Living With A Heart Condition

Not for a minute were we forsaken. The Bible

says, I'll neither leave you nor forsake you.

I'll be with you to the very end. You see, we

go through things in life and we go through things

at time. And these students right here are a

testament to going through things in life. Amen.

But as they go through things in life, this song

pierces the inner depths of our soul. Because

it says, not for a minute was I forsaken. The

Lord is in this place. And then they're asking,

come Holy Spirit. Dry bones awaken. Some of our

bones have become dry this morning. Some of the

things down inside of us lay a little dormant.

But I think God is calling out to his people

today, saying, come alive. They said it, dead

things come alive. Because when you begin to

interject Jesus into the situation, dead things

come alive. Hallelujah. Give him praise one more

time in his house today. He is worthy of our

praise. Amen. Give these young men and women

a hand clap of praise. They did an outstanding

job this morning leading us into worship. What

an awesome, awesome job. One of the wonderful

gifts that I have been given. is the fact that

I get to pastor this young group of men and women.

And the blessing that I receive is more than

this, but I get to preach after worship like

that every single Wednesday. Guys, when you look

around at these young men and women, they're

becoming warriors. It's hard for me to talk about

them without crying. But I'm proud of them. I'm

proud of everything they're becoming because

they're allowing the Lord to lead their life.

Amen. But I've come this morning with a word

I believe that God has placed on my heart to

give to you today. Because when you think about

the songs and the things that we've sung about

already this morning, It makes you wonder where

our hearts are today. I question that among myself

several times because I don't know about you,

but I don't wake up the same way all the time

every morning. Sometimes I wake up and I've got

a bad mood on me. I've got a bad attitude or

my heart's not receptive. I'm not ready to be

who I know God's called me to be. There's a struggle

that happens. Amen. We all go through it. But

I think about where my heart is today, this morning,

and I think about where our hearts may be today.

And that's kind of what I want to preach to you

today about. And it's a simple thought that says

living with a heart condition. And you can turn

with me to Matthew chapter 13, and then I'll

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

let you guys be seated. I know you've been standing

for worship. Chapter 13, verse 1, and I'm going

to read through verse 9. Give you a second to

get there. Living with a heart condition. Chapter

13 verse 1 says, 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 along rocky ground, where they did not have

much soil. Immediately they sprang up, and since

they had no depth of soil, but when the sun arose,

they were scorched. And since they had no root,

they withered away. Other seeds fell among the

thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain,

some hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Father,

I love you today. I thank you for this opportunity

that I have to break. and preach this lovely

word. And God, I pray that as I have spoken this

word, I pray that it reaches into the inner depths

of our soul. Lord, I pray that as our hearts

are rung out this morning, that we will hear

what the Spirit would be saying to us this morning.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You guys can be

seated. Living with a heart condition, in this

passage of Scripture, a very familiar story,

most of you have heard it. the parable of the

sower. And after Jesus spoke this parable to

the multitude, the group of crowds sitting on

the shore, the disciples asked him once they

were alone, they said, why do you teach or preach

in parables? And Jesus went on to describe to

them how they have been made known the mysteries

of the kingdom of God. They have been made known

the things that others would not typically know

of the kingdom of God, but he spoke in parables

that they would hear. He actually said that I

speak in parables so that Isaiah could be fulfilled

where it says, you will indeed hear but never

understand. You will indeed see but never perceive.

For this people's heart has grown dull. Somebody

say dull. Their heart has grown dull. And with

their ears they can barely hear and their eyes

they have closed. lest they should see with their

eyes and hear with their ears and understand

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

What Jesus is saying is they may not understand

the things that I explain to you, my people,

but to these people I preach in parables so that

they would understand and hear, and it would

draw them, and they would turn, and they could

be healed. But he's lining them up to talk about

the conditions of their hearts. Amen. And to

understand this parable fully, you've got to

understand the sower. Because there's a sower

of the seed. But who is the sower? There are

several things that the sower is identified as.

Firstly, in the parable, the sower would be as

like the farmer casting seed into the field.

According to Jesus in his interpretation of this

parable in Mark 4, 14, the sower sows the word

of God. And the sower pictured in this parable

is a reference to Jesus and by extension to all

those who preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus

Christ. It's a fact I am sowing this very hour.

Amen. The sower's intentions are also important.

It says that this farmer, since he has the seed

and he casts the seed into his field, he does

so with a hope that some will fall on good soil.

I don't know if some of you in here are farmers,

but when you cast seed, some of you may place

it specifically in the ground. But back then,

they threw seed and cast seed and hoping that

it would fall on good soil. Some would fall.

He sows because he ultimately desires to reap

a harvest. Amen. You don't sow seed as a farmer

unless you intend on reaping, right? Unless you

intend on getting something in return. He cast

his seed with the expectation of much more. The

sower has one goal, and that is to get his seed

into the ground so the harvest can come. You

see, the same is true with the seed of the gospel

today. It is sown into the field of the world

with the prayer that it will fall on good hearts,

take root, grow up, and produce much fruit to

the glory of the Lord. There are hearts in this

room that have received the seed of the gospel

at one time. The seed germinated in your heart

and produced within your soul. Now your life

is a fruitful testimony of the power of God's

saving grace. That is the intention of our heavenly

sower, and that is my desire to sow to you today.

You see, the seed is sowed in us, and if our

hearts are designed and are ready to receive

that as good soil is, that seed, once it is planted,

will germinate, and it will bring forth fruit,

and that fruit will produce more seed. And that's

our job, isn't it, as believers? Our job is to

go forth and produce more seed. Amen. The third

thing we need to understand about the sower is

he has an investment. The farmer must give something

away before he can expect to receive something

in return. He takes the precious seed that he

saved from the last harvest, and he casts it

into the soil, hoping that it will produce a

great harvest. The seed is all the farmer has,

and he gives it away, hoping to receive more

in return. You see, this is what our heavenly

sower did. Jesus gave his all so that there might

be a gospel seed to cast into the soil of the

human heart. He died on the cross. He rose again,

literally giving his all. knowing that some seed

would fall on good soil and would produce a great

harvest, and they would come back to him. Jesus

gave his all for you and for me so that we might

have a gospel to believe and that you might produce

fruit to the glory of God. The message we preach

at this church is a message about a free gift

of salvation through Jesus Christ. However, while

salvation may be free, it certainly was not cheap.

It cost the glory of heaven his life on a cross.

He gave all that he had to give us a soul -saving,

life -changing gospel to preach. Amen. Go ahead

and give God praise in his house this morning

that he sent his only son to die on a cross that

we would have a way. And a seed to plant in others.

Amen. So the sower is very important in this

story. The sower representing Jesus Christ and

you and me alike. But if we don't have a heart

conditioned to be a sower, how can we then sow?

Sometimes we get confused as to what being a

sower is or what being a believer is. We think

that knowing Christ in ourself and having him

as a savior of our life is just for us and us

alone. We think God's good for us and he's not

against us, and that is all true, but it's not

only for us to keep to ourselves. The message

has never been, the seed has never been for us

to keep to ourselves. If we're keeping it to

ourselves, we must not have a heart that is like

good soil. Because when you plant a crop on good

soil, you can guarantee you're going to reap

a harvest. Amen. We need to understand also.

About the seed. We know about the sower, but

what about the seed? And what a treasure that

seed truly is. Amen. In Luke 8, 11, Jesus identifies

the seed as the word of God. When a farmer walked

into his field, his seed bag was his treasure.

I know when I went on the mission trip to Africa,

my eyes were really open to what seed can do.

When I look around and they were in an extreme

drought, water was hard to come by. So if water

is hard to come by, seed and fruits and crops

are hard to come by as well. But it doesn't help

if you don't have the seed. You can have water

and dirt, but if you have no seed, you have no

crop. Are you following me this morning? So the

seed or the word of God is our treasure this

morning. It is the thing that should mean the

absolute most to us. When I take this Bible and

I press it up against my chest and I just hug

it. How many hug their Bible? I do. I hug mine.

It is the living word of my Lord Jesus Christ.

And I will hug it and hold it close. And every

time I do, it does not surprise me that the presence

of the Lord meets me right there where I am.

this close and the seed that I have is visible.

It's in front of me. I'm putting it into the

inner depths of my soul. And my heart is good

soil. It's been milled and tilled by the grace

of God. It can produce in me fruit that I couldn't

produce any other way. So take your Bibles and

hold them dear. If you got a phone, that's okay.

But there's nothing that can separate this right

here from our hearts if our hearts are of good

soil. Amen. He cast his treasure to the wind,

hoping it would accomplish his desires. 2 ,000

years ago, Jesus walked into this world with

a treasure. He came to give men the gospel of

grace. When Jesus cast his seed of the gospel

into the shifting winds of this world, he did

so with a sure knowledge that it would accomplish

his purpose completely. Understand that the word,

the seed, holds great power because it holds

life. When I was in Africa, the seed was life

or death. It was literally how they ate, how

they made food, how they did everything was the

product of the seed. So we need to understand

tonight that the seed of the word of God is life

itself. It is the very being that we have to

live and move and walk in this life and walk

in the purpose and the plan that God's called

you into. Before the seed falls on the soil,

the soil is devoid of life. Amen. It is devoid

of life. It lies there barren and empty. But

when the seed falls into the soil. I said when

the seed falls into the soil. And it germinates.

And it gets down deep into the inner depths of

your soul. And for some reason you can't seem

to get away from the seed. And for some reason

you can't seem to get away with the power that's

in the seed. With the life that's in the seed.

Your life becomes completely radically transformed

by Jesus' name. Amen. It brings forth life and

eventually fruit in its place where only barrenness

and death could be found before. This is what

makes the gospel such a great treasure. It produces

life in the place of something that was formerly

dead. Amen. I don't know about you, but I was

once dead in my sin. I told this story before.

Born and raised in church my whole life. Mom

and daddy took me to church. I knew the right

way. But when I was not much younger than these

men and women right here, I fell away from the

Lord. Anybody ever do that? Anybody ever make

a wrong turn? I'm glad y 'all haven't because

I have. But I turned away from the Lord at one

time. My heart was no longer a soft soil, a good

soil to be rooted and planted in. It was not

that way. But I found my way back. One day, by

the grace of God, and I was no longer dead in

my sin, but I was alive by the power of Jesus

Christ. Amen. And I know we all have that salvation

story. And if you don't, you can leave here today

with it. Amen. I'm so grateful for that power

and the life that his seed brings. So as it is

with the gospel of grace, it brings life to dead

hearts of those lost in their sins. When the

seed germinates in the soil, it transforms the

soil and brings life. It also holds great promise.

The seed holds great promise, and that's in abundance

and more. Amen? Every seed that is sown by the

sower had the potential to produce much more

seed. Amen? Verse 8 and 23 bear this out. One

little seed had the potential to multiply itself

30 and 60 and 100 times. Those of you who farm

have seen this principle in action. When you

plant a bean seed and a bean plant grows, multiple

bean seeds spawn from that plant. Amen. From

one seed, there's an abundance. Same thing with

squash or cucumber or pick your plant. Farmers,

pick your plant. I'm not a farmer myself, so

y 'all know more than I do. But pick your plant.

I do know that if a seed's planted, it grows,

it brings forth multiple seeds. Amen. And that's

beautiful. Each seed has the potential to reproduce

itself many times over. Such is the promise of

the seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Such

is the promise of the seed of the word of God.

When it is sown in a ready heart, it will germinate

and reproduce itself over and over again. The

seed has the potential to begin small and to

bring forth much. And that's what God is asking

us to do as the sower of the seed. We're meant

to cast the seed, and as we plant that seed on

good soil, it will germinate and bring forth

more seed to go out across all the world because

that needs to happen, right? The world needs

to hear the message of Jesus Christ. I can tell

you that there's a group of young men and women

that I meet with on Wednesday night that are

dedicated to becoming world changers. They're

dedicated to taking their seed that they were

given and expanding it across everywhere. They're

taking it to their schools. They're taking it

to their jobs. They're taking it to their groups.

They're taking it to their friends. taking it

to their family because sometimes we may be good,

but our family's not. But we're praying for that

family. We're praying that our seed that will

multiply into more seed will touch our family,

will touch our brothers, will touch our sisters,

will touch our moms and dads and our schools

and our friends. There's work to be done, saints.

What I'm trying to tell you is take your seed

and let it multiply. Amen. We got to multiply

it in Jesus' name. We can't take the seed and

sit on it. We're not supposed to do that. That's

not what we're called to do. Amen. Take the seed

that God has graciously given you. He gave everything

for you to have that seed. So take the seed and

spread it across the world because you can. Amen.

We've gotten to this mode where we're just, we're

in our own little local community. No, we're

not. Praise the Lord. Brother Mills just telling

me today, how many was it that was? 140 baptisms

in Africa where we sowed seed. Come on, give

God praise in his house this morning. God is

moving. You may not be there to see it, but you

know God. He's all the way, all time, everywhere

doing wonderful, powerful, mighty things in the

life of this world. Amen. We get into this mode,

and the kids have heard me say this, guys, it's

regurgitated, but just hold on. We get into this

mode where we think we can't change anything.

We're not supposed to change it. We're supposed

to sow the seed. Let God do the work. Let God

transform hearts and lives. As long as ours is

good and we got good soil, it's going to produce

multiple seed. And let God transform those. Amen.

But that's what we got to do. Take the word of

God with us everywhere we go. Well, sometimes

it just, it don't seem like it's working. It

just don't work. I've been praying for him and

he's just pushing further away. I've planted

seed. I'm throwing it everywhere and there ain't

no good ground. Now, who are you depending on

to do the transformation? It sure ain't going

to be me. My job is to plant the seed. I went

to, there's a couple friends of mine that I go

to meet with once a year. And I say once a year

because I don't, you know, we're good buddies,

but life keeps you where you can't really spend

time with one another. One lives in Chattanooga,

one lives in Udawah, I'm in Cleveland. But we

meet once a year to watch the NFL draft. How

many of y 'all kept up with the draft? I don't

even watch football. I really just, I love football,

but I don't even watch the draft. I just go to

see my buddies I ain't seen. You never know how

a meeting will turn into you planting seed. Because

these two individuals, they're great men. Wonderful

guys. Would give you the shirt off their back.

I kid you not. But they're not where they need

to be with the Lord. They know where I am. They

know Pastor Brian. They know Pastor Church. Hey,

what are you doing? FedEx is closed. Well, I'm

going to go full time at church. Awesome, man.

That's great. They're happy for me. But they're

not where they need to be. Well. We visit, and

we watch the draft, and we shut the restaurant

down, and we walk outside, and we're just talking

by our vehicles. And one of my friends starts

talking about how his mom is just on him and

on him about going to church. And he had this

weird idea of why he wouldn't because his mom

would ask him. It's amazing what you'll do when

your mom's pressuring you how you'll run from

whatever mom's saying. Y 'all know what I'm talking

about? I've done it. I'm still running. No, I'm

just kidding. But it's amazing how he was just

like almost just he didn't want to hear it. And

I don't know if it was because he knows better

than he does. He was raised in church. He knows

better. But my other buddy is sitting there like,

Pastor Brian, would you go ahead? He's like,

I know it's about to come out. Brian's about

to say something. And I'm like, you know what?

I will. But it gave me an opportunity which I

did not see coming. I thought it was just going

to be another awesome time catching up with friends,

right, eating some wings and watching the draft,

because that's what we do once a year. And it

turned into me sowing seed into my friend, and

then at the end of the conversation saying, well,

I guess I'm going to go to church Sunday. That's

how it's supposed to work. We sow the seed. And

you better believe the Lord was with me because

I felt his help. Right? I knew it was coming

from the Lord what I was telling him because

it was orchestrated too perfectly. And that's

how God does it. He will open doors for each

and every one of us to sow a seed, to plant something

inside someone else. And don't bring your water

bucket because you don't need to. God will water

it and bring the increase. But take the seed

with you everywhere you go because you'll never

understand when God will give you that opportunity.

I pray for it. I'm like, Lord, send somebody

to me today. Send somebody. Ken, I know you do,

brother. But you send somebody. somebody to me

today that I can plant a seed in that God would

do miraculous things in their life and transform

their hearts. Amen. So guys, plant your seed

everywhere you go. You should have a trail of

seed everywhere you go. Amen? Amen. Let's just

give the Lord praise in his house one more time.

Understanding that as you are living with a heart

condition, The heart is how the seed is received,

amen? Our hearts, the heart of those we're sowing

seed to, the ground that the seed is sowed to,

it's important as to what you're sowing, but

it's also important to understand the condition

of the hearts in those times. And I've got four

different conditions of the heart I want to touch

on today. The first one being the unyielding

heart. This is where the seed is sown along the

path and the birds have came and devoured it.

These are the ones that when the word is sown,

the Bible actually says that Satan comes and

it says immediately takes that word away from

who it was sown to. We see this type of heart,

this type of hardened heart. We can see the ground

is hard. The seed won't go into the ground. So

the birds come and take it or Satan steals it

away. But this is a hardened heart and we see

this played out all through Scripture, don't

we? You can even just talk about Moses and Pharaoh.

When Moses came to deliver the Israelite people

from Egyptian slavery, he went to Pharaoh multiple,

multiple times, did he not? He went to him over

and over again, and even though he showed him

the miracles, he showed him the signs over and

over again, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. There

was no way he was going to give in to it, and

the Bible says he hardened his own heart. In

the case of Festus, if we read about Paul, his

heart was hardened, but Pharaoh hardened his

own heart and could not hear. Even though he's

watching the miracles God performed through Moses,

he would not let God's people go. That's how

we are sometimes, isn't it? The seed is sown

and thrown at us. It's almost like a wall that

it bounces off of. And the minute your heart

is so hard that you're not receiving the word,

you better believe that Satan will be there to

grab that away from you. And then once it's gone,

it's gone. I come to encourage you today, don't

let your heart be hardened. Let your heart be

open to the changing that God can do in your

life. I don't know about you, but I wasn't willing

to stay where I was at one time. I know I needed

help. I know I was in the pits. I know I needed

a hand to get me. out of there and God was there

as I softened my heart, as I was able to press

into him, he was there to reach down his hand

and save me. There's a song that says, and he

reached down his hand for me. That's what he

did. He reached down his hand and saved me. But

we can't have a hardened heart in the process

or we'll never get the word. Amen. We'll never

get the seed. We're always looking for a word,

but don't harden your heart towards that word.

It may not be what you want it to be. Because

sometimes God's answered my prayers and it ain't

how I wanted him to answer my prayer. But it

was what was best for me. 1 Corinthians 2 .14

says, But the natural man receiveth not the things

of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness

unto him. Neither can he know them because they

are spiritually discerned. Our hearts so hardened

we don't even spiritually discern what God's

trying to do with the seed that he's trying to

plant in our hearts today. The second heart is

an unprepared heart. This is the seed sown on

the rocky ground that sprang up immediately,

but it had no depth of soil. So when the sun

arose, it scorched and had no root, and it withered

away. The seed withered away. The Bible says

that this is the one who hears the word and immediately

receives it with joy and gladness. They take

it and walk with it. And they're taking it with

them. They're happy and they're glad. But the

first sign of persecution and temptation, they

flee from it. How many times have, I know myself,

but sometimes we come across hardships and persecution

for our faith, don't we? These are individuals

who are easily swayed or fall in the face of

persecution or hardship that's related to their

faith. They have a temporary faith. Not a...

Firm faith. They have a temporary faith. Lacking

a solid foundation and unable to endure when

faced with difficult times. It's hard to endure

when faced with difficult times, isn't it? I

don't know about you, but it's hard. Lacking

their foundation, rooted and grounded, they immediately

fall away, the Bible says. There's something

about being rooted and being rooted on something

that's firm. Amen? Can I tell you today that

the rock you should be concerned with is not

that of the rocky ground, but the rock that is

Christ Jesus. He is a solid, unshakable rock,

and we must build our faith upon him. He is the

firm ground for us to take our stand and contend

for our faith. He is the rock of our redeemer.

He is the rock of our refuge. He is the rock

of our salvation that cannot be moved. the firm

foundation and the rock that is Jesus Christ.

You don't have to worry about a springing up

and a sun scorching you. You'll be able to weather

the storm. You'll be able to endure hard times.

God will give you the strength in the times of

persecution, and you will prevail. Amen. Don't

be the seed planted on rocky soil. Plant yourself

on the rock that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Don't

you dare let the persecutions that come your

way sway you. to where your seed becomes withered

away and scorched. The world didn't give you

your seed, so don't let them take it away. Matthew

5, 10 through 11 says, blessed are those who

are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs

is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when

others revile you and persecute you and utter

all kinds of evil against you falsely on my count.

I don't know about you, but that verse right

there makes me extremely happy. That I am blessed

when I'm persecuted for righteousness sake. That

I am blessed because of the walk I walk and the

faith that I have in Jesus Christ. Amen. But

I got to stand for it. I can't let the world.

Don't be like stony ground. The third type of

heart is an uncommitted heart. That seed sown

among the thorns, and the seed that sown, the

thorns grew and choked it, and it yielded no

fruit. The ones sown among the thorns, they are

the ones who hear the word, but the cares of

the world, money, social status. Followings,

lust of your flesh, your own desires enters in

and chokes the word and becomes unfruitful. I

could hang out right there for just a second.

Because have you ever been so busy that you don't

seem to have time for the word? You ever been

so distracted that you don't have time for the

word? Can I tell you that the world wants you

in that condition? The world wants your heart.

in an uncommitted state. The world wants you

in a place where you are not committed to the

word of God and spreading his seed and preaching

and teaching and talking about the gospel. The

world wants you right there because you're uncommitted.

You're flippant. We talk about commitment in

everything we do, don't we? I know when I talk

to others about going to the gym and working

out and exercising, eating clean and being healthy,

well, what's the key? What's the key? I guess

they want me to have some kind of wonderful workout

routine or nutrition plan. I don't know anything

about all that. The only thing I can tell you

is that consistency is the key, and you can't

be consistent without commitment. Amen. That's

good. Write that down. You can't be consistent.

Without commitment, you have to be committed

to the Word of God. You have to be committed

not only to the Word, but to your personal relationship

with Jesus Christ. But we care too much about

what somebody said on Facebook. We care too much

about how many likes I got, how many follows

I have. Did my TikTok go viral? Maybe y 'all

don't care about that, but some do. Understand

I'm a youth pastor, okay? But maybe you do. I

don't know. I get this notification on my phone

every once in a while. How many gets this? My

weekly report tells me, like, how much usage

I have, how much I've been on my phone. How many

get that? Y 'all get that report? Do y 'all look

at it? People are like, no, I don't look at that

thing. I don't either. It depresses me every

time. What I would tell you is to look at that

and then do some self -reflection. I'm just being

honest and real with you guys, transparent. The

kids know I'm totally transparent. But if we

really think about how much time we spend on

our devices, in front of a TV, chasing after

our own desires, how much are we leaving on the

table and God is standing there saying, son or

daughter, I have so many plans for you. I want

to use you to change your community, your school,

your job, your family. I want to use you, son

and or daughter, but you're too busy for me.

If I go too long and I don't contact my mama,

she's going to call me. God's there waiting.

And I'm guilty of the one, I'm the guilty one

that says busy, busy, busy. Eric and I talk about

it all the time. The enemy will keep you distracted

if he can't keep you, he'll keep you busy if

you're not distracted. They both work against

you in what God is trying to slow you down and

pour into your heart and your life. Amen? So

I encourage each of you today, let's not focus

on our own desires. Let's focus on what God has

in store for us in our life because he's wanting

to use you to plant the seed all across this

community, to throw the seed, to get out there,

and God wants to transform you in your own life.

If you're thinking, I'm not where I want to be

with Christ, you have an opportunity today to

get that right because God is standing before

you, waiting to transform you, but you have to

be willing to be committed. Peter 5 says, casting

all your care upon him, for he cares for you.

Jesus said in Matthew 6, 24, no man can serve

two masters. This is good. You either will hate

the one and love the other, or else you will

hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot

serve God and mammon. Pick a side, ladies and

gentlemen. But I hope in my prayers that you

pick God's side. Because that's the side where

we have life and we have it more abundantly.

Amen. You can't serve two gods. And then fourth

and lastly, the unchained heart. This is the

one whose seed is sown on good soil. A heart

that has been tilled and churned up and ground

up by the grace of God and is prepared to reap

from what has been planted. This is the heart,

the ones who hear the word, they receive it,

and the Bible says it turns into the bearing

of fruit some 30 -fold and 60 -fold and 100 -fold.

I don't know about you today, but I always want

my heart to be that heart of good soil. Not just

one time. But all the time. I can't just have

a good soft heart for a specific kind of seed.

It's not about what kind of seed. It's about

the seed in the word of God. And I always want

my heart to be that of a good soil. Tilled up.

Tilled up by the grace of God. Understanding

and knowing that I'm only given this grace by

my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who came to

this earth. He walked down that road. He died

on a cross for my sin. He was buried in the.

tomb, and three days later, he rose to give me

a chance at life. That grace that I'm given has

tilled my heart to where I want a relationship

with that man. I want to know who he is. I know

about him and what he did for me, but I want

to know who he is. I want a relationship with

him, and I have a way to the Father through the

Son. So I'm diving in, and I hope that we all

have hearts today. Everybody stand all over this

house. I hope we have hearts today. Lord, that

is of good soil, that can hear his word and it

prick our hearts and us be turned to sow the

seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for him. Because

that's what we're for. As believers of Jesus

Christ, we are to sow the seed across the world.

Amen. And I don't believe it has to be relegated

to just a church or just a community or just

a state. We're already doing it. We have these

wonderful missions projects going on all across

the world. And we're sowing seed. But it doesn't

have to be across the world. It can be right

here. It can be everywhere. It should be everywhere.

We should take our seed with us. Amen? John 15,

5 -8 says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that

bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do

nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is

thrown away like a branch and withers, and the

branches are then gathered, thrown into the fire,

and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide

in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be

done for you. By this my Father is glorified

that you bear much fruit, so prove to be my disciples.

Amen. So I would ask you this morning, which

of these four hearts does yours closely resemble?

Have you already tuned God out? You're looking

to where we're going to eat lunch later. I wish

he'd hurry up and quiet down so I can get out

of here. Maybe you want nothing to do with God

or Jesus Christ. Maybe you're wondering, is it

too late for me? Am I too far gone? Whatever

it is, I can tell you that this morning that

God loves you. You may want nothing to do with

him, but he is still seeking you. You may be

so far from him, you're thinking there's no way

I can go back, but he's still seeking you. Because

he wants a relationship with you. He wants to

use you. He has a plan for you. He sets you apart

from the rest. And he's calling out to you. He

desires that relationship. And he wants to set

you free of the burdens that you carry. He still

specializes in heart transplants. Amen. I've

watched him do it too many times. He can take

a heart that's uncommitted, a heart that's hardened.

He can take every one of them and turn it into

that heart of good soil, that one that's unchained,

that one that's reckless with their seed throwing.

That will cast that seed everywhere they go and

not care about it. They'll throw the seed. They

won't care what the world says. They won't care

who's telling them they're wrong. They won't

care who's telling them they shouldn't be doing

that. They look foolish. They'll throw the seed

because they've got it in their good soil. Amen.

Their heart's been tilled. It's good soil. And

they'll throw the seed. Ezekiel 36, 26 says,

and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit

I will put in you. And I will remove the heart

of stone from your flesh and give you a heart

of flesh. If that's you today, if you have a

heart condition, we already sung about the healer.

His name is Jesus. I want to open up these altars

to come if you have a need and you want prayer.

If you find yourself with that heart condition

and you're thinking to yourself, Lord, I need

a touch. My heart's been hardened towards you.

I'm not the soft, good soil that I need to be.

There's reckless things that's happened in my

life, and I'm not where I need to be. If that's

you today, I want you to come. I want to pray

for you today. If you're in that place, you're

like, I need help. I need, God, for you to take

these desires of my flesh away. I need you to

help me control these worldly things that have

distracted me from really pressing into who you

are and my relationship with you. I want to pray

with you today. Father, I love you this morning.

I thank you, God, for your word. It is sharper.

than a two -edged sword. Father, and I pray that

as it pierces our hearts, Lord, may you churn

up our hearts today. God, understanding who Jesus

Christ is and what he did for us on the cross,

let that grace be applied to us and absolutely

till our hearts to be the soft, the good soil,

Lord, that your seed can be planted in. Lord,

all the hardened hearts, all the uncommitted,

all those, Lord, who are struggling in this hour,

God, I pray that you would meet them where they

are. I pray that from the top of their head to

the sole of our feet, you would reach your mighty

hand down into our chest and transform our hearts.

Give us that fresh heart of flesh that you promised

in Ezekiel. Lord, I ask that you would give us

a new spirit, Lord, one that's focused and solely

on you today. Lord, that our hearts would cry

out to you. God, for we can do nothing without

you. But Father, your word remains true that

we can do all things through Christ. In Jesus'

mighty name, amen and amen.