Theme: Day by Day - Time Management
Opening Video: Sermoncentral.com “We need to run again!”
Introduction to Theme:
“Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance. Want this! Don’t coast through life without a passion.”
? John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life
The world we live in knows the importance of Time Management but where they miss the mark is on what they prioritize - which usually is some of following: personal gain, financial success, fame and power. The Bible also speaks about Time Management but God through His Word prioritizes things differently than our world. His big four in regards to Time Management are faith in Him, fellowship with Him, relationship with others and sharing your story with others.
God want us to use our precious time wisely and not foolishly. You may be thinking how do we do this? We do this by using our time wisely by investing it in eternal things rather than temporal things. The goal of time management according to Jesus and His parables is to use your time wisely and not waste it on the wrong thing. We need to be focused on the Kingdom of Heaven/The Kingdom of God. We need to build on its foundation the rock which is Jesus.
So what is effective time management according to Jesus? Paul answers that question for us in Colossians 3: 23-24: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Our current series is based on Jesus Parables and learning how to effectively use our time for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Series: Short Stories – Giant Ideas – Jesus Parables!
Introduction to series:
A Bible Parable is, "a short, simple story designed to communicate a spiritual truth or a religious principle, or it could communicate a moral lesson; it’s also a figure of speech in which truth is illustrated by a comparison or example drawn from everyday experiences" (Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Nelson Pub., 1995, p.943).
Jesus’ Parables illustrate spiritual truths and teach principles of eternal life in the here and now. His spiritual truths and life principles are for the most part invisible and abstract, so He used parables to give them a graphic presence to the ones listening to them, but the key to a parable is applying it to the hearer's life (Adapted from Nelson's, p.943).
Jesus' Parables also intentionally hide truth from the Hypocrites - the religious teachers of the day. He used the teaching method of parables to hide certain teachings from the hypocrites so as to keep them in check and from them going completely off on Him before His time (see Luke 8:9-10 NIV).
The Hebrew and Aramaic word for parable also means "a riddle." I don’t know about you but when I decide to figure something’s meaning out I have a tendency to remember it more - how about you? Jesus spoke like this to see who really was hungry for the truth because if they did not understand it and went to Jesus He would explain the meaning of the Parable. Jesus desires for you to ask him to clarify spiritual truth.
Sermon: Day by Day
Thesis: Everyday (Day by Day) spiritual seeds are being planted in us by the Holy Spirit but the key to spiritual growth is found in discerning what type of heart or soil those seeds are falling on to? Our hearts are either: hard, shallow, entangled or fertile for spiritual growth. We need to be honest with ourselves to discover which type of heart soil we have?
Scripture Texts: Mark 4:1-20; 30-34
The Parable of the Sower
1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.” 9Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” 10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that,“ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ ” 13Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” 33With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Introduction:
As I was doing my research I discovered that some people feel this parable is the key to understanding all of Jesus parables. The core truth being taught in this parable is about how well you and I are at receiving the seeds of truth and God’s Word into our daily lives. I believe day by day God is planting seeds into our life but what matters is if we allow them to take root or not. The 4 types of soil in this parable represent the conditions of our hearts – especially when God is trying to plant His truths within our hearts. The condition of our hearts or soil will determine how we do each and every day of our life and whether we allow His Word to grow within us.
Jesus once again uses his surroundings to teach a spiritual principle to His followers: “The parable drew upon a rich agricultural image with which they were all familiar: a man with a seed bag tied to this waist, walking his field and rhythmically casting the seed” (Hughes 1:104). The people saw this scene regularly and could relate to His parable. To them it made sense but Jesus took an activity, a farmer to drive home the importance of soil to grow crops and the importance of the soil of the heart to grow spiritually.
A key to spiritual growth, to faith, to living a godly and blessed life lies within the soil of the heart – the center of a man or woman. The heart’s soil determines a person’s spiritual potential within the Kingdom of Heaven. It determines their spiritual maturity level and how they will handle the trials of life.
Our heart soils determines our outlook and perspective on life. If we don't work up our soiled hearts we can easily allow them to become hard, shallow and entangled.
Quote: “I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.”
? John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life
There is a battle within each of us everyday – day by day - we fight this war every day – day by day – this inner battle has three beings battling for control of our life, for control of our time and for control of our destiny in eternity. T he 3 are: One is the Lord, second is the Devil and third is our flesh.
There is an illustration shared by Steven Dow which also describes this battle (sermoncentral.com – sermon “The Parable of the Sower.”)
An old American Indian tale recounts the story of a chief who was telling a gathering of young braves about the struggle within. “It is like two dogs fighting inside of us,” the chief told them. “There is one good dog who wants to do the right and the other dog always wants to do the wrong. Sometimes the good dog seems stronger and is winning the fight. But sometimes the bad dog is stronger and wrong is winning the fight.” “Who is going to win in the end?” a young brave asks. The chief answered, “The one you feed.” It would seem that too many in the church have been feeding the wrong dog. When we feed the dog of our worldly desires he grows into a ferocious beast that controls and ruins our lives.
The truth is what feeds your heart and the condition of your hearts soil will determine the impact of God’s truths on your life. It’s the difference between leading a blessed life, a worthless life and even leading a depressed life.
Question: What type of soil makes up your heart, especially toward the things of the Kingdom of Heaven? Is it hard, shallow, entangled or fertile? Only you can answer this question about the condition of your heart.
T.S. - This parable is bracketed by Jesus saying, ‘Listen – hear my words – listen and apply my words to your life.”
4 soils graphic on power point.
Visual Illustration on table next to me: 4 planters – 4 different types of soil – 4 plant conditions.
I. The hard hearted soil (planter with rock hard soil)
a. The historical setting: This type of soil was obvious to the people of the day – back then they had paths that cut around fields or even went through them. This is were people walked, animals walked and packed the dirt down to a hard surface. When the farmer was planting seed by hand some of the seed would fall onto these hard paths of ground and quickly be ate up by the birds. So it was foolish to plant seed on such a hard soil because it would never penetrate into the soil to grow.
i. So the point of this type of soil was that no seed of life would take root on this type of hard surface. It would be wasted and eaten by the birds.
b. Spiritual implication: This soil is packed hard from the traffic of life, the pressure of life, from people, things keep stepping on this soil making it hard as a rock. So thevDevil swoops in and steals the seeds of life from taking root in our hearts.
i. Over time the soil becomes so hard no spiritual truth can penetrate it.
1. It’s been trampled on to many times by others.
2. Even the spiritual seed’s of life fall on top of this heart’s soil but it never penetrates, the soil won’t let it in. So along come the birds of life (The devil) and they snatch it away. It’s there for a moment – but not allowed in and then gone again. Never producing life!
ii. This analogy of Jesus here in this parable (The short story-giant idea) is about the hard hearted person – who never allows spiritual truth into their heart of life.
1. These people have become – hardened – bitter – angry – closed off - resistant to any spiritual truth – really they have vanquished love from their life because of the scarring of their heart.
a. Is there someone you know who fits this description in your life? Can you take a moment now and pray for them that God would soften their heart?
c. Jesus says this about hard hearts in Mark 8:14-21:
i. “14The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15“Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” 16They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.” 17Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. 20“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” 21He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
ii. Hard hearted people just do not understand the importance of Spiritual Truth or the Love of Jesus- They reject it – they keep it out- and it causes them to be aloof, loners in life, withdrawn, loveless, graceless, and walled off from that which could set them free.
1. Hard hearted people are usually hurt, bitter, angry people who just don’t trust others.
d. To fix this hard hearted soil it will require a plow. This heart needs to be plowed up and softened so seed can sink in and grow to produce fruit.
i. Dow states, “Jesus is referring to people whose hearts are so hard that the truth of His word cannot penetrate their lives. Just as a seed cannot grow unless it penetrates the ground so the seed of God’s word cannot grow unless it can penetrate the heart.”
1. Jesus gives us all free will to choose how we react to the things, the stresses and the hurts of life.
2. Last week I broke the news to you all of Moses death in Guinea:
a. Moses wife responded to her husband’s killing by telling Jon that she wants to go to that village to show them the love and forgiveness of Jesus. She is praying a revival would break out in that village and people would turn to Jesus. Just like what happened with the killing of Jim Elliot where Elizabeth Elliot went and won the village to Jesus.
b. Jon wrote this: “I believe that free will is one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind. However, free will means that God lets men choose to do bad. Last week, some men choose to kill my friend, who only came to help them. Now it is my turn to choose. I choose to release bitterness. It is to heavy to bear. I choose to pray and believe that God, who is good, can transform something terrible into something good. I choose to return and continue the work we started together. I will bless the Lord at all times and say with the saints of old; it is well with my soul.”
ii. The solution to this problem of a hard hearted soil is the soil needs to be plowed up – broken up so the seed can sink in and take root.
1. We need to surrender our hard hearts to Jesus – let him plow them up so they can produce fruit. It is obvious that our self-centered – world in America is not helping us but is instead killing us and hurting us.
a. “America today is a "save yourself" society if there ever was one. But does it really work? The underdeveloped societies suffer from one set of diseases: tuberculosis, malnutrition, pneumonia, parasites, typhoid, cholera, typhus, etc. Affluent America has virtually invented a whole new set of diseases: obesity, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, venereal disease, cirrhosis of the liver, drug addiction, alcoholism, divorce, battered children, suicide, murder. Take your choice. Labor-saving machines have turned out to be body-killing devices. Our affluence has allowed both mobility and isolation of the nuclear family, and as a result, our divorce courts, our prisons and our mental institutions are flooded. In saving ourselves we have nearly lost ourselves.”
? John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life
b. But to lose your hard heartedness toward God requires you to open up to Him to allow His grace, mercy and love to saturate your life.
c. His love is the plow we need to soften our hearts.
T.S. – We have looked at the first type of heart soil now let’s look at the second type.
II. The shallow hearted soil filled with rock (planter with withered plant)
a. The historical setting: The second type of soil may grab the seed and allow it to penetrate (a little) it will have a little top soil over the top of a hard rock service. But when the sun comes out and the rains don't come then the plant withers and dies because it’s root system is not deep enough to sustain itself from the scorching sun.
i. Plants need to be rooted to grow. They will not produce fruit if the root system fails at that point the plant dies and withers up.
1. I have a huge tree in my yard dying because the root system was damaged – everyday I see this big tree die a little bit at a time because it is not getting the nutrients it needs to live and sustain itself.
ii. Cultural setting: “In Palestine much of the land is a thin 2- or 3-inch veneer of soil over a limestone bedrock. Here some of the seed falls, the warm sun quickly heats the seed in the shallow soil, and the seeds sprout in feverish growth. But then the sun beats down, the plant’s roots meet the bedrock, and it withers and dies” (Hughes 1:107).
b. The spiritual implication:
i. Some people have a heart which has a shallow soil for the things of God – for spiritual truth. The seed penetrates a little but then the sun comes out and the soil dries up and it becomes dry as a bone. In other words the trials of life beat down on them and their soil dries out and the seed starts to wither and die because it’s root system is to shallow.
1. The root system we need to sustain life in this world is a root system rooted and grounded in God’ Word. God’s Word is what takes us deeper in him. It gives us strength, nutrients and the things we need to live a blessed life.
ii. The shallow heart soil - It’s a heart that is shallow when it comes to spiritual truth, or a spiritual relationship with God.
1. God is like a one night stand (or one Sunday stand with no emotional attachment.)
2. I use Him when I need Him – or need something from Him - but there is no heart to heart connection there is no deep rooted love for Him and His truth.
3. This heart soil has an inability to commit – to give it all to Him!
a. It’s only surface religion with no heart attachment.
4. The sad truth is there is shallowness to Christianity as a whole in our country today and to what it means to be committed to Him with our whole heart and soul.
iii. 2 Timothy 3:1-7:
1. 1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
a. A shallow person may have a form of religion but they have no truth – no connection to the truth – no connection or deep relationship with Jesus.
b. They actually have a shallow faith – they don’t want a deep committed relationship with the Word they mostly want entertainment – instead of commitment!
c. Tozer states in His book “Shallow Faith”: “The average Christian today is addicted to exterior pleasures. Can any Christian Church today survive without a heavy dose of entertainment? It is the culture of fun, fun and more fun. Performance has replaced worship. We no longer have worshippers but observers and spectators who sit in awe of the performance. The demand is for something that will make us feel good about ourselves and make us forget about all of our troubles.”
i. But there is no connection to the one they are worshipping – it’s a shallow – superficial relationship with the Lord – it’s not what Jesus is looking for in a relationship with others!
ii. He wants 100% commitment and deep rooted love being reciprocated to His commitment of love.
d. Tozer adds: “The Spirit of Ease Too many in the Church today are living on yesterday’s momentum. They feel that all of the battles have been fought. They assume that all the struggles in the Church are over. They are the privileged generation that goes to heaven on flowery beds of ease. Probably the most discouraging aspect of this is that many have grown accustomed to a static condition and have succumbed to a spirit of non-expectation. The only expectation most have is that when they die they fully expect to go to heaven. Apart from that, they are going to spend their time having fun and enjoying their religion. The Church Fathers did not enjoy their religion. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs shows what their religion cost them.”
i. Tozer, A. W. (2012-05-17). The Dangers of a Shallow Faith: Awakening from Spiritual Lethargy (Kindle Locations 206-211). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
2. Do you know someone like this? Then pray for them that the Word would go deeper and that they would break up the rock hardness of their heart to allow the spiritual truths of God to grow deeper into their soul.
3. John Bevere from The Bait of Satan describes how we can become shallow toward God: “"Once you leave the place God has chosen for you, your root system begins to dwarf... You end up coming to the place where you have little or no strength to endure hardship or persecution."
a. When you don’t have a deep rooted relationship with God then you will eventually dry up and whither in life.
c. The solution to this soil problem is the ability to plant the seed in soil which is deep enough for the roots to grow downward. The rock has to be busted up and removed so the seeds of life can grow. You need to pick out the rocks from the field.
i. Kathy my wife grew up on a farm and one of the worst jobs on the farm was picking rocks – but you had to do it to get better crops and have better soil.
1. Are you open to picking the rocks out of your soil?
2. Reference rock picking with Allen this summer.
ii. Dow notes, “The reason that so many Christians wilt when they face the scorching heat of trials and tribulations is that they have shallow root systems. They have failed to “go on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1). The Bible teaches us that it is very important that we “keep hold of the deep truths of the faith” (1 Timothy 3:9). That is why Paul prayed that the Ephesians would be “rooted and established in love” (3:17). A shallow Christianity simply cannot survive times of trouble.”
iii. Quote: “The "war" is being fought along the line between sin and righteousness in every family. It is being fought along the line between truth and falsehood in every school... Between justice and injustice in every legislature... Between integrity and corruption in every office... Between love and hate in every ethnic group... Between pride and humility in every sport... Between the beautiful and the ugly in every art... Between right doctrine and wrong doctrine in every church... Between sloth and diligence between coffee breaks. It is not a waste to fight the battle for truth and faith and love on any of these fronts.”
? John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life
iv. Here is a truth to ponder you can never go to deep with your spiritual root system – the deeper the better but to go there you have to pick out the rocks!
T.S. – We have talked about the hard heart, the shallow heart now we need to discuss the entangled heart.
III. The entangled heart’s soil (Planter with weeds choking out plant)
a. Historical Setting: Farmers also had to battle weeds and thorns in their fields. If a field became overrun with weeds and thorns it would choke out the crop because the weeds and thorns would take all the nutrients, water and minerals away from the plant for it grow.
i. Sometimes the weed and thorns would kill the plant but in most cases it dwarfed the plant and therefore it could not produce fruit.
ii. The planter also had to make sure the seeds of life were scattered on the good soil and not in the soil that surrounded the plowed field that was overgrown by weeds.
b. Spiritual Implication:
i. In the Christian life many people start out strong but they don’t finish well because they allow the weeds of the enemy to take root around them and they eventually choke out the seed of faith or the seed of Life from Jesus.
1. I see this happen far too often – we compromise the Word and a weed is planted and it starts to grow.
2. We yield to sin and instead of pulling it out we allow it to take root and it grows.
ii. Dow states, “These thorns represent the cares of life and the desire for wealth which choke the Word of God out of the lives of many people. The pursuit of worldly wealth consumes the energy that should be used in the pursuit of spiritual wealth and we die spiritually If “the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth” are choking out your spiritual development, you need to restructure your life. Stop making the pursuit of worldly wealth your highest objective and make the pursuit of spiritual riches your grandest goal. Jesus said, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:31,33). Let me give you some practical steps to putting God first in your life. First, start tithing. If God doesn’t have your pocketbook, He doesn’t have your heart either. If you’re not giving God the first part of your income you’re only fooling yourself if you think you’re giving Him first place in your life.…”
iii. “Christianity is not a sprint but an endurance run. Therefore it is not how we start the race that counts, but how we complete it. How we finish is determined by the choices we make, and those are often formed by patterns we develop along the way.”
? John Bevere, Honor's Reward: The Essential Virtue for Receiving God's Blessings
iv. The Blessed Life is a book written Robert Morris. He talks about a crucial weed that chokes out the truth of God, the teachings of God, the Word in our life – that weed or thorny vine is called mammon – greed – the love of money which supersedes the love of the Lord Jesus. It’s a real weed and it’s always trying to take root in the soil were seeds of faith are trying to grow.
1. It grows quick and if allowed to keep growing will choke out the spiritual truths of Jesus.
2. Robert says this about that evil spiritual weed “Mammon:
a. “…John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. If you were one of them (who read it), you know this poem painted a pretty detailed portrait of hell. In it, Milton showed Satan as a fallen commander in chief surrounded by his demon generals. Among them are Moloch, Dagon, Astarte, Osiris and Belial. Each of these, of course, was the god of an idol-worshipping culture in ancient times and is mentioned in the Bible. But Milton’s poem depicts another demon standing at Satan’s side. That demon’s name is Mammon. You may recognize “mammon” as a New Testament word. Jesus mentions it in a couple of places. For example in Matthew 6, Jesus declares: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (vs. 24). After reading this verse, you can see why Milton would lump a demon named Mammon in with all those Old Testament idols. Jesus clearly suggests that it is possible to serve mammon instead of serving God, but he goes even farther: Jesus states it is impossible to serve both at the same time. He says that you will love the one and hate the other. You will be loyal to one and despise the other. According to Jesus, there is no middle ground-no half-and-half. Mammon, apparently is a jealous god…But just what is mammon? “Mammon” is an Aramaic word that essentially means “riches.” And, apparently, the Assyrians got the concept of a god of wealth from their neighbors, the Babylonians…In the biblical sense of the word, mammon is the spirit that rests on money. Did you know that all money has a spirit on it? It either has the Spirit of God on it or the spirit of mammon. Money that is submitted to God and His purposes has the Spirit of God on it-which is why it multiplies and cannot be consumed by the devourer. I’m convinced that money that has been submitted to God – wealth that is devoted to serving Him rather than trying to replace Him-is blessed by God. In a very real sense, God’s Spirit blesses it. On the other hand, money that is not submitted to God has the spirit of mammon on it by default. That’s why people so often try to use money to control or manipulate others. It’s why people think money can bring happiness or fulfillment. Mammon is basically the spirit of the world-and the spirit is a liar” (Pages 75-77).
b. This weed grows around peoples hearts and chokes out the truths of God.
i. It chokes the seed of faith by saying, “God will not provide for you – don’t tithe!” “You cannot afford to give!”
ii. It says as it squeezes the seed of faith dry –“Don’t give to the church of Jesus you will not have enough money to pay your bills.”
1. Mammon loves to use fear to choke out the truth of God’s Word.
iii. It will say, “Hoard your money don’t give it to the Kingdom because I am your Savior – I am the one that brings happiness!”
iv. It will say, “This is your money not God’s you keep it because you deserve it – spend it on your pleasures.”
v. It will say, “I can solve all your problems keep me.”
1. Morris states, “Money is not the answer to problems-God is” (page 79).
vi. When we are under pressure the voice of mammon will say, “Go buy the lottery ticket and I will fix your problem.”
1. Morris states, many times, when we’re under pressure, the thoughts will come to us (and it’s actually mammon speaking to us) that we need one of two things to happen: We either need God to miraculously change our circumstances or we need someone to drop a truckload of money on us. This daydream usually involves winning the lottery, a contest or sweepstakes or death of a wealthy relative we didn’t know about. Notice how the spirit of mammon tries to position itself as a substitute for God. “You either need God to work right now or you need more money.” That’s simply a lie. We need God, period” (Page 79).
c. To fix this problem the farmer had to make sure that they weeded regularly and made sure the seeds got in the soil and that it was not choked out by thorns and the weeds of life.
i. How well are you doing at weeding the soil of your heart?
T.S. – We have covered 3 soils so far – hard hearted, shallow hearted and entangled hearted now we move to the type of soil that produces a blessed life – a fertile soil, a good soil!
IV. The fertile - good (rich) hearted soil (Planter with healthy flower)
a. Historical setting: This type of soil is what the farmer’s want! They want to get there seeds in the rich, fertile soil of life so the seeds of life sprout and grow and then produce a great harvest of fruit.
b. Spiritual implication:
i. Is your heart fertile toward the spiritual truths of God’s Word! Do you let them take root sink in and then grow and grow day by day?
1. This heart soil is fertile because it works at clearing the weeds and thorns daily. This soil is fertile because it has picked out all the rocks out which hinder growth. This heart soil is regularly plowed up so the seed of life can grow deep?
ii. Quote: From sermoncentral.com Mike Hiehle, “How’s Your Heart?”The person with a good heart, hears the word, applies it to their life and then receives a harvest of spiritual fruit. The heart that is like good soil is fertile ground for God to use. God wants to see His Word produce fruit in our lives. God wants to produce change and he desires to make your life fruitful and Christ like, but it all depends on the condition of your heart. Every time God’s Word comes to you, either in church, through reading, on the radio or TV, in prayer or by some other means, as scripture reaches you, the condition of your heart will dictate how you will respond.”
iii. To continue to grow spiritually through life day by day means you have to put nutrients into the soil of your heart.
1. Do as much for yourself spiritually as you do for yourself physically, financially, educationally and socially. Feed your soul/spirit as well as your body, mind, and emotions.
2. Do some spiritual exercises… and do them together with others – cultivate enrich the soil of your heart to grow.
3. Some of you need to develop a plan for the areas in which you need to grow spiritually.
4. Eugene Peterson said, “There’s a great market for religious experience in our world, but there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of character and virtue.”
5. Maintaining you spiritual growth is choice that you make today and every day – it’s a day by day discipline that needs to be done.
iv. What is the soil of your heart like? Is it growing and producing fruit for the Kingdom of Heaven – are you using your life for eternity?
1. Quote: “I will not waste my life! I will finish my course and finish it well. I will display the Gospel of the grace of God in all I do. I will run my race to the end.” - Paul”
? John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life
2. “God created me—and you—to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion—namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.”
? John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life
3. “You get one pass at life. That’s all. Only one. And the lasting measure of that life is Jesus Christ.”
? John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life
c. Question: How is your heart – which soil describes where you are at with God’s Word, or God’s Truth and your faith?
Conclusion:
• What do we need to learn from this sermon?
o We need to know what type of heart we have toward the things of God and His truths.
• Why do we need to know this message?
o So we can change our heart: I do this by plowing it – rock picking it – weeding it and therefore changing my heart soil to a fertile soil.
• What do we need to do?
o We need to decide to have a change of Heart and allow God’s truths to be planted in us. We need to plow our heart so the seed of life can take root, we need to rock pick our hearts clean of anything that hinders our spiritual growth, we need to weed our heart of sin so that our heart is fertile for life – eternal life and eternal truth.
• Why do we need to do this?
o So that we can produce fruit for the Kingdom of Heaven and see lives transformed starting with our own.
o The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
? This short story – giant idea also re-emphasizes why we need to allow the Kingdom of Heavens teachings, truths to be planted in our hearts. The reason it will become the biggest thing in our lives if we let it grow – it will provide shelter for us through the storms of this life. But the key is “planted” – the truths of God must be allowed to take root for us to benefit from them in the future.
