Not for a minute were we forsaken. The Bible
says, I'll neither leave you nor forsake you.
I'll be with you to the very end. You see, we
go through things in life and we go through things
at time. And these students right here are a
testament to going through things in life. Amen.
But as they go through things in life, this song
pierces the inner depths of our soul. Because
it says, not for a minute was I forsaken. The
Lord is in this place. And then they're asking,
come Holy Spirit. Dry bones awaken. Some of our
bones have become dry this morning. Some of the
things down inside of us lay a little dormant.
But I think God is calling out to his people
today, saying, come alive. They said it, dead
things come alive. Because when you begin to
interject Jesus into the situation, dead things
come alive. Hallelujah. Give him praise one more
time in his house today. He is worthy of our
praise. Amen. Give these young men and women
a hand clap of praise. They did an outstanding
job this morning leading us into worship. What
an awesome, awesome job. One of the wonderful
gifts that I have been given. is the fact that
I get to pastor this young group of men and women.
And the blessing that I receive is more than
this, but I get to preach after worship like
that every single Wednesday. Guys, when you look
around at these young men and women, they're
becoming warriors. It's hard for me to talk about
them without crying. But I'm proud of them. I'm
proud of everything they're becoming because
they're allowing the Lord to lead their life.
Amen. But I've come this morning with a word
I believe that God has placed on my heart to
give to you today. Because when you think about
the songs and the things that we've sung about
already this morning, It makes you wonder where
our hearts are today. I question that among myself
several times because I don't know about you,
but I don't wake up the same way all the time
every morning. Sometimes I wake up and I've got
a bad mood on me. I've got a bad attitude or
my heart's not receptive. I'm not ready to be
who I know God's called me to be. There's a struggle
that happens. Amen. We all go through it. But
I think about where my heart is today, this morning,
and I think about where our hearts may be today.
And that's kind of what I want to preach to you
today about. And it's a simple thought that says
living with a heart condition. And you can turn
with me to Matthew chapter 13, and then I'll
let you guys be seated. I know you've been standing
for worship. Chapter 13, verse 1, and I'm going
to read through verse 9. Give you a second to
get there. Living with a heart condition. Chapter
13 verse 1 says, That same day Jesus went out
of the house and sat beside the sea. And great
crowds gathered about him so that he got into
a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood
on the beach. And he told them many things in
parables, saying, A sower went out to sow. And
as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path,
and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds
fell along rocky ground, where they did not have
much soil. Immediately they sprang up, and since
they had no depth of soil, but when the sun arose,
they were scorched. And since they had no root,
they withered away. Other seeds fell among the
thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain,
some hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Father,
I love you today. I thank you for this opportunity
that I have to break. and preach this lovely
word. And God, I pray that as I have spoken this
word, I pray that it reaches into the inner depths
of our soul. Lord, I pray that as our hearts
are rung out this morning, that we will hear
what the Spirit would be saying to us this morning.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You guys can be
seated. Living with a heart condition, in this
passage of Scripture, a very familiar story,
most of you have heard it. the parable of the
sower. And after Jesus spoke this parable to
the multitude, the group of crowds sitting on
the shore, the disciples asked him once they
were alone, they said, why do you teach or preach
in parables? And Jesus went on to describe to
them how they have been made known the mysteries
of the kingdom of God. They have been made known
the things that others would not typically know
of the kingdom of God, but he spoke in parables
that they would hear. He actually said that I
speak in parables so that Isaiah could be fulfilled
where it says, you will indeed hear but never
understand. You will indeed see but never perceive.
For this people's heart has grown dull. Somebody
say dull. Their heart has grown dull. And with
their ears they can barely hear and their eyes
they have closed. lest they should see with their
eyes and hear with their ears and understand
with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.
What Jesus is saying is they may not understand
the things that I explain to you, my people,
but to these people I preach in parables so that
they would understand and hear, and it would
draw them, and they would turn, and they could
be healed. But he's lining them up to talk about
the conditions of their hearts. Amen. And to
understand this parable fully, you've got to
understand the sower. Because there's a sower
of the seed. But who is the sower? There are
several things that the sower is identified as.
Firstly, in the parable, the sower would be as
like the farmer casting seed into the field.
According to Jesus in his interpretation of this
parable in Mark 4, 14, the sower sows the word
of God. And the sower pictured in this parable
is a reference to Jesus and by extension to all
those who preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's a fact I am sowing this very hour.
Amen. The sower's intentions are also important.
It says that this farmer, since he has the seed
and he casts the seed into his field, he does
so with a hope that some will fall on good soil.
I don't know if some of you in here are farmers,
but when you cast seed, some of you may place
it specifically in the ground. But back then,
they threw seed and cast seed and hoping that
it would fall on good soil. Some would fall.
He sows because he ultimately desires to reap
a harvest. Amen. You don't sow seed as a farmer
unless you intend on reaping, right? Unless you
intend on getting something in return. He cast
his seed with the expectation of much more. The
sower has one goal, and that is to get his seed
into the ground so the harvest can come. You
see, the same is true with the seed of the gospel
today. It is sown into the field of the world
with the prayer that it will fall on good hearts,
take root, grow up, and produce much fruit to
the glory of the Lord. There are hearts in this
room that have received the seed of the gospel
at one time. The seed germinated in your heart
and produced within your soul. Now your life
is a fruitful testimony of the power of God's
saving grace. That is the intention of our heavenly
sower, and that is my desire to sow to you today.
You see, the seed is sowed in us, and if our
hearts are designed and are ready to receive
that as good soil is, that seed, once it is planted,
will germinate, and it will bring forth fruit,
and that fruit will produce more seed. And that's
our job, isn't it, as believers? Our job is to
go forth and produce more seed. Amen. The third
thing we need to understand about the sower is
he has an investment. The farmer must give something
away before he can expect to receive something
in return. He takes the precious seed that he
saved from the last harvest, and he casts it
into the soil, hoping that it will produce a
great harvest. The seed is all the farmer has,
and he gives it away, hoping to receive more
in return. You see, this is what our heavenly
sower did. Jesus gave his all so that there might
be a gospel seed to cast into the soil of the
human heart. He died on the cross. He rose again,
literally giving his all. knowing that some seed
would fall on good soil and would produce a great
harvest, and they would come back to him. Jesus
gave his all for you and for me so that we might
have a gospel to believe and that you might produce
fruit to the glory of God. The message we preach
at this church is a message about a free gift
of salvation through Jesus Christ. However, while
salvation may be free, it certainly was not cheap.
It cost the glory of heaven his life on a cross.
He gave all that he had to give us a soul -saving,
life -changing gospel to preach. Amen. Go ahead
and give God praise in his house this morning
that he sent his only son to die on a cross that
we would have a way. And a seed to plant in others.
Amen. So the sower is very important in this
story. The sower representing Jesus Christ and
you and me alike. But if we don't have a heart
conditioned to be a sower, how can we then sow?
Sometimes we get confused as to what being a
sower is or what being a believer is. We think
that knowing Christ in ourself and having him
as a savior of our life is just for us and us
alone. We think God's good for us and he's not
against us, and that is all true, but it's not
only for us to keep to ourselves. The message
has never been, the seed has never been for us
to keep to ourselves. If we're keeping it to
ourselves, we must not have a heart that is like
good soil. Because when you plant a crop on good
soil, you can guarantee you're going to reap
a harvest. Amen. We need to understand also.
About the seed. We know about the sower, but
what about the seed? And what a treasure that
seed truly is. Amen. In Luke 8, 11, Jesus identifies
the seed as the word of God. When a farmer walked
into his field, his seed bag was his treasure.
I know when I went on the mission trip to Africa,
my eyes were really open to what seed can do.
When I look around and they were in an extreme
drought, water was hard to come by. So if water
is hard to come by, seed and fruits and crops
are hard to come by as well. But it doesn't help
if you don't have the seed. You can have water
and dirt, but if you have no seed, you have no
crop. Are you following me this morning? So the
seed or the word of God is our treasure this
morning. It is the thing that should mean the
absolute most to us. When I take this Bible and
I press it up against my chest and I just hug
it. How many hug their Bible? I do. I hug mine.
It is the living word of my Lord Jesus Christ.
And I will hug it and hold it close. And every
time I do, it does not surprise me that the presence
of the Lord meets me right there where I am.
this close and the seed that I have is visible.
It's in front of me. I'm putting it into the
inner depths of my soul. And my heart is good
soil. It's been milled and tilled by the grace
of God. It can produce in me fruit that I couldn't
produce any other way. So take your Bibles and
hold them dear. If you got a phone, that's okay.
But there's nothing that can separate this right
here from our hearts if our hearts are of good
soil. Amen. He cast his treasure to the wind,
hoping it would accomplish his desires. 2 ,000
years ago, Jesus walked into this world with
a treasure. He came to give men the gospel of
grace. When Jesus cast his seed of the gospel
into the shifting winds of this world, he did
so with a sure knowledge that it would accomplish
his purpose completely. Understand that the word,
the seed, holds great power because it holds
life. When I was in Africa, the seed was life
or death. It was literally how they ate, how
they made food, how they did everything was the
product of the seed. So we need to understand
tonight that the seed of the word of God is life
itself. It is the very being that we have to
live and move and walk in this life and walk
in the purpose and the plan that God's called
you into. Before the seed falls on the soil,
the soil is devoid of life. Amen. It is devoid
of life. It lies there barren and empty. But
when the seed falls into the soil. I said when
the seed falls into the soil. And it germinates.
And it gets down deep into the inner depths of
your soul. And for some reason you can't seem
to get away from the seed. And for some reason
you can't seem to get away with the power that's
in the seed. With the life that's in the seed.
Your life becomes completely radically transformed
by Jesus' name. Amen. It brings forth life and
eventually fruit in its place where only barrenness
and death could be found before. This is what
makes the gospel such a great treasure. It produces
life in the place of something that was formerly
dead. Amen. I don't know about you, but I was
once dead in my sin. I told this story before.
Born and raised in church my whole life. Mom
and daddy took me to church. I knew the right
way. But when I was not much younger than these
men and women right here, I fell away from the
Lord. Anybody ever do that? Anybody ever make
a wrong turn? I'm glad y 'all haven't because
I have. But I turned away from the Lord at one
time. My heart was no longer a soft soil, a good
soil to be rooted and planted in. It was not
that way. But I found my way back. One day, by
the grace of God, and I was no longer dead in
my sin, but I was alive by the power of Jesus
Christ. Amen. And I know we all have that salvation
story. And if you don't, you can leave here today
with it. Amen. I'm so grateful for that power
and the life that his seed brings. So as it is
with the gospel of grace, it brings life to dead
hearts of those lost in their sins. When the
seed germinates in the soil, it transforms the
soil and brings life. It also holds great promise.
The seed holds great promise, and that's in abundance
and more. Amen? Every seed that is sown by the
sower had the potential to produce much more
seed. Amen? Verse 8 and 23 bear this out. One
little seed had the potential to multiply itself
30 and 60 and 100 times. Those of you who farm
have seen this principle in action. When you
plant a bean seed and a bean plant grows, multiple
bean seeds spawn from that plant. Amen. From
one seed, there's an abundance. Same thing with
squash or cucumber or pick your plant. Farmers,
pick your plant. I'm not a farmer myself, so
y 'all know more than I do. But pick your plant.
I do know that if a seed's planted, it grows,
it brings forth multiple seeds. Amen. And that's
beautiful. Each seed has the potential to reproduce
itself many times over. Such is the promise of
the seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Such
is the promise of the seed of the word of God.
When it is sown in a ready heart, it will germinate
and reproduce itself over and over again. The
seed has the potential to begin small and to
bring forth much. And that's what God is asking
us to do as the sower of the seed. We're meant
to cast the seed, and as we plant that seed on
good soil, it will germinate and bring forth
more seed to go out across all the world because
that needs to happen, right? The world needs
to hear the message of Jesus Christ. I can tell
you that there's a group of young men and women
that I meet with on Wednesday night that are
dedicated to becoming world changers. They're
dedicated to taking their seed that they were
given and expanding it across everywhere. They're
taking it to their schools. They're taking it
to their jobs. They're taking it to their groups.
They're taking it to their friends. taking it
to their family because sometimes we may be good,
but our family's not. But we're praying for that
family. We're praying that our seed that will
multiply into more seed will touch our family,
will touch our brothers, will touch our sisters,
will touch our moms and dads and our schools
and our friends. There's work to be done, saints.
What I'm trying to tell you is take your seed
and let it multiply. Amen. We got to multiply
it in Jesus' name. We can't take the seed and
sit on it. We're not supposed to do that. That's
not what we're called to do. Amen. Take the seed
that God has graciously given you. He gave everything
for you to have that seed. So take the seed and
spread it across the world because you can. Amen.
We've gotten to this mode where we're just, we're
in our own little local community. No, we're
not. Praise the Lord. Brother Mills just telling
me today, how many was it that was? 140 baptisms
in Africa where we sowed seed. Come on, give
God praise in his house this morning. God is
moving. You may not be there to see it, but you
know God. He's all the way, all time, everywhere
doing wonderful, powerful, mighty things in the
life of this world. Amen. We get into this mode,
and the kids have heard me say this, guys, it's
regurgitated, but just hold on. We get into this
mode where we think we can't change anything.
We're not supposed to change it. We're supposed
to sow the seed. Let God do the work. Let God
transform hearts and lives. As long as ours is
good and we got good soil, it's going to produce
multiple seed. And let God transform those. Amen.
But that's what we got to do. Take the word of
God with us everywhere we go. Well, sometimes
it just, it don't seem like it's working. It
just don't work. I've been praying for him and
he's just pushing further away. I've planted
seed. I'm throwing it everywhere and there ain't
no good ground. Now, who are you depending on
to do the transformation? It sure ain't going
to be me. My job is to plant the seed. I went
to, there's a couple friends of mine that I go
to meet with once a year. And I say once a year
because I don't, you know, we're good buddies,
but life keeps you where you can't really spend
time with one another. One lives in Chattanooga,
one lives in Udawah, I'm in Cleveland. But we
meet once a year to watch the NFL draft. How
many of y 'all kept up with the draft? I don't
even watch football. I really just, I love football,
but I don't even watch the draft. I just go to
see my buddies I ain't seen. You never know how
a meeting will turn into you planting seed. Because
these two individuals, they're great men. Wonderful
guys. Would give you the shirt off their back.
I kid you not. But they're not where they need
to be with the Lord. They know where I am. They
know Pastor Brian. They know Pastor Church. Hey,
what are you doing? FedEx is closed. Well, I'm
going to go full time at church. Awesome, man.
That's great. They're happy for me. But they're
not where they need to be. Well. We visit, and
we watch the draft, and we shut the restaurant
down, and we walk outside, and we're just talking
by our vehicles. And one of my friends starts
talking about how his mom is just on him and
on him about going to church. And he had this
weird idea of why he wouldn't because his mom
would ask him. It's amazing what you'll do when
your mom's pressuring you how you'll run from
whatever mom's saying. Y 'all know what I'm talking
about? I've done it. I'm still running. No, I'm
just kidding. But it's amazing how he was just
like almost just he didn't want to hear it. And
I don't know if it was because he knows better
than he does. He was raised in church. He knows
better. But my other buddy is sitting there like,
Pastor Brian, would you go ahead? He's like,
I know it's about to come out. Brian's about
to say something. And I'm like, you know what?
I will. But it gave me an opportunity which I
did not see coming. I thought it was just going
to be another awesome time catching up with friends,
right, eating some wings and watching the draft,
because that's what we do once a year. And it
turned into me sowing seed into my friend, and
then at the end of the conversation saying, well,
I guess I'm going to go to church Sunday. That's
how it's supposed to work. We sow the seed. And
you better believe the Lord was with me because
I felt his help. Right? I knew it was coming
from the Lord what I was telling him because
it was orchestrated too perfectly. And that's
how God does it. He will open doors for each
and every one of us to sow a seed, to plant something
inside someone else. And don't bring your water
bucket because you don't need to. God will water
it and bring the increase. But take the seed
with you everywhere you go because you'll never
understand when God will give you that opportunity.
I pray for it. I'm like, Lord, send somebody
to me today. Send somebody. Ken, I know you do,
brother. But you send somebody. somebody to me
today that I can plant a seed in that God would
do miraculous things in their life and transform
their hearts. Amen. So guys, plant your seed
everywhere you go. You should have a trail of
seed everywhere you go. Amen? Amen. Let's just
give the Lord praise in his house one more time.
Understanding that as you are living with a heart
condition, The heart is how the seed is received,
amen? Our hearts, the heart of those we're sowing
seed to, the ground that the seed is sowed to,
it's important as to what you're sowing, but
it's also important to understand the condition
of the hearts in those times. And I've got four
different conditions of the heart I want to touch
on today. The first one being the unyielding
heart. This is where the seed is sown along the
path and the birds have came and devoured it.
These are the ones that when the word is sown,
the Bible actually says that Satan comes and
it says immediately takes that word away from
who it was sown to. We see this type of heart,
this type of hardened heart. We can see the ground
is hard. The seed won't go into the ground. So
the birds come and take it or Satan steals it
away. But this is a hardened heart and we see
this played out all through Scripture, don't
we? You can even just talk about Moses and Pharaoh.
When Moses came to deliver the Israelite people
from Egyptian slavery, he went to Pharaoh multiple,
multiple times, did he not? He went to him over
and over again, and even though he showed him
the miracles, he showed him the signs over and
over again, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. There
was no way he was going to give in to it, and
the Bible says he hardened his own heart. In
the case of Festus, if we read about Paul, his
heart was hardened, but Pharaoh hardened his
own heart and could not hear. Even though he's
watching the miracles God performed through Moses,
he would not let God's people go. That's how
we are sometimes, isn't it? The seed is sown
and thrown at us. It's almost like a wall that
it bounces off of. And the minute your heart
is so hard that you're not receiving the word,
you better believe that Satan will be there to
grab that away from you. And then once it's gone,
it's gone. I come to encourage you today, don't
let your heart be hardened. Let your heart be
open to the changing that God can do in your
life. I don't know about you, but I wasn't willing
to stay where I was at one time. I know I needed
help. I know I was in the pits. I know I needed
a hand to get me. out of there and God was there
as I softened my heart, as I was able to press
into him, he was there to reach down his hand
and save me. There's a song that says, and he
reached down his hand for me. That's what he
did. He reached down his hand and saved me. But
we can't have a hardened heart in the process
or we'll never get the word. Amen. We'll never
get the seed. We're always looking for a word,
but don't harden your heart towards that word.
It may not be what you want it to be. Because
sometimes God's answered my prayers and it ain't
how I wanted him to answer my prayer. But it
was what was best for me. 1 Corinthians 2 .14
says, But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them because they
are spiritually discerned. Our hearts so hardened
we don't even spiritually discern what God's
trying to do with the seed that he's trying to
plant in our hearts today. The second heart is
an unprepared heart. This is the seed sown on
the rocky ground that sprang up immediately,
but it had no depth of soil. So when the sun
arose, it scorched and had no root, and it withered
away. The seed withered away. The Bible says
that this is the one who hears the word and immediately
receives it with joy and gladness. They take
it and walk with it. And they're taking it with
them. They're happy and they're glad. But the
first sign of persecution and temptation, they
flee from it. How many times have, I know myself,
but sometimes we come across hardships and persecution
for our faith, don't we? These are individuals
who are easily swayed or fall in the face of
persecution or hardship that's related to their
faith. They have a temporary faith. Not a...
Firm faith. They have a temporary faith. Lacking
a solid foundation and unable to endure when
faced with difficult times. It's hard to endure
when faced with difficult times, isn't it? I
don't know about you, but it's hard. Lacking
their foundation, rooted and grounded, they immediately
fall away, the Bible says. There's something
about being rooted and being rooted on something
that's firm. Amen? Can I tell you today that
the rock you should be concerned with is not
that of the rocky ground, but the rock that is
Christ Jesus. He is a solid, unshakable rock,
and we must build our faith upon him. He is the
firm ground for us to take our stand and contend
for our faith. He is the rock of our redeemer.
He is the rock of our refuge. He is the rock
of our salvation that cannot be moved. the firm
foundation and the rock that is Jesus Christ.
You don't have to worry about a springing up
and a sun scorching you. You'll be able to weather
the storm. You'll be able to endure hard times.
God will give you the strength in the times of
persecution, and you will prevail. Amen. Don't
be the seed planted on rocky soil. Plant yourself
on the rock that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Don't
you dare let the persecutions that come your
way sway you. to where your seed becomes withered
away and scorched. The world didn't give you
your seed, so don't let them take it away. Matthew
5, 10 through 11 says, blessed are those who
are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when
others revile you and persecute you and utter
all kinds of evil against you falsely on my count.
I don't know about you, but that verse right
there makes me extremely happy. That I am blessed
when I'm persecuted for righteousness sake. That
I am blessed because of the walk I walk and the
faith that I have in Jesus Christ. Amen. But
I got to stand for it. I can't let the world.
Don't be like stony ground. The third type of
heart is an uncommitted heart. That seed sown
among the thorns, and the seed that sown, the
thorns grew and choked it, and it yielded no
fruit. The ones sown among the thorns, they are
the ones who hear the word, but the cares of
the world, money, social status. Followings,
lust of your flesh, your own desires enters in
and chokes the word and becomes unfruitful. I
could hang out right there for just a second.
Because have you ever been so busy that you don't
seem to have time for the word? You ever been
so distracted that you don't have time for the
word? Can I tell you that the world wants you
in that condition? The world wants your heart.
in an uncommitted state. The world wants you
in a place where you are not committed to the
word of God and spreading his seed and preaching
and teaching and talking about the gospel. The
world wants you right there because you're uncommitted.
You're flippant. We talk about commitment in
everything we do, don't we? I know when I talk
to others about going to the gym and working
out and exercising, eating clean and being healthy,
well, what's the key? What's the key? I guess
they want me to have some kind of wonderful workout
routine or nutrition plan. I don't know anything
about all that. The only thing I can tell you
is that consistency is the key, and you can't
be consistent without commitment. Amen. That's
good. Write that down. You can't be consistent.
Without commitment, you have to be committed
to the Word of God. You have to be committed
not only to the Word, but to your personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. But we care too much about
what somebody said on Facebook. We care too much
about how many likes I got, how many follows
I have. Did my TikTok go viral? Maybe y 'all
don't care about that, but some do. Understand
I'm a youth pastor, okay? But maybe you do. I
don't know. I get this notification on my phone
every once in a while. How many gets this? My
weekly report tells me, like, how much usage
I have, how much I've been on my phone. How many
get that? Y 'all get that report? Do y 'all look
at it? People are like, no, I don't look at that
thing. I don't either. It depresses me every
time. What I would tell you is to look at that
and then do some self -reflection. I'm just being
honest and real with you guys, transparent. The
kids know I'm totally transparent. But if we
really think about how much time we spend on
our devices, in front of a TV, chasing after
our own desires, how much are we leaving on the
table and God is standing there saying, son or
daughter, I have so many plans for you. I want
to use you to change your community, your school,
your job, your family. I want to use you, son
and or daughter, but you're too busy for me.
If I go too long and I don't contact my mama,
she's going to call me. God's there waiting.
And I'm guilty of the one, I'm the guilty one
that says busy, busy, busy. Eric and I talk about
it all the time. The enemy will keep you distracted
if he can't keep you, he'll keep you busy if
you're not distracted. They both work against
you in what God is trying to slow you down and
pour into your heart and your life. Amen? So
I encourage each of you today, let's not focus
on our own desires. Let's focus on what God has
in store for us in our life because he's wanting
to use you to plant the seed all across this
community, to throw the seed, to get out there,
and God wants to transform you in your own life.
If you're thinking, I'm not where I want to be
with Christ, you have an opportunity today to
get that right because God is standing before
you, waiting to transform you, but you have to
be willing to be committed. Peter 5 says, casting
all your care upon him, for he cares for you.
Jesus said in Matthew 6, 24, no man can serve
two masters. This is good. You either will hate
the one and love the other, or else you will
hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon. Pick a side, ladies and
gentlemen. But I hope in my prayers that you
pick God's side. Because that's the side where
we have life and we have it more abundantly.
Amen. You can't serve two gods. And then fourth
and lastly, the unchained heart. This is the
one whose seed is sown on good soil. A heart
that has been tilled and churned up and ground
up by the grace of God and is prepared to reap
from what has been planted. This is the heart,
the ones who hear the word, they receive it,
and the Bible says it turns into the bearing
of fruit some 30 -fold and 60 -fold and 100 -fold.
I don't know about you today, but I always want
my heart to be that heart of good soil. Not just
one time. But all the time. I can't just have
a good soft heart for a specific kind of seed.
It's not about what kind of seed. It's about
the seed in the word of God. And I always want
my heart to be that of a good soil. Tilled up.
Tilled up by the grace of God. Understanding
and knowing that I'm only given this grace by
my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who came to
this earth. He walked down that road. He died
on a cross for my sin. He was buried in the.
tomb, and three days later, he rose to give me
a chance at life. That grace that I'm given has
tilled my heart to where I want a relationship
with that man. I want to know who he is. I know
about him and what he did for me, but I want
to know who he is. I want a relationship with
him, and I have a way to the Father through the
Son. So I'm diving in, and I hope that we all
have hearts today. Everybody stand all over this
house. I hope we have hearts today. Lord, that
is of good soil, that can hear his word and it
prick our hearts and us be turned to sow the
seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for him. Because
that's what we're for. As believers of Jesus
Christ, we are to sow the seed across the world.
Amen. And I don't believe it has to be relegated
to just a church or just a community or just
a state. We're already doing it. We have these
wonderful missions projects going on all across
the world. And we're sowing seed. But it doesn't
have to be across the world. It can be right
here. It can be everywhere. It should be everywhere.
We should take our seed with us. Amen? John 15,
5 -8 says, I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that
bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do
nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is
thrown away like a branch and withers, and the
branches are then gathered, thrown into the fire,
and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide
in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be
done for you. By this my Father is glorified
that you bear much fruit, so prove to be my disciples.
Amen. So I would ask you this morning, which
of these four hearts does yours closely resemble?
Have you already tuned God out? You're looking
to where we're going to eat lunch later. I wish
he'd hurry up and quiet down so I can get out
of here. Maybe you want nothing to do with God
or Jesus Christ. Maybe you're wondering, is it
too late for me? Am I too far gone? Whatever
it is, I can tell you that this morning that
God loves you. You may want nothing to do with
him, but he is still seeking you. You may be
so far from him, you're thinking there's no way
I can go back, but he's still seeking you. Because
he wants a relationship with you. He wants to
use you. He has a plan for you. He sets you apart
from the rest. And he's calling out to you. He
desires that relationship. And he wants to set
you free of the burdens that you carry. He still
specializes in heart transplants. Amen. I've
watched him do it too many times. He can take
a heart that's uncommitted, a heart that's hardened.
He can take every one of them and turn it into
that heart of good soil, that one that's unchained,
that one that's reckless with their seed throwing.
That will cast that seed everywhere they go and
not care about it. They'll throw the seed. They
won't care what the world says. They won't care
who's telling them they're wrong. They won't
care who's telling them they shouldn't be doing
that. They look foolish. They'll throw the seed
because they've got it in their good soil. Amen.
Their heart's been tilled. It's good soil. And
they'll throw the seed. Ezekiel 36, 26 says,
and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit
I will put in you. And I will remove the heart
of stone from your flesh and give you a heart
of flesh. If that's you today, if you have a
heart condition, we already sung about the healer.
His name is Jesus. I want to open up these altars
to come if you have a need and you want prayer.
If you find yourself with that heart condition
and you're thinking to yourself, Lord, I need
a touch. My heart's been hardened towards you.
I'm not the soft, good soil that I need to be.
There's reckless things that's happened in my
life, and I'm not where I need to be. If that's
you today, I want you to come. I want to pray
for you today. If you're in that place, you're
like, I need help. I need, God, for you to take
these desires of my flesh away. I need you to
help me control these worldly things that have
distracted me from really pressing into who you
are and my relationship with you. I want to pray
with you today. Father, I love you this morning.
I thank you, God, for your word. It is sharper.
than a two -edged sword. Father, and I pray that
as it pierces our hearts, Lord, may you churn
up our hearts today. God, understanding who Jesus
Christ is and what he did for us on the cross,
let that grace be applied to us and absolutely
till our hearts to be the soft, the good soil,
Lord, that your seed can be planted in. Lord,
all the hardened hearts, all the uncommitted,
all those, Lord, who are struggling in this hour,
God, I pray that you would meet them where they
are. I pray that from the top of their head to
the sole of our feet, you would reach your mighty
hand down into our chest and transform our hearts.
Give us that fresh heart of flesh that you promised
in Ezekiel. Lord, I ask that you would give us
a new spirit, Lord, one that's focused and solely
on you today. Lord, that our hearts would cry
out to you. God, for we can do nothing without
you. But Father, your word remains true that
we can do all things through Christ. In Jesus'
mighty name, amen and amen.