Good morning, church. Good to be with you this
morning. I would love to welcome all of you that
are here today, as well as those of you watching
online. Welcome to you, wherever you find yourself
watching. We're just glad that we can be together
as a family, that we can open God's Word, that
we can together figure out how we move forward
in this thing called walking with God. And so,
super cool. And one of the things I love about
this family, too, is just like what you just
saw. We're not all just focused on what's happening
inside this walls. We get to care about the people
outside of our walls. We get to care about the
people that are going through difficult times
that are hurting. And we get to partner with
people that are walking with them. Sounds a whole
lot like Jesus, right? It's pretty awesome that
we get to be a part of a family that does that,
which I absolutely love. I heard this quote recently
that kind of really stuck out to me, and the
quote was this, is when an elderly person dies,
it's like a library burns to the ground. And
man, I don't know about your experiences with
that, but mine, that rings so true. I had the
privilege of growing up right next door to my
grandparents, and my granddad was my best friend.
I did everything with him. We'd go do yard work
together, and we would go out and play catch
together. I'd just watch him and stand with him
as he was cooking in the kitchen, man, everything.
But one of my favorite things to do with my granddad
was just to sit and listen to his stories. To
sit and listen to stories about World War II.
To sit and listen to stories about growing up
in Detroit during the Great Depression. I just
sit and listen to these stories that, man, have
just had such an impact on me because I think
about them all the time. They're in my head.
They just sit there and I get to reflect. I get
to think about them because they stick with you,
man. There's something about, stories, right?
We know that there's something about stories.
In fact, the research shows the same thing. Stanford
University did a study that showed that stories
help us remember or remembered up to 22 times
more than just facts. Stories help do that, and
it's supported by neuroscience, and there's been
research done in neuroscience of this as well,
that the amygdala, which is the part of the brain
that processes emotions, right? I don't know
where it is, so I'm just pointing in general.
It's somewhere up here, right? I think it's in
your brain, right? But the amygdala, it interacts
with the hippocampus, which is the part that
is responsible for memory, which is on this side,
apparently, because that's what I'm doing. Don't
quote me on that. but somewhere in there. But
when they interact together, when we hear a story,
what it does is it makes narratives a lot easier
to remember. And I think Jesus understood this
because Jesus walked around and Jesus taught
in stories. Jesus told stories, right? We talk
about them and we know them as parables. And
Jesus goes around and he talks about parables.
He teaches in parables and he tells these stories.
that are super important. And over the next five
weeks, we're going to be diving into the stories
that Jesus told. And in fact, the collection
that we're heading into is called Stories as
Told by Jesus. Stories as Told by Jesus, because
Jesus told stories, and if Jesus told them, they're
probably important for us to listen to. They're
probably important for us to lean into. And so
we want to focus on these stories. And today
we're going to kick it off with a story that
is for you. Okay, sometimes we get confused.
Is this for me or is this for someone else? Right,
have you ever been in the grocery store and someone
waves and you don't know if they're waving at
you or the person behind you? That happens to
me all the time because of you guys. You wave
at me and I'm like, okay, now I'm faced with
a decision because if you're waving at the person
behind me, I'm gonna look like a real dummy.
Right, when you're waving at the person behind
me. But I have that in my mind, and then I realize
if I don't wave at you because I think it's the
person behind me, then I look like a jerk because
I didn't wave back to you. See, sometimes we're
like, I'm not sure if this is for me or if this
is for someone else. And when it comes to church,
a lot of times we do the exact same thing. We
hear a message and we go, oh, I wish this person
was here today. You hear a message, you hear
a teaching, and you're like, man, I hope the
person next to me is listening right now. Hey,
I'm going to take that pressure off of you today,
this one. This is for you. This one is for you.
This is a message that is introspective. I want
you to take the time to look inside of yourself,
to judge your heart, to figure out where you
are in this story, to realize where God wants
you to move today. This one is for you. We're
gonna be in Mark chapter four. Mark chapter four
in the subtitle in your Bible says the parable
of the sower. But I really think this is the
parable of the soil, the parable of the soil.
In verse one, it says again, Jesus began to teach
by the lake. It says the crowd that gathered
around him was so large that he got into a boat
and sat in it out on the lake while all the people
were along the shore at the water's edge. If
you were with us at Watson Lake two weeks ago,
picture that crowd, 6 ,000 deep, pushing in on
Jesus without a sound system. So Jesus does the
only logical things. He hops on and makes a floating
stage. He gets on a boat and he floats out to
make a stage so that people can see him using
the water as the sound bounces off the water
to amplify his voice. Jesus in this moment has
this large crowd around him and he starts teaching.
Verse two, he taught them many things by parables.
And in his teaching, he said, listen, a farmer
went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering
the seed, some fell along the path and the birds
came and ate it up. Some fell along rocky places
where it did not have much soil. It sprang up
quickly because the soil was shallow. But when
the sun came up, the plants were scorched and
they withered because they had no root. Other
seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked
the plants so they did not bear grain. Verse
eight, still other seed fell on good soil. And
it came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying
30, some 60, and some 100 times. Then Jesus said,
whoever has ears, let them hear. And the disciples
said, huh? I don't get it. All right, what do
you mean, Jesus? I don't plant seed. I don't
know what you're talking about. All right, you
ever heard something super important, but you
didn't comprehend it? You didn't understand it?
I don't know if you know this, but I have five
kids, which is equal to 10 ,000 kids, okay? Just
want you to know, right? If you don't know, one
kid is equal to one kid, two kids is equal to
five, and three or more kids is working equal
to 9 ,900 and a donkey and a tornado, okay? I
just want you to know, that's how it works. And
so, man, we got so many kids, we're headed in
different directions, and so every morning, my
wife will go, okay, so here's the plan for today.
You're going to go pick up this one at this time.
Well, while you're doing that, I'm going to be
picking up this one. And then you're going to
have to drop that one off over here. Well, then
I go here and then you're going to pick up this
one. And this was going to happen. Right. And
so we lay out the plan for the day. And I was
there. I heard it. And I got no clue what she
just said. And I got to call her like five times
during the day. I'm like, wait, so who am I picking
up again? And she's all, let me get this straight.
You can quote the batting averages for every
player on the Padres in 1998, but you have no
idea what I just said. And I'm like, that is
correct. Very, very correct. Sometimes we can
hear something important and not understand it.
The disciples are going, Jesus, I don't get it.
What does this mean? And so Jesus, in verse 10,
says this when he was alone with the 12. And
the others around him, they asked him about the
parables. Jesus, what does this mean? And he
told them, the secret of the kingdom of God has
been given to you. But to those on the outside,
everything is said in parables. There's something
really important that we need to understand here.
Our proximity to Jesus allows for understanding.
Everyone was told the same thing, but the disciples
had proximity to Jesus to gain the understanding
needed. Our proximity to Jesus. allows for our
understanding. See, sometimes we don't get it.
Sometimes we don't get it because we're not putting
ourself in a place to be able to learn or to
be able to understand. All right, it's like this.
It's like if we were to take our Bible and we
go, this is the source of truth, right? This
is the word of God. This is what I need. And
not just this, but just using this as an example,
we go, okay, I know that this is where the truth
is, but I don't actually have a regular reading
time in my life. I don't actually set aside time
in my life to open the word of God and to get
into it. I go, okay, I know that there's truth
there, but I actually have stepped out of community
and I don't have people around me that are gonna
reinforce the community in my life that are gonna
tell me the truth that comes from the word of
God. Yeah, I know there's truth there, but I'm
just gonna go ahead and I'm gonna make sure that
I never actually open my heart and say, God,
would you teach me? Holy Spirit, I invite you
in to translate this word to my soul. And then
all of a sudden we are not in proximity to be
able to understand anything. And we wonder how
come God's not here? How come I'm not hearing
anything? God, why are you silent? And we've
never put ourself in proximity to where we can
actually see what God has for us. How we do that
when it comes to our relationship with God. We
have to be in proximity to God so that he can
explain to us. Billy Graham says it this way.
I saw a clip where he explained this. He told
the story of a young lady who really enjoyed
reading. She loved reading and so she read this
novel and she absolutely hated it. She thought
it was terrible. And then a couple of months
later, she met the author and she ended up falling
in love with the author. And then she read the
novel again and she absolutely loved the novel.
Listen, church, if we're not in love with the
author, if we're not in proximity to Jesus, we're
not gonna understand what he's trying to teach
us. The disciples here are going, God, we don't
get it. And he's going, let me teach you. Because
everyone who was there received the same thing.
They all heard it, but there was two levels of
understanding that were represented. There was
the physical level and then there was the spiritual
level. And on the physical level, everybody received
it. Everybody heard it. But that's not enough
to just understand it on a physical level. There
are professors in universities that are world
religion experts that know more about the Bible
than you and know more about the Bible than me,
but do not have the Holy Spirit because they
do not believe the Bible. And there's a difference
between understanding it on an academic level
and understanding it on a spiritual level. And
so the people that were there heard the story.
They're like, we get it. You plant seeds. Some
work, some don't. I get it. But there's a spiritual
level to understanding what he is saying here.
Everyone received it, but the disciples were
granted understanding at a spiritual level. Why?
Because of their proximity to Jesus. Our proximity
to Jesus directly correlates to how we understand
what he wants us to know. Jesus continues and
he said, listen, it's all spoken parables. And
here's why, Mark 4, 12. So that they may be ever
seen, but never perceiving and ever hearing,
but never understanding. Otherwise they may turn
and be forgiven. What in the world does that
mean? Jesus is quoting Isaiah. He's quoting a
passage in the Old Testament that he's speaking
right here. And then he goes on to say this in
verse 13. Then Jesus said to them, don't you
understand this parable? How then will you understand
any parable? All right, listen up. This is the
key right here. All right, you wanna understand
it? You wanna understand any of the other parables?
This is not any randomness that we are doing
this one first because if you don't get this,
you're not gonna understand the next five weeks
because the posture of which you receive something
absolutely changes how you understand something.
I remember being in college and going to class
and not wanting to be in class and being angry
that I was in class and sitting there just like,
I don't care. This person doesn't know what they're
talking about. I don't wanna be here. How many
think I learned really well in that environment?
All right, our heart posture matters when it
comes to receiving something, which is why this
matters so much. When this matters so much. And
so Jesus, in this parable, some of the parables
that we're gonna go over, they're like riddles.
You gotta figure out what they mean. This one,
we have the privilege of Jesus just telling us
what they mean. We get a behind the curtain look
because he tells everyone. And then the disciples
ask him, hey, what does this actually mean? And
then he tells the disciples the true meaning.
Verse 14, the farmer sows the word. The farmer
is Jesus. And the word, we have to understand
this, the word is the word of God. The seeds
are the word of God. And the word of God does
not return void. There is nothing wrong with
the word of God. When you and I plant something,
Right, when you and I try to figure out the schedule
of Prescott, Arizona to actually plant something
so it doesn't freeze and then it actually grows,
don't worry, I'm working through that in my own
heart and soul right now. But when you do that,
there's a lot of factors. Man, the seed might
be bad. This seed is not bad. There is nothing
wrong with it. The seed is the word of God, which
means that it has no problems. Therefore, it
is the soil. The soil is what matters. Verse
15. Some people are like seed along the path
where the word is sown. And as soon as they hear
it, Satan comes and takes away the word that
was sown in them. Others like seed sown on rocky
places, hear the word and at once receive it
with joy. But since they have no root, they last
only a short time. When trouble or persecution
comes because of the word, they quickly fall
away. Still others like seed sown among thorns,
hear the word. But the worries of this life,
the deceitfulness of wealth, the desires for
other things come in and choke the word, making
it unfruitful. Others, like seeds sown on good
soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a
crop some 30, some 60, some 100 times what was
sown. What we see here is we see four types of
soil, four conditions of the heart. For those
of you that still think we're talking about dirt,
four conditions of the heart. First is this,
first soil is the hardened soil, right? You're
here, but you're not here. Lights are on, but
nobody's home, right? You're physically here
and you're like, okay, I'm showed up, but you
don't actually care. Your heart is hard, right?
You're close by, but really not engaged. All
right, another way to say it is this, is it is
a checklist for you. All right, check. Checked
it off my list. I showed up to church because
that's what I'm supposed to do. The man upstairs
will be happy with me because I showed up for
him. Check. All right, you were dragged here
by your spouse. You're in this place right now
because you're like, okay, that's what I'm supposed
to do. But your heart is hard to what is happening.
I remember when I was 18, 19, and 20, I lived
at home after I graduated high school. My parents
said, you can live at home, but the rule is this,
you have to go to church if you're gonna live
here. And I told them, I don't wanna go to your
church. Your church is boring. And they were
like, that's okay. You don't have to go to our
church. You just have to go to a church. And
so I picked a few different churches and I went
to a couple of different churches and I went
there and listen, I didn't care at all. I went
there because I wanted free rent because that
was a requirement. Check, off my list, I was
here. I can't tell you anything they talked about.
I can't tell you any other person that I interacted
with. I can't tell you a single thing that actually
made its way into my life because my heart was
hard. I was there, but I wasn't actually there.
I think we have to ask ourselves these questions.
I told you this message is an introspective message.
It's for you to search your heart in this. And
so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go over questions
for each type of soil for you to understand and
ask yourself. Now, listen, they're gonna go up
on the screen. There'll be three questions for
each. I'm telling you all of this because you
guys are terrible with instructions, okay? I'm
telling you there's gonna be three up there and
I'm giving you permission to take your phones
out in church. and take a picture of it so you
can remember and look at it later. Some of you,
you're like the A++ students, though, and you're
going to take notes, and that's okay, too. I
know you've seen the inside of an AP classroom,
and that's good for you. I don't know what mysteries
happen in there. I've never been in one. But
for you, that's awesome. But here's the questions
that we have to ask ourselves when it comes to
this. Do I feel emotionless, bored, or skeptical
when spiritual things are brought up? Like, I
don't know. I'm just going to detach from it.
All right, question two, have I made space in
my life to genuinely think about faith or do
I just brush it off? Do I just brush it off and
go, okay, I don't need to think about this. I
don't need to deal with this. Question three,
when I hear truth that challenges me, do I shut
it down before reflecting on it? Man, I've done
this. I don't wanna think about it because if
I think about it, I'm gonna have to change something
in my life. So therefore, I'm just gonna shut
it down before the even thought happens in my
mind. That's soil number one, the hardened soil.
Soil number two is the shallow soil, shallow
soil. Let me ask you this question. How are your
New Year's resolutions doing? Anybody do good?
So we're like, bro, it's May, what's happening?
You don't know what the date is? Like, come on,
that was done a long time ago. All right, there's
very few that are still going with what you set
out to do. And here's why, because without vision,
things perish. If you are not set in the right
place, if you don't have things that are anchoring
you and rooted down, it's not going to grow.
That's why this year, if you were here, we started
off in January with a collection where we dove
into this idea of taking shape and the shape
of our church, where we talked about what we
are for. We wanna be known way more for what
we are for than what we are against, because
a lot of churches and a lot of Christians and
a lot of people are just known, this is what
we're against, and we're wrong, we don't like
this, and you're wrong if you do this, instead
of knowing what they are for. And so we planted
some stakes saying, this is us. This is who we
are. Because when your roots go down and you
know who you are, you can grow forward. This
right here is people who are going, man, I believe
in Jesus. Yes, I've said it. I believe in Jesus.
Of course. Of course I do. But it doesn't hold
up enough for you to go all in. It doesn't hold
up enough for you to go all in. Yeah, I believe
in him, but man, you don't need everything from
me, right? Like that's kind of excessive, Jesus.
It's kind of hard. When things get tough, which
they will, You're out, right? When the cost of
discipleship, disciple means a follower of Jesus,
so a close follower of Jesus. When the cost of
discipleship becomes too much, and you're like,
man, that's too much. I can't do that. I'm out.
I'm out. Why would you want that much from me,
God? It's just getting too hard. It was great
when everything was going great, but now that
things aren't going great, God, I don't know
if I wanna deal with this anymore. And there's
no roots that are anchoring down. I had a student
probably about 15 years ago that was in the youth
group and he was incredibly intelligent and he
was really into apologetics, which is the defense
of the faith. And he could defend the faith.
He knew everything there was to defend the faith.
He knew the scriptures inside and out. He knew
all the information. In fact, I'd been with him
on missions trips where we would go to different
areas where people had different beliefs, different
religions, and we would get in a dialogue and
a conversation with them. to defend our faith,
to talk about what that faith is and have a conversation
to know where we stand, what we believe and how
we hold true to what we believe. And man, he
knew everything. He knew everything there was
to know about it. And so he came to me and he
said, hey, Todd, as I go off to college, I feel
like there's nothing that can be thrown at me
that will stop me from continuing to follow Jesus.
And I said, Zach, you're not wrong. There's nothing
a professor is gonna say to make you question
your faith because you know what you believe.
I said, but when you're starting to be faced
with the temptations of this world, when you
start to get invitations to the parties and the
things that are gonna pull you away, I don't
know that you have said your roots are actually
deep enough to hold you where you're at. Because
you know it all and that's great, but you don't
actually have any roots. You don't have that
deep relationship with Jesus. And he went to
college and he completely walked away from his
faith. See, we can know everything there is to
know, but if our roots are not deep, What happens
is we will just wither away. We will just wither
away. We need to be rooted, not diluted. And
sometimes we want to just dilute it and go, okay,
yeah, God, I'll give you a little bit. I'm going
to put like one foot in, but not on everything.
That's just too much. But then you're not rooted.
And what happens is we start getting these voices
in our head that tells us, okay, it's fine. You
don't have to actually be in church. And we take
a little step away. And then the sun is scorching.
We start to wither. You don't actually need to
be in a group. That's just a lot of time. That's
a big commitment. I don't know if we have enough,
you know, we can do that. That's, yeah, yeah,
yeah. And you start withering away. I don't need
to join a serve team. I'm here and that's good
enough. I showed up, right? But I can't actually
join a serve team. I don't have time for that.
And we start withering away because we start
diluting it instead of realizing that we need
to be rooted. Church, we have to fight to be
rooted. We have to fight to stay rooted. We have
to ask ourselves these questions. Is my faith
mostly based on feelings or good experiences
rather than conviction or understanding? When
it gets hard, man, it's easy to bail. Question
two, do I avoid hardship or discomfort when it
comes to living out my faith? When it comes to
living out my faith, am I like, listen, as long
as things are good, I'm good. But when it gets
hard, I don't know if I can live this out. This
last question is a very convicting and hard one.
Am I more committed to convenience than to Christ?
Oh, that's hard. I'm not pulling punches today,
church. That one will smack you in the face.
Am I more committed to convenience? Because if
I'm honest, the answer for me a lot of times
is yes. Yes. I wish I could say I'm committed
to Christ, but man, convenience is so easy. I
wish it was just easier. That's a shallow soil.
So number three is the distracted soil. All right,
everything else is too important. We got so many
things going on in our life and they are just
so important. This is what matters. We gotta
make sure that these things in our life are all
in the right place and everything's good. It's
what I talked about a couple of weeks ago. It's
the problem that when a good thing becomes a
God thing. It can be a good thing. Your kids
can be a good thing. Your kids are a good thing,
but when they become a God thing, it is a problem.
Your marriage is a good thing. I hope you have
an amazing marriage. But when your marriage becomes
from a good thing to a God thing, we have a problem.
Your job, your career, your hobbies, those are
great. Those are amazing. But when a good thing
becomes a God thing, you put it in a place that
should never be in. It cannot hold the weight
of what you're trying to put on it. And a lot
of times what happens is we allow those other
things, those good things to take up space in
our life. And what they do is they crowd out
what matters. The seed in this parable got to
the soil. It sprouted. Jesus, we love you. But
it got crowded out because there was not enough
space or time for God. There's not enough space
or time for God. I just caring more about the
things of the world than that of God. I remember
when I was in high school, I went to a youth
camp and sat down with one of my leaders. And
he asked me some questions that made me really,
really mad. He made me really mad because he
sat down and he said, hey, I just want to ask
you this. Do you love God or do you love baseball
more? And I was like, why would you ask me that?
Of course I love God more. This is a Christian
camp. I got to tell you that. That's the right
answer. He's like, I know, I know, I know. But
let me ask you, if baseball was gone and all
you had was God, would you be okay with that?
I'm like, why would you even ask me this, man?
I got baseball and I got God and I'm doing both
and it's totally fine. So why does it even matter?
He goes, no, no, no, I know, I get that. He goes,
I just wanna see you as excited about God as
you are about baseball. See, I think we let all
the things in our life take a priority that they
should never mean in our life. And they start
crowding out, they start pushing in and they
start crowding out the things that matter most.
And we have to figure out, man, are we the shallow
soil? Are we the distracted soil? Are we the
soil that's looking at all these other things
that are distracted by them? We have to ask ourselves
these questions. Do I constantly worry about
money, success, or the future? more than I trust
God. Church, I gotta be honest with you, this
is me. I'm like, God, I don't know how I'm gonna
pay this bill. God, I'm stressed out about finances.
God, this project in front of me is too big and
somebody has to come along my life and go, well,
do you trust God? I'm like, man. And we have
to ask ourself, do I tell myself I'll get serious
about God later? when things slow down or improve.
Things are just really hard and busy right now,
God, but you know that when they get a little
bit slower, then I'll come back to you. God,
I got a real issue right now. I got problems.
And when this problem fixes itself, then I'll
come back to you. I'm not forgetting about you.
I'm coming back to you. Question three, has my
faith taken a back seat to my career, relationships,
or hobbies? What is it that you're putting in
your life above Jesus? Because those things are
crowding out Jesus. Are you the distracted soil?
Soil number four is the rich soil. Soil number
four is the soil that where the seed fell and
it produced a crop that was 30, 60, 100 times
more than what was sown. Soil number four is
the rich soil that produces amazing things. What
does it produce? It produces fruit. What kind
of fruit? Fruit of the spirit. Things like patience,
things like kindness, things like goodness, things
like self -control. Things that are not natural
for you and I to produce on our own. They don't
come out of us accidentally. It's because we
have good soil where the word, where the seed
that has no problem, that is perfect. When the
seed falls on soil, it is ready to receive it.
It produces in us the fruit of the spirit. This
is somebody who walks in obedience. Oh, we don't
like that word. Don't tell me what to do. I don't
like obedience. But understanding what God has
said and saying, I'm going to follow him. I'm
going to step in and I'm going to follow him.
That is a mark of a good soil. At the mark of
a good soil is someone who understands in constant
transformation, not just one and done. Because
I believe that Jesus has the power to transform
your life. But a lot of times when we think about
that, we think about just the moment where we
met Jesus and our testimony is just the moment
when we met Jesus. But the word testimony means
a testament to God. It's a testament of what
God has done in our life. And so there should
be a constant testimony going on in your life
because every day is an opportunity for transformation,
to continue to be transformed. Every hour is
an opportunity to be transformed, to be more
like Jesus. It's understanding that our personal
life, our private life, and our public life are
the same. That's a mark of somebody who's in
good soil, who's in rich soil. And we have to
ask ourselves these questions. Am I willing to
let the word of God challenge, change, and correct
me even when it's hard? Even when it's hard.
It's not easy. It's not going to be easy. But
I'm willing to let it challenge, change, and
correct me. Question two. Is my life bearing
spiritual fruit like love, patience, generosity,
obedience, and leading others to Christ? Is that
what's happening in my life? Is it bearing that
type of fruit? And just to throw all of you type
A people off, there's only two questions for
this soil. So those of you waiting for the next
one, sorry. Go ahead and take your picture now.
You can be mad at me later. What type of soil
are you? Here's the thing about the soil. When
we were in teaching prep this week, one of my
friends, she said to me this. She said, here's
the thing about soil. Soil receives. It doesn't
do it on its own. It receives, right? The sower
comes and the sower sows. God is the sower and
he's sowing the word. But the soil's job is just
to receive it. What is it in your life that you're
holding on to that you need to release so that
you can receive? Because you can't receive when
you're holding on to something else. So what
is it in your life that you need to let go of
so that you can receive? So that when the seed
is scattered, so when the seed falls, it's falling
on good soil. Here's the encouragement to this.
We are the soil. God is the one sowing it. And
so if God is the gardener, the power is in him.
It is his job to till the soil. It is his job
to tend to the soil. It is his job to pull out
the thorns. It is his job to pull those other
things away to make sure that the soil is good.
It is nothing that we can do. It is all on him.
But what we need to do is we need to be willing
to be tended by him. We need to be open. We need
to present our hearts in a posture that says,
here it is, God. Tend me. Open yourself up for
him. So when you came in today, you were given
the elements for communion. And as we take communion,
we have this time of reflection. And it's a time
for you to reflect on what God has done for you,
sending Jesus to die on a cross. Reflect on that
act. Reflect on what he has done. But it's also
a time for us to reflect on how we're receiving
what he has done. And so as we take this time
of reflection, we're gonna have some of the questions
on the screen for you to just reflect, for you
to sit there, for you to do some soul searching
and go, God, what type of soil am I? What type
of work do I need to be to allow myself to be
tilled and tended by you? The next few moments
are yours. As Jesus was heading to a cross, he
was sitting in an upper room with his disciples
and they were sharing a meal together. And Jesus
told his disciples this. He took a piece of bread
and he broke it and he said, this represents
my body that is broken for you. He said, every
time you take of this, I want you to remember.
He said, take this, eat and remember me. It says
that in the same way he took the cup. And he
said, this represents my blood. This is my blood
that was poured out for you. He said, drink this
in remembrance of me. God, we just come before
you, Lord. And we thank you that you are the
gardener. We thank you that you are in charge
of tilling the soil. God, I pray that we would
open up our hearts. I pray that we would not
hold anything back, that we would let go of the
things that we're holding onto so that we can
receive the seed. Lord, that our soil would be
rich, that we would not allow the distractions
in life to squeeze out the things that you have
for us, God. God, I pray especially for the person
in here that is the hardened soil, God, that
his heart is hard to you. It doesn't even know
why they're here today, but the chains would
be broken and they would release that, God, so
that they can receive your word, your perfect
word. God, I pray for each one of us as we live
this out, God, as we do the hard heart work this
week. So God, where am I at? to ask the difficult
questions. I pray that you would give us the
strength to be real with ourself as we decide
where we are and what we need to do to take another
step closer to you. I pray that we would all
put ourself in a proximity to you to be able
to learn and understand and grow. We love you,
Jesus. We pray this in your name. Amen.