The Thorny Soil

Mark 4:3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:

4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

Skip down to….

18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

Lets Pray

I had something very strange happen to me about 2 years ago.

I came in from work & was exhausted so I figured I would lay down for a while.

I laid down & fell asleep.

It was a hard sleep.

I lost track of what time it was, what day it was & what planet I was on.

All of the sudden I heard a knock on the door.

I startled me so I jumped up to put my shirt on & my right arm wasn’t working.

What had happened was I fell asleep awkwardly on my arm & stayed there for about an hour & a half.

By the time I heard the knock on the door the circulation had been completely cut off & my arm was useless.

I tried to put my shirt on…..it didn’t happen.

I held my shirt up to cover myself with my left arm while unlocking my door with my right but I couldn’t.

By the time I had the door open the people where gone.

Oh to be a fly on the wall in my living room that day.

How many of you know loss of circulation isn’t good.

Its something you don’t realize until you have to move or perform a function.

When the circulation is gone,the body part may still be alive but you can forget about using it.

Today, in a few moments you will have an opportunity to respond in prayer.

The Holy Spirit has a divine appointment for you this morning.

Theirs a stirring right now in the body here at Heritage.

Let me remind you….

God has required of us our worship!

God has required of us our testimony

God has set some people free!

Theirs a new freedom

Theirs enthusiasm.

Let me tell you this morning, God desires you!

You not just a nameless face in a crowd, your Gods child & desires for you to sit at his table!

Psalms 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting

New things are on its way to you!

New things are on its way through you!

Jesus was a masterful teacher preacher.

As you know Jesus was mobbed by all of the people & was forced to board a boat & teach from it.

Jesus addressed the desire of the people to hear what he had to say.

2 weeks ago we talked about his first example the wayside hearer. (enemy snatched away before it sunk down.)

Last week we talked about the stone embedded hearer.(went down only so far)

With both of his first 2 examples there was a problem with the soil which I really believe represents the heart.

But this morning Jesus takes it a step further.

How many of you know Jesus wants to take you a step further?

He says…7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

In the book of Luke, it states that the thorns grew up with it.

The seed was thrown

It found home

It sprouted & it grew

But something was different about this plant….it didn’t bear nothing.

The reason it didn’t bear nothing was because there was something growing along side it.

God help us.

We live in a nation were there is an appetite for God.

I see it in our young people

In our young adults

& our older adults.

There is a spiritual appetite that has brewing & growing in our nation for quite some time.

But what has happened is that as this desire for God grows, so does other evil desires & mentalities right along side of him.

The Episcopalian church has just ordained the first openly Gay man as a bishop.

Thank God for ministers

But a man who attempts to minister while allowing a thorn to grow right along side his ministry will be ineffective, I don’t care what you say.