Parable of the Soil | Todd Jones

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.