1 00:00:02,452 --> 00:00:05,455 Matthew 13:1–9 2 00:00:06,206 --> 00:00:08,391 That same day, Jesus went out of the house 3 00:00:08,391 --> 00:00:11,661 and sat beside the sea, and great crowds gathered about him, 4 00:00:11,661 --> 00:00:15,799 so that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the beach, 5 00:00:16,016 --> 00:00:19,652 and he told them many things in parables, saying, "A sower went out to sow, 6 00:00:20,070 --> 00:00:20,970 and as he sowed, 7 00:00:20,970 --> 00:00:24,290 some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 8 00:00:24,774 --> 00:00:27,861 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, 9 00:00:28,044 --> 00:00:31,047 and they immediately sprang up, since they had no depth of soil. 10 00:00:31,097 --> 00:00:34,768 But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, 11 00:00:34,918 --> 00:00:36,352 they withered away. 12 00:00:36,352 --> 00:00:39,689 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 13 00:00:40,073 --> 00:00:41,458 Other seeds fell on good soil 14 00:00:41,458 --> 00:00:45,478 and produced grain some hundredfold, some sixty, some some thirty. 15 00:00:45,862 --> 00:00:48,531 He who has ears, let him hear." 16 00:00:48,531 --> 00:00:51,468 Matthew 13:18–23 17 00:00:51,468 --> 00:00:53,453 Hear then the parable of the sower: 18 00:00:53,453 --> 00:00:56,539 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, 19 00:00:56,790 --> 00:01:00,210 the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. 20 00:01:00,710 --> 00:01:02,929 This is what was sown along the path. 21 00:01:02,929 --> 00:01:04,881 As for what was sown on rocky ground. 22 00:01:04,881 --> 00:01:08,251 This is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 23 00:01:08,551 --> 00:01:11,721 Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. 24 00:01:11,905 --> 00:01:13,673 And when tribulation or persecution 25 00:01:13,673 --> 00:01:17,360 arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 26 00:01:17,877 --> 00:01:19,863 As for what was sown among thorns. 27 00:01:19,863 --> 00:01:21,748 This is the one who hears the word. 28 00:01:21,748 --> 00:01:22,982 But the cares of the world 29 00:01:22,982 --> 00:01:26,853 and deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 30 00:01:27,353 --> 00:01:30,707 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears 31 00:01:30,707 --> 00:01:32,308 the word and understands it. 32 00:01:32,308 --> 00:01:35,211 He indeed bears fruit, and yields in one case 33 00:01:35,211 --> 00:01:38,248 a hundredfold, and another sixty, and in another thirty." 34 00:01:41,751 --> 00:01:44,988 Hey everyone, good morning and welcome to CCC, 35 00:01:45,021 --> 00:01:47,957 n this crisp May morning. 36 00:01:47,957 --> 00:01:48,658 My name is Joe, 37 00:01:48,658 --> 00:01:50,093 I'm one of the pastors here, 38 00:01:50,093 --> 00:01:52,412 and thanks for coming. 39 00:01:52,412 --> 00:01:54,631 This morning we kick off a new series, 40 00:01:54,631 --> 00:01:55,915 It's a four week series, 41 00:01:55,915 --> 00:01:59,402 We're actually call it our Breathe Out series. 42 00:02:00,003 --> 00:02:03,089 We believe there's a basic rhythm to the Christian life, 43 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:05,441 basic rhythm to life in general. 44 00:02:05,441 --> 00:02:06,543 Kind of like breathing. 45 00:02:06,543 --> 00:02:07,794 Breathing in, breathing out. 46 00:02:07,794 --> 00:02:10,263 Inhaling, exhaling. 47 00:02:10,263 --> 00:02:13,700 When we say breathe in when we're talking about the Christian life. 48 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,754 There are times when God wants us to focus 49 00:02:17,754 --> 00:02:22,192 on what he is doing inside of us. And then breathing out, 50 00:02:22,225 --> 00:02:25,228 there are times when God wants us to focus on the impact 51 00:02:25,428 --> 00:02:28,348 we're having on the world around us. 52 00:02:28,348 --> 00:02:31,217 And of course, those two things are connected. 53 00:02:31,217 --> 00:02:35,455 The more you are growing in your understanding of Jesus, 54 00:02:35,722 --> 00:02:38,541 the more natural it will be for you to impact 55 00:02:38,541 --> 00:02:42,078 the people around you, the way Jesus wants you to impact them. 56 00:02:42,879 --> 00:02:46,382 This is our Breathe Out series, and we're starting it 57 00:02:46,382 --> 00:02:51,271 by looking at a story that Jesus tells in Matthew chapter 13 58 00:02:52,021 --> 00:02:55,141 called The Parable of the sower and the seed. 59 00:02:55,825 --> 00:02:57,660 And we just heard it read to us. 60 00:02:57,660 --> 00:02:59,629 Jesus tells the story 61 00:02:59,629 --> 00:03:02,749 and then he gives the explanation of the story to his disciples. 62 00:03:02,749 --> 00:03:04,651 And let me reread the explanation. 63 00:03:04,651 --> 00:03:06,502 Then I'll give you my three points. 64 00:03:06,502 --> 00:03:08,821 that I want to get into this morning. 65 00:03:08,821 --> 00:03:10,757 It's what Jesus says. Hear 66 00:03:10,757 --> 00:03:12,859 then the parable of the sower. 67 00:03:12,859 --> 00:03:17,030 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand 68 00:03:17,030 --> 00:03:21,167 it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. 69 00:03:21,918 --> 00:03:24,804 This is what was sowing along the path 70 00:03:24,804 --> 00:03:27,056 as what was sown on rocky ground. 71 00:03:27,056 --> 00:03:30,210 This is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 72 00:03:30,677 --> 00:03:33,680 Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. 73 00:03:34,130 --> 00:03:37,350 And then, when tribulation or persecution 74 00:03:37,350 --> 00:03:40,670 arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 75 00:03:41,521 --> 00:03:44,657 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word. 76 00:03:45,108 --> 00:03:48,061 But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches 77 00:03:48,061 --> 00:03:51,047 choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 78 00:03:51,447 --> 00:03:54,918 As for what was sown on good soil, this is one who hears 79 00:03:54,918 --> 00:03:56,486 the word and understands it. 80 00:03:56,486 --> 00:04:00,657 He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred fold, 81 00:04:00,857 --> 00:04:04,077 and another 60, and in another 30. 82 00:04:04,794 --> 00:04:07,080 Okay, here are my three points to really simple 83 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:11,184 I want to talk about the seed, the soil and the story. 84 00:04:11,401 --> 00:04:11,818 That's it. 85 00:04:11,818 --> 00:04:15,371 The seed, the soil and the story. 86 00:04:15,388 --> 00:04:16,289 First the seed. 87 00:04:17,457 --> 00:04:20,159 So Jesus begins this story by saying, 88 00:04:20,159 --> 00:04:25,348 the kingdom of God is like a sower who goes out to sow his seed. 89 00:04:25,381 --> 00:04:26,933 Let me stop there. 90 00:04:26,933 --> 00:04:29,602 I don't want you to miss how weird that sentences. 91 00:04:29,602 --> 00:04:33,990 It's easy to, you know, get familiar with Jesus teaching 92 00:04:33,990 --> 00:04:38,428 and miss how strange some of the things he said actually were. 93 00:04:39,212 --> 00:04:40,947 This one is very strange. 94 00:04:40,947 --> 00:04:45,351 He says the kingdom of God is like a sow goes out to so his. 95 00:04:45,351 --> 00:04:49,522 See, that's not the way kingdoms move and take over other kingdoms. 96 00:04:49,522 --> 00:04:50,957 Not in our world. 97 00:04:50,957 --> 00:04:55,645 I mean, right now our nation is at war with the nation of Iran. 98 00:04:56,579 --> 00:04:59,132 We didn't go in like a sower sowing seed. 99 00:04:59,132 --> 00:05:03,086 We went in his epic fury with fire and destruction 100 00:05:03,603 --> 00:05:06,589 and overwhelming force. 101 00:05:06,739 --> 00:05:07,674 That makes sense. 102 00:05:07,674 --> 00:05:11,394 But here Jesus says the kingdom of God is different. 103 00:05:11,394 --> 00:05:12,178 Very different. 104 00:05:12,178 --> 00:05:15,181 The kingdom of God is like a seed. 105 00:05:15,598 --> 00:05:17,400 You know, seed is interesting. 106 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:19,469 It's it's tiny. 107 00:05:19,469 --> 00:05:24,357 This is a seed that I saved from an apple I ate this week. 108 00:05:26,609 --> 00:05:29,612 No one is afraid of a seed. 109 00:05:30,179 --> 00:05:31,230 Let me ask you this. 110 00:05:31,230 --> 00:05:34,250 If you were God and you had all power, 111 00:05:35,218 --> 00:05:37,620 and you wanted to make some changes in this world, 112 00:05:37,620 --> 00:05:41,607 which you undoubtedly would, but not just little changes. 113 00:05:41,607 --> 00:05:43,309 You wanted to make sweeping changes. 114 00:05:43,309 --> 00:05:45,511 So it become like your kingdom, 115 00:05:45,511 --> 00:05:48,531 where everything happens the way you want it to happen. 116 00:05:48,748 --> 00:05:51,267 How would you come? 117 00:05:51,267 --> 00:05:53,903 I can tell you I'd come. 118 00:05:53,903 --> 00:05:56,305 Come like a hammer. 119 00:05:56,305 --> 00:05:57,990 Not like a seed. 120 00:05:57,990 --> 00:06:00,626 Hey, like let me see this. 121 00:06:00,626 --> 00:06:02,545 Which is scarier? 122 00:06:02,545 --> 00:06:03,896 A hammer or a seed? 123 00:06:03,896 --> 00:06:06,149 Which is more powerful? 124 00:06:06,149 --> 00:06:06,933 A hammer? 125 00:06:06,933 --> 00:06:09,936 It depends. It depends. 126 00:06:10,219 --> 00:06:13,790 It's a guy named John Chapman, who, in the early 1800s, 127 00:06:13,790 --> 00:06:19,112 left his home in Le Meester, Massachusetts, with a bag of seeds. 128 00:06:20,029 --> 00:06:23,366 And he began to plant those seeds as he walked through Pennsylvania 129 00:06:23,366 --> 00:06:26,786 and West Virginia and Ohio and Indiana and Illinois 130 00:06:27,470 --> 00:06:30,656 and Ontario, he would travel back and forth, 131 00:06:30,656 --> 00:06:33,559 sometimes to orchards that he had planted before, 132 00:06:33,559 --> 00:06:37,430 and make cuttings of them and bring them and plant them other places. 133 00:06:37,430 --> 00:06:40,767 We know him as his moniker, Johnny Appleseed. 134 00:06:41,751 --> 00:06:43,352 He because of him, there were 135 00:06:43,352 --> 00:06:46,939 whole counties that became orchards. 136 00:06:47,457 --> 00:06:53,546 By the end of his life, there were hundreds of thousands of apples. 137 00:06:53,546 --> 00:06:56,816 And even today, generations later, 138 00:06:58,134 --> 00:07:02,271 millions of apples because of Johnny Appleseed, 139 00:07:03,389 --> 00:07:05,908 which is more powerful, 140 00:07:05,908 --> 00:07:10,179 a hammer or a seed or depends. 141 00:07:10,196 --> 00:07:13,199 A hammer can do something right away, 142 00:07:13,583 --> 00:07:17,270 but inside of a seed is the potential 143 00:07:18,204 --> 00:07:21,407 to fill whole counties with trees, 144 00:07:22,408 --> 00:07:27,597 to feed hundreds of thousands of people apples generations later. 145 00:07:27,597 --> 00:07:31,551 Because inside of a seed is life, 146 00:07:33,236 --> 00:07:36,239 and that's power. 147 00:07:36,322 --> 00:07:38,307 That's the seed. 148 00:07:38,307 --> 00:07:41,661 Jesus says, the kingdom of God is like a sower 149 00:07:41,661 --> 00:07:44,664 who goes out to sow his seed. 150 00:07:45,448 --> 00:07:46,582 The kingdom of God. 151 00:07:46,582 --> 00:07:51,287 Actually, when it comes into the world or into your life, 152 00:07:51,988 --> 00:07:54,740 it can seem underwhelming at first 153 00:07:55,908 --> 00:07:57,510 because it's 154 00:07:57,510 --> 00:08:01,998 a seed in the seed, he says, is the word of the kingdom. 155 00:08:02,965 --> 00:08:05,968 So the kingdom of God starts as a message. 156 00:08:06,419 --> 00:08:08,004 It's information. 157 00:08:08,004 --> 00:08:09,422 And and this is the message. 158 00:08:09,422 --> 00:08:10,907 It's a crazy message. 159 00:08:10,907 --> 00:08:13,826 The message is, is that the God of the universe became a human 160 00:08:13,826 --> 00:08:20,933 being and allowed himself to be tortured and hung on a cross, and somehow that paid 161 00:08:20,933 --> 00:08:23,936 a cosmic debt that you had to God 162 00:08:24,203 --> 00:08:27,557 with your sin and reconciled you to God. 163 00:08:27,557 --> 00:08:30,059 And then he rose from the dead. 164 00:08:30,059 --> 00:08:32,962 And when you believe that 165 00:08:32,962 --> 00:08:36,299 there is life, that enters into you like a seed 166 00:08:36,299 --> 00:08:39,502 with the power to change everything about you, 167 00:08:40,603 --> 00:08:43,856 and you sit across from somebody and you, 168 00:08:44,090 --> 00:08:47,927 you tell them the message and you say, do you believe this message? 169 00:08:47,944 --> 00:08:50,897 Do you want this seed? 170 00:08:50,897 --> 00:08:53,933 And they look at you and they think, I don't know how that's going to 171 00:08:53,933 --> 00:08:55,017 change my life. 172 00:08:56,369 --> 00:08:56,719 I mean, 173 00:08:56,719 --> 00:09:00,590 if you want to change my life, then give me a better job, 174 00:09:01,340 --> 00:09:04,427 give me more opportunities, give me a better marriage, right. 175 00:09:05,628 --> 00:09:08,631 What they're saying is, if you want to change my life, 176 00:09:09,332 --> 00:09:10,132 I need a hammer. 177 00:09:10,132 --> 00:09:12,919 I need something to do it right away. 178 00:09:12,919 --> 00:09:16,322 Jesus holds up a seed and he said, no. 179 00:09:16,322 --> 00:09:19,075 Trust me. Swallow this. 180 00:09:19,075 --> 00:09:22,011 And if you believe in, 181 00:09:22,011 --> 00:09:24,063 then there's life 182 00:09:24,063 --> 00:09:28,067 and the power to change everything about you. 183 00:09:29,001 --> 00:09:30,770 That's the seed. 184 00:09:30,770 --> 00:09:32,939 And the question is, 185 00:09:32,939 --> 00:09:34,457 how do we get it? 186 00:09:34,457 --> 00:09:36,859 And that brings me to my second point. 187 00:09:36,859 --> 00:09:38,244 The soil. 188 00:09:38,244 --> 00:09:40,880 So Jesus says that the the kingdom of God is like a 189 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:45,751 so he goes out to sow a seed, and the seed falls on different types of soil. 190 00:09:46,502 --> 00:09:50,189 And since the seed is a message, his information, 191 00:09:50,189 --> 00:09:54,644 what he's saying really spends the most the majority of this story 192 00:09:54,660 --> 00:09:59,148 saying how we can miss the seed, how we can miss the kingdom 193 00:10:00,299 --> 00:10:02,969 because it comes through listening. 194 00:10:02,969 --> 00:10:05,154 And of course, there are different ways to listen. 195 00:10:05,154 --> 00:10:07,890 If you've ever talked to somebody while they were texting, 196 00:10:07,890 --> 00:10:10,893 while they were receiving a text, you realize there are different ways 197 00:10:11,327 --> 00:10:13,012 to listen. 198 00:10:13,012 --> 00:10:16,015 And so one of the drawbacks are, 199 00:10:16,248 --> 00:10:19,018 well, let me say this, that listening 200 00:10:19,018 --> 00:10:21,887 with a deep understanding, 201 00:10:21,887 --> 00:10:24,890 listening with a receptive heart 202 00:10:24,890 --> 00:10:27,893 is one of the primary skills of the Kingdom of God. 203 00:10:28,427 --> 00:10:32,031 One of the drawbacks to being a preacher is that I'm more of a talker 204 00:10:32,548 --> 00:10:34,200 than a listener. 205 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:37,286 Even when I when I'm preparing for a message 206 00:10:37,286 --> 00:10:41,540 like I did today, whenever I'm doing that, I'm thinking about how I can 207 00:10:41,540 --> 00:10:43,292 communicate it to you in such a way 208 00:10:43,292 --> 00:10:46,278 that you'll be able to hear it, that it will be interesting and 209 00:10:46,495 --> 00:10:50,149 and will be something where it's easy for you to understand. 210 00:10:50,149 --> 00:10:54,804 So I, I'm thinking about props, and I'm saving seeds from apples and 211 00:10:55,254 --> 00:10:56,155 all kinds of stuff. 212 00:10:58,641 --> 00:11:01,260 But I need to be careful 213 00:11:01,260 --> 00:11:04,647 because Jesus says how I listen will determine 214 00:11:05,581 --> 00:11:08,100 how much life I really have. 215 00:11:08,100 --> 00:11:11,687 That's one of the reasons that I love team teaching with Pastors Act, 216 00:11:11,687 --> 00:11:16,158 because that means every other week I get to sit and listen like you listen. 217 00:11:16,158 --> 00:11:17,393 I get to be here. 218 00:11:17,393 --> 00:11:19,862 But I want you to know, too, that, 219 00:11:19,862 --> 00:11:23,382 we even when I preach, I am a a listener, too. 220 00:11:23,399 --> 00:11:27,269 Sometimes people ask me, how do I preach without notes in the way that I do? 221 00:11:27,269 --> 00:11:32,608 It is I preach this out loud to myself several times so I can hear it. 222 00:11:33,709 --> 00:11:37,229 And because if it doesn't have the power to change me, 223 00:11:38,064 --> 00:11:41,067 it won't have the power to change you. 224 00:11:41,667 --> 00:11:44,637 But because the kingdom of God comes 225 00:11:44,637 --> 00:11:48,474 as a seed and comes through listening, it's very easy to miss. 226 00:11:49,108 --> 00:11:51,977 So Jesus ends up telling us 227 00:11:51,977 --> 00:11:56,282 three ways that people can listen and miss the kingdom of God. 228 00:11:56,282 --> 00:11:59,852 And this is super important because later on in the Gospel of Matthew, 229 00:12:00,352 --> 00:12:03,572 Jesus will say, at the end of time, there'll be people who thought they got it 230 00:12:04,457 --> 00:12:07,193 and didn't, and you don't want to be there. 231 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:09,261 Okay, 232 00:12:09,261 --> 00:12:13,182 so the first way to listen and miss it, I'm going to call a hard listening. 233 00:12:13,199 --> 00:12:15,901 This is what Jesus says. Verse four. 234 00:12:15,901 --> 00:12:18,170 It says, and as he sowed, some seeds fell 235 00:12:18,170 --> 00:12:21,690 along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 236 00:12:22,074 --> 00:12:23,793 This is how he explains it. 237 00:12:23,793 --> 00:12:27,329 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil 238 00:12:27,329 --> 00:12:30,900 one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. 239 00:12:31,317 --> 00:12:32,001 This is what was. 240 00:12:32,001 --> 00:12:35,004 This is what was sown along the path. 241 00:12:35,237 --> 00:12:37,840 Like the path is packed down. 242 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,793 This is hard, like cement. 243 00:12:40,793 --> 00:12:44,213 First thing I want you to notice is that the sower of the seed 244 00:12:44,213 --> 00:12:47,216 throws the seed indiscriminately, 245 00:12:47,399 --> 00:12:50,336 like he throws it all willy nilly. 246 00:12:50,336 --> 00:12:56,192 Like if I'm planning grass seed in my yard, I make sure I don't waste the seed. 247 00:12:56,192 --> 00:12:59,929 I don't throw it on my parking, on my driveway or anything. I. 248 00:12:59,929 --> 00:13:02,698 I make sure that there's good soil and I try to tilt it up. 249 00:13:02,698 --> 00:13:04,817 And then I put some seeds in there, you know? 250 00:13:04,817 --> 00:13:08,637 But that's not the way the sower, the sower throws seed everywhere. 251 00:13:08,637 --> 00:13:09,388 And I tell you that 252 00:13:09,388 --> 00:13:13,008 because sometimes people will ask me what happens, what happens to those 253 00:13:13,008 --> 00:13:17,329 who've never heard the gospel, who've never heard the message? 254 00:13:18,113 --> 00:13:20,633 And I want you to know a lot more people have heard the message 255 00:13:20,633 --> 00:13:23,002 than you probably think. I've heard it. 256 00:13:23,002 --> 00:13:25,254 You'd be very it'd be very difficult 257 00:13:25,254 --> 00:13:29,842 for you to find somebody that you know in your neighborhood at work, at school, 258 00:13:29,842 --> 00:13:33,712 anywhere that doesn't know the basic message of the gospel. 259 00:13:34,430 --> 00:13:37,199 If you ask them, what does the Bible teach about Jesus? 260 00:13:38,300 --> 00:13:39,919 Eventually they would say, 261 00:13:39,919 --> 00:13:44,123 I think he died on a cross, supposedly rose a rose again. 262 00:13:44,190 --> 00:13:47,193 That's it. That's the seed. 263 00:13:47,726 --> 00:13:50,729 But there are some people, when they hear the seed, 264 00:13:51,063 --> 00:13:54,683 it just sits on their heart because their heart is hard. 265 00:13:54,867 --> 00:13:56,101 There are a couple of ways. 266 00:13:56,101 --> 00:13:59,088 There's an obvious way, in a more subtle way, the obvious way 267 00:13:59,688 --> 00:14:02,608 is people who have objections they don't want to believe. 268 00:14:02,608 --> 00:14:03,209 Anyways, 269 00:14:03,209 --> 00:14:07,463 I've sat across from people who say, well, this is my problem with the Bible, 270 00:14:07,463 --> 00:14:11,667 or this is my problem with Christianity, and they'll give me their problem. 271 00:14:11,667 --> 00:14:12,985 And there's a good answer 272 00:14:12,985 --> 00:14:16,705 to that particular question, and I'll give them that answer. 273 00:14:16,889 --> 00:14:20,459 And before I even get the answer out, they're off to another to another 274 00:14:20,459 --> 00:14:22,945 objection going, yeah, okay. Okay. What about this? 275 00:14:22,945 --> 00:14:23,696 What about that? 276 00:14:23,696 --> 00:14:26,966 And it's almost like, you know, going to a fair and playing that game, 277 00:14:26,966 --> 00:14:31,770 whack a mole where one problem pops up as soon as you knock down the other one. 278 00:14:32,338 --> 00:14:35,157 That's the obvious way to be a hard listener. 279 00:14:35,157 --> 00:14:37,293 Just decide. You don't want to believe. 280 00:14:37,293 --> 00:14:40,679 But there's a more subtle way, and that's to sit in a church 281 00:14:40,679 --> 00:14:43,682 like this and hear the message. 282 00:14:44,283 --> 00:14:47,269 And we think, you think you believe it. 283 00:14:47,419 --> 00:14:49,221 But it's never become personal. 284 00:14:50,222 --> 00:14:50,489 You've 285 00:14:50,489 --> 00:14:53,492 never come to the place where you realize 286 00:14:53,542 --> 00:14:56,545 that you're the one Jesus came for, 287 00:14:56,662 --> 00:14:59,481 that you're the one that Jesus 288 00:14:59,481 --> 00:15:02,401 loves, that you're the one that Jesus 289 00:15:02,401 --> 00:15:05,387 is calling by name. 290 00:15:05,821 --> 00:15:08,274 And you can sit here your whole life 291 00:15:08,274 --> 00:15:11,727 and never really make it personal, and you don't realize it. 292 00:15:12,628 --> 00:15:15,481 But you've been listening for years 293 00:15:15,481 --> 00:15:17,449 with a hard heart. 294 00:15:17,449 --> 00:15:19,218 That's one way. 295 00:15:19,218 --> 00:15:22,221 The second way is what I call shallow listening. 296 00:15:22,488 --> 00:15:24,423 Sweet Jesus says. 297 00:15:24,423 --> 00:15:27,660 And as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears 298 00:15:27,660 --> 00:15:30,713 the word immediately receives it with joy. 299 00:15:30,713 --> 00:15:33,716 It has no root in himself, but endures for a while. 300 00:15:34,049 --> 00:15:37,069 And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, 301 00:15:37,252 --> 00:15:40,255 immediately he falls away. 302 00:15:40,789 --> 00:15:43,525 Know I told you before that you can sit across from somebody, 303 00:15:43,525 --> 00:15:44,393 give them the message, 304 00:15:44,393 --> 00:15:47,463 and they'll say, I don't see how that's going to change my life. 305 00:15:48,030 --> 00:15:52,918 If you want to change my life, I want I need a better job or a better marriage. 306 00:15:52,918 --> 00:15:56,672 Your life, my circumstances to get better. 307 00:15:57,139 --> 00:16:00,626 Sometimes when someone does hear the message 308 00:16:00,993 --> 00:16:06,632 and they bring Jesus into their life, their life does get better right away. 309 00:16:08,334 --> 00:16:08,901 But then 310 00:16:08,901 --> 00:16:12,121 they start to think of Jesus as a life enhancer. 311 00:16:12,738 --> 00:16:16,291 And when things go south or life gets hard, 312 00:16:16,291 --> 00:16:19,278 they say to themselves, this is not what I signed up for. 313 00:16:19,578 --> 00:16:21,780 And they bail. 314 00:16:21,780 --> 00:16:25,067 That's a shallow listener, and I want you to hear that 315 00:16:25,067 --> 00:16:28,070 because some of you are going through a really difficult time. 316 00:16:28,187 --> 00:16:32,358 If you're not, you might have a difficult time right around the corner. 317 00:16:32,358 --> 00:16:37,046 All of us go through hard times and I want you to be prepared for it. 318 00:16:37,046 --> 00:16:40,132 Somebody who's a shallow listener hasn't really come to grips 319 00:16:40,699 --> 00:16:43,702 with the idea of their sin and the holiness of God. 320 00:16:44,420 --> 00:16:47,423 Because if you ever really understand 321 00:16:47,873 --> 00:16:51,443 the depth of your sin and the holiness of God, your separation, 322 00:16:51,443 --> 00:16:55,397 what Jesus did on the cross for you, you will never feel 323 00:16:55,981 --> 00:16:58,283 like you're getting the short end of the stick with Jesus. 324 00:16:59,752 --> 00:17:01,887 You just never will. 325 00:17:01,887 --> 00:17:04,406 But if you think you are, you're a pretty good person 326 00:17:04,406 --> 00:17:07,493 and God owes you a good life, 327 00:17:08,610 --> 00:17:11,163 then the son won't have to get very hot 328 00:17:11,163 --> 00:17:13,766 before you wilt. 329 00:17:13,766 --> 00:17:15,918 That's a shallow listener. 330 00:17:15,918 --> 00:17:17,986 The third kind of listener 331 00:17:17,986 --> 00:17:20,989 that misses it is what I call the thorny listener. 332 00:17:21,323 --> 00:17:24,326 He says that as what was sown among the thorns, 333 00:17:24,326 --> 00:17:26,328 this is the one who hears the word. 334 00:17:26,328 --> 00:17:28,914 But the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches 335 00:17:28,914 --> 00:17:32,518 choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 336 00:17:34,053 --> 00:17:37,406 If hard listening is a hard 337 00:17:37,406 --> 00:17:40,409 heart and shallow listening is a shallow heart, 338 00:17:40,459 --> 00:17:43,579 then a then thorny listening is a divided heart. 339 00:17:44,546 --> 00:17:48,717 A divided heart is somebody who who goes to church and is involved in church. 340 00:17:48,717 --> 00:17:52,137 But when they're at work or in their neighborhood or at school, 341 00:17:52,137 --> 00:17:56,809 they're not really any different than somebody who doesn't believe in Jesus. 342 00:17:56,809 --> 00:18:00,512 That's somebody who has kind of a foot in both kingdoms. 343 00:18:01,113 --> 00:18:03,599 And when that happens, what Jesus says 344 00:18:03,599 --> 00:18:06,752 is that you are you become unfruitful. 345 00:18:07,703 --> 00:18:08,070 Now when the 346 00:18:08,070 --> 00:18:11,123 Bible talks about fruit, it talks usually about two different 347 00:18:11,123 --> 00:18:14,993 types of fruit a fruit on the inside and a fruit on the outside. 348 00:18:14,993 --> 00:18:17,062 The fruit on the inside. 349 00:18:17,062 --> 00:18:19,882 Paul describes in Galatians chapter five 350 00:18:19,882 --> 00:18:23,552 the fruit of the spirit and it's love, joy, 351 00:18:23,869 --> 00:18:26,872 peace, patience, goodness, kindness, 352 00:18:27,122 --> 00:18:29,842 gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. 353 00:18:29,842 --> 00:18:34,947 And what Paul says is the deeper the love of Jesus goes inside of you, 354 00:18:34,947 --> 00:18:38,066 the more that will become part of who you are. 355 00:18:38,066 --> 00:18:41,987 Those those characteristics of love and joy and peace. 356 00:18:43,555 --> 00:18:46,492 But if you have a divided heart, 357 00:18:46,492 --> 00:18:49,378 you don't experience that. 358 00:18:49,378 --> 00:18:53,882 In some ways, you're you're the most miserable of all people 359 00:18:53,882 --> 00:18:57,986 because you experience the guilt of sin, because you come to a place like this 360 00:18:57,986 --> 00:19:00,989 and you know what Jesus wants from you, 361 00:19:01,607 --> 00:19:04,610 but you never experience the real benefit 362 00:19:05,511 --> 00:19:09,648 of walking with Jesus because you don't have love and joy and peace. 363 00:19:10,799 --> 00:19:14,303 Deep down, that's a fruit that happens on the inside. 364 00:19:14,303 --> 00:19:17,089 Then there's fruit that happens on the outside 365 00:19:17,089 --> 00:19:21,677 where the Bible say that when Jesus takes control of you 366 00:19:21,677 --> 00:19:25,848 and begins to transform you, you become like a light 367 00:19:25,848 --> 00:19:28,283 in the midst of darkness, and you have people coming up to you 368 00:19:28,283 --> 00:19:31,486 and saying, wait, there is something different about you. 369 00:19:31,820 --> 00:19:33,989 What is that difference? 370 00:19:33,989 --> 00:19:35,390 Right? 371 00:19:35,390 --> 00:19:37,593 But what Jesus says here is, 372 00:19:37,593 --> 00:19:41,313 if you have a foot in both kingdoms, no one comes up to you. 373 00:19:42,531 --> 00:19:45,534 No one asked you why you're so different. 374 00:19:46,318 --> 00:19:49,321 Because you're not different at all. 375 00:19:50,489 --> 00:19:54,109 Jesus says that the the sower goes out to sow a seed, 376 00:19:54,626 --> 00:19:58,730 and the seed has the power to change everything about you. 377 00:20:00,983 --> 00:20:02,601 But it falls on different soil. 378 00:20:04,586 --> 00:20:07,072 It falls on hard soil, 379 00:20:07,072 --> 00:20:10,492 on shallow soil, on thorny soil. 380 00:20:11,393 --> 00:20:14,396 But then the question is what happens 381 00:20:15,297 --> 00:20:18,300 when it falls on good soil? 382 00:20:18,350 --> 00:20:20,719 And that brings me to a third point. 383 00:20:20,719 --> 00:20:23,522 The story. 384 00:20:23,522 --> 00:20:29,127 This parable is the first of seven parables that Jesus tells in 385 00:20:29,127 --> 00:20:31,013 Matthew chapter 13. 386 00:20:31,013 --> 00:20:33,482 They're called the parables of the Kingdom. 387 00:20:33,482 --> 00:20:34,950 Listen, this is important. 388 00:20:34,950 --> 00:20:38,120 Jesus didn't come just to forgive your sins. 389 00:20:39,621 --> 00:20:40,472 Jesus didn't. 390 00:20:40,472 --> 00:20:42,441 You know he forgives your sins. 391 00:20:42,441 --> 00:20:44,459 But that's not all he came for. 392 00:20:44,459 --> 00:20:46,378 He came to bring a kingdom. 393 00:20:46,378 --> 00:20:49,398 And this is the way the kingdom comes. 394 00:20:50,449 --> 00:20:53,485 There's a great word in Greek. 395 00:20:53,485 --> 00:20:55,370 It's only used twice in the New Testament. 396 00:20:55,370 --> 00:20:58,824 One of my all time favorite words, the word is in Genesis. 397 00:21:00,092 --> 00:21:02,694 In Genesis, for the first time, it's used. 398 00:21:02,694 --> 00:21:04,913 It's used in the Gospel of Matthew. 399 00:21:04,913 --> 00:21:08,934 Jesus uses it when he's describing what will happen 400 00:21:08,934 --> 00:21:12,688 to the world when his kingdom comes in all of its fullness. 401 00:21:13,021 --> 00:21:13,939 Palin. Genesis. 402 00:21:13,939 --> 00:21:17,392 It means a remaking, a renewal of all things 403 00:21:17,392 --> 00:21:21,563 you have to think of like HGTV, where, you know, you see this house 404 00:21:21,563 --> 00:21:24,750 that's just a dump, and then people descend on the house 405 00:21:24,750 --> 00:21:27,953 and they make it into something that you can hardly recognize. 406 00:21:27,953 --> 00:21:30,956 It's just glorious. That's a Palin genesis. 407 00:21:31,490 --> 00:21:34,493 That's what Jesus is going to do, but it's going to do it to the whole world. 408 00:21:34,493 --> 00:21:37,496 That's the power of the kingdom of God. 409 00:21:37,579 --> 00:21:40,649 The other times it's used as in Titus chapter three, 410 00:21:41,133 --> 00:21:46,104 when Paul the Apostle uses it to describe what happens when the Spirit of God 411 00:21:46,104 --> 00:21:50,642 begins to change a person like you or a person like me, 412 00:21:51,860 --> 00:21:54,112 that God's desire 413 00:21:54,112 --> 00:21:57,182 and his plan is to make me into something 414 00:21:57,933 --> 00:22:00,986 glorious, to make me into a person 415 00:22:00,986 --> 00:22:03,989 that fits in his Kingdom, 416 00:22:04,072 --> 00:22:07,075 who actually ushers his kingdom in. 417 00:22:07,559 --> 00:22:12,681 So when I say the story, I mean this is the story of God. 418 00:22:12,681 --> 00:22:15,801 This is the way God's going to take over this world. 419 00:22:15,801 --> 00:22:16,668 This is the way. 420 00:22:16,668 --> 00:22:19,621 This is the story of God's kingdom coming. 421 00:22:19,621 --> 00:22:22,607 This is also your story. 422 00:22:22,858 --> 00:22:25,861 Listen, your whole life is going to be determined 423 00:22:26,778 --> 00:22:30,932 by how the seed takes root in your heart. 424 00:22:31,283 --> 00:22:34,019 It will be determined on the kind of soil 425 00:22:34,019 --> 00:22:36,772 you are. 426 00:22:36,772 --> 00:22:38,957 But if you have good soil, 427 00:22:38,957 --> 00:22:41,960 if you receive, if you hear, if you believe, 428 00:22:42,961 --> 00:22:45,981 then the seed has the power of life 429 00:22:46,698 --> 00:22:49,067 to change everything about you, 430 00:22:49,067 --> 00:22:52,070 to make you one that is like a light 431 00:22:52,554 --> 00:22:56,758 that God uses to usher in his kingdom. 432 00:22:57,442 --> 00:23:00,178 Finally, it's the story of our church. 433 00:23:00,178 --> 00:23:02,280 Like our church is exploding right now. 434 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,349 We baptized 40 people last week. 435 00:23:04,349 --> 00:23:08,637 We have more people in a baptism class this week. 436 00:23:09,204 --> 00:23:10,589 It is just one. 437 00:23:10,589 --> 00:23:13,942 People ask me what's going on with the church 438 00:23:14,159 --> 00:23:15,377 and now I have a new answer. 439 00:23:15,377 --> 00:23:17,312 What I tell them now is in Genesis, 440 00:23:18,797 --> 00:23:19,314 what God 441 00:23:19,314 --> 00:23:22,367 is doing is there are more and more people 442 00:23:23,218 --> 00:23:26,755 who are hearing, listening well, 443 00:23:27,422 --> 00:23:31,193 and they're taking the seed into this beginning to change them in such a way 444 00:23:31,193 --> 00:23:33,145 that the people that they live around 445 00:23:33,145 --> 00:23:36,148 are saying, what's what's different about you? 446 00:23:36,381 --> 00:23:39,151 How can I know what you know? 447 00:23:39,151 --> 00:23:41,570 And you're bringing them here? 448 00:23:41,570 --> 00:23:43,939 This is the whole world 449 00:23:43,939 --> 00:23:46,608 is going to be changed, not with a hammer, 450 00:23:46,608 --> 00:23:48,527 not with a hammer, 451 00:23:48,527 --> 00:23:50,996 with a seed, with a message. 452 00:23:50,996 --> 00:23:54,232 And the message is this that God so loved 453 00:23:54,332 --> 00:23:57,319 the world that he came for you, 454 00:23:58,620 --> 00:24:02,007 that the seed of the kingdom take root in all of us, 455 00:24:02,874 --> 00:24:07,879 so that it bears fruit inside and outside. 456 00:24:08,730 --> 00:24:12,083 And the kingdom of God grows here 457 00:24:13,218 --> 00:24:15,237 because it's growing in us. 458 00:24:15,237 --> 00:24:15,954 You pray with me, 459 00:24:17,522 --> 00:24:18,840 father in heaven, we come to you. 460 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:20,242 And I'm so grateful. 461 00:24:20,242 --> 00:24:23,478 I'm grateful that you came into this world 462 00:24:23,778 --> 00:24:28,233 not as a hammer, but as a sower sowing seed. 463 00:24:28,700 --> 00:24:30,235 And that your plan is to change. 464 00:24:30,235 --> 00:24:34,890 People like me, people like the people here in such a way 465 00:24:35,907 --> 00:24:39,444 that we begin to live as citizens of your kingdom. 466 00:24:40,345 --> 00:24:44,549 And your kingdom comes and your will is done 467 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:47,602 here on earth as it is in heaven. 468 00:24:47,602 --> 00:24:49,938 That's our prayer. 469 00:24:49,938 --> 00:24:52,374 Turn us into people, 470 00:24:52,374 --> 00:24:57,362 that the seed is not only changed, but we become sowers of the seed as well. 471 00:24:57,362 --> 00:25:00,065 We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.