The Jesus Stories • The Story of the Sower

- So if you would, turn to Matthew chapter 13, that's where we're going to be this morning

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

together.

I just want to encourage parents, if you didn't have the opportunity to get your kids connected

with Kids Camp this past week, please do that next year.

They have a fantastic time.

It's also a wonderful time of growth, spiritual growth, and so I want to encourage you to

get them plugged in to that.

Also pray for Pastor Beau and his wife Erin.

They left out yesterday to get ready to receive the students and adults who will be heading

to the children's home in Black Mountain.

Joel, Pastor Joel, along with all the students and adults, they'll be leaving out this afternoon,

so pray for them all during the week.

We've had a partnership with the children's home there in Black Mountain for many, many

years.

I go up there and just kind of help get the camp ready, do a lot of upkeep and things

like that.

So they really work hard during this week, the adults and the students, and so just keep

them in prayer throughout this week as they're there serving and allowing God to use them

as well as working their life as they serve God.

If you would, join me in prayer, and then we're going to jump into Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

Father, we give you thanks that we're able to come to worship you this morning.

Father, with all the various things that may be going on in our mind and our heart and

our spirit, Lord, we know that you are aware of those things and that, Lord, you're a constant

in the life of the follower.

And so, Lord, I pray now as we look at Matthew 13 together, Father, you would just guide

us to understand your word, and Lord, guide us to be obedient to your word and its application.

Lord, we love you and we thank you, and we ask this prayer in your name.

Amen.

So in Matthew chapter 13, chapter 13 is one of those chapters of Scripture where there's

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

seven parables that we discover here in this chapter that Jesus is teaching spiritual truth

by using something that the people can identify with.

But before we jump into verse 1 of 13, I want to jump down to verse 9.

So if you've got your Bible open or you're looking at it on your phone, jump down to

verse 9 where Jesus says, "He who has ears, let him hear."

He who has ears, let him hear.

What did Jesus want them to hear?

What does Jesus want you and I to hear?

Anytime you see something like that in Scripture, it should grab your attention, it should grab

my attention to really focus on what God's word is about to say.

So we're going to read the first several verses together, and then we're going to come back,

and we're going to return to it, and we're going to start breaking it down and looking

at it together.

Verse 1, "That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea, and great

crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down.

And the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables, saying,

'A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds

came and devoured them.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they

sprang up since they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered

away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some

thirty.

He who has ears, let him hear.'

Then the disciples came and said to him, 'Why do you speak to them in parables?'

And he answered them, 'To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of

heaven, but to them it has not been given.

For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do

not hear, nor do they understand.'

Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, 'You will indeed hear,

but never understand, and you will indeed see, but never perceive.'

For this, people's hearts have grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear,

and their eyes they have closed.

At least they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with

their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.

For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see,

and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."

The beautiful part of this parable is Jesus shares the parable, but now you and I get

to see Jesus explain the parable.

Verse 18, 'Hear then the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes

and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.

This is what was sown along the path.

As for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately

receives it with joy.

Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while.

And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls

away.

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares

of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands

it.

He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold and another sixty and another

thirty.'"

Here you and I get to see the teaching of Jesus, and we get to understand how God's

Word works in an individual's life.

The seed that the Scripture is talking about, that Jesus is talking about, is the gospel,

is the truth, is the truth of a relationship of God, is the truth of salvation that is

only found in God.

It points to the kingdom of God.

The soil is your heart, the soil is my heart.

The soil is the person sitting next to you.

The soil is the heart of the person that's your neighbor, your co-worker, your friend,

your classmate, person on the other side of the world.

The soil that Jesus talks about is the individual's heart and the receptivity of that heart.

The outcome of that is based on your decision and my decision.

The outcome is based on the hearers that Jesus is talking to in the crowd.

So let's look together, starting back at verse 1.

It says, "That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea."

This has a lot of nuggets for you and I, just in this verse alone.

See previously in chapter 12, the Pharisees once again have been trying to trap Jesus.

You know their ultimate goal is to get him to the cross, right?

They want to crucify him.

They want to get rid of him.

That's their goal.

God had already had the plan set forth, right?

That Jesus would die on the cross for the forgiveness of your sin and my sin.

They didn't realize they were in a part of that, but they're chasing after him.

They're trying to get to him.

So Jesus at this point, he's pretty spent.

Have you had those weeks where you feel like you're spent, your mind just can't take on

anything else, your emotions can't take on anything else?

It says here, "That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea."

Now I know some of you in this room, your quiet place, your best place is to go to the

ocean.

Dig your toes in the sand.

Some of you, your best place is to go to the mountains and enjoy the fresh air of the mountains.

And the breeze of the trees.

Jesus went and sat beside the sea.

The one that you and I are to model our life after, right?

Pushes away from a crowd of people, pushes away from all the noise and things that he

experiences, and he finds the sea of Galilee and he sits there.

It's just something for you and I to think about in our life where sometimes we've got

to call a time out.

We've got to get off to ourself.

And then in verse two, it's all over, "And great crowds gathered around him.

He couldn't shake them very long.

They found him.

So they got into a boat and he sat down.

And the whole crowd stood on the beach and he told them many things in parables, saying."

So Jesus was going to tell them stories.

But in those stories, he wants them to hear the spiritual truth.

He wants them to hear what he's really trying to get at.

The stories were to make a connection with them on a spiritual level, not just to be

a story.

The last part of verse three says, "A sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path.

And the birds came and devoured them."

I remember as a kid, I was out in the yard with my dad and every so often he would go

to the store and buy some seed just to fill up those dead spots in the yard, right?

And we'd go out there and we would throw seed all over the place, not really knowing what

the seed is.

Later in life, my dad and I would have these conversations about what seed you should plant

and what seed you shouldn't plant.

But I remember him saying when I was little then, he says, "You know, you've got to cover

up these seeds.

You've got to work them into the soil.

You've got to cover them up with straw because if you don't, the birds are going to come

along and they're going to take the seed."

And here Jesus is using that.

Jesus says that because Jesus knows.

And he knows the people would identify this.

But he says there, it's a very interesting word, he says, "But the birds came and devoured."

Devoured is a very strong word, isn't it?

I get the picture of devoured, that it's getting up everything.

There's not going to be anything left.

Now skip with me down to verses 18 and 19 as Jesus then begins to explain to his disciples

what this part of the parable means.

He says, "Hear then the parable of the sower.

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, when anyone, you and I, them, hear the words

of God, the words of the kingdom, the truth of God's word.

For them it was the Old Testament readings.

For you and I it's Old Testament, New Testament.

Everything that we have in God's word.

Anyone who hears the words of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes

and snatches away what has been sown in his heart."

So anyone hears the word of God, it is actually sown in the heart, even though Satan comes

and snatches it.

So let's look at some things together.

One, don't be afraid or hesitate to ask someone for understanding of the Bible.

Ask for clarity.

Ask for insight.

Ask for the answer.

You and I don't know everything there is to know about God's word.

The great scholars that we look to to give understanding of the scriptures to be able

to teach and preach, they don't know everything there is to know about God's word.

You and I have to ask questions.

We have to seek out.

In Acts chapter 8, we get to look in on the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

In verse 26 of Acts 8 it says, "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Rise and go towards

the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

This is a desert place.'

And he rose and he went, and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace,

queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was

reading the prophet Isaiah.

And the spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and join this chariot.'

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand

what you are reading?'"

What a great question.

If you're ever in an area and you see somebody reading the Bible, that might be a good way

to kind of go talk to them and find out what's going on and say, "Do you understand what

you're reading?"

And the Ethiopian eunuch said this, "How can I unless someone guides me?

How can I unless someone guides me?"

See, anybody has the opportunity to gain understanding of God's Word.

You and I simply have to ask the question, "Help me understand."

How many times do you and I go through life not understanding something and we fear to

ask the question?

We fear to go up to somebody and say, "Will you give me some clarity on that?"

Why?

Why is there fear in that?

It shouldn't be.

You and I should be able to go and ask and look for clarity.

Look for someone, someone that you can trust, someone that can give you guidance in God's

Word, someone that you know because you have observed their walk with the Lord and know

that if I go to them, they will give me some understanding.

They will give me some context.

It's what we see with the Ethiopian eunuch and with God sending Philip over there.

And it goes on to say, "And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with the Scripture."

Not beginning with Philip had a great story to tell the Ethiopian, but it says that Philip

began with the Scripture.

That's the best place to start.

When somebody comes to you and wants guidance, you begin with the Scripture.

He told him the good news about Jesus and as they were going along the road, they came

to some water and the eunuch said, "See, here is water.

What prevents me from being baptized?"

And he commanded the chariot to stop and they both went down into the water, Philip and

the eunuch, and he baptized him.

See, what we understand and we see here that there is such a thing as a person with a hard

heart, a person that's not receptive to the truths and the words of God.

And so for whatever in their mechanism, in their mind, and in their spirit, they put

up walls, they put up barriers, and they don't want to hear anything from God.

This past June, Trisha and I, my wife, our youngest son, Brennan, got to go spend three

weeks in New York City with Campus Crusade for Christ.

Their sole goal was to go on college campuses and go into parks to simply share the gospel.

That was the goal, and that's what they did.

And one of the things he shared with us when he got back, he said, "One of the hardest

thing and most disappointing thing was when they spoke to so many people that already

have answers for why they don't want to know the Lord."

They already have their defense mechanism, their defense questions, they kind of engage

more in an argument instead of a conversation.

You see, there's folks that are like that.

Their heart is hard, and Jesus is pointing to the crowd, he says, and he's pointing it

out because there's some in that crowd that have a hard heart towards the things of God.

But what Jesus also points out in that passage of Scripture is that Satan is there to snatch

it.

And you and I have to realize that Satan is real, he's a real deal.

And he's not there for our good.

He desires more than anything for you not to be in a relationship with God.

He desires more than anything to confuse you, to get your mind off the things of God and

get it on anything other than God.

That is who he is.

That is his tactics.

Jesus said over in John 10:10, he says, "The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and destroy."

John 10:10

That's not pleasant words.

Satan desires to crush, to kill, steal, and destroy any possible word from God to your

life.

And Jesus says there to the crowd, to the disciples, "That's what's happening here when

the seed falls on hard ground.

Satan comes and snatches it away."

And then in verse 5, Jesus goes on to the second individual he's talking about, he says,

"Their seed falls on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they

sprang up since they had no depth of soil."

Interesting there in verse 5 where it says, "No depth of soil."

When I read that, I begin to ask myself the question for myself and for all of us is,

how deep is our soil to receive the word of God?

How deep is our soil to allow the things of God to grow in our life?

Is it shallow like we read here, or is there depth?

Verse 6 says, "But when the sun rose, they were scorched."

The seed begins to grow even though the soil is shallow.

But when the sun comes up, it scorches, it burns.

You and I have witnessed that over the last several weeks, haven't we?

You've probably got a garden that looks like it's about to go.

You've got a yard that, man, you know it's burned up.

I mean, how many times can you look in your yard in the summertime and see oak leaves,

if you have oak trees, laying in your yard because it's so hot?

The sun comes and it scorches, and it says, "And since they had no root, they withered

away."

So important there, root.

Since they had no root, they withered away.

Root in what?

For you and I, when we see the word root in Scripture, we see two different things in

the Scripture.

One, root, which we're referring to spiritual growth in our life, or root, where it's being

cut to die.

And Jesus pointed out that in this individual, the seed has been cast, and because the soil

is so shallow, there is no root, and it will wither away.

Jump down in verse 20 and 21, where Jesus begins to explain this one.

He says, "For what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word of God."

So again, once again, the individual is hearing.

These people aren't deaf to what God is saying.

You and I aren't deaf to what God is saying.

We hear it.

Hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

So this person's a little bit different.

They've received the word of God.

They've received what Jesus is saying with joy.

It brings excitement to them.

Then verse 21, "Yet he has no root in himself."

Jesus said, "There's no root there."

He doesn't have a root that is giving strength.

He has no root that is allowing him for spiritual growth.

He says, "But endures for a while, and when tribulation and persecution arise."

Not if persecution and tribulation will arise, but when it arise.

Then he says, "The reason for it, on account of the word."

So the reason that this individual will receive persecution and tribulation is because they're

trying to live out the word of God.

The word of God is in their life, and all of a sudden now they're being persecuted for

being a Christian.

And Jesus says, "In this person's case, immediately he falls away."

The fire gets too hot.

The persecution is too much.

The tribulation is too much.

And in this case, Jesus says, "This person falls away."

Many times in ministry you see this happen in people's lives.

They come to a worship service.

They come to a retreat or a conference, and they get all pumped up and excited for God.

Their life's been challenged.

The Holy Spirit's worked in them.

God's dealing with them on something.

But then when they get out of the context of that worship experience, or out of the

context of that retreat, or that conference, or that seminar, then they get back to the

reality of life.

And if they've not clinged on to God and clinged on to His word and that relationship they

have, what they were experiencing with the Holy Spirit, it gets lost.

Whereas Jesus says here, "There's no root that takes."

Listen to these verses of Scripture that talks about the root.

In Proverbs 12, verse 3, we read this, "Wickedness never brings stability, but the godly have

Proverbs 12:3

deep roots."

The godly, the individual who walks with God, who talks with God, who listens to God, the

godly have deep roots.

Jeremiah 17, 8, "He is like a tree planted by water that sends out his roots by the stream,

and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in

the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."

Why?

"Because those roots are extended out to the life source, the living water of a relationship

with God."

That's why this individual can take the heat.

That's why this individual can continue to grow when there's drought.

And in Colossians 2, 7, "Let your roots grow down into him."

Down into God, down into Christ.

Let your roots, your life, your way of being grow down into Jesus.

And let your lives be built on him.

Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with

thankfulness.

Maybe many of you have had that question yourself, "Why aren't I growing in my relationship

with God?"

Have you ever asked that question?

Have you ever faced that question?

Why am I stagnant?

Why do I not see growth?

Maybe because your roots aren't where they need to be planted.

You're not connected to the source, being God, being Christ.

Jesus goes on and gives us a third example.

Now again, these first three, this is bad news, right?

There's nothing to celebrate about these three other than they hear the truth of God's Word.

In verse 7, "Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them."

We've been living now in our house here in Columbia for about 23, 24 years.

When we moved in, in our backyard, it goes to our neighbor's backyard, and along the

fence they had put out muscadines I don't know how long ago.

Beautiful muscadine vines all along the fence.

They said to us when we moved in, "Help yourself."

Wish they would have said something to the squirrels about not helping themselves.

But anyways, these last two years, because they're up in age, I would usually go and

try to take care by getting rid of the thorns.

In the last two years, I didn't do a very good job.

And I was back there on that fence looking at the plants and seeing the little bitty

muscadines start to form, and it's overtaken by thorns.

You know the big long ones that have like big thick thorns, I mean they're nasty.

But the ones that are just as nasty are those little bitty ones that got thorn every centimeter

it seems like, and those things will rip through you.

But it's just a picture of what Jesus says here.

Those vines, those thorns grow up and they choke out an incredible plant, a plant that

produces fruit, a plant that has a fruit that's juicy and enjoyable.

Jesus says, listen, when the seed gets among the thorns, it gets choked out.

There's no life that can happen.

Jesus explains in verse 22, as for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who

hears the word.

Once again, there it is, Jesus says, every one of these has heard the word of God.

But get this, Jesus says, but the cares of the world, the cares of the world, you and

I battle that on a constant basis, I bet, where the things of this world we want.

There's certain things about this world that we want, the cares of this world, we get wrapped

up in them.

Then Jesus also says, and the deceitfulness of riches.

Now again, he's not saying riches are bad, riches are wrong, but he says the deceitfulness

of riches.

Right?

The idea that riches are going to do something for you and riches are going to do something

for me, there's times I'd like to try.

But the reality is that yes, they do.

When you get to a certain point and you have a lot of riches, sometimes your mind depends

on that and not the things of God.

I remember quite often, Trish and I would say in our early years of marriage, you know

how it is, those who are married in the crowd, and when you're married and young and the

love part blinds your eyes and you're like, "All right, what are we going to eat this

week?"

Then you go back and say, "You know, that really was a simpler life, a more enjoyable."

Why?

Because you didn't have to rely on certain things that you become to rely on.

You see, Jesus just pinpoints that and he hits that.

"The cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches choke the word."

It's where those things become more important to you and I and the things of God become

less important.

God says, "We've got to reverse that."

Jesus says, "The things of me, the things of God, got to be more important than the

things of this world.

Don't get sucked up into the things of this world because they're going to leave you empty.

They really will.

You may think that you want that new boat, that new camper, that new whatever, and you

may give it.

What the amazing thing is, you can go on Facebook right now and get some pretty good deals on

RVs.

There was a time everybody thought it was great to have them and then it was like, "Man,

this is the pits.

I got to keep up with this thing now."

There's other things in life.

You're like, "I tried to tell my son, my oldest son, 'Dude, you need to get rid of some of

them golf clubs.

You don't need that many.

You can only take one putter on a green.

You can't take ten.'"

The things that we get caught up in, the things that we get wrapped up in, Jesus says, "It

chokes the Word and it proves unfruitful."

Then in verse 8, the only thing of goodness that we see in this parable, Jesus gets to

it and he finally says, "Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain.

Some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

Then he explained to the disciples in verse 23, "As for what was sown on the good soil,

this is the one who hears the Word of God."

Every one of them is hearing the Word of God, but here's the difference.

This individual understands it.

This individual doesn't let anything else come into their life to prevent them from

not only hearing the Word of God and receiving the Word of God and applying the Word of God

and being obedient to it.

This person hears it and understands it.

Jesus says, "He indeed bears fruit and yields."

In one case a hundredfold, another sixty and another thirty.

When you and I hear the Word of God, we understand the Word of God, we're obedient to the Word,

we apply the Word, God shows us that we grow.

God shows us that we produce the characteristics and the qualities that we read in God's Word

about what it is to be a godly man and woman of God.

It is produced in you and in me.

We bear the fruits that Galatians talk about, kindness, gentleness, self-control, the list

goes on.

Jesus says, "That's the kind of soil, the good soil that my Word can grow in, the good

soil that will produce the things in you that I want to produce."

What does it take to hear the Word and understand the Word?

It takes an intentional and consistent time spent with God throughout your life.

Whether you're a believer at seven or eight years old or you're a believer at eighty-eight

years old, it never stops.

You and I have to be a student of God's Word, you and I have to be a researcher of God's

Word to understand what it is that God's Word desires to teach you and to teach me on a

regular basis.

At times in life, it's from the exact same scripture that you may have read twenty times

already.

You see, all through your walk and my walk, the things that we discover in our lives and

the things that we grow through in our lives, anytime God's Word hits that point of our

life there's something new to be discovered.

If I just said, "Okay, I've read from Genesis and Revelation, I'm good."

No, I'm not.

I'm dead.

Dying like a vine that gets cut from the source.

You and I have to realize it's got to be constant, it's got to be intentional in our lives to

be in God's Word on a daily and regular basis.

Once you say yes to God, you've got to continue on that journey.

God's not going to give you what you're not ready to receive.

God doesn't try to pound His Word into your mind, into your heart, into your spirit.

He doesn't work like that, He never has.

God desires for you and I to go to His Word, to read His Word, to discover His Word, and

when we don't understand it to search out what it means, whether it be grab a commentary,

a study Bible, or go to a person that you know and trust and say, "I don't understand

what I just read, will you tell me?"

That's the beauty of being in a small group, that's the beauty of being in a discipleship

relationship.

You have somebody that you can go to and you can ask the questions that you discover in

God's Word and together you can journey in your understanding and your knowledge of God's

Word.

That's the beauty that God gives you and I.

Listen again to what it says in Colossians 2 verse 7, "Let your roots grow down into

Colossians 2:7

Him and let your lives be built on Him, then your faith will grow strong in the truth you

were taught and will overflow with thankfulness."

And Jesus says in verse 9, "He who has ears, let him hear."

Don't just hear the words, but Jesus is saying even more, "Listen to what I'm saying."

Mom and dad, have you ever looked at your child and got their attention and said, "Listen

to what I'm saying."

Don't just hear me and let it rattle around.

I know I was that kid.

Listen to what I'm saying.

There's meaning there, there's truth and that's what Jesus is saying to you and I.

He's saying to those who gathered on the beach to hear Him, "Do more than just hear the words,

listen to the spiritual truth that I'm saying."

Each one of them heard the seed of truth that Jesus was talking about, but each one of them

had to make a decision what to do with that truth.

"See the word of the kingdom of God is God's holy word.

The heart soil," that's you and I, "is either hard, shallow, choked out, or it's ready to

receive what God has to offer you and I."

The result of our response is either going to be this, we're going to allow Satan to

snatch it away from us, or like Jesus said, it's going to fall away because we're not

going to do anything with it, or we're going to allow it to get choked out by the things

of this world, or we're going to take the truth for God's word as it is and receive

it and understand it.

Here's some things I'd ask for you to think about.

Think about if you've got a relationship with God, if you don't have a relationship with

God.

If you don't have a relationship with God, this parable is speaking directly to you in

a powerful way because you are in one of those four individuals' places that Jesus is talking

about.

God said he loves you, he has a plan for you, but because of your sin, you have to

ask him for forgiveness of that sin, to receive his forgiveness because he loves you that

much and died for you, so that you can begin anew a relationship with him that will blow

anything that you could ever imagine or think about.

After being and walking with the Lord for up to 10 years, I can honestly stand before

you and say there is not a greater relationship than a relationship with the Lord.

I don't say that just because I'm a pastor.

I say that because I've walked with the Lord in the fun times and the not so fun times.

God has never turned his back on me.

God has never said, "I don't know you."

God has never done any of those things that would say, "This is not a good deal."

Like his word, it has always been faithful and true.

If you're sitting here this morning, you don't have a relationship with God, what's keeping

you from that?

I guarantee you there's not a single excuse that you can come up with that's valid.

Sure you can come up with it.

Sure you can come up with reasons why not to have a relationship with the Lord.

I know that.

But I guarantee you God's love for you overcomes any reasons that we try to throw back at him.

Think about this.

The seeds of God's word are spoken all around you.

Are you listening to them?

What's the soil condition of your heart?

Hard, shallow, strangled, good?

What's being planted in the soil of your heart?

The things of God and his kingdom or the things of the world?

What are you doing to understand the words of God?

How are you strengthening the roots of your faith?

Are you sowing the things of God in the hearts of those you come in contact with?

Do you bring God's name up in your conversations?

Do you speak God's truth in your encounters?

Or are you sowing the things of this world?

Why is it important for you and I to keep sowing the things of God?

Never stop casting seed.

People are on the journey of life and you never know when the seed that you sow hits

them at the right point or they're ready to receive it.

There's a guy I'm in a small group with on Tuesday morning.

He was sharing.

There's a friend of his and for years he asked this friend, "Man, come to church with me.

Come to church with me.

Come to church."

Five years, he said, he asked that person to come to church with him.

And finally that person comes up to him and says, "Man, I want to go to church."

And the incredible rest of the story is after five years that individual came to church

and it's God continued to work on his life.

And the encounter that he has had with God has been incredible as well.

You see, you and I never know the seeds that we cast when they're going to stick.

So you and I, if we're the sower and we are to be the sower, we shouldn't give up.

We should look for ways in which we can sow the word of God.

We also got to always continue to realize we got to cultivate our soil.

We got to maintain our soil.

We got to do the things that God calls us to do as followers of him to be the godly

men and women that God desires for us to be.

And it all starts with this.

It goes with this and it always ends with this.

There's not a substitute for God's word as you and I walk with God on a daily and regular

basis.

Will you pray with me?

Lord, thank you so much for the privilege of reading your word.

Thank you for the privilege of sharing your word.

And Lord, thank you for the love that you have for us to have given us your word, to

learn how to have a relationship with you, but also Lord, to learn what it means to walk

in relationship with others and to be the example that you call us to be.

Lord, we love you and we thank you.

And that's this prayer in your name.

Amen.

Thanks again for listening and be sure to check back next week for another episode.

In the meantime, you can visit us at willowridgechurch.org or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on

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