The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 1: Good Soil

Episode Date: April 23, 2017

It is the condition of the soil, not merely the delivery of the seed, that determines growth.

Amen. Everybody church, doing all right. You're looking good. If you got your Bibles, I hope you do. Grab them. We're going to be in Matthew, Chapter 13. If you don't have a Bible over your own, there's one in the seat back in front of you. Grab that.

And if you don't own one, you can take that home with you. It is our gift to you. If you have about eight of our gifts, we would look for you to bring about seven of them back and just keep the one gift. That would be awesome. All right. Matthew, Chapter 13, if you were brand new to church or maybe you started last week and now you're back this week and this is the first time you've been to church,

two times in a row in your life. Welcome. You have come on really the best week you could because we're starting a brand new series. Over the next few months, we'll be in this series that we're calling the storyteller because that is a part of what Jesus did. He told stories or he preached sermons.

That's not the primary thing that he did. Primarily he came to seeking to save the loss. He died on the cross for sinners. He's our savior and our sovereign king. But if he was going to save us from something and to something, he preached sermons so that we would know what he was saying of us from our sin and what he was saving us to a relationship with Jesus. And so what he would do is he'd preach like crazy.

And the Bible says in Matthew 1334 this, it says all these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables. Indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. And a parable is really just a story with a point. The Greek, it's really from two different Greek words, that means to cast alongside of. That's what it means. And so he would take a concept that would be difficult to understand, like the kingdom of God,

kind of a new concept to people, and he would cast it alongside a concept that would be easy to understand something that they would be into, like farming or fishing or being a good neighbor or that kind of thing. It would be similar to what I do every single week. I am a storyteller. That's why you'll hear here often, I'll say it reminds me of a story. Anybody a parent, or it's like if you had two dogs and they wound up in the pound, what it would it look like to redeem them back, or that kind of thing. I think if Jesus was teaching today, he would start out a whole lot of sermons this way. Have you seen the movie?

And then he would say, it's sort of like that, because you understand that. Let me lay something aside that it's about the kingdom of God that maybe you'll understand. And so, the reason that we're going to study Matthew chapter 13 is because it's the first parable recorded in the book of Matthew, and it's basically a parable about parables. And so before we get to your responsibility in hearing the Word of God, I want to go over real quick, my responsibility

in declaring the Word of God. I just need you to know, this thing that I'm doing right now, preaching, you see here at 1122, we don't have speakers. Speakers, we do have speakers, they're just hanging in the ceiling. It's the things you plug wires in and make stuff louder.

That's not what we're doing here. We're not speaking. This is not a talk. We preach. We preach the gospel. Amen. Thanks Frank. And I take it very, very, very seriously. I really do. I wake up every Monday morning between 3 and 4 a.m., depending on when the sun rises and what hunting season it is, and I go out into the woods to begin to prepare what I'm doing right now. And part of the reason

I go out into the woods is I cannot prepare here. I don't know if you know this, but nobody considers themselves a distraction because you're a snowflake and what you have to say to me is very important and more important than me preparing my sermon apparently. And so if I try to do this in my office, people knock on the door and I mean to them. I don't mean to be. It just comes very naturally. God is sanctifying that out of me. But to prevent that, I leave the state and go work on this, okay?

So I get up real early. I drive. It's about an hour away, and I usually like listen to worship music on the way to kind of get the juices flowing. And then I get into the woods and it's just dark. So I can't see my Bible and I don't want to cut on my electric one because then the animals can see it and I'm there for dual purpose. And so while I'm there in the woods, I just start praying. Dear God, they're your people, they're not my people. They're your sheep, they're your sheep.

You are the chief shepherd, the senior pastor. I am merely an undershepherd for just a season. One day you'll pull me out, you'll put another shepherd in. So God, what do you want to say to your people? And then I open the word of God and what you'll never get here. You see, we always start in the text and just unpack the text. One of the things I can guarantee you, whether it's me or any other teaching pastor that teaches here, you'll never show up here and get four ways to be a better version of you.

One, I'm not smart enough to come up with that stuff. Secondly, that stuff is of zero value. What we were going to do is we're going to be rooted in God's word. I'm like the mailman, man. I don't write it, I just deliver it. And sometimes I say things that offends you. Two things about that. Jimmy Crass Corn, I don't care.

I'm not accountable to you. I'm accountable to the Lord. But also, there's some things I say that offends me. Man, I would love to be able to read through this book with a highlighter and a pair of scissors and just clip out what I don't like. But I don't really have that option. And so I pray like crazy, Lord, what do you want to say to your people? And I can tell you, here's the other thing, too. I have to preach every four days because we have a Thursday night service.

So those wimpy pastors around the world, they just wait until Sunday. Whatever, no big deal, okay? I've already done this multiple times by the time you show up at 11 o'clock on a Sunday. And the other thing is the weekends come with an amazing regularity. Every Monday I wake up and go, oh, here we go again. And I don't know how to explain the weight that I feel when I'm doing this thing called preaching. I really do. And a part of it is your fault.

You put this weight on me. I read through the prayer request and it'll say, next week I'm bringing my one more. Make it a good one. Well, thanks. All right. I know what you're saying. I don't want them to go to heaven. so please don't help them. That's what you're saying. And so I do, man. I feel I take it very, very,

very seriously. And then even like on Thursday afternoons, I don't even go home on Thursdays. I just stay here until 722 starts at about 4 o'clock. I lock down my office. We literally have people at the door that won't let anybody with their dumb questions and their dumb ideas come and try to talk to me about anything. Because I need about three or four hours. Not to prepare. The preparation's done. I've done my part. But just to be with the Lord, man. I listen to chain and chain albums and I listen to some other pastors. It's like pregame before the big fight. That's what I do just to get my mind right because I have to beg God to do a thing through

me that I cannot do on my own. And on Saturday nights, I'm the worst. This is why you won't see me out on a Saturday night. I do not like going out on Saturday nights at all because as the sun goes down, my mind begins to drift at this thing that's happening right now. And Gretchen will tell you that I may be there, but I ain't there. I'm thinking about what's happening here. And on Sunday mornings, I don't even ride with my family to church.

You know why? Because I don't want to murder them all before I get here, all right? So we just separated that a long time ago so I could stay married one more week. And so now, and I just, it takes me, I don't know, between 16 to 20 hours to prepare and present what I think the Lord has for us as a church. And I'm not saying this so you'll think highly of me or that you would, look, I'm the most blessed man alive. There are some brothers that are preparing sermons, and if they get caught, they'll get killed. You see, I'm the most blessed person alive that I get to do what I think God has put me on this planet to do. So I am blessed like crazy, but I take it very, very seriously.

A part of the reason I take it seriously is because the word itself takes it seriously. So every week I go through this process, and then right before I walk out here, right behind this wall, I do three things. I pray, I check my mic, I check my zipper, and then here we are, okay? It's just true. It's just true. And it matters, man. It matters a lot. You know how much preaching matters in the Bible?

The whole thing started with a sermon. In the beginning, there was nothing. And then God said something, and then something showed up. That's what preaching is. There are people that walk into churches, our churches and churches, is all over the world and they walk in dead on the inside and then some brother says something and then God does a miracle and there is life where there used to not be life. It matters a lot. Words matter so much in the Old Testament, Isaac blesses the wrong kid and he can't take the

blessing back because words do what words are going to do. Careless words stab like a sword. Wise words lead to healing. In the power of the tongue is life or death. You see your words are like toothpaste that gets out of the tube. You ever try to, I dare you today. Try to put some of the toothpaste back in. Front row is going to be all over it today. It won't go. He's a prophet.

I know, I'm telling you. It's just true. Jesus was a prophet that he preached. He didn't just demonstrate the gospel. He declared the gospel everywhere that he went. And not only that, the word gospel itself means good news. For something to be news, two things have to happen. One, it has to happen.

and then two, it has to be declared or communicated. It's what the gospel is. Romans 10 says things about preaching like this. How are they to believe in whom they have not heard and how are they to hear without someone preaching? You see, preaching matters. And not only is it a big deal in the Bible, but there are some real warnings about preachers and preaching.

Matthew 1236, I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak. As a preacher, that scares me to death. I go back and listen to some sermons from a few years ago and think, uh-oh, I could be in trouble. Matthew 18, 6, it gets worse, not better. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. You know what a big deal this is?

God Almighty would look at what I'm doing right now and say, it'd be better for you to drown in the body. of the sea to mishandle the word of God and lead a new believer away from Jesus instead of towards Jesus. And then my favorite one, and my favorite, the one I wish I wasn't in the Bible, James 3-1, says, not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. Man, I work with a bunch of church planners, and they'll call me, these young bucks come up and be like, Pastor, I think I'm being called to preach. Well, bro, won't you call back and see if you can get a a different assignment, man, because it's a stricter judgment. Now, if he's put it in you,

you'll die if you don't, but you just know you were signing up for like the stricter judgment. So I get my responsibility as a preacher. I do, I do. And the reason I share all that with you is because the parable that we're going to go through today is not about the responsibility of the preacher, it's about the responsibility of the hearer. And so I just wanted to lay that out for you so that you know I am not abdicating my responsibility in preaching the word. And I get it. I get that responsibility. I just don't know if you get the responsibility in your part of receiving the word.

Now, let me just be clear. If you're a visitor, if you would say, hey, I don't even know that I believe in Jesus. Okay, you get a pass for a second. You can help me beat up all the Christians. But look here, Christians. Are you doing your part to receive the Word of God? Because what he's going to walk through right now is your. your responsibility when the Word of God goes out.

Because a lot of people, man, especially a lot of people kind of church shopping and church hopping in our consumeristic society now, man, that has totally bled into the church. And instead of you showing up prepared to receive the Word of God, you show up like a guest judge on American Idol. Show up here with your arms crossed, but come on, this better be good. and then you compare one church to another church you walk in here with this like can this even be a church I mean it's Walmart or it's a sports bar

those of you at Mandarin feel great because you're actually at a church but here you're like seriously how is this even church it looks like a carnival or a state fair with the fog and the smoke this is like a cold play concert meets a blue collar comedy tour I don't even know what I'm at then you sing a song and you land I don't really like that song do you realize we're not singing to you has that occurred to you

I don't care if you like the song, you're not the audience. The question that we ask is, does the Lord like this song? And then this thing happens, right? And again, it's evaluation. My last preacher was much better. Okay. And then I thought you said he would be funny. He's kind of mean.

Well, he is mean. He's mean, and then he gets funny and then it's mean again. Make your head blow up, all right? And then the ultimate is this one. Christian, now this is for you, Christian. Well, I didn't get anything out of that. Well, the question is, what did you bring to it? You see, because what Jesus is going to go through here in this parable is about our responsibility as hearers of the word.

And he's going to do it by telling a parable. So, Matthew chapter 13, I gave you 14 minutes to find it. So if you hadn't found it, keep looking, all right? Matthew 13, verse 1, here's the parable. It says that same day, Jesus went out of the house and he sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him. So he got into a boat and he sat down. That's the way they did it in the first century.

The teacher would sit down and all the hearers would stand up. I think we should do that sometimes. I get tired, all right? And the whole crowd stood on the beach, and Jesus told them many things in parables saying, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

And other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up. and since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. And other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. And other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain. Some 100-fold, some 60, some 30.

He who has ears let him hear. That's the whole sermon. And the disciples are looking at him like you're looking at me. Like, what? That's it? right I think the disciples are there ready to take notes they're they invited their buddies I'm like you need this guy is so good and he basically these huge crowds the crowds are so big he can't even stand on the ground with him he's got to get in a boat and back up a little bit for the acoustics of the of the Sea of Galilee to help him out all right and they're they're like

an amphitheater on the on the mountains there and and the disciples are thinking man this is great because just a few chapters earlier he preaches the sermon on the mount it gets very practical about what to do and not what to do and who God is and all of that and then the crowds are getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And Jesus just shares this story, and they don't even understand it. It would be like if the crowds are, I mean, it's high attendant Sunday and everybody brought a friend, and Jesus gets up and he's like, there were four families that came to church, and after church, one family went to Dick's wings, because the beer is cold and the chicken wings are crispy. And another family went to Al's pizza,

because the pizza slices are huge. And another family went to three forks, because the service and the steak is exquisite. And the service and the steak is exquisite. And And then the fourth family went to Chick-fil-A, but it was closed. Mike dropped, he's out. And the disciples are like, does anybody know what the brother's talking about? I've no idea. I got Dick's Wings, I got three. What?

Chick-fil-A's closed, what? Peter, go ask him what he means. Okay, so Peter goes in, I guess. It doesn't say who, but we all know it's got to be Peter. So verse 10, so the disciples came and said to him, why are you talking like that? why do you speak to them in parables you know what this means you know what this means that if you don't understand the bible if you don't understand sermons if you've ever been to church and be like i just don't

get it i got really good news for you you can make a really great disciple because there's not one of the disciples that walks up to jesus and it's like rabbi that was an amazing sermon no they are saying we have no idea what you're talking about that's it so sometimes and stuff just goes shoot right over your head i've got good news you may be on the verge of being a world-class, world-changing disciple of Jesus Christ. And you go, well, I have no idea what's going on. Perfect, perfect. You are perfectly positioned to pick up all your doubts and all your questions and just

follow after Jesus. That's what the original disciples did. So they say, why do you speak to them in parables? Now, you've got to be careful when you ask Jesus an answer. And when you ask him, like, because he hardly ever answers it. He answers a question with a question and a story about another story and just check this out. Here is the answer. So why do you speak in parables, Jesus?

Verse 11. And he answered them. To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For the one who has more will be given and he will have abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables. I think they're like. Anybody getting any of this?

No. Could you carry on Jesus? He goes, okay, because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, you will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive, for this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them. If I'm one of the disciples, I'm like, I thought that was the point.

Are you saying you preach to them in parables so they won't understand? Because it's working, because I don't know what you're talking about. And what he's doing here is he's quoting Isaiah. Isaiah's call in his life. God calls Isaiah to be a preacher, and he says, you're going to spend the rest of your days preaching to a group of people who have ears, but they don't have ears to hear. They have eyes, but they can't see what's going on until you die.

And that's his call. And Jesus is saying, listen, I preach in parables to reveal and conceal. And he goes on to say, but blessed are your eyes, for they see in your ears, for they hear, for truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see and did not see and to hear what you hear and do not hear it. Basically, if you take that whole passage there, that he answers the question, so why do you preach in parables? There's at least three things here. The first one is this. Here's what he's saying. Is that the Holy Spirit is the real preacher in every church everywhere always.

It is not the person preaching. It is the Holy Spirit of God. If you've ever learned anything anywhere, especially if you've learned anything at this church or during a sermon here, it's not. because of me, it is because the Holy Spirit has made you aware and taught you of something. Have you ever been reading the Bible and then all of a sudden something maybe you've read before, like comes to light for the very first time? You're like, what? What is happening here is the Holy Spirit is teaching you something just like Jesus promised.

This is the truth here. The Holy Spirit is the primary teacher at 1122, not me. This is why I tell you over and over and over that when I preach, it is moderate. delivered, exceptionally received. Because I sling out a C-minus sermon, but somehow something happens in you. And here, in all of our locations, why? Because God did something in you that I could never do. And you say some very sweet things to me, very encouraging things to me, and I really do appreciate

it. You can keep saying them. And I know what you mean when you say this. You're just not saying the right thing. You'll come up to me here or actually all over the city. Pastor Jovi, you have changed my life. No, I haven't. I can't even change the minds of the four people that live in my house that I'll share my last name to agree on where to eat after the 130 service.

I can't change Jack. You understand? I can't. You see, here's the thing. All I do is just sling the seed. That's it. In every corner of every location, everywhere God will give me the opportunity. I'm just the nobody that's willing to tell anybody about the somebody that wants to save everybody.

And we just sling the seed out. week after week after week after week and then the spirit does what the spirit's going to do which is kind of funny because um buddy of mine's sitting right over here and he runs this conference that's like the largest church planning conference in the world and i'm speaking at it next week which is hilarious that they would ask me to come do this i'm supposed to talk to church planners about how to do this you know what i tell him good night that's it i don't know you just you just preach the gospel preach the gospel, preach the gospel, and then God just does what only God can do.

I think that's as a part of what he is saying here. It's part of what he's saying. The second thing, I think, is he's saying this. This is big, man, really, really big. That God wants to be loved, not just understood. There's a whole lot of beings that understand that everything that Jesus said was true, but they don't love Jesus.

And Jesus wants to be loved, not just understood. Bible says that even the demons believe it, but they don't trust him and they are in hell. And so there's a bunch of people that think that following Jesus is like a math equation. If A equal B and B equals C, then A equal C. Okay, I've got to figure all this out. God is not really into him being figured out. You'll never figure him out. The key question is, you've got to hang with me here, the key question is not simply, is this true?

The key question is, is he trustworthy? Now, both are true, but there's a whole lot of people. people that believe that the scriptures are true or that Jesus is who he says he is, they've just never loved him. They've never surrendered their life to him. I mean, if you were here last week for Easter, you remember the whole thing that Jesus asked Peter? He asked him three times, not do you believe me, not do you understand me? He asked him this, do you love me? And a part of what Jesus is saying is the reason I teach in parables is because I'm not just trying to be figured out. I'm trying to be in a relationship with people.

And if you've had a relationship with anybody, especially God, you know there's a whole section of things you cannot understand. Can I get a witness from the husbands? And yet you still love and trust. You see the difference? You see, man, we got into trouble here as a church a long time ago. Like about 300 AD when the church fathers get together to get real clear on what Christians believe, on what right and wrong doctrine is. Now, right doctrine is really important. You can't rightly love God if you don't rightly believe the right things about God, for sure.

But these brothers get together and they come up with the Nicene Creed. And the Nicene Creed is legit, and it is true. It is a whole bunch of truth statements about God. And we sing the song sometimes. Do we believe in God, the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth, and Jesus Christ, has only been gotten Son, all that stuff, legit. It is a legit thing to sing true songs to God about Him, for sure. Do you know what the one thing the Nicene Creed is missing?

nowhere in the whole thing does it say anything about loving God. That'd be kind of a swing and a miss. When somebody came to Jesus and said, so what's the greatest commandment? And he said, love God. You see, God primarily wants to be not just understood, but loved. This is why when I talk with people about putting their faith in Jesus and they'll say, hey, listen, if he would just prove himself to me,

then, then I would believe in him. To which I say, no, you wouldn't? No, you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't. No, seriously. during the Super Bowl halftime show, instead of whatever weird thing they do, if Jesus just showed up and be like, no, seriously, it's me, I would bow down and worship him. Or if I walked outside tonight and the star spelled out the name of Jesus, if he proved himself.

And I'm like, actually, in the scriptures he did prove himself. That after his resurrection, a group of 120 people gathered together. And they saw Jesus die in Jerusalem. And this is like a month and a half later. and now they see, used to be dead but not dead anymore, Jesus, standing there talking to them with scars in his hands and feet, and then he gives the great commission, and then he ascends to the right hand of God the Father.

He floats up into the clouds and says, I'll be back. And the Bible says some of them looked at that and worshipped him. He is the one true God, and yet others doubt it. How much evidence do you need? There's resurrected Jesus floating into the clouds, And one guy is like, praise God. Another guy's like, man, I don't know. I mean, I don't know.

I saw the Chris Angel special, and I think they used wires. I just, I don't know. You see, it's not primarily about proof. It's about trust. But God wants to be loved, not just understood. And then the third thing, I think, is this, is that in the Bible, the currency between us and God is faith. It's faith.

The Bible says that without faith, it is impossible to please God, that you could believe all the right things about him, but not put your faith or trust in him, and you don't know him. You don't know him. This is why Ephesians 2 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. In other words, even the faith that we have is a gift to us from God. But what Jesus is going to do for the rest of God, of this parable, he's going to explain the four different soil samples here, and he's going to let us know that even though God is the initiating factor in our relationship with him, then we are responsible in how we respond to the faith that he gives to us. So he goes on to say this in verse 18. He says, hear the parable of the sower. This is part of the reason that we're starting with this one, because he gives us a parable about parables. He says, hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and doesn't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the paths. See, this is a hard heart.

And for some of you, this will be your experience today. Today. Then at this point in the sermon, you're kind of in. That the seed has been casted, it landed on your seat, not just on your seat, but kind of in your heart, and you're intrigued and you're leaning in. I've never really thought about this before. In four minutes from now, you're going to get a text that your reservation's got canceled for lunch, and then it's gone. And you're going to spend the rest of your time on open table trying to figure out where you're going to eat after this. And I'm telling you, it's gone like that. Or, or, this is the crazy one, there's some of you sitting right here and the seat has been cast, and your mind is, I hope somebody's listening to this. And you don't think it's for you. She's gone.

Or some of you're going to make it all the way to the very end of the service. You're going to come out here, you're going to pray, it's going to be awesome. And then getting out of the parking lot, you're going to have a less than Christian experience. And it's gone, stolen away, because you have a hard heart. The second heart here, the second soil sample is the shallow heart. He says, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself. But endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

Now, I'm going to be honest, man. As a pastor, this one scares us to death. It scares us to death. Because for the first little season in life, you just can't tell. It looks awesome. It looks like you know Jesus that you're going to follow after him forever.

This is those of you that last week at our Easter service, man, you raised your hand, you felt out a card, you prayed a prayer, you're in. You bought the CDs. All you've listened to is Christian music the whole time. You've been driving around all week long. on Thursday night, you've been to 9 o'clock, this one, you're coming to 522, you're going to each one of the campuses just to pay a hedge of protection around them. You've signed up for a disciple group, you've already

sponsored kids, you're like, conference, I'll go with you. I mean, you were in. Whatever we ask you to do, you're like, woo, I am all over this. But the only problem is, you've actually been pursuing a feeling instead of deepening a relationship with Jesus. And I'm just going to be honest, man, it feels good to be around Jesus stuff. When God does miraculous stuff, that's why crowds would grow in Jesus's ministry. And I mean, when the Lord puts on the afterburners of his glory, man, it's kind of cool to get up in that. Be like, woo, glory.

And then the moment that things don't go your way, either God disappoints you or usually it's other people that disappoint you. And then all of a sudden, because it says, because you have no roots, because you're not rooted in the word, you're not rooted in any relationship with him, what you've been rooted in is the pursuit of a feeling. This is emotionalism. or what some pastors have called easy believism. And if somebody would say, hey, are you a Christian?

Be like, man, I am a Christian. I raised my hand and I prayed a prayer. I mean, I got some shocking news. Now, where in the scriptures do you find somebody that prays a prayer and that thing makes them a Christian? Now, it might mark the moment where you turn your back on this world and begin to follow after Jesus. But if you follow after Jesus, we don't do that because he makes our life better.

We follow after Jesus because he is better than life. And the moment, the moment the pain comes, you think, God, you owe me, you owe me. And then you go, and I'm telling you, it scares me to death as a pastor of a fast-growing church. Because it could be easy to get caught up in the momentum of what God is doing and miss Jesus. In fact, two weeks ago was Palm Sunday, and we don't celebrate Palm Sunday around here. And people, if you grew up in a Palm Sunday celebrating kind of church, and people ask, why don't we do Palm Sunday? Do you read your Bible? Do you know what Palm Sunday is?

Palm Sunday is an event where people miss the whole point. They all gather together with palm branches and laying down their cloaks for Jesus, who they thought was going to be the king that was going to come in and kick the Romans out so that their life could get better now. And they say, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna means save us. And it doesn't mean save our souls for heaven. They meant save us from the Romans.

And literally the Bible says the whole town, of Jerusalem is doing this and some in the crowd say to others who is this why would we celebrate that as a church that's the craziest thing I've ever heard of here's evidence of people not getting it how do we know they didn't get it the same crowd gathers that Friday and says crucify him killing they didn't get it we're not going to celebrate that you see there are some folks that have shallow shallow soil and you could be pursuing a feeling as opposed to deepening a relationship with Jesus Christ. And then the third one he gives is this. He says, as for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the

word. And it proves unfruitful. This is the divided heart, the divided heart. This is those of us that decide, no, no, no, man, I love Jesus, but I kind of love the world too. You kind of want to live with one foot in two camps. You're not saying, thy will be done. You're saying, God, how about come and bless my will be done? You don't want to join his kingdom. You just want him to come be a part of your kingdom

so that you can have it all. Have the things of this world. Jesus says that if we are choked out by the cares of this world, it would choke out our relationship with him. First John says, we're not to love the world or the things of this world. And all this world has to offer

is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And a lot of folks, man, you're thinking, now I got this. I'll be the first person in human history that can love God and the things of this world. And you think I got this. You ain't got this, bro. You ain't got this. Trying to follow after the world and follow after Jesus, having to have one foot in each kingdom, it will tear you apart.

It's like you ever see somebody that doesn't boat a lot and they're cautiously trying to get off the boat onto the dock? Have you ever seen this? This is how I know there's a lot of sanctification left to go with me. I'm like, please put one foot on both. Please put one foot on both, okay? Because they're like, what do I do? Am I in and am I out? I mean, okay, okay, okay, I'm going to go for it.

It looks safer over there. And then they put one foot and then they get scared so they just stop there. What begins to happen? You got that long to make a decision or you got nothing. It'll rip you apart, especially from my age. And that's what it looks like. I love God, but I still love this world. I'm telling you.

Jesus says it this way. Jesus says no one can serve two masters. No one can serve two masters. Balance is a myth. You don't want to balance life. You want to follow after Jesus. You see, no one can serve two masters. No one can serve both God and the stuff of this world because it will tear you apart.

We lovingly call that around here the cul-de-sac of stupidity. Listen, I love you. Some of you are stupid. How dare you? Because listen to what you're doing. You think that more of the stuff that has not satisfy you will fully and satisfy satisfy you if you'll just get more of the stuff that doesn't satisfy you. Feel like a dummy yet?

You should. Jesus calls it the deceitfulness of riches. Riches will deceive you. They will trick you. Riches will try to promise you something that it will not be able to provide, like safety and satisfaction. I mean, honestly, I know this is church, there's no place for that, but be honest with yourself for a second.

The things that you have now, 10 years ago, you would have believed would have been plenty to satisfy you. So why are you still so dissatisfied? It's because riches are deceitful. If we put our hope in riches, they cannot do what they promised they'll do. Man, I mean, you watch any car commercial, right? A car commercial will lead you to believe that you can ride around looking all cool at night. Just all right, all right, all right. If I just get a Buick, man, I'd be something, or Lincoln or whatever it is.

You know what happens if you get a Lincoln? You can drive Uber. That's about all it does for you. Because what happens? Eventually, that car that just made you feel like the man at first, it's just your car. It smells like your kids and French fries and it's just a car. Now, the good news of the gospel is, until you put your hope and faith in Jesus, you'll never be able to actually enjoy the good gifts that the Father gives you.

Because when worship terminates on the temporary, then it's just that it's temporary. But when we began to put our hope and trust in Jesus and in Him alone, then and only then are we free to experience and enjoy all the things that God gives us because we love God and use stuff instead of loving stuff and trying to use God to get more stuff. You see, there's a lot of you that say you've surrendered to Jesus. You've just never actually surrendered anything to Jesus. And this is the divided heart. C.S. Lewis says it this way.

He says, if I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, then the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world. You see, that's just true. And so some of you, the seed has fallen in your heart, and it's getting choked out by the cares of this world. And then you get to the fourth soil, the good soil. And Jesus says this, as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. Now, this parable was so important that it's recorded in multiple gospels.

In Luke's account of this same story, he says it this way. As for the seed that's in the good soil, they are those who hearing the word hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience. So the question is, who has an honest and good heart? You see, apart from Christ, not one of us have an honest and good heart. Apart from Christ, every single one of us are wretched black heart and sinners. So who's got an honest and good heart? The person that has an honest and good heart is someone who God has reeks in and grabbed that heart of stone and ripped it out and giving them a new heart, giving them his heart.

And his heart in us is an honest and good heart. In other words, this is the person that has surrendered their life. to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And then it goes on to say, he indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case 100 fold, and another 60, and another 30. This would have been a farming miracle. I put one seed in, and I got 100 plants out of it. That is crazy how does that happen.

It's the same thing that happens in every single believer. That Jesus plants the seed, the little tiny seed of the gospel. And then from the inside out, not the outside in, God begins to produce, like produce, things in you, not manufactured things from the outside. These things that he produces from the inside out, they're known as the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And for some of you, that's been happening. That has been happening.

You see, in fact, some of you have experienced it. You surrendered your life to the Lord just recently, and you're like, listen, I'm not perfect, but God's perfecting me. That the seed of the gospel landed on good soil. It made sense. I love Jesus. Now, I got a long way to go, but he came and got me from a long way off. So praise God. And what's beginning to happen in you is things have been coming out of you that you didn't even know were in you.

Like this week, Mama, your kids were acting a fool because you've married. That must be your husband's blood in them, you know, just going crazy. I mean, just driving you crazy. And normally, man, you want to kill them And you kind of want to kill them right now And you know, some of those crazy news stories Start making a little bit more sense, right? And you look at them, you're like, oh my, you want.

And then you looked at them and you leaned down And you said, are you okay? And they were like, what have you done with my mom? And you're like, I know, right? Because the reality is old mama's dead. This is a new mama being sanctified by the working of the spirit inside of you. that one of the fruits of the spirit is self-control,

that you're driving down JTB and somebody cut you off. And normally, man, you would preach a sermon that should not be publicized to them. Sound like Yosemitey Sam. And except out of your mouth came, you know what, bless them, I bet they're in a hurry. And you're like, who am I? What began to happen?

You're like, and what happens is you're like, oh my gosh, it's happening. It's what Pastor Jobi said. It is actually happening that God is doing more in you than you could ever think or imagine. This is what he's saying here. And so here's the point of the whole thing. That it is the condition of the soil, not merely the delivery of the seed,

that determines growth. Do you get that? The Jesus is saying is, and I'm not trying to abdicate my responsibility, I promise, I will do my best to try to preach the best sermons I can possibly preach with the help of the Holy Spirit. But it is not how good I preach.

It has just as much to do with how prepared you are to receive the Word of God. And so my question for you is this, what steps or what things do you need to do to cultivate your relationship with Jesus? So I promise, I'm going to try to show up to be ready. Are you? What are the things that you need to do

to show up to receive the Word of God week after week? And this includes your disciple groups or whenever you're going to receive the Word of God. What are the things that you need to do to make sure you show up with good soil to receive the Word of God? to the unbelievers. Some of you are like,

I don't even have a relationship with Jesus. I don't know how to cultivate that. All right? First of all, I am so glad that you were here. And here's what I would tell you to do. Surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ. Before you think you've got it all figured out, you'll never have it all figured out.

The question is, do you love and trust him? I had a girl at a previous service say, I want to, and I go, okay, just do it. She was waiting for her to figure it all out. That is not what it's all about, that you surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ. And if you'd say, well, I'm not ready for that. Then how about this?

I dare you to hold God accountable to what he says. You can hold him accountable to. Do you know what the Bible says? The Bible says in Jeremiah 29. He says this, if you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me. So keep seeking. God is not playing hide and seek with you. In fact, the way it works is he is seeking after you.

James chapter 4, verse 8 says it this way. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7, ask and it will be given to you. Knock and the door will be open. Seek and you will find. So I dare you, I dare you to lean in, to lean in. And I got news for you.

The moment you begin to go, you know what, I think I'm going to do that. He's got you. He's got you. I know, I know, I know. I know you think you're going to be like, no, he doesn't got me. Okay, we'll see. Because here's what happens, man. You come to a service because somebody loves you and they invited you.

And then afterwards, what did you think? and you're going to be like, I don't know, man, the music, that was crazy. The guy next to me was crying, kind of swaying like a weeping willow. But they were talented. That was pretty cool. And you know, the guy's speaking, I don't know. And then the people would be like, do you believe? Like, I don't know what I believe.

But I'll see you next week. And there's just this thing in you. Here it is. That is the empirical evidence of the Holy Spirit drawing you unto himself. I've got frightening news for you. I used to be just like you. And ta-da, now look what I do. Okay.

So I dare you. I dare you to lean in. Now, to the believer. Now, this is where I'm kind of on an island when it comes to the parable of the solar. Because a whole bunch of guys that write commentaries, they say that every parable only has one point. I don't know where they made that up. That's not a Bible verse. That's what they say.

I disagree. I think a part of the reason that Jesus taught in parables is because they couldn't go home and study the text. And so he would share a story. And every time they saw, like every time the farmer went out, they would be reminded of the sermon. And depending on the stage of life they were in, it would teach and reteach them different truths about God. And so I think that the parable of the soul are not just about our salvation, but also about our sanctification. And so my question to you, believer, is this, how's your heart? How's your heart? Do you have a hard heart? Do you have a shallow heart? Do you have a

divided heart or legitimately do you have a good heart that God is doing things in? Because a part of this parable is what our responsibility is in receiving the Word of God. And so if you have a hard heart, I mean, if you honestly say, I'm a Christian, I've surrendered my life to Christ, but every time, man, the Word of God hits my heart right now, it just falls off because I've just got a hard heart. The majority of the time, the reason Christians get to a hard heart is because of something that other Christians have done. So let me tell you, if that's you, if you have a hard heart towards the Lord because some person has let you down, get your eyes off of other people and get your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Because let me tell you, you want to be disappointed by Christians, keep coming to church here. I'm the pastor. I will thoroughly disappoint you at some point in your life. I promise. I promise you. So get your eyes off of me. I'm not the point. Fix your eyes. on Jesus, the author and the perfector of our faith. And just extend to some other people the same grace that he has extended to you. And if you have a hard heart, one of the things that you can do, one of the primary things that you can do to cultivate a relationship with the Lord is this. It's worship.

And I'm not just talking about the singing portion of our services, but worship is any time you see yourself in light of who God is. anytime you see yourself in the hands of an almighty sovereign God that we deserve eternal punishment and for some reason his grace and mercy he doles on us on us eternal everlasting love and there is something significant church when we get together and we join our voices in song together and some of you say well i'm not much of a singer well you might want to read your bible there because God demands that we sing unto him. And some of you shouldn't sing that loud.

We understand. We've heard you sing. That's not what we're saying. But here's the thing, man. When you really dial in to what we sing around here, all we try to do is sing the gospel. And I don't know, there's something supernatural about when we sing together. I don't know if it's because we were created in rhythm.

Like if you read the creation accounts and God puts in us like this heartbeat. And there's something to it that's just different. It softens up our heart. And I don't know how you sing words of amazing grace. like that he would take my place, that he would bear my cross. I don't know how you sing that and have a right view of what we deserve and what we receive, that he would take our place.

I don't know how you sing that and it doesn't just crack up all the crustiness in your heart and soften that thing up. So worship, man, worship. Another thing that you could do is be prepared before you get in here to receive the Word of God. A great way to do this is have you done your gratitude list that I am not going to let go of? A year and a half ago, I'd said, listen, for every year you've been alive, come up with something to say thanks to God for. You don't have to do one for each year of your life, but I'm 43. I got 43 things on my list. In September, I'll come up with another one.

I'd dare you on like Saturday nights to start reviewing that and just count your blessings one by one. and watch what happens to the soil of your heart as you come into this place and be like, well, God, you have been so good to me. You are worthy of my praise. And watch God take a tiller and just like run over, run over your hearts and churn it up. Now to the shallow heart, that's the seed that fell on rocky ground, and you don't have deep roots, is what it said. So when the trouble came, you fell over. This is what you need to do.

You need to get rooted in the Word of God and rooted in relationships with God's people. Around here we call that disciple group. We call it disciple group. Here's what disciple group is. See, a bunch of you have misconceptions about disciple group. You're like, well, I can't join a disciple group because I don't know my Bible that well. That's why we have disciple group. That's like saying, I can't go to the gym because I don't work out.

That's why they have gyms, okay? And you think everybody in the disciple group is an expert in the Bible. Let me assure you, they're not. They're not. You should see mine. It is terrible. But that's not the point. It's not just a gathering of theologians.

It's not. You see, I live off a Beach Boulevard, about two or three miles from here. And on my way here, all right, I turn east on Beach Boulevard. And there's like a million palm trees that they just put in. I love them. I love them. I feel like him in Hollywood. I think it's awesome.

You live in Florida? You should have palm trees. I think it's great. But have you noticed if you've seen them coming down Beach Boulevard, at the bottom of all the trees, what is there? There's like braces. because when you plant a young palm, the root structure isn't developed enough or deep enough to stand up on its own. And so when they put those in, they had to put these brace structures around them to hold up that palm tree so that it can get rooted.

That's what a disciples group is. That we get together studying the Word of God with the people of God to brace one another up. The Bible would say to bear one another's burdens. so that when your fate kind of begins to wobble and get weak, you be like, no problem, brother, I got you. We are going to hold you up. You can kind of draft on our collective fate for a little while as you get rooted in the Word of God,

being rooted in and surrounded by people that love you and love God. That's why you need it. And now some of you think, well, I'm not wavering. I don't need to be held up. Okay, we need you more than anybody in a disciple group. Don't you understand? Now, in a little while, when we get to pride and arrogance, we're going to have to hold up your arrogant self, all right?

But that's a different sermon. But I would just say this to you. If your church activity is primarily seen through the lens of what you get out of it, you've missed the entire gospel. And the best way, the best way to help you deepen your relationship with Jesus is to help some other people discover theirs. So dig into the Word of God, not isolated but in the community of God

and watch God get you rooted deeply into the gospel. And then if you have a divided heart, now honestly, very few people will actually admit that this is it. Okay? So, but just try. If you are caught up in the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, there's a couple of things that you can do

to just prune back the thorns that are trying to choke you out. One is just be radically generous. Just be radically generous. It's as simple as going on your app and picking a number that it makes you freak out, because that freak out thing in you is evidence that the things of this world that you tried to grab on to, uh-oh, now they have a hold of you. And if you don't trust me or 1122, no problem.

You pick any other gospel-centered ministry, and you be radically generous toward that thing, because what I want for you is generosity. And what radical generosity does is it releases the grip of the greed of this world from the vice grip that is around your neck. And you know it to be true. You are not free. This world has a hold on you. And so if you want to just,

if you want the father to just cut back those thorns, then be radically generous. Or if you have the cares of this world because you're not getting what you want out of this world, then serve somebody else. The fastest way to do this is to sign up to go on a mission trip. On May the 8th at 6.30, We have an info meeting.

I dare you to go, and whichever one looks like the hardest, put your name on that one. The one that you'd be like, I would never go there. Yep, that's the one the Spirit said you should write your name on. You know why? It is almost impossible to complain about what you're not getting in this world when you've got your attention focused on somebody else. It's almost impossible. And you watch what happens.

What will begin to happen? And you'll come back home after being radically generous and serving people. And a bunch of thorns that used to slowly grow up around your neck, they are going to be cut back and you're going to be free. You're going to be free to walk in the freedom that Christ purchased for you. And some of you, some of you, it's good soil. And it's okay, you can admit that, that God is doing something in you. You are growing in your relationship with Jesus.

So here's what I would say to you, don't get lazy. Don't get lazy. You will never neglect your way into an abiding relationship with God. That's true for your marriage. That's also true for your lawn. We live in Florida. your lawn can look great, you go away for the weekend, you come back and the chinchbugs from hell

have taken over your whole neighborhood. And it'll be your fault. You've got to stay on that thing, okay? So do not neglect your relationship with the Lord. Continue to cultivate it, and this is really a big deal. Man, if you've been growing for a while, it's probably your turn to step up and help some other people experience what you've experienced.

Like some of you right now, you're too comfortable in your disciple group. Like you've got your seat on the bus, you know where you go, you know the plan, and you've just been cruising along. Well, guess what, brother and sister, it's time for you getting the driver's seat of another disciple group bus

so some other people can experience what you have experienced. And maybe a part of the bottleneck around here is you've kind of been hogging up all the growth and we need you to help us cultivate other environments where other men and women can experience what you have been experiencing. So over the next several weeks,

what we're going to be doing over the next couple of months is we're going to unpack sermons from Jesus. There's going to be more seed slinging over the next two months than you've ever been able to receive. And I promise you that me and any of the other teaching pastors that we will do our part to rightly declare the Word of God, to the best of our ability with all of the help that we need from the Holy Spirit. The question is this, will you be committed to do your part to receive it?

Identify what's your heart like. Is it hard? is it divided is it shallow is it good and then do whatever it takes have some grace driven effort to do whatever it takes to continue to cultivate that relationship and then let me give you a big old warning a bunch of you like type a get it done kind of people if you walk out of here and just think i got to try harder try harder won't work you see what you got to do is just trust more you see here's what's cool about this jesus in john chapter 15 he says that he's divine and we're the branches and guess what? God the Father is the gardener. And so what a bunch of you have to do, a bunch of us have

to do, whether you have a hard heart, a divided heart, a good heart, or a shallow heart, is we need to bring it to the Father and say, God, Gardner, I need you to do in me what I can't do in me. I got some rocks that have been lodged in my heart for a long time. Will you get those things out? God, I've got some thorns that have been growing up around my neck and will you prune away those things in me that are distracting me from you. God, my relationship with you, God, my relationship with you has been so shallow, can you make the roots of this relationship go supernaturally deeper than I could ever do based on some kind of church activity? So the question is, we promise to sling the seed of the gospel all the time, not just this series. And so church, will you, will you be committed to do your

part to cultivate the kind of soil that receives the word of God and then look forward for God to do exponentially more in you and through you and to you than you could ever hope or imagine. Let us pray. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we've been here about 100 million times. The end of the service, the word has gone out, the spirit's been moving, we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit, at the same time we feel the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and right now, Lord, we say, all right, it's going to be different this time, we're going to do better, we're going to try harder. God, I pray that we would surrender the do better try harder mentality

and that we would abide, we would lean into you. And God, we need you, we need you, because we want to love you, we want to follow you, we want to be good soil, and yet we are prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. We are prone to leave the God I love. So God, we need you to do something in us that we can't do. We need you to take our hearts, Lord, and seal it. Seal it for your courts above.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.