WEBVTT 00:00:00.430 --> 00:00:04.070 Good morning, church. Good to be with you this 00:00:04.070 --> 00:00:06.330 morning. I would love to welcome all of you that 00:00:06.330 --> 00:00:09.390 are here today, as well as those of you watching 00:00:09.390 --> 00:00:12.330 online. Welcome to you, wherever you find yourself 00:00:12.330 --> 00:00:14.630 watching. We're just glad that we can be together 00:00:14.630 --> 00:00:17.350 as a family, that we can open God's Word, that 00:00:17.350 --> 00:00:20.410 we can together figure out how we move forward 00:00:20.410 --> 00:00:22.829 in this thing called walking with God. And so, 00:00:22.890 --> 00:00:25.329 super cool. And one of the things I love about 00:00:25.329 --> 00:00:27.649 this family, too, is just like what you just 00:00:27.649 --> 00:00:30.309 saw. We're not all just focused on what's happening 00:00:30.309 --> 00:00:33.090 inside this walls. We get to care about the people 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:34.770 outside of our walls. We get to care about the 00:00:34.770 --> 00:00:36.609 people that are going through difficult times 00:00:36.609 --> 00:00:38.869 that are hurting. And we get to partner with 00:00:38.869 --> 00:00:41.189 people that are walking with them. Sounds a whole 00:00:41.189 --> 00:00:43.890 lot like Jesus, right? It's pretty awesome that 00:00:43.890 --> 00:00:45.950 we get to be a part of a family that does that, 00:00:45.969 --> 00:00:50.429 which I absolutely love. I heard this quote recently 00:00:50.429 --> 00:00:52.929 that kind of really stuck out to me, and the 00:00:52.929 --> 00:00:55.549 quote was this, is when an elderly person dies, 00:00:55.670 --> 00:00:59.289 it's like a library burns to the ground. And 00:00:59.289 --> 00:01:00.929 man, I don't know about your experiences with 00:01:00.929 --> 00:01:03.229 that, but mine, that rings so true. I had the 00:01:03.229 --> 00:01:05.569 privilege of growing up right next door to my 00:01:05.569 --> 00:01:08.670 grandparents, and my granddad was my best friend. 00:01:08.769 --> 00:01:11.370 I did everything with him. We'd go do yard work 00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:13.709 together, and we would go out and play catch 00:01:13.709 --> 00:01:16.329 together. I'd just watch him and stand with him 00:01:16.329 --> 00:01:18.030 as he was cooking in the kitchen, man, everything. 00:01:18.329 --> 00:01:20.549 But one of my favorite things to do with my granddad 00:01:20.549 --> 00:01:24.530 was just to sit and listen to his stories. To 00:01:24.530 --> 00:01:26.670 sit and listen to stories about World War II. 00:01:26.909 --> 00:01:29.689 To sit and listen to stories about growing up 00:01:29.689 --> 00:01:32.109 in Detroit during the Great Depression. I just 00:01:32.109 --> 00:01:33.829 sit and listen to these stories that, man, have 00:01:33.829 --> 00:01:36.189 just had such an impact on me because I think 00:01:36.189 --> 00:01:38.290 about them all the time. They're in my head. 00:01:38.290 --> 00:01:40.670 They just sit there and I get to reflect. I get 00:01:40.670 --> 00:01:42.969 to think about them because they stick with you, 00:01:42.989 --> 00:01:45.859 man. There's something about, stories, right? 00:01:45.900 --> 00:01:47.359 We know that there's something about stories. 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:50.299 In fact, the research shows the same thing. Stanford 00:01:50.299 --> 00:01:53.319 University did a study that showed that stories 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:57.439 help us remember or remembered up to 22 times 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.980 more than just facts. Stories help do that, and 00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:03.859 it's supported by neuroscience, and there's been 00:02:03.859 --> 00:02:05.879 research done in neuroscience of this as well, 00:02:05.939 --> 00:02:08.560 that the amygdala, which is the part of the brain 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:10.740 that processes emotions, right? I don't know 00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:12.240 where it is, so I'm just pointing in general. 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:15.379 It's somewhere up here, right? I think it's in 00:02:15.379 --> 00:02:18.219 your brain, right? But the amygdala, it interacts 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:20.120 with the hippocampus, which is the part that 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:22.080 is responsible for memory, which is on this side, 00:02:22.099 --> 00:02:24.500 apparently, because that's what I'm doing. Don't 00:02:24.500 --> 00:02:27.509 quote me on that. but somewhere in there. But 00:02:27.509 --> 00:02:29.550 when they interact together, when we hear a story, 00:02:29.770 --> 00:02:32.289 what it does is it makes narratives a lot easier 00:02:32.289 --> 00:02:35.729 to remember. And I think Jesus understood this 00:02:35.729 --> 00:02:38.490 because Jesus walked around and Jesus taught 00:02:38.490 --> 00:02:42.090 in stories. Jesus told stories, right? We talk 00:02:42.090 --> 00:02:44.789 about them and we know them as parables. And 00:02:44.789 --> 00:02:46.449 Jesus goes around and he talks about parables. 00:02:46.469 --> 00:02:48.750 He teaches in parables and he tells these stories. 00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:51.389 that are super important. And over the next five 00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:53.849 weeks, we're going to be diving into the stories 00:02:53.849 --> 00:02:55.909 that Jesus told. And in fact, the collection 00:02:55.909 --> 00:02:57.889 that we're heading into is called Stories as 00:02:57.889 --> 00:03:00.969 Told by Jesus. Stories as Told by Jesus, because 00:03:00.969 --> 00:03:03.650 Jesus told stories, and if Jesus told them, they're 00:03:03.650 --> 00:03:05.949 probably important for us to listen to. They're 00:03:05.949 --> 00:03:09.469 probably important for us to lean into. And so 00:03:09.469 --> 00:03:12.169 we want to focus on these stories. And today 00:03:12.169 --> 00:03:14.129 we're going to kick it off with a story that 00:03:14.129 --> 00:03:18.409 is for you. Okay, sometimes we get confused. 00:03:18.490 --> 00:03:20.770 Is this for me or is this for someone else? Right, 00:03:20.849 --> 00:03:22.250 have you ever been in the grocery store and someone 00:03:22.250 --> 00:03:24.310 waves and you don't know if they're waving at 00:03:24.310 --> 00:03:27.610 you or the person behind you? That happens to 00:03:27.610 --> 00:03:29.370 me all the time because of you guys. You wave 00:03:29.370 --> 00:03:31.710 at me and I'm like, okay, now I'm faced with 00:03:31.710 --> 00:03:34.270 a decision because if you're waving at the person 00:03:34.270 --> 00:03:35.849 behind me, I'm gonna look like a real dummy. 00:03:38.050 --> 00:03:39.710 Right, when you're waving at the person behind 00:03:39.710 --> 00:03:43.530 me. But I have that in my mind, and then I realize 00:03:43.530 --> 00:03:45.550 if I don't wave at you because I think it's the 00:03:45.550 --> 00:03:48.449 person behind me, then I look like a jerk because 00:03:48.449 --> 00:03:51.550 I didn't wave back to you. See, sometimes we're 00:03:51.550 --> 00:03:53.189 like, I'm not sure if this is for me or if this 00:03:53.189 --> 00:03:54.849 is for someone else. And when it comes to church, 00:03:54.909 --> 00:03:57.250 a lot of times we do the exact same thing. We 00:03:57.250 --> 00:03:59.330 hear a message and we go, oh, I wish this person 00:03:59.330 --> 00:04:02.990 was here today. You hear a message, you hear 00:04:02.990 --> 00:04:04.550 a teaching, and you're like, man, I hope the 00:04:04.550 --> 00:04:07.430 person next to me is listening right now. Hey, 00:04:07.509 --> 00:04:08.889 I'm going to take that pressure off of you today, 00:04:08.990 --> 00:04:13.069 this one. This is for you. This one is for you. 00:04:13.110 --> 00:04:15.370 This is a message that is introspective. I want 00:04:15.370 --> 00:04:17.790 you to take the time to look inside of yourself, 00:04:18.050 --> 00:04:22.290 to judge your heart, to figure out where you 00:04:22.290 --> 00:04:26.250 are in this story, to realize where God wants 00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:30.790 you to move today. This one is for you. We're 00:04:30.790 --> 00:04:33.550 gonna be in Mark chapter four. Mark chapter four 00:04:33.550 --> 00:04:36.350 in the subtitle in your Bible says the parable 00:04:36.350 --> 00:04:39.569 of the sower. But I really think this is the 00:04:39.569 --> 00:04:43.769 parable of the soil, the parable of the soil. 00:04:45.149 --> 00:04:47.550 In verse one, it says again, Jesus began to teach 00:04:47.550 --> 00:04:50.069 by the lake. It says the crowd that gathered 00:04:50.069 --> 00:04:52.529 around him was so large that he got into a boat 00:04:52.529 --> 00:04:56.129 and sat in it out on the lake while all the people 00:04:56.129 --> 00:04:59.089 were along the shore at the water's edge. If 00:04:59.089 --> 00:05:01.350 you were with us at Watson Lake two weeks ago, 00:05:01.350 --> 00:05:04.629 picture that crowd, 6 ,000 deep, pushing in on 00:05:04.629 --> 00:05:09.250 Jesus without a sound system. So Jesus does the 00:05:09.250 --> 00:05:12.050 only logical things. He hops on and makes a floating 00:05:12.050 --> 00:05:15.050 stage. He gets on a boat and he floats out to 00:05:15.050 --> 00:05:17.009 make a stage so that people can see him using 00:05:17.009 --> 00:05:20.050 the water as the sound bounces off the water 00:05:20.050 --> 00:05:23.129 to amplify his voice. Jesus in this moment has 00:05:23.129 --> 00:05:25.129 this large crowd around him and he starts teaching. 00:05:25.790 --> 00:05:29.149 Verse two, he taught them many things by parables. 00:05:29.490 --> 00:05:32.350 And in his teaching, he said, listen, a farmer 00:05:32.350 --> 00:05:36.000 went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:39.180 the seed, some fell along the path and the birds 00:05:39.180 --> 00:05:42.660 came and ate it up. Some fell along rocky places 00:05:42.660 --> 00:05:45.660 where it did not have much soil. It sprang up 00:05:45.660 --> 00:05:48.139 quickly because the soil was shallow. But when 00:05:48.139 --> 00:05:51.000 the sun came up, the plants were scorched and 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.920 they withered because they had no root. Other 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:56.779 seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked 00:05:56.779 --> 00:06:00.800 the plants so they did not bear grain. Verse 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:03.939 eight, still other seed fell on good soil. And 00:06:03.939 --> 00:06:07.160 it came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:11.439 30, some 60, and some 100 times. Then Jesus said, 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:16.019 whoever has ears, let them hear. And the disciples 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:21.079 said, huh? I don't get it. All right, what do 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:23.939 you mean, Jesus? I don't plant seed. I don't 00:06:23.939 --> 00:06:25.660 know what you're talking about. All right, you 00:06:25.660 --> 00:06:27.300 ever heard something super important, but you 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:28.939 didn't comprehend it? You didn't understand it? 00:06:29.860 --> 00:06:31.459 I don't know if you know this, but I have five 00:06:31.459 --> 00:06:34.240 kids, which is equal to 10 ,000 kids, okay? Just 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:36.420 want you to know, right? If you don't know, one 00:06:36.420 --> 00:06:39.100 kid is equal to one kid, two kids is equal to 00:06:39.100 --> 00:06:42.519 five, and three or more kids is working equal 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:45.839 to 9 ,900 and a donkey and a tornado, okay? I 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.579 just want you to know, that's how it works. And 00:06:48.579 --> 00:06:50.079 so, man, we got so many kids, we're headed in 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:51.939 different directions, and so every morning, my 00:06:51.939 --> 00:06:53.800 wife will go, okay, so here's the plan for today. 00:06:54.500 --> 00:06:56.279 You're going to go pick up this one at this time. 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:57.600 Well, while you're doing that, I'm going to be 00:06:57.600 --> 00:06:59.139 picking up this one. And then you're going to 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:00.879 have to drop that one off over here. Well, then 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:02.360 I go here and then you're going to pick up this 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:04.420 one. And this was going to happen. Right. And 00:07:04.420 --> 00:07:05.939 so we lay out the plan for the day. And I was 00:07:05.939 --> 00:07:12.100 there. I heard it. And I got no clue what she 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:14.860 just said. And I got to call her like five times 00:07:14.860 --> 00:07:17.680 during the day. I'm like, wait, so who am I picking 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:20.319 up again? And she's all, let me get this straight. 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:22.160 You can quote the batting averages for every 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:24.939 player on the Padres in 1998, but you have no 00:07:24.939 --> 00:07:28.660 idea what I just said. And I'm like, that is 00:07:28.660 --> 00:07:32.860 correct. Very, very correct. Sometimes we can 00:07:32.860 --> 00:07:36.699 hear something important and not understand it. 00:07:37.620 --> 00:07:40.000 The disciples are going, Jesus, I don't get it. 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:44.959 What does this mean? And so Jesus, in verse 10, 00:07:45.019 --> 00:07:47.529 says this when he was alone with the 12. And 00:07:47.529 --> 00:07:49.610 the others around him, they asked him about the 00:07:49.610 --> 00:07:52.490 parables. Jesus, what does this mean? And he 00:07:52.490 --> 00:07:54.189 told them, the secret of the kingdom of God has 00:07:54.189 --> 00:07:57.089 been given to you. But to those on the outside, 00:07:57.410 --> 00:08:00.329 everything is said in parables. There's something 00:08:00.329 --> 00:08:02.230 really important that we need to understand here. 00:08:02.750 --> 00:08:05.930 Our proximity to Jesus allows for understanding. 00:08:07.850 --> 00:08:09.709 Everyone was told the same thing, but the disciples 00:08:09.709 --> 00:08:12.089 had proximity to Jesus to gain the understanding 00:08:12.089 --> 00:08:15.850 needed. Our proximity to Jesus. allows for our 00:08:15.850 --> 00:08:17.709 understanding. See, sometimes we don't get it. 00:08:18.689 --> 00:08:20.629 Sometimes we don't get it because we're not putting 00:08:20.629 --> 00:08:23.569 ourself in a place to be able to learn or to 00:08:23.569 --> 00:08:27.009 be able to understand. All right, it's like this. 00:08:27.709 --> 00:08:32.509 It's like if we were to take our Bible and we 00:08:32.509 --> 00:08:33.870 go, this is the source of truth, right? This 00:08:33.870 --> 00:08:36.039 is the word of God. This is what I need. And 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:38.340 not just this, but just using this as an example, 00:08:38.379 --> 00:08:39.919 we go, okay, I know that this is where the truth 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:41.960 is, but I don't actually have a regular reading 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:43.960 time in my life. I don't actually set aside time 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:45.940 in my life to open the word of God and to get 00:08:45.940 --> 00:08:48.840 into it. I go, okay, I know that there's truth 00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:51.240 there, but I actually have stepped out of community 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:52.860 and I don't have people around me that are gonna 00:08:52.860 --> 00:08:54.799 reinforce the community in my life that are gonna 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:56.580 tell me the truth that comes from the word of 00:08:56.580 --> 00:08:59.330 God. Yeah, I know there's truth there, but I'm 00:08:59.330 --> 00:09:01.750 just gonna go ahead and I'm gonna make sure that 00:09:01.750 --> 00:09:03.929 I never actually open my heart and say, God, 00:09:03.929 --> 00:09:05.669 would you teach me? Holy Spirit, I invite you 00:09:05.669 --> 00:09:08.730 in to translate this word to my soul. And then 00:09:08.730 --> 00:09:10.570 all of a sudden we are not in proximity to be 00:09:10.570 --> 00:09:12.350 able to understand anything. And we wonder how 00:09:12.350 --> 00:09:15.450 come God's not here? How come I'm not hearing 00:09:15.450 --> 00:09:18.389 anything? God, why are you silent? And we've 00:09:18.389 --> 00:09:20.450 never put ourself in proximity to where we can 00:09:20.450 --> 00:09:24.110 actually see what God has for us. How we do that 00:09:24.110 --> 00:09:26.620 when it comes to our relationship with God. We 00:09:26.620 --> 00:09:29.080 have to be in proximity to God so that he can 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:32.639 explain to us. Billy Graham says it this way. 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:35.500 I saw a clip where he explained this. He told 00:09:35.500 --> 00:09:37.559 the story of a young lady who really enjoyed 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:39.759 reading. She loved reading and so she read this 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:42.659 novel and she absolutely hated it. She thought 00:09:42.659 --> 00:09:44.879 it was terrible. And then a couple of months 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.879 later, she met the author and she ended up falling 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:50.580 in love with the author. And then she read the 00:09:50.580 --> 00:09:53.320 novel again and she absolutely loved the novel. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:56.039 Listen, church, if we're not in love with the 00:09:56.039 --> 00:09:59.419 author, if we're not in proximity to Jesus, we're 00:09:59.419 --> 00:10:01.000 not gonna understand what he's trying to teach 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.899 us. The disciples here are going, God, we don't 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:08.159 get it. And he's going, let me teach you. Because 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:10.919 everyone who was there received the same thing. 00:10:11.179 --> 00:10:13.240 They all heard it, but there was two levels of 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:14.960 understanding that were represented. There was 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:16.960 the physical level and then there was the spiritual 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:19.720 level. And on the physical level, everybody received 00:10:19.720 --> 00:10:23.259 it. Everybody heard it. But that's not enough 00:10:23.259 --> 00:10:25.039 to just understand it on a physical level. There 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:28.820 are professors in universities that are world 00:10:28.820 --> 00:10:31.600 religion experts that know more about the Bible 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:33.759 than you and know more about the Bible than me, 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:35.820 but do not have the Holy Spirit because they 00:10:35.820 --> 00:10:38.379 do not believe the Bible. And there's a difference 00:10:38.379 --> 00:10:40.139 between understanding it on an academic level 00:10:40.139 --> 00:10:42.360 and understanding it on a spiritual level. And 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:44.179 so the people that were there heard the story. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:46.200 They're like, we get it. You plant seeds. Some 00:10:46.200 --> 00:10:48.990 work, some don't. I get it. But there's a spiritual 00:10:48.990 --> 00:10:52.149 level to understanding what he is saying here. 00:10:52.190 --> 00:10:54.110 Everyone received it, but the disciples were 00:10:54.110 --> 00:10:56.370 granted understanding at a spiritual level. Why? 00:10:56.850 --> 00:11:02.210 Because of their proximity to Jesus. Our proximity 00:11:02.210 --> 00:11:05.370 to Jesus directly correlates to how we understand 00:11:05.370 --> 00:11:08.830 what he wants us to know. Jesus continues and 00:11:08.830 --> 00:11:11.710 he said, listen, it's all spoken parables. And 00:11:11.710 --> 00:11:15.600 here's why, Mark 4, 12. So that they may be ever 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:19.039 seen, but never perceiving and ever hearing, 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:21.539 but never understanding. Otherwise they may turn 00:11:21.539 --> 00:11:24.120 and be forgiven. What in the world does that 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:26.500 mean? Jesus is quoting Isaiah. He's quoting a 00:11:26.500 --> 00:11:28.980 passage in the Old Testament that he's speaking 00:11:28.980 --> 00:11:31.399 right here. And then he goes on to say this in 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:35.159 verse 13. Then Jesus said to them, don't you 00:11:35.159 --> 00:11:38.299 understand this parable? How then will you understand 00:11:38.299 --> 00:11:41.820 any parable? All right, listen up. This is the 00:11:41.820 --> 00:11:44.519 key right here. All right, you wanna understand 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:46.659 it? You wanna understand any of the other parables? 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:49.679 This is not any randomness that we are doing 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:51.899 this one first because if you don't get this, 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:53.940 you're not gonna understand the next five weeks 00:11:53.940 --> 00:11:56.279 because the posture of which you receive something 00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:59.639 absolutely changes how you understand something. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.399 I remember being in college and going to class 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:04.860 and not wanting to be in class and being angry 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:06.620 that I was in class and sitting there just like, 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:08.259 I don't care. This person doesn't know what they're 00:12:08.259 --> 00:12:10.990 talking about. I don't wanna be here. How many 00:12:10.990 --> 00:12:12.509 think I learned really well in that environment? 00:12:13.610 --> 00:12:16.090 All right, our heart posture matters when it 00:12:16.090 --> 00:12:18.710 comes to receiving something, which is why this 00:12:18.710 --> 00:12:23.110 matters so much. When this matters so much. And 00:12:23.110 --> 00:12:25.889 so Jesus, in this parable, some of the parables 00:12:25.889 --> 00:12:28.490 that we're gonna go over, they're like riddles. 00:12:28.509 --> 00:12:31.570 You gotta figure out what they mean. This one, 00:12:31.610 --> 00:12:33.710 we have the privilege of Jesus just telling us 00:12:33.710 --> 00:12:36.029 what they mean. We get a behind the curtain look 00:12:36.029 --> 00:12:38.350 because he tells everyone. And then the disciples 00:12:38.350 --> 00:12:40.350 ask him, hey, what does this actually mean? And 00:12:40.350 --> 00:12:42.409 then he tells the disciples the true meaning. 00:12:43.110 --> 00:12:48.549 Verse 14, the farmer sows the word. The farmer 00:12:48.549 --> 00:12:50.850 is Jesus. And the word, we have to understand 00:12:50.850 --> 00:12:54.909 this, the word is the word of God. The seeds 00:12:54.909 --> 00:12:57.070 are the word of God. And the word of God does 00:12:57.070 --> 00:12:59.450 not return void. There is nothing wrong with 00:12:59.450 --> 00:13:01.129 the word of God. When you and I plant something, 00:13:01.639 --> 00:13:03.779 Right, when you and I try to figure out the schedule 00:13:03.779 --> 00:13:05.519 of Prescott, Arizona to actually plant something 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:07.279 so it doesn't freeze and then it actually grows, 00:13:07.460 --> 00:13:09.120 don't worry, I'm working through that in my own 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.200 heart and soul right now. But when you do that, 00:13:12.220 --> 00:13:14.419 there's a lot of factors. Man, the seed might 00:13:14.419 --> 00:13:18.840 be bad. This seed is not bad. There is nothing 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:20.919 wrong with it. The seed is the word of God, which 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:22.700 means that it has no problems. Therefore, it 00:13:22.700 --> 00:13:28.799 is the soil. The soil is what matters. Verse 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:32.039 15. Some people are like seed along the path 00:13:32.039 --> 00:13:35.940 where the word is sown. And as soon as they hear 00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:38.299 it, Satan comes and takes away the word that 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:41.360 was sown in them. Others like seed sown on rocky 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:44.320 places, hear the word and at once receive it 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:47.960 with joy. But since they have no root, they last 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:50.779 only a short time. When trouble or persecution 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:53.179 comes because of the word, they quickly fall 00:13:53.179 --> 00:13:56.419 away. Still others like seed sown among thorns, 00:13:56.500 --> 00:13:59.289 hear the word. But the worries of this life, 00:13:59.429 --> 00:14:01.750 the deceitfulness of wealth, the desires for 00:14:01.750 --> 00:14:04.610 other things come in and choke the word, making 00:14:04.610 --> 00:14:08.169 it unfruitful. Others, like seeds sown on good 00:14:08.169 --> 00:14:11.590 soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a 00:14:11.590 --> 00:14:15.950 crop some 30, some 60, some 100 times what was 00:14:15.950 --> 00:14:20.190 sown. What we see here is we see four types of 00:14:20.190 --> 00:14:24.950 soil, four conditions of the heart. For those 00:14:24.950 --> 00:14:26.529 of you that still think we're talking about dirt, 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:31.000 four conditions of the heart. First is this, 00:14:31.059 --> 00:14:34.399 first soil is the hardened soil, right? You're 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:37.519 here, but you're not here. Lights are on, but 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:40.299 nobody's home, right? You're physically here 00:14:40.299 --> 00:14:42.899 and you're like, okay, I'm showed up, but you 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:46.340 don't actually care. Your heart is hard, right? 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:50.879 You're close by, but really not engaged. All 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:52.639 right, another way to say it is this, is it is 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:56.200 a checklist for you. All right, check. Checked 00:14:56.200 --> 00:14:57.700 it off my list. I showed up to church because 00:14:57.700 --> 00:14:59.340 that's what I'm supposed to do. The man upstairs 00:14:59.340 --> 00:15:00.940 will be happy with me because I showed up for 00:15:00.940 --> 00:15:04.759 him. Check. All right, you were dragged here 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:08.039 by your spouse. You're in this place right now 00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:09.399 because you're like, okay, that's what I'm supposed 00:15:09.399 --> 00:15:12.639 to do. But your heart is hard to what is happening. 00:15:13.700 --> 00:15:18.200 I remember when I was 18, 19, and 20, I lived 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:20.500 at home after I graduated high school. My parents 00:15:20.500 --> 00:15:22.860 said, you can live at home, but the rule is this, 00:15:22.899 --> 00:15:24.419 you have to go to church if you're gonna live 00:15:24.419 --> 00:15:26.620 here. And I told them, I don't wanna go to your 00:15:26.620 --> 00:15:29.139 church. Your church is boring. And they were 00:15:29.139 --> 00:15:30.460 like, that's okay. You don't have to go to our 00:15:30.460 --> 00:15:33.159 church. You just have to go to a church. And 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:34.960 so I picked a few different churches and I went 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:36.460 to a couple of different churches and I went 00:15:36.460 --> 00:15:40.059 there and listen, I didn't care at all. I went 00:15:40.059 --> 00:15:42.960 there because I wanted free rent because that 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:46.179 was a requirement. Check, off my list, I was 00:15:46.179 --> 00:15:48.399 here. I can't tell you anything they talked about. 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:50.399 I can't tell you any other person that I interacted 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.340 with. I can't tell you a single thing that actually 00:15:52.340 --> 00:15:54.360 made its way into my life because my heart was 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:58.860 hard. I was there, but I wasn't actually there. 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:02.740 I think we have to ask ourselves these questions. 00:16:02.820 --> 00:16:05.480 I told you this message is an introspective message. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:08.240 It's for you to search your heart in this. And 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:09.779 so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go over questions 00:16:09.779 --> 00:16:13.220 for each type of soil for you to understand and 00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:15.700 ask yourself. Now, listen, they're gonna go up 00:16:15.700 --> 00:16:17.659 on the screen. There'll be three questions for 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:18.919 each. I'm telling you all of this because you 00:16:18.919 --> 00:16:20.899 guys are terrible with instructions, okay? I'm 00:16:20.899 --> 00:16:22.620 telling you there's gonna be three up there and 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:24.720 I'm giving you permission to take your phones 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:27.230 out in church. and take a picture of it so you 00:16:27.230 --> 00:16:29.529 can remember and look at it later. Some of you, 00:16:29.549 --> 00:16:31.669 you're like the A++ students, though, and you're 00:16:31.669 --> 00:16:33.929 going to take notes, and that's okay, too. I 00:16:33.929 --> 00:16:36.429 know you've seen the inside of an AP classroom, 00:16:36.509 --> 00:16:38.789 and that's good for you. I don't know what mysteries 00:16:38.789 --> 00:16:40.370 happen in there. I've never been in one. But 00:16:40.370 --> 00:16:44.129 for you, that's awesome. But here's the questions 00:16:44.129 --> 00:16:45.590 that we have to ask ourselves when it comes to 00:16:45.590 --> 00:16:49.070 this. Do I feel emotionless, bored, or skeptical 00:16:49.070 --> 00:16:52.490 when spiritual things are brought up? Like, I 00:16:52.490 --> 00:16:53.929 don't know. I'm just going to detach from it. 00:16:54.819 --> 00:16:57.259 All right, question two, have I made space in 00:16:57.259 --> 00:17:00.440 my life to genuinely think about faith or do 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:03.360 I just brush it off? Do I just brush it off and 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:05.140 go, okay, I don't need to think about this. I 00:17:05.140 --> 00:17:08.799 don't need to deal with this. Question three, 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:12.819 when I hear truth that challenges me, do I shut 00:17:12.819 --> 00:17:16.359 it down before reflecting on it? Man, I've done 00:17:16.359 --> 00:17:18.640 this. I don't wanna think about it because if 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:19.940 I think about it, I'm gonna have to change something 00:17:19.940 --> 00:17:21.539 in my life. So therefore, I'm just gonna shut 00:17:21.539 --> 00:17:23.279 it down before the even thought happens in my 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:28.339 mind. That's soil number one, the hardened soil. 00:17:29.099 --> 00:17:31.779 Soil number two is the shallow soil, shallow 00:17:31.779 --> 00:17:35.039 soil. Let me ask you this question. How are your 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:37.299 New Year's resolutions doing? Anybody do good? 00:17:38.099 --> 00:17:39.920 So we're like, bro, it's May, what's happening? 00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:43.039 You don't know what the date is? Like, come on, 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:46.559 that was done a long time ago. All right, there's 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:48.519 very few that are still going with what you set 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:50.559 out to do. And here's why, because without vision, 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:54.769 things perish. If you are not set in the right 00:17:54.769 --> 00:17:57.109 place, if you don't have things that are anchoring 00:17:57.109 --> 00:18:00.009 you and rooted down, it's not going to grow. 00:18:00.879 --> 00:18:03.299 That's why this year, if you were here, we started 00:18:03.299 --> 00:18:06.119 off in January with a collection where we dove 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:08.640 into this idea of taking shape and the shape 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:10.920 of our church, where we talked about what we 00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:13.180 are for. We wanna be known way more for what 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:15.119 we are for than what we are against, because 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:16.759 a lot of churches and a lot of Christians and 00:18:16.759 --> 00:18:18.640 a lot of people are just known, this is what 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:20.279 we're against, and we're wrong, we don't like 00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:21.779 this, and you're wrong if you do this, instead 00:18:21.779 --> 00:18:24.880 of knowing what they are for. And so we planted 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:28.789 some stakes saying, this is us. This is who we 00:18:28.789 --> 00:18:30.990 are. Because when your roots go down and you 00:18:30.990 --> 00:18:35.210 know who you are, you can grow forward. This 00:18:35.210 --> 00:18:37.930 right here is people who are going, man, I believe 00:18:37.930 --> 00:18:40.230 in Jesus. Yes, I've said it. I believe in Jesus. 00:18:40.329 --> 00:18:44.150 Of course. Of course I do. But it doesn't hold 00:18:44.150 --> 00:18:47.750 up enough for you to go all in. It doesn't hold 00:18:47.750 --> 00:18:49.150 up enough for you to go all in. Yeah, I believe 00:18:49.150 --> 00:18:50.849 in him, but man, you don't need everything from 00:18:50.849 --> 00:18:52.990 me, right? Like that's kind of excessive, Jesus. 00:18:53.269 --> 00:18:56.190 It's kind of hard. When things get tough, which 00:18:56.190 --> 00:19:00.500 they will, You're out, right? When the cost of 00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:03.279 discipleship, disciple means a follower of Jesus, 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:06.180 so a close follower of Jesus. When the cost of 00:19:06.180 --> 00:19:09.039 discipleship becomes too much, and you're like, 00:19:09.099 --> 00:19:12.099 man, that's too much. I can't do that. I'm out. 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:14.460 I'm out. Why would you want that much from me, 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.359 God? It's just getting too hard. It was great 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:18.779 when everything was going great, but now that 00:19:18.779 --> 00:19:20.140 things aren't going great, God, I don't know 00:19:20.140 --> 00:19:23.519 if I wanna deal with this anymore. And there's 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:28.119 no roots that are anchoring down. I had a student 00:19:28.119 --> 00:19:30.559 probably about 15 years ago that was in the youth 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:34.900 group and he was incredibly intelligent and he 00:19:34.900 --> 00:19:37.140 was really into apologetics, which is the defense 00:19:37.140 --> 00:19:39.619 of the faith. And he could defend the faith. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:41.839 He knew everything there was to defend the faith. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:43.920 He knew the scriptures inside and out. He knew 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:46.220 all the information. In fact, I'd been with him 00:19:46.220 --> 00:19:48.460 on missions trips where we would go to different 00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:50.440 areas where people had different beliefs, different 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:52.559 religions, and we would get in a dialogue and 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.069 a conversation with them. to defend our faith, 00:19:55.109 --> 00:19:58.490 to talk about what that faith is and have a conversation 00:19:58.490 --> 00:20:00.869 to know where we stand, what we believe and how 00:20:00.869 --> 00:20:03.269 we hold true to what we believe. And man, he 00:20:03.269 --> 00:20:05.349 knew everything. He knew everything there was 00:20:05.349 --> 00:20:06.789 to know about it. And so he came to me and he 00:20:06.789 --> 00:20:09.869 said, hey, Todd, as I go off to college, I feel 00:20:09.869 --> 00:20:11.529 like there's nothing that can be thrown at me 00:20:11.529 --> 00:20:14.109 that will stop me from continuing to follow Jesus. 00:20:14.950 --> 00:20:16.930 And I said, Zach, you're not wrong. There's nothing 00:20:16.930 --> 00:20:18.970 a professor is gonna say to make you question 00:20:18.970 --> 00:20:21.170 your faith because you know what you believe. 00:20:22.190 --> 00:20:24.049 I said, but when you're starting to be faced 00:20:24.049 --> 00:20:26.750 with the temptations of this world, when you 00:20:26.750 --> 00:20:28.970 start to get invitations to the parties and the 00:20:28.970 --> 00:20:31.250 things that are gonna pull you away, I don't 00:20:31.250 --> 00:20:33.069 know that you have said your roots are actually 00:20:33.069 --> 00:20:35.289 deep enough to hold you where you're at. Because 00:20:35.289 --> 00:20:37.230 you know it all and that's great, but you don't 00:20:37.230 --> 00:20:39.210 actually have any roots. You don't have that 00:20:39.210 --> 00:20:42.289 deep relationship with Jesus. And he went to 00:20:42.289 --> 00:20:45.029 college and he completely walked away from his 00:20:45.029 --> 00:20:48.250 faith. See, we can know everything there is to 00:20:48.250 --> 00:20:50.839 know, but if our roots are not deep, What happens 00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:54.359 is we will just wither away. We will just wither 00:20:54.359 --> 00:20:58.019 away. We need to be rooted, not diluted. And 00:20:58.019 --> 00:20:59.900 sometimes we want to just dilute it and go, okay, 00:20:59.900 --> 00:21:01.160 yeah, God, I'll give you a little bit. I'm going 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:03.380 to put like one foot in, but not on everything. 00:21:03.420 --> 00:21:04.940 That's just too much. But then you're not rooted. 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:07.140 And what happens is we start getting these voices 00:21:07.140 --> 00:21:09.059 in our head that tells us, okay, it's fine. You 00:21:09.059 --> 00:21:10.420 don't have to actually be in church. And we take 00:21:10.420 --> 00:21:12.920 a little step away. And then the sun is scorching. 00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:14.930 We start to wither. You don't actually need to 00:21:14.930 --> 00:21:16.789 be in a group. That's just a lot of time. That's 00:21:16.789 --> 00:21:18.309 a big commitment. I don't know if we have enough, 00:21:18.410 --> 00:21:20.349 you know, we can do that. That's, yeah, yeah, 00:21:20.410 --> 00:21:22.250 yeah. And you start withering away. I don't need 00:21:22.250 --> 00:21:23.910 to join a serve team. I'm here and that's good 00:21:23.910 --> 00:21:26.109 enough. I showed up, right? But I can't actually 00:21:26.109 --> 00:21:27.549 join a serve team. I don't have time for that. 00:21:27.589 --> 00:21:31.269 And we start withering away because we start 00:21:31.269 --> 00:21:32.869 diluting it instead of realizing that we need 00:21:32.869 --> 00:21:35.529 to be rooted. Church, we have to fight to be 00:21:35.529 --> 00:21:41.269 rooted. We have to fight to stay rooted. We have 00:21:41.269 --> 00:21:44.730 to ask ourselves these questions. Is my faith 00:21:44.730 --> 00:21:47.930 mostly based on feelings or good experiences 00:21:47.930 --> 00:21:53.730 rather than conviction or understanding? When 00:21:53.730 --> 00:21:57.470 it gets hard, man, it's easy to bail. Question 00:21:57.470 --> 00:22:00.650 two, do I avoid hardship or discomfort when it 00:22:00.650 --> 00:22:03.509 comes to living out my faith? When it comes to 00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:05.730 living out my faith, am I like, listen, as long 00:22:05.730 --> 00:22:07.390 as things are good, I'm good. But when it gets 00:22:07.390 --> 00:22:10.869 hard, I don't know if I can live this out. This 00:22:10.869 --> 00:22:12.930 last question is a very convicting and hard one. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:17.500 Am I more committed to convenience than to Christ? 00:22:19.140 --> 00:22:22.099 Oh, that's hard. I'm not pulling punches today, 00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:24.220 church. That one will smack you in the face. 00:22:25.500 --> 00:22:28.200 Am I more committed to convenience? Because if 00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:30.019 I'm honest, the answer for me a lot of times 00:22:30.019 --> 00:22:34.680 is yes. Yes. I wish I could say I'm committed 00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:37.420 to Christ, but man, convenience is so easy. I 00:22:37.420 --> 00:22:42.380 wish it was just easier. That's a shallow soil. 00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:46.980 So number three is the distracted soil. All right, 00:22:46.980 --> 00:22:48.819 everything else is too important. We got so many 00:22:48.819 --> 00:22:50.180 things going on in our life and they are just 00:22:50.180 --> 00:22:52.220 so important. This is what matters. We gotta 00:22:52.220 --> 00:22:55.279 make sure that these things in our life are all 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:58.640 in the right place and everything's good. It's 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:00.019 what I talked about a couple of weeks ago. It's 00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:02.519 the problem that when a good thing becomes a 00:23:02.519 --> 00:23:06.759 God thing. It can be a good thing. Your kids 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:08.740 can be a good thing. Your kids are a good thing, 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:10.839 but when they become a God thing, it is a problem. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:13.720 Your marriage is a good thing. I hope you have 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:15.779 an amazing marriage. But when your marriage becomes 00:23:15.779 --> 00:23:18.660 from a good thing to a God thing, we have a problem. 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:21.920 Your job, your career, your hobbies, those are 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:25.019 great. Those are amazing. But when a good thing 00:23:25.019 --> 00:23:26.880 becomes a God thing, you put it in a place that 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.029 should never be in. It cannot hold the weight 00:23:30.029 --> 00:23:31.529 of what you're trying to put on it. And a lot 00:23:31.529 --> 00:23:33.170 of times what happens is we allow those other 00:23:33.170 --> 00:23:35.569 things, those good things to take up space in 00:23:35.569 --> 00:23:38.369 our life. And what they do is they crowd out 00:23:38.369 --> 00:23:42.069 what matters. The seed in this parable got to 00:23:42.069 --> 00:23:46.670 the soil. It sprouted. Jesus, we love you. But 00:23:46.670 --> 00:23:49.869 it got crowded out because there was not enough 00:23:49.869 --> 00:23:54.289 space or time for God. There's not enough space 00:23:54.289 --> 00:23:58.089 or time for God. I just caring more about the 00:23:58.089 --> 00:24:02.470 things of the world than that of God. I remember 00:24:02.470 --> 00:24:03.730 when I was in high school, I went to a youth 00:24:03.730 --> 00:24:07.269 camp and sat down with one of my leaders. And 00:24:07.269 --> 00:24:10.250 he asked me some questions that made me really, 00:24:10.289 --> 00:24:12.950 really mad. He made me really mad because he 00:24:12.950 --> 00:24:14.509 sat down and he said, hey, I just want to ask 00:24:14.509 --> 00:24:18.069 you this. Do you love God or do you love baseball 00:24:18.069 --> 00:24:21.890 more? And I was like, why would you ask me that? 00:24:21.910 --> 00:24:23.529 Of course I love God more. This is a Christian 00:24:23.529 --> 00:24:26.700 camp. I got to tell you that. That's the right 00:24:26.700 --> 00:24:29.460 answer. He's like, I know, I know, I know. But 00:24:29.460 --> 00:24:32.400 let me ask you, if baseball was gone and all 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:33.960 you had was God, would you be okay with that? 00:24:34.940 --> 00:24:36.359 I'm like, why would you even ask me this, man? 00:24:36.420 --> 00:24:38.259 I got baseball and I got God and I'm doing both 00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:39.980 and it's totally fine. So why does it even matter? 00:24:41.420 --> 00:24:45.819 He goes, no, no, no, I know, I get that. He goes, 00:24:45.859 --> 00:24:49.759 I just wanna see you as excited about God as 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:52.579 you are about baseball. See, I think we let all 00:24:52.579 --> 00:24:54.900 the things in our life take a priority that they 00:24:54.900 --> 00:24:57.839 should never mean in our life. And they start 00:24:57.839 --> 00:24:59.779 crowding out, they start pushing in and they 00:24:59.779 --> 00:25:02.240 start crowding out the things that matter most. 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:05.480 And we have to figure out, man, are we the shallow 00:25:05.480 --> 00:25:09.279 soil? Are we the distracted soil? Are we the 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:11.079 soil that's looking at all these other things 00:25:11.079 --> 00:25:13.559 that are distracted by them? We have to ask ourselves 00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:17.720 these questions. Do I constantly worry about 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:22.119 money, success, or the future? more than I trust 00:25:22.119 --> 00:25:25.319 God. Church, I gotta be honest with you, this 00:25:25.319 --> 00:25:29.160 is me. I'm like, God, I don't know how I'm gonna 00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:32.279 pay this bill. God, I'm stressed out about finances. 00:25:33.579 --> 00:25:35.940 God, this project in front of me is too big and 00:25:35.940 --> 00:25:39.019 somebody has to come along my life and go, well, 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:44.180 do you trust God? I'm like, man. And we have 00:25:44.180 --> 00:25:47.359 to ask ourself, do I tell myself I'll get serious 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:50.740 about God later? when things slow down or improve. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:53.460 Things are just really hard and busy right now, 00:25:53.500 --> 00:25:55.339 God, but you know that when they get a little 00:25:55.339 --> 00:25:58.079 bit slower, then I'll come back to you. God, 00:25:58.099 --> 00:25:59.880 I got a real issue right now. I got problems. 00:25:59.940 --> 00:26:03.160 And when this problem fixes itself, then I'll 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:04.539 come back to you. I'm not forgetting about you. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:09.359 I'm coming back to you. Question three, has my 00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:13.640 faith taken a back seat to my career, relationships, 00:26:13.779 --> 00:26:17.019 or hobbies? What is it that you're putting in 00:26:17.019 --> 00:26:19.480 your life above Jesus? Because those things are 00:26:19.480 --> 00:26:25.180 crowding out Jesus. Are you the distracted soil? 00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:29.059 Soil number four is the rich soil. Soil number 00:26:29.059 --> 00:26:31.700 four is the soil that where the seed fell and 00:26:31.700 --> 00:26:34.359 it produced a crop that was 30, 60, 100 times 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:38.900 more than what was sown. Soil number four is 00:26:38.900 --> 00:26:42.059 the rich soil that produces amazing things. What 00:26:42.059 --> 00:26:44.650 does it produce? It produces fruit. What kind 00:26:44.650 --> 00:26:48.470 of fruit? Fruit of the spirit. Things like patience, 00:26:48.589 --> 00:26:50.150 things like kindness, things like goodness, things 00:26:50.150 --> 00:26:53.349 like self -control. Things that are not natural 00:26:53.349 --> 00:26:56.210 for you and I to produce on our own. They don't 00:26:56.210 --> 00:26:59.130 come out of us accidentally. It's because we 00:26:59.130 --> 00:27:01.670 have good soil where the word, where the seed 00:27:01.670 --> 00:27:03.630 that has no problem, that is perfect. When the 00:27:03.630 --> 00:27:05.730 seed falls on soil, it is ready to receive it. 00:27:05.750 --> 00:27:09.990 It produces in us the fruit of the spirit. This 00:27:09.990 --> 00:27:14.029 is somebody who walks in obedience. Oh, we don't 00:27:14.029 --> 00:27:17.430 like that word. Don't tell me what to do. I don't 00:27:17.430 --> 00:27:20.569 like obedience. But understanding what God has 00:27:20.569 --> 00:27:23.390 said and saying, I'm going to follow him. I'm 00:27:23.390 --> 00:27:24.930 going to step in and I'm going to follow him. 00:27:24.970 --> 00:27:28.890 That is a mark of a good soil. At the mark of 00:27:28.890 --> 00:27:32.869 a good soil is someone who understands in constant 00:27:32.869 --> 00:27:35.940 transformation, not just one and done. Because 00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:38.539 I believe that Jesus has the power to transform 00:27:38.539 --> 00:27:41.039 your life. But a lot of times when we think about 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:43.119 that, we think about just the moment where we 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:45.599 met Jesus and our testimony is just the moment 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:48.059 when we met Jesus. But the word testimony means 00:27:48.059 --> 00:27:50.900 a testament to God. It's a testament of what 00:27:50.900 --> 00:27:53.079 God has done in our life. And so there should 00:27:53.079 --> 00:27:55.779 be a constant testimony going on in your life 00:27:55.779 --> 00:27:58.420 because every day is an opportunity for transformation, 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:01.539 to continue to be transformed. Every hour is 00:28:01.539 --> 00:28:03.839 an opportunity to be transformed, to be more 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:08.000 like Jesus. It's understanding that our personal 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:13.160 life, our private life, and our public life are 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:16.740 the same. That's a mark of somebody who's in 00:28:16.740 --> 00:28:21.359 good soil, who's in rich soil. And we have to 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:26.460 ask ourselves these questions. Am I willing to 00:28:26.460 --> 00:28:30.579 let the word of God challenge, change, and correct 00:28:30.579 --> 00:28:34.900 me even when it's hard? Even when it's hard. 00:28:36.809 --> 00:28:39.509 It's not easy. It's not going to be easy. But 00:28:39.509 --> 00:28:41.150 I'm willing to let it challenge, change, and 00:28:41.150 --> 00:28:46.890 correct me. Question two. Is my life bearing 00:28:46.890 --> 00:28:50.470 spiritual fruit like love, patience, generosity, 00:28:50.910 --> 00:28:54.190 obedience, and leading others to Christ? Is that 00:28:54.190 --> 00:28:56.509 what's happening in my life? Is it bearing that 00:28:56.509 --> 00:28:59.369 type of fruit? And just to throw all of you type 00:28:59.369 --> 00:29:01.130 A people off, there's only two questions for 00:29:01.130 --> 00:29:04.069 this soil. So those of you waiting for the next 00:29:04.069 --> 00:29:06.519 one, sorry. Go ahead and take your picture now. 00:29:08.299 --> 00:29:13.240 You can be mad at me later. What type of soil 00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:16.359 are you? Here's the thing about the soil. When 00:29:16.359 --> 00:29:18.380 we were in teaching prep this week, one of my 00:29:18.380 --> 00:29:20.759 friends, she said to me this. She said, here's 00:29:20.759 --> 00:29:25.839 the thing about soil. Soil receives. It doesn't 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:28.299 do it on its own. It receives, right? The sower 00:29:28.299 --> 00:29:30.920 comes and the sower sows. God is the sower and 00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:34.369 he's sowing the word. But the soil's job is just 00:29:34.369 --> 00:29:37.930 to receive it. What is it in your life that you're 00:29:37.930 --> 00:29:41.130 holding on to that you need to release so that 00:29:41.130 --> 00:29:43.730 you can receive? Because you can't receive when 00:29:43.730 --> 00:29:46.269 you're holding on to something else. So what 00:29:46.269 --> 00:29:48.009 is it in your life that you need to let go of 00:29:48.009 --> 00:29:52.690 so that you can receive? So that when the seed 00:29:52.690 --> 00:29:56.650 is scattered, so when the seed falls, it's falling 00:29:56.650 --> 00:30:00.410 on good soil. Here's the encouragement to this. 00:30:02.269 --> 00:30:07.549 We are the soil. God is the one sowing it. And 00:30:07.549 --> 00:30:10.450 so if God is the gardener, the power is in him. 00:30:11.809 --> 00:30:16.670 It is his job to till the soil. It is his job 00:30:16.670 --> 00:30:19.190 to tend to the soil. It is his job to pull out 00:30:19.190 --> 00:30:21.089 the thorns. It is his job to pull those other 00:30:21.089 --> 00:30:23.349 things away to make sure that the soil is good. 00:30:23.410 --> 00:30:25.130 It is nothing that we can do. It is all on him. 00:30:25.150 --> 00:30:27.210 But what we need to do is we need to be willing 00:30:27.210 --> 00:30:32.509 to be tended by him. We need to be open. We need 00:30:32.509 --> 00:30:34.130 to present our hearts in a posture that says, 00:30:34.170 --> 00:30:41.250 here it is, God. Tend me. Open yourself up for 00:30:41.250 --> 00:30:45.450 him. So when you came in today, you were given 00:30:45.450 --> 00:30:50.690 the elements for communion. And as we take communion, 00:30:50.789 --> 00:30:53.349 we have this time of reflection. And it's a time 00:30:53.349 --> 00:30:56.289 for you to reflect on what God has done for you, 00:30:56.309 --> 00:30:59.250 sending Jesus to die on a cross. Reflect on that 00:30:59.250 --> 00:31:02.460 act. Reflect on what he has done. But it's also 00:31:02.460 --> 00:31:04.299 a time for us to reflect on how we're receiving 00:31:04.299 --> 00:31:08.220 what he has done. And so as we take this time 00:31:08.220 --> 00:31:09.980 of reflection, we're gonna have some of the questions 00:31:09.980 --> 00:31:13.259 on the screen for you to just reflect, for you 00:31:13.259 --> 00:31:16.259 to sit there, for you to do some soul searching 00:31:16.259 --> 00:31:20.039 and go, God, what type of soil am I? What type 00:31:20.039 --> 00:31:23.259 of work do I need to be to allow myself to be 00:31:23.259 --> 00:31:27.119 tilled and tended by you? The next few moments 00:31:27.119 --> 00:32:35.329 are yours. As Jesus was heading to a cross, he 00:32:35.329 --> 00:32:37.289 was sitting in an upper room with his disciples 00:32:37.289 --> 00:32:41.769 and they were sharing a meal together. And Jesus 00:32:41.769 --> 00:32:44.089 told his disciples this. He took a piece of bread 00:32:44.089 --> 00:32:45.609 and he broke it and he said, this represents 00:32:45.609 --> 00:32:50.450 my body that is broken for you. He said, every 00:32:50.450 --> 00:32:52.349 time you take of this, I want you to remember. 00:32:54.329 --> 00:33:07.920 He said, take this, eat and remember me. It says 00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:11.240 that in the same way he took the cup. And he 00:33:11.240 --> 00:33:14.160 said, this represents my blood. This is my blood 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:17.299 that was poured out for you. He said, drink this 00:33:17.299 --> 00:33:27.180 in remembrance of me. God, we just come before 00:33:27.180 --> 00:33:30.839 you, Lord. And we thank you that you are the 00:33:30.839 --> 00:33:34.000 gardener. We thank you that you are in charge 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:35.900 of tilling the soil. God, I pray that we would 00:33:35.900 --> 00:33:39.599 open up our hearts. I pray that we would not 00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:41.440 hold anything back, that we would let go of the 00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:43.000 things that we're holding onto so that we can 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:47.079 receive the seed. Lord, that our soil would be 00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:49.880 rich, that we would not allow the distractions 00:33:49.880 --> 00:33:52.880 in life to squeeze out the things that you have 00:33:52.880 --> 00:33:57.490 for us, God. God, I pray especially for the person 00:33:57.490 --> 00:33:59.450 in here that is the hardened soil, God, that 00:33:59.450 --> 00:34:01.950 his heart is hard to you. It doesn't even know 00:34:01.950 --> 00:34:03.589 why they're here today, but the chains would 00:34:03.589 --> 00:34:05.470 be broken and they would release that, God, so 00:34:05.470 --> 00:34:07.910 that they can receive your word, your perfect 00:34:07.910 --> 00:34:13.269 word. God, I pray for each one of us as we live 00:34:13.269 --> 00:34:16.710 this out, God, as we do the hard heart work this 00:34:16.710 --> 00:34:21.630 week. So God, where am I at? to ask the difficult 00:34:21.630 --> 00:34:23.710 questions. I pray that you would give us the 00:34:23.710 --> 00:34:28.409 strength to be real with ourself as we decide 00:34:28.409 --> 00:34:31.150 where we are and what we need to do to take another 00:34:31.150 --> 00:34:35.289 step closer to you. I pray that we would all 00:34:35.289 --> 00:34:37.949 put ourself in a proximity to you to be able 00:34:37.949 --> 00:34:41.710 to learn and understand and grow. We love you, 00:34:41.730 --> 00:34:44.210 Jesus. We pray this in your name. Amen.