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Now if you will turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 13.

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Matthew chapter 13 we're going to read from verses 1 through 9 and then 18

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through 23 which is a parable of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I think it was

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about two weeks ago Jan shared with me a story that she was reading. I don't know

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if it was in the newspaper or on Facebook. It was about a expert in church

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planting and church growth. Now you would think that this guy would know how to make

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a church grow right? His church clothes. No more members. They were all gone away,

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death, movement, whatever. And he said something that I think is pretty profound

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in today's world. He said it's not your fault. It's not the church's fault. It's

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the culture's fault because people are not coming to church. So here's a man who

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knew the methods, the procedures of church growth, but he's saying it doesn't

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matter what you do. The culture is just saying no. Now this is where the pastor

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gets to gripe a little bit because I remember being in seminary and you

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almost got the impression if you were a true leader you could go into whatever

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situation and that church would magically grow. And you know what? It doesn't work

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that way. It just doesn't work that way. I remember they told, they were telling us

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we got to have a purpose statement, do all this stuff. So yeah we had purpose

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statement. The first church I was in did help. No. I did all that stuff about going

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around and visiting and seeing people and leaving my card that I was the

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minister at the Presbyterian Church. You know what one person did right after I

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left because I caught her out of the corner of my eye, threw the card away. We

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have a problem. And often what happens is people blame the church, the minister,

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there's always someone to blame except for who really is to blame. And that's

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what we want to look at today in this parable. Let's read what Jesus says. That

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same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds

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gathered around him but he got into a boat and sat in it and while all the

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people stood on the shore then he told them many things in parables saying a

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farmer went out to sow his seed and as he was scattering the seed some fell along

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the path and the birds came and ate it up and some fell on rocky places where it

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did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But

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when the sun came up plants were scorched and they withered because they

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had no root. Other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the

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plants and still other seeds fell on good soil where it produced a crop a hundred

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sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears let him hear and then

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let's drop down to verses 18 through 23 where he explains the parable. Listen

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then to what the parable of the sower means. When anyone hears the message

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about the kingdom of God and does not understand it the evil one comes and

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snatches away what was sown in their hearts. This is a seed sown along the

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path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word

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and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root they last only a

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short time when trouble or persecution comes because of the word. They quickly

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fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the

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word. But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the

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word making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone

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who hears the word understands it. This is the one who produces a crop yielding

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a hundred sixty or thirty times what was sown. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father

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help us to understand your word. Help us to understand not only the word but

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this world and what is going on in people. Have mercy upon your people this

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morning. I make this prayer in his name. Amen. John Maxwell is a Christian leader

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and he told the story of two girls, two sisters. Now one sister turned out to

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love swimming. She loved to go to the practices and she turned out to be a

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very good swimmer and she got the accolades from it her name in the

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newspaper. But the other girl, well she didn't like swimming and she wasn't

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willing to pay the price. So one day the father says to the young girl who didn't

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like swimming. He asks her wouldn't you like to work hard and get your name in

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the paper? Here was the response. Dad I'd rather sit here and eat cookies and

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drink milk the rest of my life. Now two children, same household, two different

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paths they have chosen. Now that happens a lot in life doesn't it? But it happens

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also spiritually speaking too. You can have a dysfunctional family with a father

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who is mean and brutal and you can have children in that family. One may turn to

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drugs and alcohol and crime. The other may become a Christian and even go on

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into the ministry or be a missionary. You see this is what happens all the time

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in Christianity and when the gospel is preached you've got some who will respond

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and you have some who will not. Some will accept it, some will reject the gospel

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and we wonder well why do people accept it and others reject it? Is it because of

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slick preaching? Is it because of the programs in the church? Is it because of

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upbringing? Or is there something else going on? And I'd have to say to you

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there's something else. There's something much deeper and it has to do with the word

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of God and the soil of your soul. That's what it has to do. So look at our own

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church for instance. This church has done a lot. It has tried to reach out to the

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community. It has invited people. It has shown people fellowship. We have had a

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youth group. But what's happened? No response. No response. Is it our fault?

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Now I'm not saying we're perfect. I'm not saying we couldn't do things better and be

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more faithful. But let's also be honest. A lot of the problem may not be ours and

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the problem we also face as a church body is discouragement because of what's

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going on and it's not just us. It's the entire church world where we see the

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numbers declining in various types of church and the blame game goes on,

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doesn't it? It's got to be somebody's fault. And we do a lot of what goes on in

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America. We blame the wrong people for what the problem is. Now the problem

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often is the soil of our souls. And let's delve into this passage to see what

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Jesus is going to tell us about what's really going on. And here's what

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you've got to realize. There is a mystery in this world and it is the mystery

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of God's Word and you see that in the first three verses. It is a mystery of

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how God accomplishes his purposes in this world. But it has to do with this word

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and we get a glimpse here when Jesus tells us parable. He's at the seashore and

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he starts to preach and he begins with a parable in verse 3. Now a parable, it's

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like an analogy. It's taking something that is known to explain something that

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may be unknown. In this case it is a very common agricultural image which the

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people back then would have been very very familiar with. The story of a farmer

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who goes out and sows his seed and you've got to get the picture. There would be a

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sack of seed and the farmer would be going around, reaching in and just throwing

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out the seed. And we need to understand before we look at this parable who the

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players are. The sower is God. Then we have the seed which is his word and the

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soil are various types of people. And think of this, it's a mystery of how this

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is distributed because God is scattering that seed indiscriminately. I want you to

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think about who Jesus preached to. The poor, the sick, the Pharisees, the Sadducees.

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He was preaching to everybody. He didn't make a discrimination on who the word

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went out to. You've got to think of it like, now I don't see this as much as we

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used to but you used to have paper boys who would take the paper, they ride their

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bike and they throw that paper all over the place. You get papers everywhere.

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Well that's what the preaching of the Word of God is like. It should go out

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indiscriminately. It should go out all over the place. And in Acts chapter 8

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verse 4, when we look at the great expansion of the church, here's what it

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says, therefore those who were scattered were everywhere, preaching the Word. Now

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I want you to look at our own community for instance. Is that true? You've got

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your street preachers who are out proclaiming the Word. You may disagree

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with their methods but they are proclaiming the Word. You can go down

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into the prisons, you can go down to these various ministries we have. The Word

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of God is being preached. The Word of God is being preached at very rich and

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exclusive churches but it's also being preached in less exclusive churches. It

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is being preached in charismatic churches, Episcopal churches, Presbyterian

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churches. It's being preached all over the place and I want you to think of all

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the different types of people who are listening, cooks, cleaners, bank executives,

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engineers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, prisoners. And that is the way that Jesus

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Christ always intended it. It's not to be towards a select few. The Word of God

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was to be scattered all over the place and here's where the tension comes in.

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You know if we go by modern standards of efficiency, we'd say it's a waste of

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energy because it's not focused enough but God's kingdom doesn't work that way.

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What we may consider wasteful, God may be using because the gospel and the way it

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works is a mystery and we don't know exactly all the details of how it is

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working out and it's also the mystery of productivity because that farmer who goes

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out, he sows that seed, some of it goes into the ground, he can't see how it

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works yet it grows out of sight. It grows. It is a mystery of God's grace and

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productivity and you and I don't know how God's Word is affecting us all. I came

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across the following story. It was about a lonely old man named Thomas who outlived

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all his friends and no one was at the church and at the graveside. He had

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taught Sunday school in the church but there was one person who was there, a

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military man, of some rank and after the ceremony this is what he said, you will

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perhaps be wondering what I'm doing here. Years ago Thomas was my Sunday school

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teacher. I was a wild lad and a sore trial to him. He never knew what he did for me

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but I owe everything. I am or will be to old Thomas and today I had to come and

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salute him at the end. How does God's Word work? Sometimes out of sight, sometimes

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out of mind but it works and people may think we aren't doing any good but I

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gotta tell you if there is one person who responds to the grace of God it was all

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worth it. If one sinner repents, if one soul is held, if one person becomes a

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Christian in all that we do it's worth it because that person has become part of

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the kingdom of God and we've got to get over this mindset that we are wasting

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our time by proclaiming the gospel. You just don't know what's gonna happen. Now

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that is the mystery of God's Word but there's something else that's going on

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in this passage here. There's more and that has to do with the soil of people's

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soul and here we have to realize people will reject God's Word and why is that?

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Well there's one group in this parable, the hard harder. You see it in verse 4 and

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verse 16 where it says he was scattering the seed and some fell along the path

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and the birds came and ate it up. In ancient Near East the farmland was

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sown in long strips and there were paths that ran near it, thoroughfakings and

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what would happen is is that because people were walking on it and then you've

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got rain and more people walking on it that soil became very hard and of course

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when the sower is going out and so some of the seed would fall on those very very

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hard paths and it would just hit the ground and stay there. It would not go

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deep. Now Jan got a new top to her convertible and here's what was

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interesting. We were looking at it one day and after it rained the rain was just

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sitting there. It wouldn't go in. I guess it's a new technology for convertible

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car tops but it was just sitting there until it evaporated. It's sort of the same

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here with the seed. It just sits there and the birds come and get it. It doesn't

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go deep and the reason is if we look at human beings it's because of hard

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heartedness. They don't want to hear the word of God. They don't like the word of

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God. You could give them the best evangelistic presentation. They don't

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care. They just don't care how many times when we used to go out and do

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Christmas goodie bags, you know, the door shut in my face because they didn't want to

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hear the gospel and you know some people may say well I've been offended by the

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church. The preacher said X, Y, and Z or I'm disappointed in the church and its

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ministry. Oh there's so much hypocrisy going on. Let me tell you there is a

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deeper issue. You know what the deeper issue is? People just don't care about

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God. They're at war with God. They're angry at God and it's not you. It's your

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message. It's what you believe but it's not you. So for example I remember when I

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was in high school. Now we had a Christian group that met in the morning and I

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remember we were meeting and the bell rang and we were a little slow getting out

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and there was some girl banging at the door saying well what do you Christians

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do in heaven? An orange juice party? She hated Christianity. When I was a covenant

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and I was working summers in a mail room one of the professors came up with this

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great little sermon. I thought it was wonderful. Gave it to one of the male

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workers. That's nice. He hated God. He didn't want to have anything to do with the

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kingdom of God. But that's the way people are. You've got to understand. Jesus said

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there's going to be warfare in this world and part of that warfare is that

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people don't like the message because they don't want to sovereign God who is

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holy and they don't want any claims on their lives. Oh but there's more here.

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That's just one type of soil. There's also shallowness and you see that in

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verses 5 and 6 where it says some fell on rocky places where it did not have much

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soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil is shallow. In the ancient world you

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did have a lot of rocks and what would happen is you would get a lot of rain

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but the soil was very shallow. The water would collect for a while and you would

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have some growth. But then the water dried up and then what happened? It just

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disintegrated. I mean the plant didn't live long. It died. And what does Jesus say

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about this type of soul in verses 20 and 21? He says the seed falling on rocky

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ground refers to someone who hears the word and wants to receive the joy but

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since they have no root they only last a short time and when trouble or

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persecution comes because the word they quickly fall away. What Jesus is telling

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us is that there are some people who will react at first very positively towards

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Christianity but the moment there is any trouble they don't stick. And in today's

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society where Christianity is a stigma that's going to happen because people

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don't want to face rejection from friends or family. They will say such

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things as you're a pilgrim. Oh he's religious. He's a Puritan. The stigma

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of following Christ will cost you and there's some people who just don't want

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to deal with that. How many times do we see people who are in a church for a

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while? They're all joyful but then they leave and it's probably because of

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shabbiness. They don't want to put up with the troubles of following Christ. It's

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not us. And there's one other here. There's the lack of commitment. You see

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that in verse 7. Other seed fell upon the thorns which grew up and choked the

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plants and if you look in verse 22 it tells us the seed falling falling

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among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word but the worries of this

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life the deceitfulness of wealth choked the word making it unfruitful. So here's

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what you got. There are other things that are more important than the kingdom of

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God. That's why people aren't interested in Christianity. There are other things

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that are more important and I want you to think of what's gone on in our culture.

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Now we can blame all the anti-christian forces yes but you know what I think is

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really at the root of a lot of it. We become so busy and we have made a conscious

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or either unconscious decision church is not the priority. Kingdom of God is not

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the priority. The ball games will be the priority. Your trips with your friends

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that's the priority and our schedules get so full we don't have time for the

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kingdom of God and let's be honest it's just not that important to a lot of

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people. That's the shallowness of it all. In Mark 8 36 what good is it for a man to

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gain the whole world and forfeit your soul? Charles Spurgeon the Baptist

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pastor said this there is only a certain amount of thought and energy in a person

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and if the world gets it Christ cannot and isn't that exactly what's happening

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a lot? It's not the anti-christian message necessarily but you just don't

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want to make time for your schedule and that's what happens to a lot of people

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because there are other things that are more important the entertainment the

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hobbies the sports whatever. Now if Jesus left us at this point oh it would be a sad

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state of affairs wouldn't it? But he tells us about one other type of soil and

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you find it in verse 7 and 28. Other seed fell in verse 8 still other seed fell on

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good soil where it produced a crop 160 or 30 times what was sown it produced it

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grew. Someone is hearing the word they're taking it in to their souls and

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they're producing. It's not a mountaintop experience that we're looking for here

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it's what the Word of God is doing in your soul. Let me give you an excellent

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example of this it is by Louis Pallu. Louis Pallu was a South American

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evangelist he was sort of the Billy Graham of South America and he told the

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story one time a true story of Rosario who was a terrorist an expert in

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martial arts who was known to have killed people policemen but he went to one

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of Louis Pallu's revival services. He hated the message but he repented became

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a Christian and ten years later he is assisting and he assisted in planning

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five churches and founded orphanages and homes for children. The message blossomed

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in his soul. You may not be like this person with the terrible

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background who had a dramatic conversion you may not have the resources to start

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out and build orphanages but there are untold stories of men and women and

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boys and girls who have received the Word of God and they have supported their

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church and the kingdom of God in whatever way they can. That is an example of the

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fruitfulness of the gospel it doesn't have to be dramatic there's a lot of

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lesser lights in this world which still shine brightly but that's what God wants

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to see. Now why have I told you this this morning because of what's going on in the

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world? It is difficult to be a Christian this is not the 1950s anymore it is a

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different age and the worst thing that we can do is start blaming ourselves

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looking down on what we do having no confidence at all in the gospel. What we

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really need to be thinking about is the soil of people's souls and don't blame

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God. The blame is with the soul and what people really want in life and maybe

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right now what is happening in America is we're beginning to see that there are

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those who may have claimed to be Christians but they're really not the

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soil that produces. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, our Lord and our God, we

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ask now that that word will be sown in more people's hearts because we know

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that if is that soil of our soul must be broken so we ask that you apply that

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seed into more people's hearts and help us to trust in you and the plan for your

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kingdom. Amen.