Archive for the ‘ The Sower ’ Category
What Kind of Soil Are You? Mark 4:1-20 Again He began to teach by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them […]
What Kind of Soil Are You? Expository Preaching Outline Table of Contents
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope
Psalm 130:5, ESV
God’s Word – Scripture – reminds us of His promises, and the greatest is that The Word – Jesus, the Son of God – has saved us and us returning soon.
Make sure you read David’s wise words on Proverbs 26:23 at Proverbial Thought!
Here is another look at who we are, this time through the lyrics of David Crowder.
Consider the following passages:
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:73 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Matthew 13:3-943 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Luke 6:43-45
God created us from the earth, and we are frequently referred to as soil or plants (which grow from soil).
Earth is soil which can support life.
Dirt, on the other hand, is misplaced soil. While things can grow from dirt, usually all you get are weeds or weak plants.
Only with soil do you get strong plants which are capable of producing good fruit. Good fruit are good deeds, good speech, and praise of God.
Weak plants and weeds do not give good fruit. Any good deeds from people like this are tainted by pride or do not have lasting or good results. There is a lack of, if any, praise to God.
And the thing that needs to be remembered is that only God by the grace shown through work of the crucified Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit can make us clean soil, fertile soil capable of growth and good fruit.
Listen to David Crowder and his band worship God for His creation and grace. Read the lyrics, and I pray grow in some understanding of just how much our God has done for us out of His love for us.
Wholly Yours by David Crowder Band
I am full of earth
You are heaven’s worth
I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity
You are everything that is bright and clean
The antonym of me
You are divinity
But a certain sign of grace is this
From a broken earth flowers come up
Pushing through the dirtYou are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy like You areYou are everything that is bright and clean
And You’re covering me with Your majesty
And the truest sign of grace was this
From wounded hands redemption fell down
Liberating manYou are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You areBut the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me cleanGlory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy, holy GodSo here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly YoursI am wholly Yours
I am full of earth and dirt and You
With a full year behind it, you know it is full of wisdom. So head on over to Proverbial Thought to partake of that and new wisdom commentary!
Imagine for a moment that you have an umbrella. Not just any umbrella, but a super-durable umbrella.
This is an umbrella that seems to defy physics. It is incredibly light yet is strong enough to take hail and fire and brimstone falling from the sky. It is no thicker nor less functional than your average umbrella; yet it will not crumble under said hail and brimstone, burn up in said fire, nor dissolve in a shower of acid rain.
Now imagine you live in a city that has constant acid rain showers. There is relative safety in most buildings, but if we are honest we know that buildings will not hold up indefinitely to acid rain.
Some buildings are in worse shape than others. People can not stay in them long without being in the same conditions as outside.
Now imagine that you actually live in a bunker under a mountain. You are pretty safe inside. It would take quite a while for acid rain and most other things to get in.
So what do you do?
Your Dad asks you and your siblings to go out and help those in the acid rain.
Some say to each other, “We are safe. Our Dad can welcome those people in if he wants to. We can stay and prepare for the great feast!” What they do not realize is that they will find themselves kicked out of their home just before the feast.
Some others grab their umbrellas and hurry outside. Seeing how dangerous it is, they run back inside and complain about how awful the world is outside, and they spend their time talking about how great things are since they are saved from the outside world.
Others say to each other, “We will be safe with our umbrellas. We can go outside and tell them how great it is inside!” They may see some people believe them, but while outside they complain about their lazy siblings and how horrible it is outside. This pushes many away, and some with umbrellas may find themselves joining their lazier siblings outside during the feast.
There are a few who take their umbrellas and hurry outside. Some walk around their neighborhood telling others about their safe home, bringing many inside and helping them get umbrellas of their own. Others run to the far ends of the city proclaiming the news of safety and peace. Some of these reach out from under their umbrellas, getting burned by the acid rain, just to get to some of those struggling through the acid rain. Some even brave the full onslaught of acid rain to allow others enough precious time under their umbrellas to get to safety, and they end up looking just as burned and messed up as those they saved.
At the end, most of those who remain for the feast look worn out, tattered, and disfigured from the acid rain.
Isn’t it a wonderful feeling? We’re stinging, again.
Maybe you have already caught on to the point.
One of my favorite passages comes from Jude, verses 22 and 23 (NIV):
Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
In the above parable, the city is Earth, the home under the mountain is the Church, the umbrella is the Gospel, and the acid rain is the sin that soaks into every part of our lives and world. Obviously, then, the Dad is God. Those who reside within the mountain and go out into the city are Christians.
This past Sunday was the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Almost six weeks later, just before His ascension, He issued this commission:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20, NIV
We cannot reach out to people unless we go where they are.
We cannot rescue people if we do not get involved with their lives.
We cannot teach them if we do not do as we were instructed: to live like Jesus.
If Jesus, God made Man, came to our sin-soaked world, walked with us, suffered with us, even died with us, can we not suffer a little with our world to show them the resurrection power of Jesus?
(Bedford County (Pa.) District Attorney's Office)
Ill-gotten treasures are of no value,
but righteousness delivers from death.
Proverbs 10:2, NIV
How about we go from Church unity to a potentially controversial topic?! Okay!
Stealing things can be fun. I do not deny that. The rush of exhilaration and the excitement of getting something you may or may not want.
Of course, there is usually the issue of not being able to use stolen money since it could be traced. There is the issue of not being able to drive a stolen car around since it would take too much extra work to make sure the VIN could not be traced … let alone if you get caught with a car that is not yours. There is the issue of serial numbers or storage or fingerprints not properly wiped or a myriad of other things that can make having the stolen property so … inconvenient.
You cannot skate into salvation on your parents’ or friends’ or spouse’s faith. You cannot skate into salvation by simply going to church or doing good deeds.
“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29) It can be argued that this can mean not only physically leaving things and family and friends but growing up. It can mean “I have left behind letting others tell me how to believe and have made my faith my own!”
Jesus did say (to a specific woman, in context, but I assure you that it is applicable) “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:50)
What is the number factor of church-growth in the United States today? Church migrants, those who leave one church for another.
I am not saying that all churches steal people from other churches. Obviously, some churches die out. I am not saying all those who get most if not all of their new congregants from other churches are doing it on purpose. However, there are some who are only playing the numbers game. These churches tend to not care too much about growing new believers. Quite honestly, the biggest reason there are so many disputes today about and between different churches over theology, philosophy, and practices is because as a whole we have neglected raising new believers in understanding. We have been happy to get converts and baptisms to say “See! We have this many new people/converts this year!”
Way to spread plenty of seed on rocky soil. Go us. We are robbing God and people by not providing fertile ground or cultivating and watering after seeding.
Fortunately, I am beginning to see people begin to wake up to this problem.
Fortunately, possession still tends to be nine-tenths of the law with God. He knows who belong to Him. He has the power to redeem whatever and whomever He wishes.
How about we not stand in His way? Instead, how about we move with Him?
What say you? How are we faring as the Church? Do you see people getting it right?
a simple man of God 