The Parable of the Sower By Jeremy Anderson

``So if there’s anything in you that as you look at your life and you say, man, as I look in the mirror this morning, I’ve got some work to do. I see some of these things that Jesus talked about in my heart, and just give it to God. Not as in the sense like, I’ll give it to God and nothing more. But go to the Lord and know that he he’ll change your heart. He will. It might involve a jackhammer to get that rock out of there. It might involve some mess to uproot those thorns, but he will. And that I have confidence in. Maybe this morning as you look out the window and you see a world, an opportunity before us for the seed to be sown, know that there’s gonna be various responses. Don’t be given to despair, but give yourself to the hope that God is in in the business of making fruit, and there will be fruit in the harvest. And let that drive you and motivate you. The question before us today is do you have ears to hear? [00:52:48] (80 seconds)  #LetGodChangeYourHeart

``You know, guys, at the end of the day, Jesus is trying to get us to realize, wait a minute, if I go out as the sower to sow seed, the plant that grows and doesn’t produce fruit is of no value to me. It doesn’t. It’s it’s of no good. The sower that goes out to sow sows wanting the fruit, needing the fruit. That’s where Jesus is at. So don’t get too excited over the plants. We look for fruit. What kind of soil is in your heart? Sometimes, oftentimes, borderline, dare I say all the time, answering that question is not something that you’re gonna do in the next thirty seconds. It is not something you can do in the next thirty seconds. It takes time. [00:43:20] (62 seconds)  #FruitOverPlants

``Sometimes it’s gonna you’re it’s gonna involve labor that doesn’t seem to reap a harvest, but there is hope because there is a harvest and one will come. So take heart and to go out into the world and to share this good news. And three times out of four, it’s gonna produce nothing. But one time, it’s gonna produce a bountiful harvest. And in that time, we rejoice and we celebrate and we praise our God. This is why you can look at the writings of the apostles and John could write in first John two nineteen that that some had gone out from them but weren’t of them. Because he knew that they had perhaps received the seed but it wasn’t producing fruit. He Paul could write that the cross is foolishness for those who are perishing. But it’s the power of God for salvation to those who would receive it. He knows that there are gonna be some who that the seed is gonna fall on the path. [00:49:21] (52 seconds)  #HopeInTheHarvest

``Right? Fruit a seed bears fruit according to its kind. A plant bears fruit according to its kind. So the fruit that is born out is the kind of fruit of the type of the seed. So when we receive the the word of the kingdom of heaven, the fruit that we bear is in accordance to the kingdom of heaven. But all fruit has what? Within it? More seed. And it reaps a harvest and that seed multiplies. And so in this this beautiful picture of what Jesus is saying is is there are gonna be those who receive the word and they understand. There’s gonna be various various fruitfulness amongst those who receive the word, but there is a harvest to be reaped. [00:41:22] (46 seconds)  #FruitAccordingToSeed

``Guys, as you go out and you engage in the ministry of gospel and the kingdom of heaven, please do understand that you’re gonna go and you’re gonna cast seed and there are gonna be times where people will receive that seed, but they’re going to allow it to grow up amongst the thorns in their life. And those thorns are gonna choke it out. And when you see those things happen, don’t despair. Because if you’ve done any any sort of ministry and you’ve observed those things, it is discouraging. Isn’t it? It gets at your heart a little bit. We’re like, why? Don’t despair. Because Jesus says there are some who are going to have good soil and they’re going to receive that word and it is gonna grow up and produce a fruitful harvest. [00:46:45] (59 seconds)  #ShareDespiteThorns

``And since it doesn’t grow downward, when the heat gets turned up, when the sun comes out, it scorches the plant and it dies. And Jesus’ explanation for this, in verse 20, as for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and receives it with joy, yet he has no root but endures for a while. But when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. And so I call this the comfortable soil because when things get a little uncomfortable, that’s when this this plant dies away. The the seed of the word dies away. And Jesus talks about this as as the tribulation or the persecution, and our minds have a tendency to to take that. And we say, well, the tribulation, that’s just difficulties and hardships in life. Did you know that this word, as they would have used, it spoke more to pressure than it did to just trouble, which is interesting. [00:29:58] (58 seconds)  #FaithUnderPressure

``Because when Jesus starts talking then about the pressures in life, surely surely the circumstances that we live in can be pressure. You go through a tough time, you feel pressure. You’re feeling it. The world feels like it’s falling down on you. You’re feeling the tribulation. You’re feeling the pressure, but pressure comes in many forms. And so Jesus is talking about what happens to this to the seed as it’s beginning to grow up. He says it it it it experiences this pressure, and this pressure can at times just be the the passive pressure from the world around to say, don’t live according to the word of God. It’s not active persecution at this point, but it’s just subtle pressure. You really believe that kind of stuff? You you really gonna live that way? What happens when you kind of disagree a little bit with what the book says? Who are you gonna lean on? You’re gonna go for what the book said? You see, that’s where you really gotta lean on yourself. You gotta think. Don’t just take this ancient stuff at face value. It’s the subtle pressures of what things we should find to be important. The subtle pressures of where we should place our priorities. The things that we should value in life. [00:30:56] (81 seconds)  #ResistPassivePressure

``What once was this little, I wonder what they’re gonna do is now holy cow, how do we keep them only there? Right? They have begun to dominate our garden. They’re threatening to dominate our yard. That’s what these that’s what these thorns do. They grow up. Right? And they start as something that seems harmless. It seems like something, altogether good and lovely, but they begin to dominate our life. And as a result, what they then do is they destroy the the the fruit of the word, the work of the word. They take over, and Jesus says it chokes it out. It chokes it out. [00:38:30] (36 seconds)  #ThornsChokeFaith