sweetest thing
that they knew. They didn't have sugar that you
could go and buy. They didn't have sugar canes,
so if they wanted anything sweet, It would be
from honey. And on that first day at Bet Sefer,
the rabbi would take that honey and he would
dribble it, just a few drops, onto the students'
fingers. And then like I just did, they would
be able to lick that off. And as they did that,
they would read from Psalm 119 where it says,
how sweet are your words to my taste. Yes, sweeter
than honey to my mouth. And this was to remind
them from that very young age that the words
of God, the words of the scripture that they
had, were the sweetest thing that they could
appreciate, was the sweetest thing that they
could experience. And before they finished that
supper in about four years, they would spend
that time not just studying God's word, but memorizing
God's word. And they would memorize the books
of the Torah, the first... Five books of the
Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy. Not just studying it, but what
did I say? Memorizing it. And so by the time
they were about 10 years old, they would have
these words of God ingrained into their brains.
And so we could ask ourselves, have you, have
we experienced the sweetness of God's word? With
that in mind... We're going to go to the New
Testament in Matthew chapter 13, which was where
our scripture reading for the day was. Matthew
chapter 13, we can consider, have we experienced
the sweetness of God's word? In Matthew 13, verse
1, it says, On the same day, Jesus went out of
the house and sat by the sea, and great multitudes
were gathered together to him. So that he got
into a boat and sat, and the whole multitude
sat on the shore. And then it says in verse 3,
he spoke many things to them in parables. So
this crowd of people is gathered around. And
the last time we were together, believe it or
not, it's been a couple weeks because of camp
meeting, and it was a whole month ago. It was
back in May. We started a new sermon series looking
at the parables of Jesus, looking at the parables,
stories that Jesus told. And we're going to continue
that series today and in the weeks to come, but
I want to review down just a few verses. Matthew
13 and verse 10, the disciples came and said
to him, why? Why do you tell these stories? Why
do you speak to them in parables? And Jesus answered
and said to them, because it has been given to
you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it has not been given. Jesus told
these stories, these parables, these mysteries
of the kingdom to give different glimpses of
the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. Now
the kingdom of heaven, we mentioned it the last
time we were together, is not a kingdom of power.
But it's a kingdom of love. It's a kingdom of
grace. We see in our world today that political
kingdoms want to be kingdoms of power, want to
be kingdoms of force. Whether it's attacking
another nation or a nation fighting back or even
within our own nation, we want to be a kingdom
of force, a kingdom of power. And this is the
opposite of God's kingdom because God's kingdom
is a kingdom of love and grace. And we might
say, Pastor, haven't you seen the headlines of
this week? There's lots of crazy things going
on in our world. Why are we taking the time to
talk about parables? Well, I would say we mentioned
it a couple weeks ago that even in Matthew 24,
when Jesus talked about the signs of the times,
You know, there's going to be wars and rumors
of wars and all these different things that we
look to. Even in the midst of that chapter, Jesus
told his followers to keep watch, to watch and
pray. And so even if we are following world events,
and I hope that you are, even if you're tracing
it down with prophecies, and I hope that you
are, but every day that we live, we are one day
closer to when Jesus comes. So why take the time
to talk about parables? Because it's in these
parables that we see what it means to live as
a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, even while
we were on this earth. And even if we know all
of the prophecies, but we don't know the giver
of the prophecy, then we are amiss. Then we are
not quite following what God would have us to
do. And so we want to come back to Jesus in the
boat. And it says, he spoke many things to them
in parables. Now, before we go on, I've got to
just pause here for a second because this beautiful
artwork was done by one of our own church members,
Bethany. I asked her a couple weeks ago, hey,
could you draw me a picture of a sower? And so
she sent it to me this week. And so be sure to
tell her what an amazing job she did because
I think it's a really good picture of a sower.
Because it says here, Jesus spoke many things
to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower
went out to sow. Now, this is not the typical
way that we would plant a field in our day and
age. You would see a tractor driving along, mechanized,
putting in how many rows of corn or whatever
it is all at one time, or maybe in your garden
at home. It's probably you stooped over, digging
a little hole with your finger and inserting
the seeds one by one. But as they were planting
these crops, they would cast the seed out into
the field. They would throw these seeds into
the place where they needed to be. And these
stories of Jesus, these parables, they're stories,
but they contain a deeper lesson. If you're just
listening and you're not really interested, you
could say, oh, that's an interesting story. But
Jesus allowed it so that if you wanted to learn
something different, you could gain deeper insight
into this kingdom of God that Jesus was telling
us about. So let's read this parable now that
we read for our scripture reading. But as he
sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the
birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony
places where they did not have much earth, and
they immediately sprang up because they had no
depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they
were scorched, and because they had no root,
they withered away. And some fell among thorns,
and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But
then, verse 8, others fell on good ground and
yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty,
some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him
hear. And so the farmer goes out to sow the seed
into the soil. Now, we could call this parable
the parable of the soils, but Jesus calls it
the parable of the sower. And so we're going
to do that as well. But it's interesting because
the book of Mark tells this exact same parable.
Often the parables are in different of the Gospels.
And the book of Mark, it's almost word for word,
except for a couple lines. So we're going to
turn over to Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4.
Just real quick, keep your finger in Matthew
because we're going to come back. But Mark chapter
4 and verse 13. As Jesus begins to explain this
parable, notice what he tells his disciples.
Mark chapter 4 and verse 13. This line is not
in Matthew, but it is in Mark. Jesus said to
them, do you not understand this parable? How
then will you understand all the parables? So
it seems like in some way, this parable is an
important one because this is one that gives
us perhaps some insight. And if we can begin
to... In this parable, then we can take that
understanding and apply it to other parables
as well. And so the very next verse, verse 13,
it says the sower sows what? The word. The sower
sows the word. So those seeds that are being
scattered in this parable are not just wheat
or barley or whatever it might be, but the spiritual
context, the sower sows the word. So with that
in mind, let's turn back to Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew chapter 13 and verse 19. It says Jesus
is explaining the parable. We read it earlier,
what he said, but now he's explaining it to those
who are interested in getting a little more insight.
He says, therefore, hear the parable of the sower,
verse 18, and then verse 19, when anyone hears
the word of the kingdom. Jesus had said in Matthew,
the sower sows the word. So if anyone hears the
word of the kingdom and does not understand it,
then the wicked one comes and snatches away what
was sown in his heart. This is he who received
the seed by the wayside. He says that birds will
come and snatch up the seed. Anybody have any
problems with birds in your garden? coming and
getting the seed right after you planted them.
Now this says this falls on the wayside. So this
would be perhaps the path that runs through the
field or around the field. So they didn't have
the same type of sidewalks or roads that we have.
It would be asphalt or concrete. But if you walk
on dirt long enough, if you ride your cart or
your donkey down the path long enough, what happens?
It becomes compacted. It becomes hard. It becomes
almost like concrete. So if that seed falls onto
that, it's not going to be taken into the earth,
and it's the perfect place for the birds to come
and to snatch up those soil, those seeds. And
so these birds represent, it says here, the wicked
one. Satan is the one that comes and snatches
this away. So it's interesting. as we think about
this parable, there's four different locations
that are mentioned. And in each one of these
locations, the sower is the same, the seed is
the same, but the only difference is where that
seed lands, what that location is, how that location
deals with the seed, deals with the word that
it receives. And so we could look at that and
say, well, well, that's us. How do we receive
God's word? How do we experience God's word when
we hear it, when we receive it? So in this first
incident, incidents, this first location, it
falls on the wayside and these birds come and
snatch it away. Satan wants to make sure that
if we hear the word, that it's not there very
long. There's a group of people that are not
interested at all in what God has to say, that
they don't care what the Word of God says, they
don't know what the Word of God says, and Satan
wants to make sure that God's Word doesn't take
root, that it doesn't germinate in somebody's
life. And there's a whole group of society that
doesn't even realize that they have a need for
God. They're indifferent to God's Word because
they don't even care about it. They don't even
know about it. And sometimes we forget that we
are in a spiritual battle. Each and every day,
Satan is trying to snatch away the blessings
that God wants to pour into our life. And we
need to be thinking about what God's Word says
to us. Not just during one hour on Sabbath morning,
but we need to be thinking about God's Word as
we go through the week. Notice what it says in
2 Timothy. Paul is writing to a young minister,
and he's giving him wisdom and advice. And in
2 Timothy chapter 3, we see a little bit of what
Paul writes to Timothy. He starts off talking
about his childhood. Verse 15, that from childhood
you have known the holy scriptures, and then
he describes God's word here, the holy scriptures,
which are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. So God's
word, this seed that Jesus is sprinkling into
our life, it is able to make us wise for salvation.
And then notice the next two verses, verse 16.
All scripture is given. How much of scripture?
All scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is... profitable. Is that a good word? Yeah,
we want things to be profitable in our life.
If we're spending time doing something, we hope
that there's a reward for it. We hope that there's
a blessing for it. It says all Scripture is profitable,
and then there's a couple different categories.
For doctrine, okay, we can learn about God. We
can learn about what it means to follow Him.
For reproof, for correction. Okay, we don't maybe
like that quite as much, but that's going to
point out mistakes that we're making, ways in
our life that we need to perhaps turn a different
direction. And then it says for instruction in
righteousness. We get to be instructed in what
it means to live our life for God. And then verse
17, that the man, that the people, that the man
or woman of God may be complete. thoroughly equipped
for every good work. That's what God's word is
all about. But Satan wants to snatch that away.
And guess what? He has succeeded in many ways
because in many ways our society today is almost
biblically illiterate. We talked a little bit
about it in Sabbath school this morning. But
you can think to your bookshelf at home. Whether
it's in a dorm room or at your house, how many
Bibles do you have access to? You probably have
at least one. I'm a pastor, so I've got a lot,
but probably all of us have several, and I bet
that many of us have an app on our phone that
you can open up and you can pull up any version
of the Bible that has ever been created. And
you can find that. We have incredible access
to God's Word, and yet our society remains biblically
illiterate. A Gallup poll from a couple years
ago, it stated that Americans revere the Bible,
but often we don't read the Bible. And their
poll said that only half of American adults can
name the four Gospels. Less than half, less than
50 % can name Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Most can't name more than two or three disciples.
Well, if you could name the four Gospels, you've
got two of them down there already, Matthew and
John. 60 % can't even name five of the Ten Commandments.
We won't do a quiz, so don't worry. But can we
be surprised that people are breaking the Ten
Commandments if they don't even... know what
the Ten Commandments even say. 82 % think that
this phrase is in the Bible. God helps those
who help themselves. It's not. Spoiler. It's
not in the Bible. Anybody know who said this?
Most people think it was Ben Franklin that first
said this. God helps those who help themselves.
82 % assumed, thought that that was in the Bible.
So Satan has been successful when the word of
God has been sprinkled onto the wayside that
those birds, Satan has been able to snatch that
out of people's hearts before they are able to
let that take root, let that germinate. But there's
another part of the land that this seed lands
on. Verse 20, but he who received the seeds on
stony places, so rocky ground, Probably off,
again, to the side of the field. Maybe when they
were plowing, they hit some rocks and they threw
the rocks over into one area. This is he who
hears the word and immediately receives it with
joy. Yay! They're receiving the word with joy.
But, uh -oh, he who received the seed, but yet,
excuse me, not but, but yet, yet he has no root
in himself. but endures only for a while. For
when tribulation or persecution arises because
of the word, immediately he stumbles. And so
it's rocky ground, the seed, it might be able
to find a little bit of soil, it might be able
to take a start, but as soon as any kind of challenge
comes, that person's going to give up on the
word. They've accepted this word today. Because,
wow, it sounds really good. I like the way my
friend described that verse. I like the way the
preacher said that. I'm going to follow that.
I'm going to accept it because it feels good
today. But maybe tomorrow, it doesn't sound as
good today. Because maybe somebody's asked me
to do something that, oh, the Bible doesn't want
me to do. Or maybe they're making fun of something
that I'm believing because it's in the Bible.
It's a little more challenging. It's a selfish
reaction based only on emotion. This feels good
today, but tomorrow something else might be easier.
Life, believe it or not, this is going to sound
strange, life is not about happiness. Because
happiness comes and goes. I want to show you
a picture here. I apologize to our sweet spot
family back here. But this is a picture taken
in front of Brewster's ice cream. And if you
may not be able to see it, but it says March
20, 2010. So 15 years ago. March 20 happens to
be my birthday. And it says wear your PJs, wear
your pajamas, and get a free waffle cone. So
we live down near Calhoun. So hey, a free ice
cream cone. We got the kids in their pajamas
and ourselves in pajamas, and we went and got
a free ice cream cone. And you can see Peyton
on the left and Brandon on the right. They weren't
waiting for the picture. They were eating their
ice cream cone. You see Jolie in the middle with
two ice cream cones. She wanted me to point out
that she's holding my ice cream cone as I'm taking
the picture, that she wasn't going to eat both
of those. And then you see Jordan here in pink
footie pajamas, if you could see the bottom of
her body. And my brother described it this way.
He said, I've never seen a kid look so upset
while holding an ice cream cone. Because she's
got this snarl on her face and a frown on her
face because she does not want to be there in
footie pajamas out in public, even though she's
got an ice cream cone. And that's how life is.
If we got ice cream, we're going to be happy.
Sweet spot. If you have to wear footie pajamas
in public. maybe you're going to be a little
more grumpy. And that's how we often respond
to the different aspects of life. If things are
going good, oh, the Word of God sounds good today,
it makes me happy. But tomorrow, maybe it doesn't
sound quite as good. It makes me a little grumpy,
and I'm not going to follow it anymore. I'm not
going to listen to it anymore. It says there's
no root, and they endure only for a while. We
need to make sure that we are rooted in the Word
of God. Then verse 22, it goes on and says, Now
he who received seed among the thorns is he who
hears the Word. They hear it. The Word of God
is there. You hear it just like you hear a train.
And the cares of this world and the deceitfulness
of riches choke the Word. And Mark adds another
phrase in there. Mark says, the desire for other
things. So the cares of this world, the deceitfulness
of riches, the desires for other things, choke
the Word and He becomes unfruitful. And so you
hear this Word, but there's so many other things
in life that seem important. And maybe they are
important. Because we, There's things that we
have to do every day. We've got to work. We've
got to cook dinner. We've got to wash the clothes,
whatever it is. Those are good things. Even things
we do for the church. Those can be good things,
but they can also be all time consuming. And
so the word of God or God only becomes one tiny
little aspect of our life among so many other
things. Oh, well, here's my schoolwork drawer.
I'm going to... close that for sabbath of course
and then i'll open up my god drawer and talk
about god today but you know as soon as we get
home i'm gonna put that bible back away and well
the lawn's got to be mowed and schoolwork's got
to be done and i've got to prep for this presentation
at work and our relationship with god is just
one tiny aspect of our life when it should be
the most important thing of our life. And everything
else needs to be under that. But we need to seek
first the kingdom of God and all these things
can be added unto us. I'm going to put up a little
video here. And this is a video of people in
China who are receiving a Bible, their own Bible,
for the very first time. How many Bibles? Do
we have? So these folks are able to receive,
I hope it's going to work, receive a Bible for
the very first time. And just watch their response.
How excited. It's a little blurry. They're opening
up packages of Bibles that have been given to
them. Have you ever been that excited to open
up your Bible? Have you ever been that excited
to recognize God's Word? And in just a moment,
I think she said right there, this is what we
have needed the most. This is what we have needed
the most. You've got a Bible. You might have
brought it with you. You've got one on your phone.
You've got one at your home. Have you ever been
that excited? To open up God's word. God's word
needs to be the central focus of how we live
our life, not just one thing among so many others,
even if those other things are good. But then
we look at verse 23. It says, but he who received
seed on the good ground is he who hears the word,
all right, they've all heard it, and understands
it. who indeed bears fruit and produces. He who
receives seed on the good ground is he who hears
the word and understands it. This is good ground,
ready to receive the seed. But if you've ever
done any planting in your life, you know that
ground like this is not natural. You can't just
go out somewhere and find ground like that. You've
got to work at it. You've got to prepare that
soil. Maybe you've got to turn the soil. Maybe
you've got to add some fertilizer or some amendments
of some kind. You've got to clear away the rocks
and the thorns. You've got to break up the ground.
This is the ground that is ready to accept. It
hears and it understands. Now what this parable
tells me, one thing that it tells me, is that
all of the ground can be, it can be good ground.
But maybe we've got to clear those thorns out
of our life. Maybe we've got to take those rocks,
those things that are keeping us from getting
that root of the word in our life. We've got
to clear that out of the way. Maybe we've got
that hard pathway. We've got to break that up
and make that ready to receive God's word. We've
got to fertilize. We've got to plow. Christ accepts
each one of us just as we are. He forgives us.
when we ask, but we need to be ready to recognize
that we are in a spiritual battle, and we've
got to take the time to know God. We've got to
take the time to taste and experience the sweetness
of his word. In the book of Psalms, it says,
taste and see that the Lord is good. Are we taking
the time to even taste what God has in store
for us? Does anybody have a bulletin? Take out
your bulletin real quick and just look at the
back. There's a mission statement and then there's
a vision statement. It says the Ringgold Seventh
-day Adventist Church, that's us, will be a,
what's the first word there? Biblical, spirit
-led, faith -filled, family -focused, and growing
fellowship. We desire, we want to be a biblical
fellowship. our life to be based on the Word
of God. Are we ready to taste and see what God
has in store for us? How can you do that? Here's
a couple ways just to do that. Maybe you're already
deeply in Bible study. Praise the Lord. Continue
that. Keep doing that. Maybe that is something
that's kind of drifted apart. You've gotten too
busy. You've got caught up in those stones or
the thorns or whatever it is. So here's some...
some ideas to maybe jumpstart that a little bit.
I would say the first thing is just start. Whether
it's this afternoon or tomorrow, just say, God,
I want to start getting into your word, digging
into your word, hearing and receiving. Just make
that first step. I've got to start. And sometimes
to make that first step and to make it last,
You've got to not just start, but you've got
to schedule when you're going to do that. You
can't just say, I'm going to do it tomorrow.
That's never going to happen. When are you going
to do it tomorrow? Put it on your calendar. Set
a little alarm on your phone. Whether it's when
you first wake up. Okay, great. Maybe you're
going to have to wake up 15 minutes earlier.
And maybe to get up 15 minutes earlier, you're
going to have to go to bed 15 minutes earlier.
Maybe that means you're going to have to not
be on your phone or turn the TV off or whatever
that thing is that keeps you up late. I'm talking
to myself. I stay up way too late. You've got
to schedule it. Maybe you want to do it at your
lunch break or in the evening. Set that little
alarm on your phone that's going to go off every
day to remind you, okay, beep, beep, beep, beep,
beep, beep. That's my time to study God's Word.
So start, schedule it, and keep it simple. Keep
it simple. You don't have to, you know, get into
the Greek and Hebrew unless you want to, but
keep it simple. Just start. Say, I'm going to
study through a book of the Bible. I'm going
to read one of the Gospels. I'm going to read
the book of Philippians, four chapters, all about
joy. But don't just read it once. Read it today.
And read it tomorrow. And read that same book
for a week until it begins to become settled
in your mind and it begins to take root. Keep
it simple. Many of you, I already mentioned,
have an app on your phone. I have one. I use
the one called YouVersion. It just shows a picture
of a Bible. And most apps, including the YouVersion,
it's got a button called Plans. And I just happened
to open up and here's a 12 -day... Study through
the book of James. There's a seven -day study
on encouragement. There's a seven -day study
on men of the heart. Whatever topic, whatever
book you may have, there's a plan. It's just
going to give you some verses to read. Start,
schedule, and keep it simple. Just begin. In
Matthew 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness. Let that be a prayer that
you pray. God, help me to be hungry. Help me
to be thirsty for your word. Help me to taste
that sweetness of your word. You don't have to
pray to get hungry. You know, it's almost noon.
You're probably getting hungry right now. It
just happens naturally. But that's a prayer that
you can pray. Lord, help me to be hungry for
your word. I want to go back to that verse again,
13 verse 23, because it says, he who receives
seed on the good ground is he who hears the word
and understand it. What's the result? Who indeed
bears fruit and produces, some a hundredfold,
some 60, and some 30. Now, I'm not a farmer,
but things that I've read have indicated that
those are extraordinary yields. even in today's
society with fertilizer and tractors and everything
else. And so this is a prayer that when we begin
to read God's Word, God's Word is going to do
something in us. It's going to change us. It's
going to make it a little bit different. So if
you're throwing out seeds, maybe for a tomato
plant in your garden, what do you hope is going
to happen? Not just hoping that there's going
to be one green plant that comes up. Oh, that's
nice, a green plant. But your ideal is that that
green plant is going to get some little flowers
and those flowers are going to soon have little
green bulbs on the end and those green bulbs
are going to turn red and be delicious tomatoes.
That's the point of planting the seed is to bear
fruit. If you plant an apple seed, you're not
just wanting a tree, you're wanting a harvest.
of apples. And as God's word is planted in our
heart, we are able to bear fruit. We're able
to perhaps bear fruit that will plant seeds into
someone else's life, someone else's heart. There's
a gentleman I know, his name is Dan. He lives
in another part of the country. And everywhere
he goes, he takes something like this. He takes
these little glow tracks. Anybody familiar with
a little glow track? On the little bulletin board
between here and the potluck, there's a couple
stacks of them that I just put out there. And
he takes a little thing like this, and almost
every person he meets, he'll give them two. And
he says, here's just a little something to brighten
your day. And that will begin conversations.
Oh, where do you go to church? What church do
you belong to? And he's able to just, non -confrontationally,
sometimes they take them. Sometimes they don't.
Sometimes they ask a question. But he's like,
here's just a little something to brighten your
day. That's my challenge. Take a couple as you're
going to potluck and see if through your experience
this week, you can bear fruit. What else can
you do to bear fruit? Well, this week we've got
a vacation Bible school. Do you know anybody
that has kids? Maybe your grandkids, maybe your
neighbors, maybe the kids in the neighborhood.
Take a couple of these little things and invite
them to come starting Wednesday night. And yes,
there's free ice cream from the sweet spot each
night. Just invite someone to come and learn
more about God, to experience God's Word into
their own life, into their own experience. And
we can complete... this circle and so we could
ask ourselves where where in this story where
in this parable do you see yourself because we're
all in there somewhere maybe uh we're in that
group that uh is rejecting it all that that doesn't
care it's just allowing that that word to be
snatched out of our heart we don't know and we
don't care maybe we find see ourselves and we're
in that that selfish group. We just want to go
the easiest route. And it sounds good today,
but maybe tomorrow something else is going to
sound better. Or maybe we find ourselves just,
we're just too busy. There's too many other things
that we have going on. If you're in one of those
groups, I invite you just to taste and see, to
experience the sweetness of God's Word. But maybe
you're in that group that is the good soil, and
the seed is enveloping into your life and taking
root. If that's your case, then I just invite
you to say, all right, God, help me to bear fruit.
Help me to find someone this week that I can
invite to know you better. Whether it's invite
to a program at the church or just invite to
see the love of God in their life. I hope that
each one of us will allow the seed of God's word,
to take root into your life each and every day.
Let's bow our heads for prayer. Dear God, what
an incredible story that you sow the word of
God, the word which is living and active, the
word which makes us wise for salvation, that
makes us thoroughly equipped for every good work.
And God, we appreciate that you care about us,
and no matter where we may be, which soil we
may be, you continue to cast your word into our
heart and into our life. And Lord, it's my prayer
that wherever we are, we'll take one more step
to be closer to you, to be more like you, to
bear fruit that others may know you. In your
name we pray. Amen.