WEBVTT 00:00:05.929 --> 00:00:09.050 Kia ora and welcome to the St Francis Church 00:00:09.050 --> 00:00:11.570 sermon podcast. We're so glad that you've joined 00:00:11.570 --> 00:00:14.970 us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:17.910 encounter God's presence. Be refreshed in your 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:20.769 faith and equipped for everyday life with Jesus. 00:00:21.629 --> 00:00:24.289 As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow 00:00:24.289 --> 00:00:27.879 Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:30.899 more info about who we are and what God is doing 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:36.799 among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:44.579 peace. Good morning everyone. I hope you're warming 00:00:44.579 --> 00:00:50.780 up after the cold morning. There's a lovely frost 00:00:50.780 --> 00:00:54.979 out there. And it's supposed to be an ideal way 00:00:54.979 --> 00:00:57.159 we look at the frost and the... the cold soil 00:00:57.159 --> 00:00:59.960 out there. We're talking about becoming good 00:00:59.960 --> 00:01:06.099 soil this morning. So I want us to pause at the 00:01:06.099 --> 00:01:09.939 moment. And I want you to imagine this as I speak 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:14.500 it. And it could be yourself. There's gardeners 00:01:14.500 --> 00:01:17.599 in here. There's non -gardeners. There's wannabe 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:20.299 gardeners. And there's us that buy fruit from 00:01:20.299 --> 00:01:25.609 the shop. Picture a gardener before planting 00:01:25.609 --> 00:01:30.109 season. Not at the very moment of planting, or 00:01:30.109 --> 00:01:33.890 30 seconds in seed in the ground. But picture 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:37.430 the gardener weeks before that happens. Someone 00:01:37.430 --> 00:01:40.390 that's digging over the soil, pulling out the 00:01:40.390 --> 00:01:42.530 stones that have found their way there, working 00:01:42.530 --> 00:01:46.329 in the compost. That's the unglamorously unseen 00:01:46.329 --> 00:01:50.290 work before the seed goes in. Now anyone can 00:01:50.290 --> 00:01:53.250 drop a seed in the ground. Not anyone actually 00:01:53.250 --> 00:01:59.909 can grow a potato. The first job of an apprentice, 00:02:00.409 --> 00:02:03.489 whether it be gardening or any other job, but 00:02:03.489 --> 00:02:06.730 as you're also following Christ, is not to produce. 00:02:07.390 --> 00:02:10.150 It is to learn to read the materials that you 00:02:10.150 --> 00:02:13.770 have. And the apprentice of Jesus learned soil, 00:02:14.129 --> 00:02:17.870 specifically the soil of their own heart. In 00:02:17.870 --> 00:02:20.210 Jesus' parallel that you heard read this morning, 00:02:20.939 --> 00:02:25.280 isn't really about the seed at all. It's all 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:29.819 about the soil. I think a lot of us, as we go 00:02:29.819 --> 00:02:32.639 through life, approach our spiritual lives the 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:36.319 way many people approach gardening today. We 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:41.180 drop seeds. We download an app. We read a book. 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:44.599 We attend a conference. We buy a journal. We 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:48.180 start a Bible plan. And then we wonder why nothing 00:02:48.180 --> 00:02:53.270 actually grows. We've been asking the wrong question 00:02:53.270 --> 00:02:55.389 or wrong, if that's what we are doing. We've 00:02:55.389 --> 00:03:00.189 been asking, what's the right seed? When Jesus 00:03:00.189 --> 00:03:04.069 has been quietly insisting, the question is in 00:03:04.069 --> 00:03:10.150 the soil. This week is week two of our July series 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:14.050 of Slow Apprenticeship. Last week we received 00:03:14.050 --> 00:03:17.550 the invitation, come and take the oak. How have 00:03:17.550 --> 00:03:20.689 you found that in the past week if you've actually 00:03:20.689 --> 00:03:23.169 journeyed through it? Are you realizing that 00:03:23.169 --> 00:03:26.289 you're wearing the wrong yoke? And you're starting 00:03:26.289 --> 00:03:30.729 to pick up or ask Jesus, what is the right yoke 00:03:30.729 --> 00:03:34.330 for me? We learned that apprenticeship begins 00:03:34.330 --> 00:03:39.210 not with performance, but with a quiet yes to 00:03:39.210 --> 00:03:44.210 Jesus. And this week, we are going to get more 00:03:44.210 --> 00:03:48.919 honest. Because once you say yes, the next question 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:52.479 is, what kind of ground am I offering Jesus to 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:58.219 work with? Often we say yes and then just carry 00:03:58.219 --> 00:04:02.960 on. And we don't ask this question. Jesus has 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:04.860 a parable for that. And you heard that this morning, 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:08.039 the parable of the sower. But really, it should 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:15.229 be called the parable of the soils. what Jesus 00:04:15.229 --> 00:04:17.970 is painting here. The sower that's scattering 00:04:17.970 --> 00:04:21.470 the seed across the different grounds. And Jesus' 00:04:21.670 --> 00:04:24.329 own interpretation a few verses later. I want 00:04:24.329 --> 00:04:26.689 us to notice three things that you heard this 00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:29.870 morning. The first is this, that the seed is 00:04:29.870 --> 00:04:36.069 fine. The seed is always fine. The sower scatters 00:04:36.069 --> 00:04:40.290 the same word on every kind of ground. And the 00:04:40.290 --> 00:04:42.649 variable is never the seed. The variable is always 00:04:42.649 --> 00:04:48.050 the soil that it lands on. We love in life to 00:04:48.050 --> 00:04:52.709 blame the seed. We say, I tried that Bible reading 00:04:52.709 --> 00:04:56.730 plan. I got so far in, and then it just wasn't 00:04:56.730 --> 00:04:59.610 connecting. And it didn't work for me. We say, 00:04:59.889 --> 00:05:02.910 the prayer practice isn't for me. And we say, 00:05:03.990 --> 00:05:06.910 I just don't feel God in that kind of service. 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.759 I think some of those things are actually true. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:13.600 But the deeper question, the question that Jesus 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:17.079 actually presses on us, is whether our soil, 00:05:17.939 --> 00:05:20.560 our lives, our soul is any condition to receive 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:27.180 what God is actually offering us. Here is Isaiah 00:05:27.180 --> 00:05:33.079 on this. Isaiah 55 and verses 10 and 11. He says, 00:05:33.220 --> 00:05:35.319 as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:38.060 and do not return to it without watering the 00:05:38.060 --> 00:05:41.379 earth and making it bud and flourish, so that 00:05:41.379 --> 00:05:43.360 it yields seed for the sower and bread for the 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:47.480 eater. So as my word that goes out from my mouth, 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:51.660 it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish 00:05:51.660 --> 00:05:54.899 what I desire and achieve the purpose for which 00:05:54.899 --> 00:06:00.980 I sent it. The word is good. The word is faithful, 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:06.459 and the word does its work. And the second thing 00:06:06.459 --> 00:06:09.680 that comes out of this parable is that when Jesus 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:13.540 describes these four soils, He is not describing 00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:17.459 four kinds of people. He is describing four conditions 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:21.199 of the same heart. So within me, I have each 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:25.420 of those soils, same as in you. And this matters 00:06:25.420 --> 00:06:28.339 for us to actually understand it clearly. We 00:06:28.339 --> 00:06:31.899 tend to treat this parable and think, well, I 00:06:31.899 --> 00:06:36.439 hope I'm the good soil. But the truth is that 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:41.319 you and I are all for soils at different seasons 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:46.240 or times. You can get good soil for a year, then 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:48.680 you can go through a season where you become 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:53.079 path soil. You can be rocky one year, thorny 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:57.660 the next. We are all of these soils in this parable. 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:01.879 And the question is, what soil are you right 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:10.610 now, today? Are you the path? Hard ground, trampled. 00:07:12.050 --> 00:07:13.910 So much foot traffic that nothing can actually 00:07:13.910 --> 00:07:18.269 take root in it. Now when Jesus is talking about 00:07:18.269 --> 00:07:21.410 this parable, the path that he's talking about 00:07:21.410 --> 00:07:23.490 ran through the middle of the field where everyone 00:07:23.490 --> 00:07:25.689 walked. It was compact. It was lifeless. It was 00:07:25.689 --> 00:07:32.529 getting A to B. So what is path soil today? Path 00:07:32.529 --> 00:07:36.899 soil is hardened by traffic. And by traffic, 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:40.740 I mean the relentless flow of input, news, scrolling, 00:07:41.100 --> 00:07:44.040 coming, opinion, content, content, content. Give 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:49.540 me more of it. Past soil in your life is what 00:07:49.540 --> 00:07:54.100 happens when there is no room for quiet. No margin, 00:07:54.259 --> 00:07:57.300 no space between the stimulus that comes in and 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:02.779 the response. You see the soul of someone. whose 00:08:02.779 --> 00:08:05.019 attention has been so colonised by everything 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:09.860 else that cannot take root. John Mark, kind of, 00:08:10.740 --> 00:08:13.519 he puts it sharply. He says, and he's taking 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:15.800 this from Dallas Willett, hurry is a great enemy 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:21.000 of spiritual life. Hurry is what creates path 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:29.100 soil. Hurry actually hardens us. We don't connect 00:08:29.100 --> 00:08:32.240 with people or do things or do it well because 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:36.039 we're hurrying from one thing to the next. If 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:38.700 you can't remember the last time you sat in silence 00:08:38.700 --> 00:08:40.759 for 10 minutes, who can remember that they did 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:51.899 that? Silence in 10 minutes. Now, if the thought 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:56.639 of doing that, being unentertained for any length 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:00.860 of time, fills you with a low -grade panic, Your 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:05.000 soul might be path soil right now. And what about 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.220 the rocky ground? Well, it's a thin layer of 00:09:08.220 --> 00:09:12.879 soil over rock. And the seed germinates fast, 00:09:13.059 --> 00:09:15.600 the word that lands on it. The plant looks great 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.759 for a few weeks, and then the sun comes out, 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:21.419 and the plant dies because the roots had actually 00:09:21.419 --> 00:09:25.960 nowhere to go. Rocky soil is the soil that responds 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:29.370 to the spiritual highs. But there's no root system 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:33.450 for the hard seasons in life. This rocky soil 00:09:33.450 --> 00:09:37.750 shows up at maybe a conference you go to. It 00:09:37.750 --> 00:09:41.230 gets emotional with things, makes big decisions, 00:09:42.190 --> 00:09:45.149 and then it disappears in a month. You can't 00:09:45.149 --> 00:09:48.509 sustain it. Rocky soil falls in love with the 00:09:48.509 --> 00:09:51.389 feeling of God, but never builds the structures 00:09:51.389 --> 00:09:56.610 that hold faith through those long winters. And 00:09:56.610 --> 00:10:01.889 then we get what thorny ground is. And this is 00:10:01.889 --> 00:10:05.610 the most common soil in our context, in our lives 00:10:05.610 --> 00:10:08.669 today. The soil is fine. The sea germinates. 00:10:08.970 --> 00:10:11.990 Life's going well. I'm reading this. It's going 00:10:11.990 --> 00:10:16.450 and roots go down. But then the ground is already 00:10:16.450 --> 00:10:20.269 occupied. And it's occupied with the worries 00:10:20.269 --> 00:10:24.509 of life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the 00:10:24.509 --> 00:10:27.389 desires for other things. come in and they choke 00:10:27.389 --> 00:10:32.009 out the word or the goodness of God. Thorny, 00:10:32.190 --> 00:10:35.850 swirly and insidious because, well, nothing is 00:10:35.850 --> 00:10:38.570 obviously wrong in life, is it? Where everything's 00:10:38.570 --> 00:10:42.090 going quite well. You're not against Jesus. You're 00:10:42.090 --> 00:10:46.549 not refusing him. You're just very, very full 00:10:46.549 --> 00:10:49.429 of all sorts of other things. Full of legitimate 00:10:49.429 --> 00:10:52.970 concerns for other people. Full of legitimate 00:10:52.970 --> 00:10:56.700 ambition of getting ahead. full of legitimate 00:10:56.700 --> 00:11:00.740 anxiety. And in all that fullness, the word gradually 00:11:00.740 --> 00:11:07.360 gets crowded out. When you drive through the 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:09.860 country and you see those big billboards that 00:11:09.860 --> 00:11:13.879 says about the fire warning from green, medium, 00:11:14.100 --> 00:11:18.940 to extreme, that's a bit like us with this thorny 00:11:18.940 --> 00:11:25.100 soil. Where are you on that pendulum there? Is 00:11:25.100 --> 00:11:29.139 it good? Is everything crowding you out from 00:11:29.139 --> 00:11:34.480 Jesus' Word? Most of us are thorny most of the 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:37.159 time in life. We're not bad people, we're just 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:42.000 busy people. But what about the good soil? The 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:45.600 good soil that we would hope to be in most of 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:48.960 the time? Well that receives, it retains and 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:53.200 it reproduces. And Jesus said it's 30, 60, and 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:55.600 100 times what was sown. Now, it's not meaning 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:59.139 the 100's better than 30 or the 60. It's just 00:11:59.139 --> 00:12:03.659 saying that good soil reproduces itself. Notice 00:12:03.659 --> 00:12:06.279 Jesus never says good soil is the rare unicorn. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.840 Good soil is simply soil that has been tended, 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:17.159 broken up, cleared, watered, patient. Good soil 00:12:17.159 --> 00:12:20.039 in our lives, what we're doing, is just soil 00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:23.279 with a gardener. And you're the gardener to prepare 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:26.240 that ground to receive God's Word and His love. 00:12:27.299 --> 00:12:32.580 But making that good soil requires hearing. It 00:12:32.580 --> 00:12:35.679 requires understanding of His Word, letting it 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:43.440 sink in and then letting it stay. Which is exactly 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:47.059 where Paul takes us in Romans 8, one of the other 00:12:47.059 --> 00:12:49.460 readings that's set down for day. And after that 00:12:49.460 --> 00:12:52.299 great cry of last week in Romans 7, where he 00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:54.460 says, Richard, man that I am, who will deliver 00:12:54.460 --> 00:12:57.240 me, where he says, I'm trying to do this, but 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:00.320 actually I end up doing the wrong things. Roman 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:03.539 8 opens with the most revealing sentence in scripture, 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:07.779 I think. There is therefore now no condemnation 00:13:07.779 --> 00:13:12.320 for those who are in Christ Jesus. And then Paul 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:17.169 goes on to talk about two ways of living. Firstly, 00:13:17.230 --> 00:13:19.350 there's that mindset on the flesh, which means 00:13:19.350 --> 00:13:24.210 more than just our bodies. It means the whole 00:13:24.210 --> 00:13:28.029 way of life that runs on self, on appetite, and 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:30.950 on the immediate. And then there's the mind that's 00:13:30.950 --> 00:13:34.230 set on the spirit. To set the mind on the flesh's 00:13:34.230 --> 00:13:37.350 death, to set the mind on the spirit, is life 00:13:37.350 --> 00:13:43.590 and peace. I want you to notice that word set, 00:13:43.750 --> 00:13:48.960 that's important. to set your mind. When you 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:52.960 do that, it's an orientation. It's a direction 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:56.740 that you say, I'm not going to do that today, 00:13:56.759 --> 00:13:59.299 I'm going to do this. You've set a direction 00:13:59.299 --> 00:14:02.720 to follow. A daily choice about what governs 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:10.480 you. The Spirit says, Paul says that it's already 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:13.559 in you if you belong to Christ. Now the Spirit 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:15.740 is a gardener tilling the soil in your lives, 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:19.620 but you have a part to play. And often we give 00:14:19.620 --> 00:14:23.080 up on it after a certain period of time. You've 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:25.159 got to set your mind. You've got to decide what 00:14:25.159 --> 00:14:28.620 you feed. You've got to decide what governs. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:32.799 And Paul goes on to give us the secret of soil 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:36.220 tending. It's in Romans 8, verses 5 and 6, and 00:14:36.220 --> 00:14:39.259 then verses 10 and 11. And I've chosen the message 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:44.460 to hear it paraphrased in this way. Paul says 00:14:44.460 --> 00:14:46.860 those who think they can do it on their own end 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:49.779 up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle 00:14:49.779 --> 00:14:52.440 But never get around to exercising it in real 00:14:52.440 --> 00:14:56.659 life Those who trust God's action and then find 00:14:56.659 --> 00:15:00.000 that God's spirit is in them living and breathing 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.360 God Obsession with self and these matters is 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:07.659 a dead end But attention to God leads us into 00:15:07.659 --> 00:15:12.919 the open into a spacious and free life But for 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:16.720 you who welcome him, in whom he dwells. Even 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:19.940 though you will experience all the limitations 00:15:19.940 --> 00:15:24.559 of sin, you yourself experience life on God's 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:27.980 terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:30.259 if the alive and present God who raised Jesus 00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:33.940 from the dead moves into your life, he'll do 00:15:33.940 --> 00:15:36.940 the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing 00:15:36.940 --> 00:15:41.120 you alive to himself. So when God lives and breathes 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.740 in you and he does as he surely did in Jesus 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:48.159 You were delivered from that dead life And it's 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.899 with his spirit living in you Your body will 00:15:51.899 --> 00:15:59.899 be alive as Christ's So this is what Paul is 00:15:59.899 --> 00:16:03.299 saying Here is a secret of all genuine spiritual 00:16:03.299 --> 00:16:06.779 growth. We do not generate the life the spirit 00:16:06.779 --> 00:16:10.480 does You cannot grow yourself into godliness. 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:14.039 You cannot manufacture the fruit. You cannot 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.919 will yourself into love, joy, peace, patience, 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:22.379 and kindness. The Holy Spirit grows those things 00:16:22.379 --> 00:16:27.799 in you, like a seed grows in the good soil. We 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:31.840 have a poster in the lounge area there from Colossians 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:35.320 2, 6, 7, which says this. So if you're going 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:37.529 out there, there's a this after the service, 00:16:37.909 --> 00:16:41.110 find which one it's on. Just as you receive Christ 00:16:41.110 --> 00:16:44.210 Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow 00:16:44.210 --> 00:16:47.850 Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and let 00:16:47.850 --> 00:16:51.289 your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will 00:16:51.289 --> 00:16:53.409 grow strong in the truth that you were taught 00:16:53.409 --> 00:17:00.509 and you will overflow with thankfulness. So what 00:17:00.509 --> 00:17:05.009 is our work? Our work is to make ourselves growable. 00:17:07.170 --> 00:17:10.450 to till the ground, to clear the obstacles, to 00:17:10.450 --> 00:17:12.789 create conditions where the Spirit can do what 00:17:12.789 --> 00:17:17.390 only the Spirit can do. I'm not sure if you have 00:17:17.390 --> 00:17:19.430 already forgotten what you have done at the beginning 00:17:19.430 --> 00:17:23.289 of the service. You are tilling the soil and 00:17:23.289 --> 00:17:25.369 pulling out the obstacles and the confession 00:17:25.369 --> 00:17:30.049 and the repentance. You are making room for His 00:17:30.049 --> 00:17:32.849 goodness to grow in the good soil, but first 00:17:32.849 --> 00:17:39.210 we have to get rid of the weeds. This is by way 00:17:39.210 --> 00:17:43.750 what spiritual practices actually are. They are 00:17:43.750 --> 00:17:47.410 not how we earn God's favour. They actually are 00:17:47.410 --> 00:17:51.930 how we tend the soil. They are today the agricultural 00:17:51.930 --> 00:17:55.190 work that makes the soil receptive to what the 00:17:55.190 --> 00:18:00.930 spirit is already trying to do. Tish Harrison 00:18:00.930 --> 00:18:03.529 Warren writes about this beautifully. She says 00:18:03.529 --> 00:18:06.819 it like this. We become what we worship. and 00:18:06.819 --> 00:18:10.380 what we do. We become what we worship and what 00:18:10.380 --> 00:18:16.480 we do. What you worship and what you practice 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:21.759 shape what you become. It's not legalism, that's 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:25.460 gardening. You make yourself available, you tend 00:18:25.460 --> 00:18:28.480 the soil, and you trust the sower in your lives. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:34.359 I want to jump into another passage that's set 00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:42.140 down for today. Just briefly, Genesis 25. It's 00:18:42.140 --> 00:18:45.119 a quick look at how not to tend the soil by looking 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:48.819 at this passage. Two brothers and it's a bowl 00:18:48.819 --> 00:18:53.039 of soup. Sounds like a kid's story, doesn't it? 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:57.640 But it's about Esau and Jacob. We know the twins 00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:01.720 different from the womb. Esau is the tribe's 00:19:01.720 --> 00:19:04.759 outdoorsman, the hunter, his father's favorite. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:08.460 Now Jacob, he's a quiet one, his mother's favourite. 00:19:09.220 --> 00:19:12.400 And we hear about how he comes in from the field 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:15.140 famished from a day's work and Jacob is cooking 00:19:15.140 --> 00:19:18.200 that lentil stew and he says to Jacob, give me 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:20.539 some of that red stuff, I'm starving. And Jacob 00:19:20.539 --> 00:19:25.160 says to him, well, first sell me your birthright. 00:19:27.380 --> 00:19:29.339 The birthright in that culture and in cultures 00:19:29.339 --> 00:19:33.019 today, but not really in ours, is the most valuable 00:19:33.019 --> 00:19:36.009 thing that a first born could possess. It's the 00:19:36.009 --> 00:19:38.430 double portion of inheritance, the leadership 00:19:38.430 --> 00:19:42.009 of the family, the covenant blessing that ran 00:19:42.009 --> 00:19:45.009 from Abraham through Isaac into the future of 00:19:45.009 --> 00:19:49.869 God's people. It was worth more than gold. But 00:19:49.869 --> 00:19:53.730 Esau says, hey, after this day's work, I'm about 00:19:53.730 --> 00:19:56.690 to die of hunger. What use is this birthright 00:19:56.690 --> 00:20:01.029 to me? And he trades it for soup. And the text 00:20:01.029 --> 00:20:04.980 says it bluntly. So he self -despised his birthright. 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:09.539 Now, I do not believe he was about to die of 00:20:09.539 --> 00:20:12.099 hunger. He would have been hungry from that day's 00:20:12.099 --> 00:20:15.640 labour, but there is a difference in this. He 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:19.519 let an immediate appetite govern an eternal inheritance. 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:24.900 He had no soil depth. He failed his apprenticeship 00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:30.259 in that one unguarded afternoon. And both brothers 00:20:30.259 --> 00:20:36.319 in this story They refuse the slow way. Ethel 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:38.640 despises his birthright because he can't see 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:44.380 beyond his immediate hunger. Now, he's past soil. 00:20:45.160 --> 00:20:47.900 No depth, no patience, immediate gratification. 00:20:49.099 --> 00:20:51.619 Jacob seizes a birthright through manipulation 00:20:51.619 --> 00:20:55.599 rather than waiting for God to give it. And he's 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:59.579 also past soil because he's not actually trusting 00:20:59.579 --> 00:21:02.730 God. that God can grow what God has promised. 00:21:04.029 --> 00:21:05.990 And both are going to spend the next 20 years 00:21:05.990 --> 00:21:11.829 paying for this moment about lunch. See, apprenticeship 00:21:11.829 --> 00:21:15.730 is not coercion. It's an invitation by Jesus 00:21:15.730 --> 00:21:19.549 to come into this life to learn. And you and 00:21:19.549 --> 00:21:24.410 I, we choose every day what we feed and what 00:21:24.410 --> 00:21:29.329 we starve. And Paul goes ahead and nails this 00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:32.240 dynamic in Galatians 6, and again I'm taking 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:35.259 it from the message for this morning. It says, 00:21:35.579 --> 00:21:38.599 don't be misled. No one makes a fool of God. 00:21:39.259 --> 00:21:42.400 What a person plants, they will harvest. And 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:45.059 the person who plants selfishness, ignoring the 00:21:45.059 --> 00:21:48.960 needs of others, ignoring God, harvests a crop 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:53.700 of weeds. All who have to show for his life is 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:56.059 weeds. But the one who plants in response to 00:21:56.059 --> 00:21:58.700 God, leading God's spirit through the growth 00:21:58.910 --> 00:22:04.009 work in him, harvest a crop of real life, eternal 00:22:04.009 --> 00:22:08.170 life. So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued 00:22:08.170 --> 00:22:10.990 doing good. At the right time we will harvest 00:22:10.990 --> 00:22:18.569 a good crop if we don't give up or quit. The 00:22:18.569 --> 00:22:23.089 soul that won't wait won't grow. The soul that 00:22:23.089 --> 00:22:26.329 sows to the flesh reaps the flesh. There are 00:22:26.329 --> 00:22:30.730 no shortcuts in the kingdom. So what does the 00:22:30.730 --> 00:22:33.170 soil work actually look like in practical terms 00:22:33.170 --> 00:22:38.690 in your life and mine right now in 2026? I'm 00:22:38.690 --> 00:22:42.009 wanting to suggest three soil practices for this 00:22:42.009 --> 00:22:44.049 week and you can follow them up in the booklet 00:22:44.049 --> 00:22:48.289 that's been made for this series. I want you 00:22:48.289 --> 00:22:52.609 to ask you to pick just one of them. You've got 00:22:52.609 --> 00:22:57.309 three, do one. Do that for this week and do it 00:22:57.309 --> 00:23:01.140 for the next seven days. The first practice in 00:23:01.140 --> 00:23:03.880 it, if you choose to do this, is to break up 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:08.759 the path. Now, if your soul has become path soil, 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:13.220 hardened by the relentless flow of input, I suggest 00:23:13.220 --> 00:23:16.619 the first thing that you need is silence. Not 00:23:16.619 --> 00:23:19.720 because silence is religious, because silence 00:23:19.720 --> 00:23:23.160 is agricultural. It's a working, silence breaks 00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:27.279 up the path. So for the next seven days, if you 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:30.839 choose this, Take 15 minutes out of the day with 00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:34.460 no input. There's no phone, no podcast, no music, 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:38.039 no reading. You could walk or sit, or you could 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:42.660 just look at the garden. Let your mind do what 00:23:42.660 --> 00:23:47.220 minds do when they have space, which is sort, 00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:52.880 settle, and then it'll come to the surface. Now, 00:23:53.099 --> 00:23:56.299 if you're not used to this, this will feel uncomfortable 00:23:56.299 --> 00:24:00.240 for at least three days. That discomfort is a 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:02.980 path saw softening. So I encourage you to stay 00:24:02.980 --> 00:24:07.619 with it. Hosea 10 in verse 12 says it plainly. 00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:10.900 He says, break up your unplowed ground for it 00:24:10.900 --> 00:24:14.299 is time to seek the Lord. And sometimes the most 00:24:14.299 --> 00:24:16.940 spiritual thing that you can do is hard agricultural 00:24:16.940 --> 00:24:20.400 work on your soul, to sit in silence with no 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:26.079 other input. Let your mind sift, settle, and 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:30.359 surface. The second practice, if you choose it, 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:34.660 is to deepen the rocky ground. Now, if your faith 00:24:34.660 --> 00:24:38.259 has felt thin, like it doesn't hold weight in 00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:40.500 the hard seasons and you're struggling, what 00:24:40.500 --> 00:24:44.200 you need is depth, not more content. You need 00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:48.259 less content, but slower. So for the next seven 00:24:48.259 --> 00:24:51.539 days, if you pick up this one, take one short 00:24:51.539 --> 00:24:55.220 passage of scripture. And I want to suggest maybe 00:24:55.220 --> 00:24:58.960 Romans 8, verses 1 through to 11. And read it 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:02.539 slowly each morning. Read it aloud. Sit with 00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:05.579 the phrase. Memorise one verse by the end of 00:25:05.579 --> 00:25:09.599 the week. Don't move on to anything else. If 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:12.619 you're tempted, just stay put within that verse. 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:17.279 Go deep, not wide. Thomas Merton, he put it like 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:21.460 this. The spiritual life is first of all a life. 00:25:22.299 --> 00:25:24.900 It's not a hobby. It's not an interest. It's 00:25:24.900 --> 00:25:28.690 not a category. It's a life. Live one small piece 00:25:28.690 --> 00:25:31.170 of scripture into your bones in the next seven 00:25:31.170 --> 00:25:34.690 days. And if you choose the third practice, it's 00:25:34.690 --> 00:25:38.849 pulling the thorns. So if your life is thorny 00:25:38.849 --> 00:25:43.230 of anxiety, ambition, and a thousand legitimate 00:25:43.230 --> 00:25:45.589 concerns are choking out the words, you need 00:25:45.589 --> 00:25:50.710 to start naming those thorns out loud. So for 00:25:50.710 --> 00:25:54.049 the next seven days, each morning ask yourself, 00:25:55.150 --> 00:25:59.099 what is the thing That if I'm honest, really 00:25:59.099 --> 00:26:02.160 honest to myself and before God, it's choking 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:05.839 my attention to Jesus right now. Is it work? 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:12.960 Is it money? Is it a relationship? Is it social 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:17.880 media? Is it a story that I'm telling about myself 00:26:17.880 --> 00:26:22.079 over and over again? Let's get in the way of 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:25.740 you doing something, being free and being you. 00:26:26.800 --> 00:26:31.400 Name it, say it out loud to God. Don't try to 00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:35.539 pull it by force. Sit with it and wait. Just 00:26:35.539 --> 00:26:42.500 expose it. Thorns hate to be named and as you 00:26:42.500 --> 00:26:47.759 name them the light begins the pulling. Now these 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:52.740 are not magic things to do. They are simply soil 00:26:52.740 --> 00:26:57.960 tending. And don't pick all three. Pick one. 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:00.900 Spend some time to find out which is the right 00:27:00.900 --> 00:27:03.740 one for you. Because the only practice that grows 00:27:03.740 --> 00:27:08.640 you is the one that you actually do. So I want 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:11.859 to close where we began in Isaiah 55 verse 11. 00:27:13.940 --> 00:27:16.839 So as my word that goes out from my mouth, it 00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:19.119 will not return to me empty, but will accomplish 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:21.960 what I desire and achieve the purpose for which 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:26.930 I sent it. Remember, you're not responsible for 00:27:26.930 --> 00:27:30.009 the seed. The seed is the Word of God. It is 00:27:30.009 --> 00:27:32.769 as alive. It is going out and will not return 00:27:32.769 --> 00:27:36.509 empty. And you are not responsible for the harvest. 00:27:36.670 --> 00:27:40.630 The harvest belongs to the sower. He alone causes 00:27:40.630 --> 00:27:44.549 the growth. You're responsible for one thing. 00:27:44.710 --> 00:27:50.930 One thing only. The soil. Your soul. Tend it 00:27:50.930 --> 00:27:54.849 this week. Continue to tender through the seasons. 00:27:55.589 --> 00:27:57.390 And whatever practice that you choose for the 00:27:57.390 --> 00:28:00.069 next seven days, just do that one thing and do 00:28:00.069 --> 00:28:04.930 it well. And trust the soil with the rest. Remember, 00:28:04.990 --> 00:28:07.829 this is a slow apprenticeship. We're running 00:28:07.829 --> 00:28:12.029 the race, as Paul said, to the end. Week two, 00:28:12.170 --> 00:28:16.450 tender soil. So whoever has ears, let them hear. 00:28:17.390 --> 00:28:17.690 Amen.