Understanding the Kingdom of God (Pt 4) : How Jesus Gets to Your Heart-> Understanding the Parable of the Sower

Okay, so for this morning, how does Jesus get to our hearts?

My first point is one of guidance.

God wants to guide us through the uncertainties of this life, through his loving care, his faithfulness.

You and I don't know what's coming tomorrow.

We don't know what's happening.

But he promises to be with us, never leave nor forsake.

He promises to take care of us.

The question is how?

How does God look after us?

How does he guide us?

He ministers personally to us.

He ministers through the Holy Spirit.

He ministers through angels, through circumstances, through other people.

But primarily, can I suggest to you, he ministers to us through His Word.

He ministers to us by the Word that is spoken and the Word that comes by Revelation.

And the Bible wasn't given to us as a book of instructions independent of the Holy Spirit.

As a matter of fact, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3, 6, and he says, when we try to understand the Word of God without God, the letter kills.

Would you agree with that?

You remember when Jesus himself died, the very people who put him to death knew their Bibles better than anyone else did.

They literally could recite the Torah, all five books, could recite it offhand.

And they could recite talking about God, but God in front of them, they never even knew.

Because it's not enough to just take a book.

I mean, let's be honest. How many of you, before you were saved, had a Bible?

And it made sense.

Hey, how many of you read it?

And when you read it, oh, that makes sense.

And if you like my age, your parents, the spare Bible they had was normally a King James Version, which is even harder when you start the Old Testament

and you're trying to understand what that's saying because the letter kills.

I had a Bible.

My grandmother gave me a Good News Bible when I was young with a nice little picture.

I still didn't understand the thing.

Jesus knew. He knew this.

And he taught in a way that people would be led by the Holy Spirit into a realm of reality called the Kingdom of God.

Because that verse carries on to say, the Spirit gives life.

And so Jesus knew that it is a partnership between him bringing the Word and the Holy Spirit, who ministers the Word, that will bring life to you and I.

So whenever we approach the Bible and we ask how God guides us, or how does God lead us into an understanding on the Kingdom of God?

It will happen by the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit.

You okay so far?

And the result is supposed to be Colossians 2, verse 6.

Colossians 2:6

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him.

Let your roots grow down into him, 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.

So do you see, holding onto truth, the knowing truth outside of being rooted and built in Jesus isn't going to get you anywhere.

You need to be built and rooted in Him.

And Jesus himself knows this.

And so when he starts his discussion with people, he begins with this kind of phrase.

He's essentially telling people to think carefully about what they think they know about God.

You and I come to very interesting conclusions around what we think we know about God.

And it's found in that wonderful passage in Matthew 11:27, my father has entrusted everything to me.

Matthew 11:27

No one truly knows the Son except the Father.

Then he flips it around and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

So there was a very Old Testament understanding of God.

And what Jesus is saying is, I want to get through your filters that you're able to understand who my Father is,

because I'm going to initiate, I'm going to bring to you light the fact that there is a kingdom you're meant to be a part of,

but I don't know about you.

But if I'm going to a kingdom, it's very good idea to know what the king is like of that kingdom,

because the King sets the tone for the kingdom, isn't it?

And so Jesus carries on except the one the Father has chosen to reveal him.

And then he carries on with verses that we do know.

Well then Jesus said, come to me all you who are weary, and you carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you.

Let me teach you, because I'm humble and gentle at heart and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.

In other words, when you come to my Father, the Father I want to introduce you to, when you come to living in the kingdom,

I need to undo certain things.

We live in a very strongly performance based world, don't we?

And what Jesus is wanting to tell us is actually there are certain things God your Father wants you to give him the heaviness of what you carry.

He wants to give them, he wants you to give them to him and he wants to give you something instead.

He wants to trade your heaviness for his lightness, in a sense.

So you need to know the kingdom.

You need to know the Father of the kingdom.

And when you enter the kingdom, understand the nuance, the feel of this kingdom.

It is a beautiful kingdom.

And Jesus knows that.

We're not going to understand God or His Word by being clever, intelligent, scholarly, even by studying hard.

The interaction of God with you and I, by His Word and through His Spirit, is personal.

He knows what it'll take to get you to hear Him.

He knows where you're missing it.

He knows where you aren't.

He knows where you are in your life.

He knows how to address you.

And here's the big thing you're going to learn this morning.

When the Word of God comes, Jesus is saying, there's an interaction.

I'm going to open it up now.

There's an interaction from me to you.

However, the interaction depends on the condition of our hearts, our minds and our lives.

So no matter what I come and bring towards you, what soil is there that my word is going to go into?

That's kind of what Jesus is asking.

So that was point one, point two, the first parable.

There were three aspects to Jesus ministry.

Earth teaching, preaching, otherwise known as announcing or healing, says, yeah, Jesus traveled.

Matthew 9:35.

Matthew 9:35

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about the kingdom.

And he healed every kind of disease and illness.

So let's just look quickly at the flow of Matthew's gospel from chapter four through to chapter 12.

Right.

Chapter four starts with Jesus in verse 17, saying these words, repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

Repent of your sins, turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

The people of Israel have been waiting for a king.

They've been waiting for a Messiah.

The announcement has come.

And in that announcement, he draws masses of people to himself.

And as these masses of people come to himself, he now wants to train them around, what does this kingdom look like?

So chapters five to seven is Jesus literally teaching about the nature of the kingdom of God.

We call them the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes.

And the Bible says chapter eight, as he came down, he began to heal, minister.

So he preached it, and then he did it.

Chapters 8 and 9, he started to minister from chapter 10.

Just how quick we're going through Matthew.

First time in history I've been so quick.

Matthew from Chapter 10 to Chapter 12, you now have Jesus appointing disciples and telling them, you've seen me do it.

Now I want you to go do it.

And as they go out and they minister, they come back with a report which you and I know.

And that report is recorded in Luke 10, verse 20.

Luke 10:20

Is this.

Even the demons obey us when we use your name.

Now listen, if you're in those days and there's spiritual warfare going on and you're not as familiar as you and I are,

it's incredible to know that demons can flee when you are around.

How many of you have had things go bump in the night in your place?

How many of you have had move into a new home or you move into a new area, you go on holiday somewhere or you go stay in a hotel room

and something comes around and the lights turn on or something happens and things shake and you know there's something going on.

And my question is, who you going to call?

And these guys use spiritual info and say, can you believe it? These demons tremble in your name.

They flee. They listen.

Jesus responds, don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you.

Rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.

He's trying to show again, there is a king with a kingdom.

And when you have a place in that kingdom, you've got the passport.

When your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, you have a father, you're in a kingdom.

The demons are not fleeing because of you.

They're fleeing because of your dad.

They're fleeing because of Jesus.

They're fleeing because of your position in this incredible kingdom.

So Jesus is saying, don't get distracted by the battle because the battle is the Lord's.

Rather look to him and your identity in him.

He's concerned about it.

And then an extended record of Jesus teaching about the kingdom of God begins in Matthew, chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

And as Jesus preaches in Matthew 13, he reaches a point where he's been teaching about the kingdom of God

and he's watching the people who are listening.

There's varied reactions.

Not everyone did receive him.

Not everyone could receive him.

Those who did receive his words often heard in different ways.

He saw those whose hearts was set against his Father and they were simply trying to get their own way and how their hearts were hardened.

Even when Jesus made this incredible appeal and he said, if you do not believe my words,

at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves, they still wouldn't believe.

Jesus knew their hearts were being hardened.

He sensed their resistance and so he wants to minister to them.

How can Jesus get to your heart?

I think one of the toughest jobs must be to be a teacher.

I've never been one.

I was never called to be one.

I cannot imagine having between 25 and 50 kids in that class who have no intention of staying there.

Look, there's always two or three girls. Hey.

And they're always in the front taking.

And there's one little bloke, you know, they. But.

And they're just taking notes and they want to be there.

The rest of you preaching.

Sometimes you just take one look and you know, they're like they're there.

But they definitely aren't, are they?

When Jesus is looking and he's preaching, there's a whole lot of spiritual activity going on while he's ministering.

He's watching.

And now he wants to teach them.

How does Jesus get to your heart?

So point number three, seeds everywhere.

Matthew 13 opens with large crowds following Jesus.

And I read the first three verses later that same day from the living translation, New living.

Later that same day, Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake.

A large crowd soon gathered around him.

So he got into a boat.

Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore.

He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one.

Listen.

Exclamation mark.

A farmer went out to plant some seeds.

He starts with, listen.

Have you ever had a kid who doesn't want to do what they're told?

And when you put your face down in front of them, you say, listen.

You know that if they don't, what follows thereafter is a consequence to the not listening, right?

And remember what we always said.

When you're a person from Edenvale and someone says, listen, my friend, you know this.

The time for listening is over.

And he's not your friend what's about to.

You know the same.

So listen.

A farmer went out to plant some seeds.

Now, immediately, everyone, because it's an agrarian society, everyone knows exactly what Jesus means in that moment.

They're like, we know what you're trying to say.

Because to plant or to sow seeds means to scatter them where they would have a chance to germinate.

So he says, a farmer went to sow seeds.

No one in their right mind goes to sow seeds in a place where there's guaranteed to be no reaction.

They're hoping that wherever they plant the seeds, it's going to germinate.

That's why the farmer does it.

He doesn't want to waste what he's got.

I'm not just risking and throwing my seed into the Sea.

He's saying, there's something behind this.

So he's saying to them, this word I'm giving you, My Father in heaven wants to release seed to you that is intentional.

He wants it to germinate.

They get it, they hear.

Then it carries on.

As he scattered them across his field, because the world is the Lord's.

As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath and the birds came and ate them.

Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock.

The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow, but the plants soon wilted under the hot sun.

And since they didn't have deep roots, they died.

Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.

So you can imagine Jesus giving a parable.

He's giving all this bad news, this farmer sowing seed, you know, you want to plant into good areas.

So he's planting, but it's not producing good. Why?

He's leaving them a question. Hang on.

If this is a clever farmer, why is he planting in these different kinds of soils that none of us would plant in?

And then, being a parable, Jesus teaches this way.

Then he suddenly turns around and teaches exactly the opposite.

Because that's what a parable does, right?

It draws contrast.

So this is the very next verse.

Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was 30, 60, and even 100 times as much as has been planted.

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.

Obviously, he's trying to let them know that there is something that's going to happen here.

If he's a clever farmer, what are the kinds of soil?

I mean, you probably heard us preach a hundred times.

And I just want to start by saying to you, when you and I trust God for revival, we trust God for growth, we trust God for salvation.

This becomes very important for how we do ministry.

This passage, and I'll tell you why.

The point of the parable is straightforward.

A great spiritual start with great sowing of seed is not a guarantee of a great ending.

You and I rejoice, don't we, when people get saved?

Public commitments to Jesus, the first signs of spiritual life, they get excited, they come back a second week, they actually answer the phone.

When you phone them, it's like, this is exciting.

But the evident fruitfulness is the thing we must be going after.

A tree has to be assessed by its fruit.

It doesn't matter what you say, because what you demonstrate is reality of what's in there.

That's why I read Colossians 2, put your roots down into him, Be built up in him.

And so when we want to see people saved, remember, we don't get wowed by responses.

We get wowed by fruit that needs to be seen later.

We don't be fooled.

Remember when Jesus had crowds following him.

He stopped and he said, broad is the road, wide is the gate that leads to destruction.

Narrow is the path, small is the gate that leads to life.

There's a problem here.

There's too many of you.

You and I judge a successful church by its size, its numbers.

It's great.

I mean, I love that.

But it's not what we chase.

Because they can be deceiving.

That's why Jesus said, eat my body, drink my ear to show them.

Hang on.

You're missing something here.

We have to go after the fruit.

What does the Jesus parable about the four soils tell us?

We've got to pay attention to things.

You and I offer courses, we offer teaching as a church.

But I want to say to you, our resulting effectiveness happens when people devote themselves to what the Lord has called them to.

Acts 2 from verse 42.

They devoted themselves to the apostles, doctrine, prayer, fellowship, and breaking of bread.

They devoted themselves.

Looking out in the room this morning, there's very few of you that were dragged by your ear to church.

I think most of you came here because you actually want to be here this morning.

Hey, in spite of the fact that I'm preaching, you came in not knowing that.

But my point is, you walk in because you want to be here only if you're in a crib or you're under the age of 10.

You're there because you're being dragged.

You're here because you want to be here.

Why? Because God has done something in you.

You longing to be with him.

You want to come under His Word.

You're not like that person who said, we don't need to preach all the time, we just need the presence of God.

Do you think if Jesus had just walked around for three and a half years, anything would have happened?

Of course not.

It's the preaching of the Word.

It's the ministry of the Word of God.

It's critical Jesus didn't resurrect David.

And they played the harp and pling, plinged and waited for people to come around.

And, you know, I remember one guy said, it's not. It's never to do with the anointing, the grace, whatever, on the preacher's life.

The power is in the Word itself.

End of the conference.

The guys got around him and said, well, if that's true, why don't we get 10 big churches, 10 really big churches

and ask them to sell everything they have, put it in a pot.

And with that money, we're going to get bookings on radio stations, TV stations, social media, in every country in the world.

And on a certain day, we're going to tell the whole world.

John 3:16, the power of the Word will get the whole lot saved in one shot.

John 3:16

You can hear how ludicrous it is, and you're going to discover why now.

So the reality is the Word's going to go out there, but it's when you see people devoting themselves to the things of God,

you know it's finally taken root.

A tree starting to bear fruit because of its own root system, not because it's hanging around with its neighbor.

So Jesus tells the most important story, and you know it's the best part because you're going to see it now.

He says, if you do not understand this parable, you're not going to understand any of them.

And the parables are the introduction to teaching on the kingdom of God.

So you're not going to get it unless you understand this parable is what Jesus said.

But the disciples remember, they come to him afterwards and they say, why do you speak like this?

Because the religious rulers, they haul out the scroll, they ring the bells.

There's a certain way you got to speak.

Jesus does none of that.

Do you see?

He doesn't even use one religious word in the story.

A farmer went out to sow birds and stony ground and hot weather crops.

Not one religious word.

Didn't read scripture, didn't pray, didn't sing a hymn.

He just tells them a story.

So they come to him and they say, now what's going on here?

And Jesus is going to tell them straight away, the seed.

Point number four, seeds versus weeds.

The seed is the word of God.

Everything else you're listening to is weeds.

The word of God is seeds.

I'm not going to get onto this this week, but I want to tell you, most of our screen time is weeds and not seeds.

And it's going to grow in the same field because you're watering that thing the whole time.

Matthew 13:18.

Matthew 13:18

Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds.

Jesus says the seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the kingdom of God.

They don't understand it.

The evil one comes, snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.

The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy.

And then the story carries on.

What is Jesus trying to communicate at this point?

When the word of God comes into an individual's life?

Right now, as I'm preaching, when you had your quiet time this morning, your quiet time tomorrow, when you're waiting on God next week,

or you did last month, whenever the Word of the Lord comes into your life, it can only begin to feed on the soil that's already there.

You can't go borrow soil from a neighbor.

The soil, the condition of your own heart, is critical to hearing what God wants to say.

It's that important.

If you're too busy with other things to receive the Word of God, it won't take root.

Or if it does take root, because you're so busy, it'll be starved or anemic.

If your soil isn't ready, you ain't getting seeds.

You're getting weeds.

Weeds don't need much to grow.

Have you ever noticed you can throw weeds anywhere they germinate?

That's why they're called weeds.

Number five.

Jesus is slowly edging us towards two truths, and he has the one.

The tricky issue of free will.

The tricky issue of free will.

The parable of Sower is so important because it answers this question.

Why doesn't the word of God, the Logos, have effect on people in the way we hope it will?

Why doesn't it have that effect on some people, but it does on others?

It moves me to ask this question, as a guy reads my Bible, why doesn't God just change people?

And the answer is that doesn't reflect a lack of power on God's part.

Do you know that if God wanted to, he could rewire every single one of us to be faithful followers like Job or Hannah or whoever?

God could move you.

It's not a question about what God can do you.

The question is, what will God do?

What's the manner God uses to interact with you and I?

Do you agree that God can do anything he wants, but yet, because we're in his kingdom, he has ways that he works within his kingdom

that he wants you and I to learn from living in this kingdom of his.

So can I make this bold statement?

Please hear me in trying to explain to you this morning how seeds get into our hearts, but some hearts just don't receive it.

Why doesn't God just change them?

The kingdom of God is a kingdom of love, of understanding, of maturity, where people live together as Christians.

Under the governance of the most glorious being in all of reality, God himself.

He says the principle of his kingdom.

In fact, the greatest commandment in his kingdom is love the Lord your God with all your heart.

The second greatest commandment is love your neighbor as yourself.

And God showed us his love for us in this.

That he, son sacrificed his own life on a cross.

When you hear these words, I hope you're hearing the ways of the King of the kingdom.

This kingdom is.

When you tell me that this is the kingdom, that my sin will be forgiven, will not be remembered, that God will love me, that he will take care of me.

I want to be in that kind of kingdom.

It's a kingdom I long for.

It's a kingdom that makes sense to me.

It will never be a kingdom of people who are knocked on the head or rewired to become religious robots.

It's a kingdom in which you grow and mature freely.

This is a kingdom in which a groom woos a bride.

It's not a kingdom in which a groom rapes a bride.

Excuse my language.

He never forces or he is one who loves.

He is the Rose of Sharon.

He's the most beautiful being that's ever been.

In Christ we see the perfection of the Father.

When you have worship like we had this morning, your heart is drawn towards him.

It's the nature of the King.

And so he'll present his word to you in that manner.

And can I tell you something about our God?

He reveals himself in such a way through creation, through the revealed word, by His Holy Spirit.

Through the story of Jesus, the Father presents himself in such a way as to win the heart and to capture the mind.

He wants to win you to himself, but he will always give you the freedom to choose what you want, won't coerce you.

When a human being says, I want to have my way, God says, it's okay, you can.

What is heaven?

Heaven is simply the dwelling where I'm gonna find God.

My young boy, who looks so tired this morning was sleeping over at a friend's house.

A friend called Chase, I believe.

Is that where you were? No.

Yes.

Where were you? There.

I want to tell you this.

He wouldn't have gone to Chase's house if Chase wasn't there.

The reason he's going to Chase his house is because Chase is there.

If he goes and Chase's folks are hanging out and he's away, it's like, hey,

the reason that you and I want to get to heaven is because our Father is there.

People who don't want the Father are not going to get to heaven for the simple reason that what God is saying is this.

I'm giving you your choice.

You.

You don't want me now.

You want nothing to do with me here and now.

So why am I going to take you to a place where there's a whole lot more of me?

So what I'm going to do instead is.

You don't want me by choice, then live without me.

I'm going to allow you to go to the place where my presence isn't.

And that's what hell is.

So same with the Word of God.

The Word of God will come to you.

I'm going to read it now.

But you've got to understand, your responsive heart will what the soil.

The soil that you produce determines how far that seed's going to go.

The worst thing that can ever happen to a human is to have their way when that way doesn't include God.

Number six. Almost done.

Hardened hearts.

It almost seems to me when I read Scripture that the Word of God can be effective.

But for those who don't listen, it can harden them even more.

Because the hardening of the heart is a simple consequence of their own repeated rejection of God's grace and truth.

What does God do then?

He lets you simply walk the path that you wanted to walk.

And they seem.

It almost seems like when people walk further away from God in disobedience, they don't allow further intervention or softening of their hearts.

It becomes more and more difficult for people to repent.

We know the sovereignty of God is always there, like we heard this morning, for the one who is far, who wants to come close.

But do you understand?

The Bible says the goodness of God leads to repentance.

There is also a time the goodness of God can lead to a hardening of hearts because we refuse to listen, we refuse to obey.

Nine times Pharaoh asks Moses, please let God relent from his judgment to spare us.

Nine times the goodness of God does a miracle which counters the judgment of God.

Nine times there is a temporary repentance, but it was never of the heart.

So on the 10th time, he lost his firstborn of everything in the land.

Because sometimes the very goodness of the kindness of the Word of God can harden a heart where the soil does not want to receive it.

How many times have you tried to speak to a friend, a contact, someone who just doesn't want to know about Jesus?

And if they're aggro and you go at them, they come at you even stronger?

That very Word actually hardens.

Which is why we often say to you, when there's the trees, the fruits on the tree, once you pull it a little bit,

if it's green, it's not ready yet.

Leave it alone.

You might be person 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 along the way.

Who's going to lead that person to Christ?

You don't know the journey they're on.

Bring the good news, leave the reaction up to the Lord.

If it's ripe, play it.

If it's not right, don't.

Because you don't know where people's hearts are at.

Are you okay?

Think of the people that we've seen in this church.

We count the stats and we have on average between 250 and 300 people every year that publicly respond to Jesus.

Where they, where they.

Because they come here, they respond.

We take them out there, we pray with them, we invite them to our rooted course.

They all get a phone call on Sunday, they all get material on Sunday, they all get given a phone call on Monday,

they all get invited.

We have about a 20% retention rate if we're lucky, with all the effort we busy putting in.

If you look at this passage, makes perfect sense.

It actually makes sense because the reason that people often put their hands up is to escape something, not to run to Jesus.

And then what happens is God in his kindness, like with Pharaoh, literally, the thing I'm asking God to help me with,

God does help me with.

Then when I find relief from the thing God helped me with, suddenly it's going right again.

I'm out of here.

Because the seed has never been planted in that soil because of the hardening of their own hearts,

which leads to the Last point number seven for today.

The power of the Word.

In Luke 8, 9, the disciples come to him and say, what does this parable mean?

Mark 4, verse 13 puts it like this.

Mark 4:13

Jesus said, if you can't understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand the other parables?

So you've got to get what this one is actually about.

It is the key.

There are ears to hear, there is soil that's around.

Jesus says in the NIV.

In Matthew 13, verse 19, the NIV.

Matthew 13:19

He starts off this verse by saying this.

When anyone hears the message or when anyone hears the word, the Greek word is Logos.

When anyone hears the logos, which is from the Greek word Lego.

I don't know.

I don't think it's Lego blocks.

It might be.

Which is a powerful term meaning when something is the same because it's when something is structured or formed.

So the Greek word lego means you take something that wasn't and you put it together and you structure or form something.

Which is, I think, where we get our word lego from, which is the word Logos.

So God is.

Jesus is saying when the Word or the Logos goes out, a formation is done.

Now in present tense.

When our team went out to Hillbrow last week and prayed for that lady to be healed, they spoke words.

Jesus did something forming, some structure happened, a healing happened.

Something happened to my knee.

Something happens to people when we pray for them because the Logos goes out, the Word goes out.

Genesis chapter one.

God spoke and everything came into being.

John, chapter one.

In the beginning was the Word, the Logos.

The Logos was before all things.

He's trying to show us that every time you have a quiet time, read your Bible, you're hearing now.

Every time you wait on the Lord, literally personal power goes out from him to you.

But it requires a listening heart with good soil, which leads to this.

When a word comes to you.

Point 8.

I said that was the last.

This is really the last.

Deciding to listen.

Verse 19 continues.

When anyone hears the Logos about the kingdom and doesn't understand it, hearing and understanding the message involves your mind and your will.

You do know that your will has very little power in and of itself.

Even the strongest world, the brightest mind would agree.

You lost the battle of the vows you made on January 1, you lost by January three or four.

Let's be honest, we don't keep those things.

Doesn't matter how strong your will is.

The reality is this.

When the Word of God comes into our minds.

These are my closing statements.

When the Word of God comes into our minds, we decide how important it is to hold on to.

We decide when Jesus was sharing his stories, the listeners get to determine how important the Word is to them.

That's why whenever you come under God's Word, I think the most important question to ask is this.

What am I choosing to do with the Word that has come into my mind?

That which the Lord is speaking, what am I choosing to do with it?

Because I'm responsible for it.

I want to close with this.

If you've got a Bible open to one John chapter two, and I'm saying I'm saying this to Christians.

How many Christians have spent hours under the Word of God, hours having quiet times, reading their Bibles, bible reading plans, etc.

Etc.

Then you read this where John is just trying to describe to you and I the growth process of a believer from being born Again to maturity,

and he just throws out.

In 1 John, chapter 2, I'll read from the new living, but I'll reference the NIV as well.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

1 John 2:12.

1 John 2:12

I'm writing to you who are God's children, or you dear children, because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus or on account of his name.

I'm writing to you who are mature in the faith, or you who are fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning,

or you know Christ who existed from the beginning.

Then he picks on the young men.

I write to you who are young in the faith, or the young men because you have won your battle with the evil one.

You have overcome the evil one.

I write to you who are children because you know the Father.

I write to you who are mature in the faith because you know him who is from the beginning, or you know Christ who existed from the beginning.

I write to you who are young in the faith, you young men, because you're strong, because the Word lives in your heart

and you've won your battle with the evil one.

Do you see how John, under the direct influence of Jesus, tells us to assess the fruitfulness of a Christian

in the baby phase of being a Christian, when you first got saved, the two things that you own above every other thing is number one,

I now have a father, which means I'm no longer an orphan.

I have a father in heaven.

I have an identity.

If I have a father, then I'm a child, which means I live in a home where my Father has rules that I choose to live by.

Not only do I have a father, but that Father, through the death and resurrection of his son, has forgiven me my sin.

It's not held against me anymore.

I am free of sin.

I am free of the condemnation of the evil one sins past, present and future.

And why that's relevant is a young person in this room, a young faith person, needs to know your identity.

You have a father, you are in a household and your sin has been forgiven.

So stop playing around in the areas of who am I?

What's my identity?

I don't know where I am.

You're in the house of God.

You're a child of God.

I always feel so bad for my sins.

I don't know if I should go to church.

I don't know.

May I?

Stop it.

Not feeling great.

I'm not feeling this, I'm not feeling that.

How many of you are held in condemnation by the evil one because you haven't let the word get in your heart that says

you're a loved child forgiven, with an identity that a father has given you.

How many of you?

And then you move on to a young man.

What does it say about a young man?

The word of God lives in you.

The not you are.

You have overcome the evil one.

You win far more battles than you lose.

Your life is characterized by far more victories than defeats.

You're young, your head is up, you have the word of God in your hand.

You know how to defeat evil when it comes.

And then you progress to a father.

You fathers, you mature men in the face, mature people in the face.

And what identifies about you is you have known him who is from the beginning.

You are now comfortable with mystery, that God surprises you, that God can take your life as a living sacrifice,

that he can alter your life plan with his life plan, that he can change all the dreams and desires you had.

And because you did in him, he can give you his dreams and desires and you're happy.

And you're happy to spend your life for the sake of the gospel.

And you're growing in your maturity and things don't always work out the way you thought they would.

And you're comfortable.

You're not throwing your toys out the cart every time God didn't give you what you think God needs to give you.

You're no longer a spoiled little brat because you suddenly progressed.

Why?

What is this progression from little child to young man to father?

It's a progression of people who take the Logos, the word of God, into a heart that's ready for it and says,

come, Lord, let your word bear fruit in my life.

The problem is not the power of the Logos, it's coming to form structure, to form things in your life.

God's coming to do things.

The issue is what condition is the soil of your heart that that living word is getting put into.

Stand with me, please.

Thank you so much for being a part of our meeting today.

Can I just ask two things?

The first is if today the message has in any way been useful to you, would you mind just maybe liking it

or putting perhaps a statement down or a comment down that we can know how the ministry has helped you.

Maybe a thumbs up, maybe you can subscribe to the channel, do whatever, just so we can know what impact

this message may be having on you.

And secondly, you may be someone who's saying, Greg, I hear you, and this hope that Jesus has for us

can come into my heart and it can change me.

But the reality is that I don't even know if I know Jesus, I want to say two things to you right away.

The first is he's near you right now.

The Bible says if you believe in your heart that he is the Lord, and if you confess him with your mouth,

you will be saved.

Which means you just need to where you are.

Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ even now and just say, lord, here I am.

I recognize who you are.

I confess my sin to you.

I acknowledge you as Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, the Son of the living God.

And I want to follow you.

I want to become a disciple of yours.

I want to give my life to you, Lord.

And you can pray that prayer right now between you and the Lord.

Secondly, you can get hold of us.

You can see the telephone number.

You can get hold of us and say, hey, I've given my life to the Lord.

Can you help me from here on out?

And we could either send you some material, we can put you in touch with a really good church near you.

If you live in our area, you can come to us, you can come follow us on YouTube.

But it is good to get connected into the family of God, to get connected into a local church

that your life changes being surrounded with the family of God.

Please stay in touch.

God bless you.