Preparation For Blessing

Parable Of The Sower  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  38:49
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August 11 Back To School Sunday (For This Child I Prayed)

Keeping our hearts is a continual process!

Illus: Five years ago we moved into our home in S. County. We had good neighbors, but after a year or so, our one neighbor moved out and a new guy came in. The new guy was fastidious about his lawn. It looked great, and next to his, mine looked awful....so, I started to work on it. I raked the moss out, aerated it, overseeded it, fertilized it and water it regularly. It flourished, and .... (I’m a preacher, so I have to tell the truth…) looked better than his! Yay me....
This year, I haven’t paid much attention to it. I have had other projects, I am now the proud father of a young man that can mow the lawn for me (Thank God!) and didn’t pour any money or effort into it. When I walk over the lawn to check the mail, I see some of the weeds and moss have returned. When I compare my lawn to my neighbor’s (I’m a preacher, so I have to tell the truth…) his looks better than mine…boooo!
But it is a perfect example of what I believe God is talking about here in this parable.
The sower…this farmer planting his crop…is not speaking of a one and done occurence. We are not talking about just hearing the Word to get saved.
We must continually prepare our hearts to properly receive the Word on an on-going basis.
You might have the best heart lawn this year, but if you don’t maintain it, weeds, and moss will infest it and it won’t be what it should be.
Proverbs 4:23 KJV 1900
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.
Not just once, but continually!
So the sower sews the seed, some falls on the path, too hard for the seed to germinate, so the birds come and get lunch!
Some falls on the rocky ground, not much dirt, and springs up quickly but dies quickly when there is (turmoil or conflict…BECAUSE OF THE WORD!)
Some falls on thorny ground, the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches. GROWETH UP and chokes the Word, and it yieldeth no fruit.
Some falls on good ground and brings forth fruit, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.

How Does Your Heart Get That Way?

How does one end up with a wayside heart, a stony heart, a thorny heart or a fruitful heart?

Wayside Heart

Jesus is clear in telling this parable, and told us that these are they that hear the Word, but have no understanding and the devil comes by and takes the truth because they don’t understand it.
***devil has devoured a lot of truth, but it doesn’t profit him if it’s only purpose is to keep it from you!
They hear a truth, don’t fully understand it, but just go on about life.
It won’t affect you if it doesn’t get into your heart. It can’t get in, if you don’t understand it, you must make an effort to know what God is saying to you!
Here is the crazy thing....These truths are life changing! They bring blessing, fulfillment, satisfaction, power!
Holy Ghost…I hear them talking about the Holy Ghost, I don’t really know what that means, but they use the word ghost....that’s a bit scary. Someone I saw was once running around and shouting…that’s weird. I don’t want that!
The truth is Jesus said you shall receive POWER after that the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit comes on you.
The truth is, the fruit of the Spirit (the result of being filled with and living in the Spirit) is love, joy, and peace.
We talk about wanting answers for the world…Having God’s love is a key answer.
Tithe…There you go preacher, I don’t understand it, but it seems like a money grab! I am supposed to pay 10% to the church? (You are keeping 90%) No way…I knew it was all about money!
The truth is tithing is a way of personal blessing to you. God said “Bring your tithe into the storehouse, the church where you get fed, and see if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing.”
The truth is we learn faith by putting God first in our life, not just giving Him the leftovers.
The truth is tithing helps us to break away from the greedy spirit and helps us enter into fellowship with God. “God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten son....” God gave His best for us. When we obey God by paying our tithe, we learn to use what God has given us for good, and not let it develop a greedy materialistic heart.
Soulwinning…out there recruiting for the church…huh, I am not getting involved in that!
The truth is one of the greatest joys you can experience in life is seeing someone who was on their way to hell, bow down and ask Jesus to forgive them, and is now on their way to heaven.
Baptism…No need for that, it is just a formality
Actually it is a commandment of God! (My apologies, we have been trying to schedule a baptism at the rec center that we have used before, but they recently told us that they will not allow us to do baptisms there again.) We will schedule with our church in Belleville to do the next one.
Holiness…The preacher is saying that my spirituality should affect my clothes, my choice of music, my friends, this is just way too much!
The truth is God wants to improve and help every area of our life and so we shouldn’t be surprised if He begins to goad us into a life that better exemplifies a Christ follower in this world.
Midweek Service and Bible Study and Sunday Evening
Once a week is enough!
The truth is when our heart has been changed, we long for fellowship with God, to learn more of God’s Word, to gain strength…and to give strength to fellow Christ followers by worshipping together. The example we have been given in the New Testament was that they met daily, for fellowship and teaching.

Stony Ground Heart

No depth of earth…they initially believed, but when someone questioned their belief, because they didn’t have a deep enough understanding of the truth, they balked.
I must make sure I fully understand and can give a reason for the hope that is within me. If not, anybody with a few excuses disguised as reasons for not believing, or not living a separated life will be able to sway me from my steadfastness.
***The child that says I understand, I understand, just to get you off of their back, but when you give them another problem they can’t solve it....compared to the child that says “Oh!!!! Now I get it!” and can prove it by doing the next problem.
How do I deepen the earth?
Dirt is the thin layer of soil that covers our planet. In most places, it is just a few feet thick, because nearly all of the Earth is a big, hard, solid rock, with an inner liquid core.
Dirt is mostly made of bits and pieces of this rock, which is broken down into smaller and smaller pieces because of weathering and microorganisms breaking down plant matter. Moisture, temperature, wind, rain, freezing, and thawing are all part of the weathering process. Over hundreds of years, rocks break down into tiny grains, and these small grains, mixed with plant and animal matter — decayed roots, leaves, dead bugs and worms, and other organic matter thrown in, along with water and air — is what we call dirt or soil.
You either break it up, or remove it!

When The Sun Was Up...

The sun always comes up eventually. We will all face difficulties, it is not a matter of if, but when.
We must prepare now by truly knowing what we believe and why.

We get what we need to go through the storms, by first going through the storms without what we need!

The young tree with shallow roots faces it’s first storm, and the resistance it faces, teaches it that it must have stronger roots, and it starts to push roots deeper to be ready for the next storm.
We face difficulty, someone questions our faith, we don’t have good answers, so it makes us go back and study and find out the right answers so the next time we are prepared.
The Difficulty Demands A Deepening

Thorny Hearts

And some fell among thorns…and the thorns grew up, and it choked it and it yielded no fruit.
To have a greater crop, we must continually clear more ground.
In continuously cultivating our heart, you have to pluck out the thorns when they are small, when they get fully grown, they are way more difficult to get rid of.
The thorns grew up…Who is watering the thorns? Who is helping them to become stronger, more ingrained in our life?
***Boa constrictor raised from a small snake and the man would do a show on stage, until one day this snake made the pillar, but didn’t release, and the crowd heard the popping of the bones as the snake began to constrict and the man was killed by his own pet.
Pornography....just a little look…television…movies…until one day it kills you.
Jesus tells us what the thorns are.
The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of other things entering in choke the Word and it becometh unfruitful.
It once was fruitful, not it isn’t. It is alive, barely, but not bearing any fruit.
Don’t let these get so big they make you unfruitful!
***Lord I pray for my son....God I....”

Fruitful Hearts

The Word Received (believed and taken in)
Mark 4:24 KJV 1900
24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.
Deepened (through difficulties)
Protected (removed the thorns)
Brings forth fruit and the FRUIT brings forth!
John 10:10 KJV 1900
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 15:16 KJV 1900
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Jesus is not just present when we give our hearts to Him at the time of salvation, but He promises to never leave us nor forsake us.
He can break up the stony heart and give us the reasons why we should believe.
He can deepen our desire for Him until we can say like the Psalmist:
Psalm 73:25 KJV 1900
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
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