1 00:00:00,100 --> 00:00:05,380 Speaker 1: God bless you. You may be seated. If you have a Bible, turn to the Gospel of Luke chapter 8. 2 00:00:07,260 --> 00:00:11,060 Speaker 1: The title of this message is, what kind of dirt are you? 3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: Just a bunch of dirt bags. Don't you know? Right? The man, at his very best, it is just a couple handfuls of dust. 4 00:00:25,980 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: Just a couple handfuls of dust. I know I used to. 5 00:00:30,260 --> 00:00:35,980 Speaker 1: work at a cemetery and we would go get the cremations to bury. But first we would look through 6 00:00:36,100 --> 00:00:47,840 Speaker 1: to see if there was any chunks of gold or just kidding. Well, not really. But it was in a clear plastic 7 00:00:47,980 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: bag and I would look at it and just think, wow, we ain't much, are we? And so that's kind of what this 8 00:00:59,980 --> 00:01:07,020 Speaker 1: is about. And so if you have your Bible, we're going to read the first 15 verses of the 8th chapter 9 00:01:07,700 --> 00:01:13,980 Speaker 1: of the gospel of Luke. Read with me, it says, now it came to past afterward that he went through 10 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: every city and village preaching and bringing glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the 12 were 11 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:25,540 Speaker 1: with them and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called 12 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,900 Speaker 1: Magdalene and out of home had... Well, 13 00:01:29,960 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: I turn two pages there, sorry. 14 00:01:33,260 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: Come seven demons, and Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others 15 00:01:41,990 --> 00:01:45,220 Speaker 1: who provided for him of their substance. 16 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: And when a great multitude had gathered and they had come to him from every city, he spoke a parable. 17 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trampled. 18 00:01:59,940 --> 00:02:06,140 Speaker 1: down and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock. And as soon as it sprang up, 19 00:02:06,220 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up with it 20 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:18,420 Speaker 1: and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold. 21 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:26,340 Speaker 1: And when he had said these things, he cried, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. 22 00:02:27,300 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: Then his disciples ask him saying, what does this parable mean? And he said, to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to the rest it is given in parables that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear. And then the devil comes and takes away the word out of the hearts lest they should believe and be saved. But the 23 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root 24 00:03:05,500 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: who believe for a while, and in times of temptation, fall away. Now, the ones that fell among 25 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and 26 00:03:18,220 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground 27 00:03:24,660 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. 28 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:33,580 Speaker 1: Shall we pray? 29 00:03:34,820 --> 00:03:43,740 Speaker 1: Lord, we're so feeble in our understanding of your truth and really who and what you are. 30 00:03:44,660 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: And God, I just pray that you would use your word to quicken our hearts, Lord, that we would truly be made alive. 31 00:03:54,500 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: in our spirits, Lord, as we look at the truths found in this incredible parable that Jesus 32 00:04:02,300 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: shares and also gives his own commentary on. 33 00:04:06,170 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: It's so powerful, Lord. 34 00:04:07,460 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: May we be changed by it as we look at it in Jesus' holy name. 35 00:04:12,860 --> 00:04:13,020 Speaker 1: Amen. 36 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:15,660 Speaker 1: All right. 37 00:04:16,299 --> 00:04:18,519 Speaker 1: So he starts off there. 38 00:04:19,019 --> 00:04:24,300 Speaker 1: You know, this is coming off the heels of the woman that, uh, 39 00:04:25,460 --> 00:04:32,500 Speaker 1: that Jesus had told her in that last part of chapter seven, 40 00:04:33,060 --> 00:04:35,300 Speaker 1: Your faith has made you well, go in peace. 41 00:04:36,020 --> 00:04:38,700 Speaker 1: This woman who was of questionable character, 42 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: and she receives the message of good news, 43 00:04:44,380 --> 00:04:45,980 Speaker 1: the gospel wholeheartedly, 44 00:04:46,660 --> 00:04:48,900 Speaker 1: and expresses her love for the Lord, 45 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: much like that last song we just sang. 46 00:04:52,600 --> 00:05:01,700 Speaker 1: she bowed before him and wiped his feet with her tears and really showed a genuine, 47 00:05:02,900 --> 00:05:04,260 Speaker 1: noble humility. 48 00:05:05,140 --> 00:05:10,340 Speaker 1: And now it starts that Jesus, he doesn't stop, but he's gaining momentum. 49 00:05:10,430 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: And it came to pass afterwards that he went through every city and village preaching and 50 00:05:15,950 --> 00:05:18,660 Speaker 1: bringing glad tidings of the kingdom of God. 51 00:05:19,260 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 1: Who doesn't want to hear about the kingdom of God? 52 00:05:22,220 --> 00:05:30,860 Speaker 1: seriously, especially when you begin to look at the kingdoms of this world and the control that 53 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:36,500 Speaker 1: they're under and the world system that the Bible says that we actually fight against 54 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: in our spirits, that we have this battle with the flesh, the world, and the devil. 55 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:51,700 Speaker 1: And it's all real. And so these messages that Jesus is bringing, 56 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:56,900 Speaker 1: to these cities, you would think that many would come, and it appears that many did. 57 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,700 Speaker 1: And he's sharing this good news. 58 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:02,040 Speaker 1: It's good news that we can be saved. 59 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:07,900 Speaker 1: Because I just shake my head every day that I'm alive thinking, how in the world, 60 00:06:08,060 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: Lord, could you save somebody like me? 61 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,220 Speaker 1: And yet, he's so willing. 62 00:06:15,260 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: He's so willing to pull us out of the just fire that we deserved. 63 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:26,940 Speaker 1: and that just judgment, taking it upon himself as the scripture tells us. 64 00:06:27,250 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: And so he's bringing these glad tidings of the kingdom of God. 65 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: And he had an entourage, Jesus did. 66 00:06:35,540 --> 00:06:35,740 Speaker 1: Right? 67 00:06:35,900 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: The word preacher actually here is he's preaching me. 68 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 1: It means literally to evangelize, to convert souls. 69 00:06:48,100 --> 00:06:50,600 Speaker 1: And so this, 70 00:06:51,720 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: entourage with Jesus is going about setting the stage as he gets ready to share this incredible 71 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: parable. Some believe actually one of the most difficult ones, but us country folk from Idaho, 72 00:07:10,740 --> 00:07:16,700 Speaker 1: we think we get it, right? A sewer went out to sow? I mean, who doesn't see that? I mean, 73 00:07:16,700 --> 00:07:20,580 Speaker 1: they just smashed the field of grain next to my... 74 00:07:21,719 --> 00:07:29,060 Speaker 1: house and it's all gone except for if you ask my dad them internationals they're just not the right 75 00:07:29,220 --> 00:07:37,940 Speaker 1: trash machine they reseed the ground right with all the the waste that they throw aside 76 00:07:38,220 --> 00:07:43,700 Speaker 1: a real thrash machine is it's red but it's a massy fergus and not an international 77 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: a little bit prejudice i would say 78 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:56,460 Speaker 1: but but he has this entourage with him he has the the 12 that says are with him and then certain 79 00:07:58,420 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: women praise god for you girls jesus had a bunch of girls around him that's because without 80 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:16,179 Speaker 1: girls nothing gets done and he names three of them it sounds like there's there's many right but he 81 00:08:17,900 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: he names Mary Magdalene. These are people who had been impacted by this message that he's been sharing by the gospel. 82 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:33,900 Speaker 1: Does the gospel change your life? Can I just ask you and just do maybe a little heart searching? 83 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:41,700 Speaker 1: Has the gospel changed your life? That fact that Christ came into the world to save sinners, right according to the scriptures, 84 00:08:41,979 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: that he was crucified and shed his blood for our sins and died. 85 00:08:46,180 --> 00:08:50,560 Speaker 1: according to the scriptures that he was stuck in the ground, right, 86 00:08:50,780 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: and rose up out of the grave three days later to live forever more. 87 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:02,780 Speaker 1: And for whoever puts their faith and trust in him will experience that same eternal life. 88 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 1: That is good news. 89 00:09:07,860 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: Right? 90 00:09:08,060 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: That's good stuff, Maynard, like the old Maltolmail commercial. 91 00:09:12,980 --> 00:09:13,860 Speaker 1: Good stuff, Maynard. 92 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: does the body good, it does the soul good to hear this gospel and to hear it consistently. 93 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: I'm convinced that's why we have church every Sunday. 94 00:09:26,660 --> 00:09:28,580 Speaker 1: So we can just kind of rehash it. 95 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:29,440 Speaker 1: Right? 96 00:09:29,740 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 1: Some has said church is just a holy huddle to remind everybody what the play is. 97 00:09:38,260 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: Right, it's the gospel. 98 00:09:40,060 --> 00:09:41,020 Speaker 1: It's nothing new. 99 00:09:42,500 --> 00:09:42,620 Speaker 1: Right? 100 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:45,940 Speaker 1: where every message kind of heads the same direction. 101 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: Hopefully it challenges us to go deeper with the Lord. 102 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,580 Speaker 1: But he mentions these gals, and especially Mary Magdalene, 103 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: where she had seven demons. 104 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: Now, I don't know, personally, 105 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: I haven't had knowingly comforted. 106 00:10:13,999 --> 00:10:15,980 Speaker 1: with demon-possessed people. 107 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,080 Speaker 1: I have been around a demon-possessed person, 108 00:10:20,130 --> 00:10:22,380 Speaker 1: and that was in a Sunday school class at a church. 109 00:10:23,380 --> 00:10:24,759 Speaker 1: And the dude was demon-possessed. 110 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:27,480 Speaker 1: And it was obvious 111 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,540 Speaker 1: because he was quoting scripture, 112 00:10:32,420 --> 00:10:35,140 Speaker 1: but he was doing it so antagonistically 113 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,200 Speaker 1: towards the guy that was teaching the class, 114 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:41,980 Speaker 1: and he was actually, he was a native from Alaska, 115 00:10:42,260 --> 00:10:47,100 Speaker 1: and he said he recognized the spirit immediately because he'd kind of been off into that 116 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: being a native Eskimo in some of their ritualistic things and he recognized. 117 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 1: But the way this guy was, and he had people with him, and I don't know if they had prayed for him 118 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:05,660 Speaker 1: to be delivered from this or what, but he was there, and it was very obvious that there was 119 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 1: something not right about this guy. 120 00:11:07,780 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: And it kind of made all the hair on your body stand on in when he spoke. 121 00:11:14,540 --> 00:11:17,060 Speaker 1: But imagine seven demons in this woman. 122 00:11:17,460 --> 00:11:18,380 Speaker 1: How did she get there? 123 00:11:21,340 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 1: Right? 124 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: How did she let her defenses down to be possessed by seven demons? 125 00:11:28,340 --> 00:11:37,420 Speaker 1: And yet it's Mary the one that the Lord chose to reveal himself to after the resurrection. 126 00:11:38,580 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: She's the one, was the first one, able to see him. 127 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 1: and go and tell the apostles. 128 00:11:45,260 --> 00:11:50,620 Speaker 1: And so these, though the women weren't named apostles, 129 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,680 Speaker 1: they were disciples, and they were very impactful. 130 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:59,940 Speaker 1: And I know because I have had women in my life that know Jesus 131 00:12:00,540 --> 00:12:03,020 Speaker 1: that have impacted me greatly. 132 00:12:03,340 --> 00:12:05,920 Speaker 1: So ladies, that's just an encouragement. 133 00:12:06,260 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: Walk with Jesus. 134 00:12:07,620 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: We see the apostle Paul. 135 00:12:09,100 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: He names almost 20 women that helped him in men. 136 00:12:11,780 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: ministry and that help. Their women are picture-esque of the Holy Spirit, right? They're 137 00:12:21,620 --> 00:12:27,020 Speaker 1: picturesque of the Holy Spirit, kind of behind the scenes. It's been rightly said, 138 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:34,720 Speaker 1: behind every good man is a good woman. There's a lot of truth to that. But in the 139 00:12:36,260 --> 00:12:41,180 Speaker 1: scripture, in Genesis, he will make unto, for the man, a help. 140 00:12:41,740 --> 00:12:42,320 Speaker 1: or helper. 141 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: It's the same thing used for the woman of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, the helper. 142 00:12:49,820 --> 00:12:50,500 Speaker 1: He'll come along. 143 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 1: He's kind of behind the scenes, but it's where all the power is. 144 00:12:54,500 --> 00:12:55,560 Speaker 1: My wife's got all the power. 145 00:13:00,180 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: And so this entourage, male and female, following the Lord Jesus. 146 00:13:07,700 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: And so Luke actually mentions women in his gospel. 147 00:13:11,180 --> 00:13:13,060 Speaker 1: more so than the others. 148 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:16,700 Speaker 1: And he was the first women's libber. 149 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:18,960 Speaker 1: Just kidding. 150 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: But he recognized, obviously, being a Gentile, 151 00:13:24,780 --> 00:13:27,740 Speaker 1: the role that the gals had. 152 00:13:28,260 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: And these women were fulfilling 1st Peter chapter 4, verse 10, 153 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:34,340 Speaker 1: where it says, 154 00:13:34,340 --> 00:13:37,200 Speaker 1: and as each one has received a gift, 155 00:13:37,620 --> 00:13:40,199 Speaker 1: minister to one another as good stewards 156 00:13:40,620 --> 00:13:42,420 Speaker 1: of the manifold grace of God. 157 00:13:43,610 --> 00:13:45,540 Speaker 1: The fact is, is they were sold out for Jesus, 158 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: these apostles and these gals. 159 00:13:50,980 --> 00:13:56,140 Speaker 1: And so then he shares his parable here, 160 00:13:56,740 --> 00:14:00,140 Speaker 1: very straightforward and simple, 161 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: and when the great multitude had gathered together, 162 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: no doubt seeing this entourage, 163 00:14:06,020 --> 00:14:09,060 Speaker 1: hearing of the great deeds that Jesus has done, 164 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:13,540 Speaker 1: all this crowd began to gather around, and he says a sower went out to sow seed. 165 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air 166 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: devoured it, and some fell on the rocks, and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because 167 00:14:24,500 --> 00:14:30,340 Speaker 1: it lacked moisture, and some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it, 168 00:14:30,580 --> 00:14:34,620 Speaker 1: but others fell on good ground and sprang up and yielded a crop a hundredfold. 169 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:39,300 Speaker 1: And when he had said these things, he puts an exclamation point. 170 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:48,100 Speaker 1: on it. He says, he who has ear is to hear, let him hear. Listen. Listen to what the word of God is saying. 171 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:57,420 Speaker 1: It's just not talking about farming. But we see all these things, right? I see it right next door. 172 00:14:57,820 --> 00:15:04,380 Speaker 1: In the spring, when they sowed that ground with barley, there was some out on the pavement. 173 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: What's it going to do? It's going to sit there and get crushed and not produce anything. 174 00:15:10,020 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: right and the birds of the air sure enough come and chip away and there's there's a place by the ditch 175 00:15:17,180 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: right there by my place it's all it's that's where they put all the rocks that they pulled out of the 176 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:27,780 Speaker 1: field this and the seed falls on the rock doesn't do much oh if there's a little dirt it might 177 00:15:27,980 --> 00:15:35,759 Speaker 1: start but that's it and then and then where the where the thistle and stuff is on the edge of the 178 00:15:35,740 --> 00:15:44,180 Speaker 1: field. Seed falls there too, but the heads are about that big. Doesn't do much because the 179 00:15:44,940 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: weeds around it takes all the nutrients. But then the stuff out in the lands where the flood 180 00:15:54,360 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: irrigation happens, holy cow, it's rich and it's thick and it's abundant. But he's, but he's 181 00:16:05,740 --> 00:16:18,180 Speaker 1: talking more than about farming. He's provoking. He's not only provoking those who believe in him, 182 00:16:18,540 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 1: but he's provoking those who don't, right? Because the disciples come to him, they say, 183 00:16:23,780 --> 00:16:30,940 Speaker 1: hey, hey, Jesus, what is this parable me? I mean, those guys grew up in an agrarian society, 184 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:31,940 Speaker 1: an ag world. 185 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:41,340 Speaker 1: But maybe his his zeal about sharing this kind of provoke them thinking, 186 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: he's trying to say something else. 187 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:48,700 Speaker 1: Now a parable, para, it means to come alongside, right? 188 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:50,940 Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is called the paraclete. 189 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:53,560 Speaker 1: He comes alongside and helps us, right? 190 00:16:54,080 --> 00:17:01,020 Speaker 1: But a parable is a story, a physical story cast alongside a spirit. 191 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:11,319 Speaker 1: spiritual truth. That's a parable. And so they're going, wow, I think, I think we hear what you're 192 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:17,000 Speaker 1: saying, but what are you really saying? You ever get that when you read the word? Now, Lord, 193 00:17:17,079 --> 00:17:21,500 Speaker 1: this is face value, but I think there's something deeper here. That's what's powerful about God's 194 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 1: word. You know, just sharing that stuff here a couple weeks ago about about every 49th letter in the 195 00:17:31,020 --> 00:17:42,940 Speaker 1: you know, just the whole genealogy of David there in Genesis chapter 38, powerful stuff. 196 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:45,900 Speaker 1: But it does say more. 197 00:17:46,420 --> 00:17:51,740 Speaker 1: Because how many of you tell me, have you read through the Bible, right, from Genesis to 198 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: Revelation? 199 00:17:52,900 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: And then you do it again. 200 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:55,380 Speaker 1: And then you do it again. 201 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:56,780 Speaker 1: And then you do it again. 202 00:17:57,250 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 1: And how many times will the same passage of scripture, 203 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,220 Speaker 1: jump out and put something in your heart that has never been there before. 204 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:06,120 Speaker 1: You've never seen it that way before. 205 00:18:06,500 --> 00:18:07,700 Speaker 1: How is that possible? 206 00:18:08,900 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: It's because it's the eternal word of God. 207 00:18:12,780 --> 00:18:21,620 Speaker 1: It should be provoking us to live this abundant life that he's actually called us to in the here and now. 208 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: So what does this mean? 209 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:39,900 Speaker 1: and but it's the heart that the Lord is concerned with here. 210 00:18:40,860 --> 00:18:43,320 Speaker 1: And so he explains in verse 11. 211 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:51,100 Speaker 1: Well, first he explains why he told the parable. 212 00:18:51,660 --> 00:18:52,960 Speaker 1: This is what it means, he says. 213 00:18:53,180 --> 00:18:54,260 Speaker 1: He said, listen, guys, 214 00:18:54,600 --> 00:19:00,740 Speaker 1: this has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is not given in parables. 215 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:04,540 Speaker 1: That seeing they may not see and hearing they may not hear. 216 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:08,200 Speaker 1: So they were kind of, the apostles were kind of getting it. 217 00:19:08,500 --> 00:19:10,420 Speaker 1: Maybe some other people weren't getting it. 218 00:19:10,740 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 1: So that tells us that Jesus shared parables, right? 219 00:19:16,780 --> 00:19:23,120 Speaker 1: Sometimes a parable was given to show truth and sometimes the parable was given to hide truth. 220 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:32,440 Speaker 1: Really? Yeah. Because the thing about Jesus is he knows who's going to receive truth and who's not. 221 00:19:33,220 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: Who's going to hear truth and harden their heart and say, no way. I don't want nothing to do with it. 222 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,680 Speaker 1: You've been around people like that? I was around some people like that just yesterday. 223 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:50,340 Speaker 1: I could tell just by their body language. They don't want anything to do with the truth. 224 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:53,020 Speaker 1: Why? It's because it's going to convict them. 225 00:19:54,340 --> 00:19:58,380 Speaker 1: right? It's going to point a big finger at him saying, you're not right with God. 226 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:05,400 Speaker 1: And you need to get right with God. And a lot of people don't want to get right with God 227 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:16,680 Speaker 1: because it simply cramps their style. And it's almost like it's a divine judgment. Jesus 228 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:23,020 Speaker 1: shares this parable to keep people at bay because he knows the ones that will come to him. 229 00:20:24,580 --> 00:20:27,600 Speaker 1: because if you really want to know the truth, you will. 230 00:20:29,500 --> 00:20:31,960 Speaker 1: If you really want to know the truth, you'll know it. 231 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: Jeremiah 2913 says, 232 00:20:36,380 --> 00:20:40,420 Speaker 1: And you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 233 00:20:47,620 --> 00:20:51,260 Speaker 1: And John, the apostle, tells us the same thing in his 234 00:20:52,940 --> 00:20:57,620 Speaker 1: his gospel, the truths will make you free, but you got to seek it. 235 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:10,320 Speaker 1: It says, it's been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom. 236 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:14,400 Speaker 1: Guys, listen, we don't get it. 237 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:17,120 Speaker 1: God has to reveal it to us. 238 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: That's what the Bible says, that nobody can say that Jesus is Lord, 239 00:21:20,980 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: but by the Spirit of God. 240 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing? 241 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,420 Speaker 1: Why would God allow us to know him and come to him? 242 00:21:32,940 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 1: Because he's good and he's merciful and he's gracious. 243 00:21:36,460 --> 00:21:37,780 Speaker 1: Not because you and I are smart. 244 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:40,780 Speaker 1: I think we've all proved that. 245 00:21:44,860 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: Dumber than a post, that'd be me. 246 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,020 Speaker 1: And yet I came to this realization 247 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:52,600 Speaker 1: at a fairly young age, 248 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:55,320 Speaker 1: that Jesus is the way, 249 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:58,000 Speaker 1: though I didn't live that way, 250 00:22:00,060 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: until I was 23. 251 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:07,460 Speaker 1: But so he says, okay, I'll give you an interpretation. 252 00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:10,940 Speaker 1: Now, the parable is this, right? 253 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: He explains it very well. 254 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:14,160 Speaker 1: The seed is the word of God. 255 00:22:15,300 --> 00:22:16,540 Speaker 1: The seed is the word of God. 256 00:22:17,220 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: Now, Bible commentators 257 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:25,640 Speaker 1: this the parable of the sower. Many believe it should be called the parable of the soil. 258 00:22:27,500 --> 00:22:33,660 Speaker 1: Because that's really, the word of God never changes, right? Am I right there? That's true, right? 259 00:22:33,660 --> 00:22:44,140 Speaker 1: It doesn't change. But the soil, it appears that the soil can change. And so he says the seed is the 260 00:22:44,100 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 1: word of God. And those by the wayside are the ones who hear, then the devil comes and takes away 261 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:59,900 Speaker 1: the word out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved. Right? That seed that falls by 262 00:22:59,950 --> 00:23:09,000 Speaker 1: the wayside there. It seems to be a combination of hardness of heart and demonic satanic 263 00:23:09,060 --> 00:23:09,540 Speaker 1: influence. 264 00:23:10,980 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 1: Right? 265 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:15,000 Speaker 1: It's a hardness of heart, coupled with satanic influence. 266 00:23:15,820 --> 00:23:18,700 Speaker 1: And a lot of people who harden their heart, obviously, they've been walking with 267 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:19,680 Speaker 1: Satan for some time. 268 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:30,660 Speaker 1: And people just get hardened in their way of thinking, right? 269 00:23:31,399 --> 00:23:36,380 Speaker 1: I watched a little interview with Bill Maher and Charlie Kirk. 270 00:23:37,820 --> 00:23:38,960 Speaker 1: And Marr was chastised. 271 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,420 Speaker 1: Kirk for his belief in God. 272 00:23:42,780 --> 00:23:44,900 Speaker 1: Now, Charlie's a pretty sharp cookie. 273 00:23:45,740 --> 00:23:48,700 Speaker 1: I think he's a little on the spectrum, Charlie is. 274 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,120 Speaker 1: But it's bent towards brilliance. 275 00:23:53,220 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: He's a pretty brilliant individual. 276 00:23:55,800 --> 00:24:04,800 Speaker 1: And he was telling Marr about the intricacies of creation and our universe. 277 00:24:04,860 --> 00:24:08,060 Speaker 1: And the fact that life can be on this planet, 278 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 1: It's miraculous, right? 279 00:24:12,420 --> 00:24:13,680 Speaker 1: And Marr wasn't getting it. 280 00:24:16,140 --> 00:24:18,440 Speaker 1: And then Marr starts talking about goodness. 281 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,120 Speaker 1: What are you an atheist doing talking about goodness? 282 00:24:23,380 --> 00:24:25,540 Speaker 1: Because we know that all goodness comes from God. 283 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:26,900 Speaker 1: How can there be any goodness? 284 00:24:27,380 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: And goodness according to who? 285 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:36,700 Speaker 1: You have no reference point for goodness unless there's a goodness giver. 286 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,980 Speaker 1: And so those are the people by the wayside. 287 00:24:44,980 --> 00:24:47,360 Speaker 1: It just kind of bounces off, right? 288 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: And the first bird that comes by scoops it up. 289 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:56,700 Speaker 1: And it's interesting that they come home to roost. 290 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 1: Kind of like that scripture about Jesus talking about the house being cleaned. 291 00:25:02,300 --> 00:25:06,720 Speaker 1: You've heard that, right, that story that he tells about a man who sweeps it and cleans 292 00:25:06,740 --> 00:25:11,820 Speaker 1: house. But if he doesn't fill it with good things, speaking of the Holy Spirit, right, 293 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 1: then seven demons more wicked than the one that was driven out, come back and take up residency 294 00:25:18,140 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: in his heart. That kind of gives self-reformation kind of a kick in the hyeney. 295 00:25:27,460 --> 00:25:33,160 Speaker 1: You can't reform yourself. It has to be somebody much bigger than you that reforms you. 296 00:25:33,980 --> 00:25:35,460 Speaker 1: And his name's Jesus, by the way. 297 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:38,480 Speaker 1: Warren Wiersby says, 298 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,260 Speaker 1: The wayside was the path that ran through the common field 299 00:25:42,500 --> 00:25:43,680 Speaker 1: separating the plots 300 00:25:44,580 --> 00:25:46,580 Speaker 1: and the foot traffic hardened the soil. 301 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,420 Speaker 1: Whatever goes into the ear or eye, 302 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:52,740 Speaker 1: would you listen to this folks, please, 303 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:54,020 Speaker 1: especially young people? 304 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:59,420 Speaker 1: Whatever goes into the ear or I finally enters the heart. 305 00:25:59,820 --> 00:26:04,220 Speaker 1: So be careful who is allowed to walk on your heart. 306 00:26:09,660 --> 00:26:12,740 Speaker 1: Satan seems to dance on the hardened heart. 307 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 1: The Lord in his word warns against hardening our heart. 308 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:26,920 Speaker 1: Hebrews 4.7, today, and it may be today that you hear the Lord's voice, 309 00:26:27,420 --> 00:26:28,820 Speaker 1: do not harden your heart. 310 00:26:31,380 --> 00:26:34,260 Speaker 1: It's like, God, that's our part that God, that's our part, 311 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:43,420 Speaker 1: gives us. God leaves us to a hard heart or a humbling of heart. And the decision is yours. 312 00:26:45,140 --> 00:26:51,000 Speaker 1: He's a gentleman. He's not going to kick down the door of your heart and say, all right, let me in. 313 00:26:51,140 --> 00:26:58,180 Speaker 1: Little pig, little pig. That's what my two-year-old grandson does when his mother's in the bathroom. 314 00:26:58,250 --> 00:27:04,200 Speaker 1: He goes up and he knocks on the door. Little pig, little pig, let me in. I'm thinking, 315 00:27:04,340 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 1: Wow, we need to lay hands on this kid. 316 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: But the Lord wants us to humble ourselves, not to harden ourselves. 317 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,980 Speaker 1: Verse 13 is another soil. 318 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:28,180 Speaker 1: It says, but the one on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. 319 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:34,220 Speaker 1: And these have no root who believe for a while and in time. 320 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:41,920 Speaker 1: of temptation fall away. You've seen people like that. Man, they're coming church, are packing their 321 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:49,860 Speaker 1: Bible. They're excited. And things start going haywire. They're like, I'm out. I tried this Jesus 322 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:57,380 Speaker 1: thing. It don't work. I've seen people like that. You tried this Jesus thing and it don't work? 323 00:27:57,900 --> 00:28:03,260 Speaker 1: What does that mean? Just being a fair weather believer? 324 00:28:06,700 --> 00:28:13,100 Speaker 1: but they get swallowed up by the tough things in life. 325 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:17,560 Speaker 1: Some will say you can lose your salvation. 326 00:28:20,420 --> 00:28:21,480 Speaker 1: I don't think so. 327 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:23,920 Speaker 1: Are these people true believers? 328 00:28:25,140 --> 00:28:31,680 Speaker 1: Or do they just have some kind of an emotional experience when they hear the truth of God's word? 329 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,740 Speaker 1: because obviously it provokes a decision, right? 330 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:36,780 Speaker 1: Jesus himself provokes a decision. 331 00:28:37,420 --> 00:28:38,240 Speaker 1: You have to decide. 332 00:28:39,180 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: You can't be neutral. 333 00:28:41,260 --> 00:28:42,940 Speaker 1: To not be for him is to be against him. 334 00:28:42,940 --> 00:28:43,700 Speaker 1: He tells us that. 335 00:28:46,340 --> 00:28:48,260 Speaker 1: So choose what side you're on. 336 00:28:48,860 --> 00:28:50,340 Speaker 1: Joshua said it way back when. 337 00:28:50,460 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: Choose this day who you were served. 338 00:28:52,380 --> 00:28:54,440 Speaker 1: But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. 339 00:29:00,300 --> 00:29:01,860 Speaker 1: But people who are truly safe. 340 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:03,460 Speaker 1: they're going to be there in the end. 341 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: Now, I've seen people backslide and go awry for a time. 342 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,660 Speaker 1: But praise God, they know whose butter's their bread, 343 00:29:12,820 --> 00:29:14,320 Speaker 1: and they come back and running back. 344 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,380 Speaker 1: I know I did, being a little heaving, 345 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: kind of had that foot in both worlds, you know, 346 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 1: one on this side of the fence and one on this side. 347 00:29:26,540 --> 00:29:27,520 Speaker 1: And like Pastor Gordon says, 348 00:29:27,580 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: the only thing you get when you got one on each side of the fence is a sore crotch. 349 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: I mean, you've got enough Lord Jesus in you 350 00:29:40,940 --> 00:29:44,500 Speaker 1: and knowledge that you can't be comfortable over here being sinful 351 00:29:48,380 --> 00:29:51,220 Speaker 1: and you got enough sinful stuff bearing down on you 352 00:29:51,260 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: and guilt riding you to be at church. 353 00:29:54,140 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 1: So you're just miserable. 354 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:00,380 Speaker 1: But if people, 355 00:30:00,540 --> 00:30:03,540 Speaker 1: when they truly get saved, they're going to be there in the end. They're going to make it. 356 00:30:04,820 --> 00:30:06,420 Speaker 1: They really are. They're going to make it. 357 00:30:11,260 --> 00:30:15,580 Speaker 1: Because Jesus tells us in John chapter 20, no one will snatch you out of my hand. 358 00:30:16,340 --> 00:30:20,640 Speaker 1: Nobody is going to snatch you out of my hand. What does that mean? He's nobody. 359 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:29,740 Speaker 1: Not even you if you're truly saved. First John tells us, right, in two, chapter two, verse 19, 360 00:30:30,140 --> 00:30:33,360 Speaker 1: they went out from us, but they were never of us. 361 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,580 Speaker 1: It's kind of like this, right? 362 00:30:43,340 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: If you have it, you never lose it. 363 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:49,460 Speaker 1: If you lose it, you never had it. 364 00:30:51,500 --> 00:30:51,600 Speaker 1: Right? 365 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,040 Speaker 1: If you have it, you never lose it. 366 00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,100 Speaker 1: If you lose it, you never had it. 367 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:04,820 Speaker 1: So time will tell. 368 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,680 Speaker 1: The judgment of the sheep and the goats. 369 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:15,360 Speaker 1: I think many that have named the name of Jesus 370 00:31:15,580 --> 00:31:19,300 Speaker 1: may find their selves in a confrontation with the Lord saying, 371 00:31:20,100 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. 372 00:31:24,620 --> 00:31:27,140 Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but that sense chills up and down my spine. 373 00:31:28,980 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: Because I know that can be me. 374 00:31:35,220 --> 00:31:39,440 Speaker 1: Many people, many people have emotional responses to the gospel. 375 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 1: Right? 376 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:42,820 Speaker 1: Because it just provokes that response. 377 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 1: I've seen people just get giddy when they hear the gospel message going, 378 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: that is so cool. 379 00:31:52,020 --> 00:31:56,060 Speaker 1: But their response is emotional to the gospel, but not to salvation. 380 00:32:01,300 --> 00:32:10,840 Speaker 1: R. C. Sproles says, we're not justified by a profession of faith, but by a possession of 381 00:32:10,980 --> 00:32:19,580 Speaker 1: genuine faith. That's how you're saved. A possession of genuine faith. Because genuine faith 382 00:32:19,770 --> 00:32:26,060 Speaker 1: turns your life upside down and changes everything about us. When you 383 00:32:26,420 --> 00:32:30,040 Speaker 1: genuinely come to faith in Christ, it changes you. 384 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:33,880 Speaker 1: Now, some, it takes a long time. 385 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:36,840 Speaker 1: It changes over time. 386 00:32:39,220 --> 00:32:41,940 Speaker 1: There's some religious sects that say, 387 00:32:42,300 --> 00:32:45,700 Speaker 1: you must know the day and the hour when you got saved, 388 00:32:45,780 --> 00:32:46,620 Speaker 1: when you were converted. 389 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:52,240 Speaker 1: And I used to be in that camp, 390 00:32:53,360 --> 00:33:00,860 Speaker 1: But recently, I've kind of, I'm not as stuck as I used to be. 391 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:03,960 Speaker 1: The older I get, the more I say I don't know. 392 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:06,140 Speaker 1: Right? 393 00:33:08,420 --> 00:33:10,560 Speaker 1: But a great example of this is Billy Graham. 394 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:17,340 Speaker 1: So Billy Graham has his baseball uniform on, and somebody said it was on a dare. 395 00:33:17,940 --> 00:33:22,980 Speaker 1: He was on his way home, and Mordecai Hamm, an evangelist there in North Carolina, 396 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:27,720 Speaker 1: Carolina was having a little revival meeting. Billy Graham went in and went forward and got 397 00:33:27,900 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: saved. And he knew the day, the hour, you know, the month, all, everything, the year he got 398 00:33:34,260 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: saved. He could nail it down. But his wife, Ruth, she's Presbyterian. 399 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:48,180 Speaker 1: Got any Presbyterians in the house? Right? She, you know, did, I don't know what all they do, 400 00:33:48,260 --> 00:33:52,960 Speaker 1: if they do confirmation like the Lutherans do or what. She had done all this stuff. But she, there's 401 00:33:52,980 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 1: a five-year period in her life as the Lord was moving and shaping and changing the way she thought. 402 00:34:06,620 --> 00:34:15,379 Speaker 1: But Ruth Graham was a dynamic believer in the Lord Jesus. I mean dynamic. Maybe more so than her husband even. 403 00:34:17,980 --> 00:34:25,639 Speaker 1: So it's not a profession necessarily of faith, but a possession of genuine faith, 404 00:34:25,980 --> 00:34:27,659 Speaker 1: because it turned your life upside down. 405 00:34:27,659 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: It did mine. 406 00:34:28,780 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: I was 23 when I finally surrendered my life to Jesus. 407 00:34:31,700 --> 00:34:34,000 Speaker 1: I had asked him into my heart when I was younger. 408 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:35,540 Speaker 1: Was I saved then? 409 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:36,919 Speaker 1: Possibly. 410 00:34:37,020 --> 00:34:38,139 Speaker 1: I sure didn't act like it. 411 00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:40,280 Speaker 1: It was nip and tuck, you know. 412 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:43,240 Speaker 1: You guys know what nip and tuck means. 413 00:34:45,700 --> 00:34:47,360 Speaker 1: That's when dogs chasing you and nipping. 414 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:49,500 Speaker 1: it, you're hiding it, you're tucking it out of his way. 415 00:34:56,140 --> 00:34:58,400 Speaker 1: It was maybe the hounds of hell. 416 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:04,780 Speaker 1: But at 23, I strode my hands in the air and I surrendered to Jesus. 417 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:06,900 Speaker 1: I quit having sex with my girlfriend. 418 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:08,320 Speaker 1: Right? 419 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:10,360 Speaker 1: I quit saying the Lord's naming vain. 420 00:35:10,940 --> 00:35:12,240 Speaker 1: I quit getting drunk. 421 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:14,480 Speaker 1: I quit using the F word. 422 00:35:16,020 --> 00:35:16,100 Speaker 1: Right? 423 00:35:16,100 --> 00:35:17,400 Speaker 1: I started quitting all these things. 424 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:24,660 Speaker 1: things. I quit chewing tobacco. And I mean, it was just starting to slough off. It's like I didn't 425 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:33,500 Speaker 1: want to do that anymore. I was, I was truly changed, right? All that stuff started going behind me. 426 00:35:34,020 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 1: And I had this passion to, to know Jesus. And that passion led me to go into the ministry. 427 00:35:43,340 --> 00:35:47,380 Speaker 1: People said, what was your training? I said, my training was all learning what not to do. 428 00:35:49,100 --> 00:35:49,500 Speaker 1: Right. 429 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:52,860 Speaker 1: I got that figured out pretty quick. 430 00:35:55,720 --> 00:35:56,840 Speaker 1: I didn't go to cemetery. 431 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:57,780 Speaker 1: I mean seminary. 432 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,040 Speaker 1: But when times of temptation comes, they throw in the towel. 433 00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:10,840 Speaker 1: I'm out of here. 434 00:36:12,140 --> 00:36:13,280 Speaker 1: Jesus, yeah, right. 435 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,440 Speaker 1: The deeper you get in your walk, though, you realize, oh, no, that's part of it. 436 00:36:20,700 --> 00:36:21,880 Speaker 1: The hard things are part of it. 437 00:36:22,300 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 1: That's how you grow, right? 438 00:36:24,420 --> 00:36:27,040 Speaker 1: Verse 14 is another soil, the third soil. 439 00:36:27,140 --> 00:36:40,600 Speaker 1: It says, now the wants that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 440 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:49,200 Speaker 1: I'd been in that place getting bogged down in the weeds. 441 00:36:49,780 --> 00:36:51,060 Speaker 1: And that's right, you don't grow there. 442 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:53,940 Speaker 1: For about a year, I kind of backslid a little bit, 443 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,740 Speaker 1: and it was just like being one of these choked out. 444 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:01,680 Speaker 1: Notice it's the cares. 445 00:37:01,940 --> 00:37:02,460 Speaker 1: Cares of what? 446 00:37:02,580 --> 00:37:03,480 Speaker 1: Cares of this life. 447 00:37:05,820 --> 00:37:06,920 Speaker 1: What do you care about this life? 448 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: Oh, got to make money. 449 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:12,840 Speaker 1: right well that's the next one 450 00:37:13,220 --> 00:37:14,300 Speaker 1: riches right 451 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:16,500 Speaker 1: you care about making money 452 00:37:17,620 --> 00:37:18,240 Speaker 1: in fact 453 00:37:18,780 --> 00:37:20,340 Speaker 1: the whole world is like that because 454 00:37:20,500 --> 00:37:22,460 Speaker 1: when Jesus has the encounter with the 455 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:23,780 Speaker 1: rich young ruler 456 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:26,680 Speaker 1: the apostles come to him 457 00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:30,020 Speaker 1: and Jesus said hey it's harder for a rich man to get to heaven 458 00:37:30,540 --> 00:37:32,300 Speaker 1: than the camel to go through the eye of a needle 459 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:35,260 Speaker 1: and the apostles 460 00:37:35,420 --> 00:37:37,280 Speaker 1: go who can be saved then 461 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:39,579 Speaker 1: right who can be saved 462 00:37:40,020 --> 00:37:41,620 Speaker 1: because who doesn't chase after this? 463 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:47,700 Speaker 1: In the world, in the flesh, in your selfishness, yes, that's exactly what you chase after. 464 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:54,480 Speaker 1: And so you get saved, you come to a real conversion point in your life, 465 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:56,940 Speaker 1: then that becomes a battle, right? 466 00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:00,200 Speaker 1: That becomes a fight your whole life, especially in America. 467 00:38:02,380 --> 00:38:05,700 Speaker 1: Because it's too easy in this country to go get it. 468 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:06,860 Speaker 1: You can go get it. 469 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:12,280 Speaker 1: I like what my friend Louis Dowdy said, 470 00:38:12,420 --> 00:38:14,620 Speaker 1: making money ain't a problem hanging on to it is. 471 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:23,240 Speaker 1: It has its place, right? 472 00:38:24,580 --> 00:38:29,840 Speaker 1: That's why the Bible gives us an opportunity to give what we make. 473 00:38:30,740 --> 00:38:33,000 Speaker 1: Because we live like this. 474 00:38:33,940 --> 00:38:34,860 Speaker 1: Cares of this life. 475 00:38:36,300 --> 00:38:38,960 Speaker 1: One version says the deceitfulness of riches. 476 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:40,000 Speaker 1: It's deceitful. 477 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:43,160 Speaker 1: The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. 478 00:38:43,420 --> 00:38:45,680 Speaker 1: Notice it's not money, it's the love of it. 479 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:50,100 Speaker 1: And so we have to keep that in check. 480 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:52,460 Speaker 1: The only way you're going to keep that in check, folks, 481 00:38:53,140 --> 00:38:55,620 Speaker 1: is having a really tight walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. 482 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:57,760 Speaker 1: That's the only way you're going to keep that in check. 483 00:38:58,620 --> 00:39:01,100 Speaker 1: They'll only run rough shot over you your whole life. 484 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:06,220 Speaker 1: And what pleasures? 485 00:39:07,340 --> 00:39:08,960 Speaker 1: They kind of all go hand in hand here. 486 00:39:09,060 --> 00:39:09,360 Speaker 1: don't they? 487 00:39:10,460 --> 00:39:10,820 Speaker 1: Pleasures. 488 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:14,120 Speaker 1: Take a life of ease. 489 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:16,140 Speaker 1: Who doesn't want a life of ease? 490 00:39:17,220 --> 00:39:18,500 Speaker 1: But the Bible guarantees us, 491 00:39:18,740 --> 00:39:20,460 Speaker 1: you're not going to have a life of ease here. 492 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:23,640 Speaker 1: You're not. 493 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:26,880 Speaker 1: It's not something that we're to pursue. 494 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:29,640 Speaker 1: We get to sleep and rest in heaven 495 00:39:29,740 --> 00:39:30,920 Speaker 1: and have a life of ease in heaven. 496 00:39:32,660 --> 00:39:36,900 Speaker 1: But here, it's struggle. 497 00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:38,900 Speaker 1: And God promises, 498 00:39:38,980 --> 00:39:47,840 Speaker 1: is that? It's because we're under the curse. Are you getting choked spiritually with these things? 499 00:39:49,240 --> 00:39:54,740 Speaker 1: Right? You go back to Genesis chapter 3 and God is talking to Adam after they had disobeyed the Lord, 500 00:39:55,080 --> 00:40:00,480 Speaker 1: just like you and I have. And the Lord says to Adam, because you have heeded the voice of your wife, 501 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:08,920 Speaker 1: oh Lord, help us. Because you have heeded the voice of your wife. There is a time to heed the voice of your wife. 502 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:13,020 Speaker 1: of your wife in a time not to, Adam chose the time not to. 503 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:21,620 Speaker 1: Because you have hated the voice of your wife and you have eaten of the tree, which I commanded 504 00:40:21,700 --> 00:40:28,080 Speaker 1: you saying, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is ground for your sake. In toil, you shall eat of it 505 00:40:28,220 --> 00:40:32,980 Speaker 1: all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles, it shall bring forth for you. And you 506 00:40:33,100 --> 00:40:37,860 Speaker 1: shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you 507 00:40:37,900 --> 00:40:45,020 Speaker 1: return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. 508 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:53,320 Speaker 1: That's this life. And it's going to be trouble. There's going to be weeds and thorns and labor and 509 00:40:53,500 --> 00:40:58,900 Speaker 1: sweat of your brow, till the day you die. I'm getting older now. I sit on the couch a lot more 510 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:07,760 Speaker 1: than I used to, and I get chastised by my family for it. I had to do the brakes on my wife's car. 511 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:09,800 Speaker 1: I was impersonating a mechanic yesterday. 512 00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:16,560 Speaker 1: And the sweat was dripping off my cowboy hat. 513 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:22,540 Speaker 1: I'm never going to outgrow this, you guys. 514 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:24,980 Speaker 1: You're never going to outgrow this. 515 00:41:26,220 --> 00:41:28,940 Speaker 1: Moses said the same thing in Psalm 90. 516 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:31,900 Speaker 1: It's that whole teach us to number our days, Lord. 517 00:41:32,020 --> 00:41:35,040 Speaker 1: But he says in verse 10 of Psalm 90, 518 00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:37,520 Speaker 1: the days of our lives are 70 years. 519 00:41:37,620 --> 00:41:39,840 Speaker 1: and if by reason of strength they are 80 years, 520 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:42,940 Speaker 1: yet their boast is only labor and sorrow. 521 00:41:44,220 --> 00:41:46,740 Speaker 1: For it is soon cut off and we fly away. 522 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:50,280 Speaker 1: That's when we'll be at ease when we fly away. 523 00:41:51,180 --> 00:41:51,840 Speaker 1: Not until then. 524 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:59,480 Speaker 1: Because you've got aches and pains, my hip, my shoulder, labor and sorrow. 525 00:42:00,780 --> 00:42:01,340 Speaker 1: Just give it. 526 00:42:02,340 --> 00:42:03,380 Speaker 1: Let's just get used to it. 527 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:09,240 Speaker 1: the man who had the bumper crop 528 00:42:09,660 --> 00:42:11,020 Speaker 1: Jesus tells the story right 529 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:13,300 Speaker 1: oh the crop 530 00:42:13,940 --> 00:42:16,920 Speaker 1: in fact my barns can't even hold it so I'm tearing my barns down 531 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:18,820 Speaker 1: and I'm building bigger and better barns 532 00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:21,340 Speaker 1: and I'm going to fill it with all my bumper crop 533 00:42:21,580 --> 00:42:24,320 Speaker 1: and I'm going to take a life of ease and the Lord says you fool 534 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:26,960 Speaker 1: you fool 535 00:42:27,740 --> 00:42:28,220 Speaker 1: today 536 00:42:29,820 --> 00:42:31,440 Speaker 1: your soul is required of you 537 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:36,100 Speaker 1: that's what you need to be focused on, is our soul. 538 00:42:37,460 --> 00:42:39,360 Speaker 1: Because it may be required of us. 539 00:42:40,220 --> 00:42:45,340 Speaker 1: Even today, I've been hearing of the weirdest, bizarrest deaths of people. 540 00:42:46,720 --> 00:42:47,240 Speaker 1: Just recently. 541 00:42:48,500 --> 00:42:50,580 Speaker 1: And young people, all of them younger and me. 542 00:42:50,780 --> 00:42:51,640 Speaker 1: I'm just going, really? 543 00:42:51,660 --> 00:42:52,260 Speaker 1: They died, yeah. 544 00:42:52,900 --> 00:42:55,280 Speaker 1: Ran five miles a couple days ago and three days later, they're dead. 545 00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:57,180 Speaker 1: Well, they shouldn't run so hard. 546 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:11,480 Speaker 1: What's our focus? 547 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:14,860 Speaker 1: These are distractions. 548 00:43:15,220 --> 00:43:20,340 Speaker 1: These choke out our faith that's precious to the Lord. 549 00:43:20,780 --> 00:43:23,060 Speaker 1: Notice the woman in chapter 7, 550 00:43:23,500 --> 00:43:24,920 Speaker 1: your faith has made you well. 551 00:43:25,060 --> 00:43:26,480 Speaker 1: Your faith has healed you. 552 00:43:27,780 --> 00:43:31,080 Speaker 1: that's what we need to grow and strengthen in our lives is our faith 553 00:43:34,500 --> 00:43:35,080 Speaker 1: last of all 554 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:40,980 Speaker 1: but the ones verse 15 that fell on good ground 555 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:45,640 Speaker 1: are those who having heard the word with a noble and good heart 556 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,400 Speaker 1: keep it and bear fruit with patience 557 00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:51,880 Speaker 1: patience that's the key 558 00:43:52,860 --> 00:43:54,800 Speaker 1: no you just keep on keeping on 559 00:43:55,900 --> 00:44:00,260 Speaker 1: one day at a time sweet jesus everybody knows the christie lane song right 560 00:44:02,620 --> 00:44:07,920 Speaker 1: one day at a time sweet jesus is all that's all that i need is one day at a time 561 00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:16,480 Speaker 1: live for him one day at a time don't get too far out in front of yourself right that is drudgery 562 00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:24,780 Speaker 1: that's just like oh no way i can't do it my brother always used to say and i quote it i seem to quote it 563 00:44:24,820 --> 00:44:32,220 Speaker 1: the time. Life by the inch is a cinch. Life by the yard is hard. One day at a time. Just walk with 564 00:44:32,500 --> 00:44:43,240 Speaker 1: Jesus. Jesus said tomorrow is going to have enough trouble of its own. And fruit, fruit is the 565 00:44:43,380 --> 00:44:51,000 Speaker 1: evidence of the changed life. It really is. When your life starts becoming all about Jesus, 566 00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:58,860 Speaker 1: Some of those guys, I went to the rodeo the last couple of days, and I've seen some old buddies. 567 00:45:00,720 --> 00:45:03,300 Speaker 1: Some old buddies that seen me do some really bad things. 568 00:45:04,420 --> 00:45:07,180 Speaker 1: And I mean, we have a hoo-rah, and they joke around. 569 00:45:07,300 --> 00:45:10,100 Speaker 1: They joke around with me and being a preacher man and all that stuff. 570 00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:12,580 Speaker 1: And I still love those guys. 571 00:45:13,140 --> 00:45:16,860 Speaker 1: Some of them have slowed down on their hell-bent-for-election lifestyle. 572 00:45:16,940 --> 00:45:24,100 Speaker 1: but but it's just cool to see they see a difference. 573 00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:25,400 Speaker 1: Thank you, Lord. 574 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:31,020 Speaker 1: They see a difference that a life surrendered to Jesus can actually bear fruit 575 00:45:31,980 --> 00:45:33,460 Speaker 1: and that God can use you and me. 576 00:45:34,580 --> 00:45:36,960 Speaker 1: That's still kind of mind-boggling to me. 577 00:45:39,220 --> 00:45:46,880 Speaker 1: But it's important because it's the proof that we are truly belonging. 578 00:45:46,940 --> 00:45:53,200 Speaker 1: to him that we've truly been converted, that the word of God is truly sunk down deep in our hearts 579 00:45:53,390 --> 00:46:01,640 Speaker 1: and begins to bear fruit, some 30, some 60, some 100, the other gospel says. Four things in closing 580 00:46:01,820 --> 00:46:08,160 Speaker 1: that I just remind. Number one, examine your heart. You know, you know yourself. Not as good as the 581 00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:13,339 Speaker 1: Lord does, but you know yourself. Please don't think yourself more highly of yourself than you ought to, 582 00:46:14,180 --> 00:46:16,880 Speaker 1: right? We've all sin and fallen short of the glory of God. 583 00:46:16,900 --> 00:46:20,500 Speaker 1: I see myself as a sinner saved by grace, right? 584 00:46:21,720 --> 00:46:23,680 Speaker 1: 2 Corinthians chapter 135 tells us, 585 00:46:23,900 --> 00:46:25,980 Speaker 1: examine yourselves to see whether you're in the faith. 586 00:46:26,260 --> 00:46:26,980 Speaker 1: Test yourselves. 587 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:30,480 Speaker 1: Test yourself. 588 00:46:31,300 --> 00:46:33,600 Speaker 1: Secondly, break up the hard ground. 589 00:46:34,500 --> 00:46:37,480 Speaker 1: If you've been hard towards the Lord, you can get soft. 590 00:46:38,460 --> 00:46:42,120 Speaker 1: I remember I'd been so hard towards the Lord at 23, 591 00:46:42,460 --> 00:46:45,660 Speaker 1: and I was living in this little trailer house in central California, 592 00:46:46,260 --> 00:46:52,620 Speaker 1: And man, I was just living hellishly and hardening my heart towards the Lord. 593 00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:55,260 Speaker 1: In fact, I seen some Christian people that I knew were Christian people. 594 00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:55,880 Speaker 1: It's funny. 595 00:46:56,240 --> 00:46:58,340 Speaker 1: When you're backslidden, you just go the other way. 596 00:46:58,900 --> 00:47:00,140 Speaker 1: I didn't want to see them. 597 00:47:02,279 --> 00:47:03,900 Speaker 1: And my heart was getting hard. 598 00:47:04,180 --> 00:47:12,860 Speaker 1: But as I sat in that trailer house all by myself, there was a Bible sitting on the little table next to me under a lamp. 599 00:47:13,340 --> 00:47:15,180 Speaker 1: And I looked at it and I said, 600 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:17,480 Speaker 1: oh, Lord, please forgive me. 601 00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:19,980 Speaker 1: That simple. 602 00:47:20,140 --> 00:47:25,000 Speaker 1: That was how I softened the ground of my heart, 603 00:47:25,780 --> 00:47:28,720 Speaker 1: just by saying, oh, Lord, forgive me. 604 00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:33,320 Speaker 1: And, you know, it tells us in Hosea 10, 12, 605 00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:34,900 Speaker 1: it says, so for yourself, 606 00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:37,820 Speaker 1: so for yourselves righteousness, 607 00:47:38,340 --> 00:47:41,040 Speaker 1: reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, 608 00:47:41,300 --> 00:47:42,860 Speaker 1: for it is time to seek the Lord. 609 00:47:43,380 --> 00:47:45,540 Speaker 1: It was time for me in that moment to just say, 610 00:47:46,100 --> 00:47:51,260 Speaker 1: okay. And I literally threw my hands in the air that night and said, okay, the rest of this thing, 611 00:47:51,500 --> 00:47:59,620 Speaker 1: whatever is left of it, it's yours. And I just surrendered to him. So examine yourselves. Break up 612 00:47:59,920 --> 00:48:08,860 Speaker 1: that hardness that's in your heart. Number three, pull the weeds. Put away those things that 613 00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:15,560 Speaker 1: distract you. Right? That's why I have the old dinosaur flip phone. It's such a 614 00:48:15,580 --> 00:48:21,500 Speaker 1: distraction for me, you know, I'm one of them dudes with a little ADHD, you know, can think about 615 00:48:21,560 --> 00:48:26,800 Speaker 1: a hundred things all at the same time. That's why at my house I got 15 projects started, 616 00:48:26,980 --> 00:48:36,680 Speaker 1: none of them completed. It's a distraction. The one constant that I have is I try to read the word 617 00:48:36,740 --> 00:48:45,540 Speaker 1: every morning. Put the seed in the ground. Right? Otherwise, you can just let the seed 618 00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:46,160 Speaker 1: on the table. 619 00:48:47,720 --> 00:48:48,580 Speaker 1: No, put it in the ground. 620 00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:50,580 Speaker 1: The ground of your heart. 621 00:48:52,420 --> 00:48:57,020 Speaker 1: And fourthly, which takes us right to it, is stay rooted in the word. 622 00:48:59,500 --> 00:49:02,300 Speaker 1: Good soil retains the word of God, right? 623 00:49:02,740 --> 00:49:03,920 Speaker 1: You can meditate on it. 624 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:05,640 Speaker 1: You read it over and over again. 625 00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:07,840 Speaker 1: You can memorize it. 626 00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:10,180 Speaker 1: And most importantly, obey it. 627 00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:11,940 Speaker 1: Obey it. 628 00:49:14,860 --> 00:49:15,520 Speaker 1: You know, we see. 629 00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:22,500 Speaker 1: started this first part of chapter eight the first few verses these 12 men and these women that 630 00:49:22,540 --> 00:49:32,840 Speaker 1: were with Jesus they they were good soil right they listened to the words of Jesus and let those 631 00:49:32,940 --> 00:49:41,660 Speaker 1: words of Jesus transform their lives the grace of God isn't it amazing let stand shall we 632 00:49:42,220 --> 00:49:42,760 Speaker 1: and we'll pray 633 00:49:48,740 --> 00:49:56,000 Speaker 1: Lord, I pray for us as your people, Lord, that we would truly be that good soil. 634 00:49:57,400 --> 00:50:04,120 Speaker 1: Lord, that it's plowed up and it's moistened by your mercy and your grace. 635 00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:11,540 Speaker 1: Lord, that you would give us just the wherewithal. 636 00:50:12,820 --> 00:50:16,060 Speaker 1: to be your witnesses in this world that we would bear fruit. 637 00:50:17,420 --> 00:50:20,300 Speaker 1: Lord, just by showing your love, being consistent, 638 00:50:21,140 --> 00:50:23,540 Speaker 1: Lord, give us a passion as your people for your word 639 00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:26,460 Speaker 1: to truly write it upon the pages of our heart. 640 00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:30,540 Speaker 2: As the psalmist said there, Lord, that we might not sin against you, 641 00:50:31,300 --> 00:50:34,160 Speaker 2: knowing that the fruit that will come from that is something 642 00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:36,840 Speaker 2: that I don't think will totally understand this side of heaven. 643 00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:39,780 Speaker 2: So, Lord, move in us, would you? 644 00:50:40,540 --> 00:50:41,540 Speaker 2: Lord, would we just be in a number of heaven? 645 00:50:41,560 --> 00:50:44,500 Speaker 2: all of your amazing grace in Jesus' name.