Soil: The Condition Of The Heart | Tyrone P. Jones | Kingdom Ground | Full Service

- Good morning church for the city. What an amazing day to be in the house of the Lord. He meets us in this place and we are so grateful. If you are new here, we want to know you. Just tap that disc in front of you or stop at the connect table on your way out. If you're watching online and it's your first time, please click that digital connect card because we do want to know you. It's Sunday morning and we're gonna start with the word. In Colossians 1 and 11, the word says, we also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy. The Lord we serve gives us power. He gives us power to endure. He gives us power to be patient and we are filled with joy because of that power. The God we serve, he sees, he hears, he knows. Nothing is a surprise and he has given us power to endure. If you are not standing, please stand. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for who you are. Thank you for sending your son to die on the cross that we would be safe. Lord, thank you for giving us power to endure. Thank you for giving us power to be patient and God's filling us with joy.

Lord, I pray in the mighty name of Jesus that you would open up our ears, soften our hearts that we may receive the word that you have, that you are bringing especially for us this day. God, we're not here by mistake. We are here by your divine appointment. We thank you for what you're going to do and in us and through us. God, we give you all the honor and all the praise in Jesus mighty name, amen. All right, let's get ready to worship. (gentle music) ♪ Gosh, you're so silly to me ♪ ♪ I see the love of your glory ♪ ♪ I can see your name for all my life ♪ ♪ You can still find more to look each tongue ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name of our own hearts ♪ ♪ And sweet of every time that I call on ♪ ♪ There's just something by today ♪ ♪ There's just something by today ♪ ♪ There's just something by today ♪ ♪ It makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're worthy ♪ ♪ You have been a friend ♪ ♪ You've never left ♪ ♪ I won't forget your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name of our own hearts ♪

♪ It's sweet of every time that I call on ♪ ♪ There's just something by today ♪ ♪ There's just something by today ♪ ♪ There's just something by today ♪ ♪ It makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Yes, the Lord ♪ ♪ There is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're worthy ♪ ♪ Come on, church, sing it out ♪ ♪ There's just something by today, oh, Jesus ♪ ♪ Only one name ♪ ♪ There's just something by today ♪ ♪ It makes me cry holy ♪ There is no other name, Jesus no other name You're holy, oh we magnify our name, oh we bless Oh we glorify His morning, oh we give you everything you are, Jesus Come on right there where you are, open your heart to Raise your hand, worship Him when there where you're at Jesus your name is like the morning like the one that's on his hand And I, the resurrection in the light, Jesus, Jesus You see, your name, your name can make the storm they still You never fail, you never will, Jesus, come on declare it Jesus the bread of life, oh getting for us, the wounded and the worthy one The first from last and soon it comes, Jesus, Jesus the King You are well and great, the Lord who will forever end The name of all of the men, Jesus, oh Jesus be the name Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name, the King of all glory Oh Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name

They guess all the glory, oh Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, oh we glorify Come on sing it out this morning church, oh Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name They guess all the glory, oh we glorify our name, oh Jesus Oh Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name, the King of all glory Oh Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name, the King of all glory Oh Jesus, oh, there is no one you need Lord for your Jesus Oh Jesus come on give him praise church, oh we give you praise Lord Do you believe the perfect Lamb of God be the talking? A broken heart and mother have it, and they love it all ♪ The earth shames ♪ His body hits the dust of a power over him. Take it off, for me, for me. I hate you, hate you, hate you for the cross. I praise you, praise you. But now that I've been lost, there's no love like your love. Thousands of songs are not enough to say thank you. Thank you, Lord, and Lord. My victory, bursting from the bread of my risen king. Sacrifice for love for his hands, the fear that you were little for me. I hate you, hate you, thank you for the cross. I praise you, praise you. Without a lot of laws, there's no love like your love. Thousands of songs are not enough to say thank you. I hate you, praise you, thank you for the cross. I hate you, praise you, thank you for the cross. I hate you, praise you, thank you for the cross. I hate you, praise you, thank you for the cross. I hate you, praise you, thank you for the cross. I hate you, praise you, thank you for the cross. I hate you, praise you, thank you for the cross.

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You must save your life You will never fail I trust him, man That's why I trust him That's why I trust him I saw the Lord I saw the Lord I saw the Lord That's why I trust him That's why I trust him [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] My father was a pastor of a small church and he didn't make a large income.

And so our family struggled financially. In 1969, my parents were scheduled to attend a business meeting. And my two younger brothers and sister and I, we were supposed to stay home with a babysitter, but the babysitter was late. And so we all piled in the back of the car and we'd have to go to the business meeting with our parents. My dad was halfway down the road when he looked in his rear view mirror and he spotted the babysitter pulling into our driveway. And so my dad made a U-turn and he dropped the four of us kids off and we would spend the night with the babysitter after all. About an hour and a half later, there was a knock at our door and their standing in front of me were two uniform police officers. They had come to deliver the news that our parents had been hit by a drunken driver. My father was killed instantly, my mother was seriously injured and was in the hospital fighting for her life. I'll never forget that night though because 25 or 30 of our friends and neighbors began to gather in the front yard and the police officer stepped up to the porch and he looked out over the crowd and he said, are there any family members or friends here tonight

who are willing to take the children home with them? If not, we'll take them downtown to the station. That night, Bill and LaVeyta Davis, a young couple with kids of their own, they stepped forward and I said, we'll take them. I think they thought it was going to be a one or two night sleepover, but we live with the Davises for many months in their small trailer. And honestly, I think it's because of the Davises that I didn't become angry and bitter. I owe them a lot. Having experienced injustice, I wanted to be a proponent of justice and I thought maybe the best way to do that was by becoming a writer. And so right out of college, I took a job as a ghost writer and one of my bookwriting projects took me to Calcutta, India to write a book for submissionaries. When I arrived, they said, we want you to interview Mother Teresa for our book and it was in the course of that interview that she turned the tables on me. She said, young man, let me ask you a question. What are you doing to help the poor in the suffering? And I figured it was probably not a good idea to lie to Mother Teresa. And so I said, I'm really not doing much of anything. And she responded in a very kind way.

She said, everyone can do something. Just do the next kind thing that God puts in front of you. I just remember going back to my hotel room after that interview with tears streaming down my face. That night, I opened the window in my hotel room and I could hear the cries of the poor. Here I was in this beautiful hotel and they were living in the streets. And there in Calcutta, God began to do a work in my heart. I returned to the States and one day I just was saying, God, change me, help me to change my priorities. And as I prayed that prayer, I felt compelled to do something quite unusual, to travel to eight cities and to live in the streets for three days and three nights. And I did that. I went to Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, D.C., New York. And I had the opportunity to walk the streets after midnight with a hidden tape recorder interviewing drug addicts and gang members, prostitutes, runaways and the homeless. I even rode with the police on the midnight shift. And all I can say is that experience, it wrecked me. I just had to do something. So I went to a grocery store and I loaded up a pickup truck with $300 worth of groceries. And I began passing them out to migrant farm workers, families that were living early in poverty. And the gratitude, the smiles I saw on their faces that day was incredible.

I'll never forget it. And so I pulled together some of my friends and family members and I said, "Hey, we're going to start doing what we call care days, "outreaches where we fill up pickup trucks "and new haul trailers. "And we'll take the groceries into parks "and church parking lots and into the streets." You know, we were just people who said, "Let's try and do something and just see where it goes." Because doing something is always better than doing nothing. I just remember the first year my wife and I, we had given everything we could. And I don't recommend doing this, but I gave God an ultimatum. I said, "God, if you don't do something significant "by the Fresno, California outreach, "then we're going to hand this A man I had met once came up to me at the outreach, and he handed me an envelope, and I opened it up, and inside was a check for $25,000. Again, we didn't have two nickels to rub together, so that was significant. But there was also a note in that envelope, and the notes had, "God is with you." And he had underlined the word "is." I was so stunned, I couldn't even say, "Thank you, I couldn't even speak." That day, that day, something broke loose in the heavens. It was in that moment, it wasn't the money, it was the note, that I knew God was leading us to help more people. Mathari Valley is one of the poorest places on the planet. It's where 800,000 people live in unbelievable poverty. When I was there for a story that I was writing, and the photographer who was with me on that trip, he said this, he said, "You know how convoy hope could make a difference here?"

Honestly, I had never even thought about that. I thought convoy hope was to be solely focused on helping children and families in the United States. But that day, a seed was planted inside me, and fast forward three years, and we had started a feeding program in Mathari, and it was so fulfilling to see hundreds of children standing in line to receive food. But I sensed strongly that this was just the beginning. That together someday, we would be feeding one million children every day. We found that many of the mothers of these children were coming to the feeding program, and they were just standing around. And so we began asking ourselves, "Well, what if we could train these mothers? What if we could help them secure employment? Then they could be feeding their own children?" Well, after the first year, we had provided job training to about 200 women, and we saw firsthand the great potential. We also saw the opportunity to provide for the community by helping farmers increase their yields some 200 or 300%. You know, it's one thing to have a feeding program for children, and it's another to have a women's empowerment initiative. It's quite another to come alongside farmers. But if you bring them all together, you're multiplying your impact in a community. You're not adding your multiplying. And we've seen that in so many communities. We've seen communities come to life, and we've seen children and families transformed by the integration of these programs. This is just the beginning. It's not the end. It's just the beginning. Millions and millions of people are going to receive help. They're going to receive lasting hope.

They're going to escape poverty. That pickup truck, that $300 of groceries, it's going to be multiplied many times over. The script has already been written. I believe that. Our job is just don't mess it up, because it's a beautiful script. Amen. Yeah. Thank you. I wanted to share that with you because of Convoy of Hope is the single largest recipient of funds among our mission and outreach budget because of what they do. As you can see, now, I don't think he gave a number there, but there's 677,000 children being fed every single day because of Convoy of Hope, and it's a beautiful thing. The number of farmers that's being trained, the number of women that have their own business, even the relief work, anytime you see a disaster that happens around the world, when you see it on TV, you can honestly say, "We're there." Because our money that we give to Convoy of Hope is to allow that relief work to happen. I wanted to share that with you because, well, one of the things I'll say, Convoy does everything through the local church. They don't do anything without the local church being involved and spearheading, but the other thing is their plan. When they go into an area, whether it be like metharia that you saw there, it's three to five years. And the whole purpose is not to be generationally supporting people. We don't believe in generationally supporting people. We believe you give people the tools where they can eventually support themselves. And within three to five years, those areas that Convoy goes into, those farmers are now providing. As a matter of fact, a lot of the farmers are providing the food now that is given to the children on a daily basis. It's a great ministry on the December 6th.

where I'm asking you to give a day's wage of your yearly salary. That will be the funding that we will use for what we do for Convoy of Hope. It's a work that I totally believe in. I stand with Hal and trust that there'll be a day when there's one million children being fed every single day because churches like CTC that have a heart of generosity that absolutely care about the poor and the needy and able to do things that they can't do for themselves until the Lord helps them. I can also say one other thing. Lady V and I have been with Hal on several occasions, Billy and Karina most recently was able to spend time with him. He's truly one of the most humble men, if not the most humble man I've ever met. His story that you just heard is truly what he still lives out today. If I can just do the next kind thing that God puts in front of me. So I want to encourage you as we prepare to get the legacy commitment Sunday that you indeed be reflecting upon things like this that your generosity does that's able to help people around the world. Amen? All right, I'm going to ask this. If you, Wednesday is Veterans Day, if you are a Veteran or still serving right now and don't mind standing up, will you please stand up so we can acknowledge you

and celebrate you? God bless you, God bless you, God bless you. Wow, thank you, wonderful. Thank you all so, so much. We really appreciate you. I love the fact that we have a day set aside for you that we can be thankful again, be prayerful for you, that God will continue to help you to be a great investment into our community, into this great country that we so, so love. You'll also notice in the lobby, there's a table for thin line ministry. Thin line is a small group that is hosted here on Tuesday. It's for men that are Veterans, people that are serving in the military, first responders. It's a tremendous small group of people that's like minded, maybe even suffered some of the same things that get together on Tuesday night. So if you want to find out more about thin line, you can do that on your way out, on your way out today. All right, let's go into prayer. Father, I want to thank you now for this opportunity we have. Lord, to be in the house of God, we've worshiped, and Lord, I thank you for the worship, the depth of it, and Lord, just the fruit of our time together in song. And Lord, we're looking forward to the Word of God and trusting you for your anointing and for your goodness. Lord, I pray that even with what I've prepared,

I pray that the Word of God and the Holy Spirit will speak louder than my voice, that everyone that hears the Word, Lord, will be impacted, and that each of us will produce a great harvest in our life and souls to come into the kingdom of God. I pray for every church in our county that the gospel is being preached, Jesus is exalted, that men and women, boys and girls in our county here are getting to know this Jesus that we so love and so surrendered to serve. Also, pray for our veterans. Lord, I pray for the ministry of veterans. I pray for friendships. Many of them, Lord, have experienced things in their life that some of us will never know, nor will we ever know the effect of it. So I pray that their heart, their mind, their soul, their emotions, Lord God are healed by the presence of the Spirit, by the comfort of one another and that you're glorified in their life. And so Lord, I pray that this day, Lord, as we do this last service, that in all things, Lord God, you will say, well done. In Christ's name we pray, amen, amen, amen. Well, this is the second week of the five week, a series that we're doing, it's titled Kingdom Ground. And it's because we're in a grarian community, it's very much agriculturally related. Thank you, Philip, very much agricultural related. And the whole idea, of course, is to come to that place of harvest, harvest in our life, harvest of souls that are being saved,

the harvest for the work of the church and the mission. Harvest was a very important factor for God throughout the Scripture, you'll see it dozens of times. The verse that I really enjoy reading and reflecting up on when it comes to this is Psalm 107, 37 through 38. It says they sow fields and plant vineyards that yield a fruit for harvest. He blesses them and they multiply. and see the harvest come. Now, I've learned some things here just being in human also spending time with farmers. There's a lot of work that goes in before the harvest comes. The planning, the scheduling, the strategizing, cutting the ground, the ground prep, irrigating, cultivating, planting and cultivating before you see harvest. We're going to talk about all of those elements throughout this series. Last week, we talked about water. This week, we're going to talk about the soil. So I want you to stand, if you would with me, Matthew chapter 13. I'm going to read verses one through nine, but I'm also going to highlight verses 18 through 23 because that's the explanation of what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 13, one through nine. And that's where we'll read. Matthew 13 verses one through nine. You can also find this parable in Luke chapter eight and also in Mark chapter four. Here's the word of the Lord. That same day Jesus went out of the house and set beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parable saying a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path. And the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil.

And immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain. Some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty. Here's the king. He who has ears led him here. Whoever's got ears. Can you just do this for just a moment? Do you feel anything? Whoever's got ears led him here. You can be seated. Now Jesus oftentimes taught in parables. Parables were designed. They're narratives that's analogous of something that everyone in the community that's hearing can relate to. They were designed to teach a moral lesson or a spiritual lesson. Again, this is a farming community, so they get this. They understand what Jesus is teaching. The sower is certainly the Lord. And that can also apply to those who are teaching the Word of God as given to us by the Lord. The seed is the gospel, the Word of God. The field is the heart. That's really what Jesus is driving to, is what is our soil? What is your heart like? Is it hard? Is it shallow? Is it a heart that's crowded? Because when the Word comes, it will only have an impact on you depending on your heart condition. If I was to give a big idea, it is the condition of the heart determines how the Word is received and whether it bears fruit.

The condition of the heart will determine that. You're going to see some pictures from some of our farms here locally on the screen. All of them have to do with ground preparation or soil work before it's time to plant the seeds. And, of course, in our community, if you talk to any farmer, they'll tell you all the things they got to do to prep those fields before they plant the seeds. There's the leveling, there's the shaping of the beds, there's the managing the soil conditions, there's preparation with the irrigation system. And no farmer will tell you that any of that is a waste of time, no farmer would. As a matter of fact, they know that is the process and where most time is being done before the seed even hits the ground. When I was with Blaine, riding with him last week, we got to several fields that they were just cropping up and I asked him what's left to be done on those fields. He says nothing now. Everything's been done. It's just a matter of whether the harvest will come. They don't consider that work a waste of time. And neither should you consider the work that needs to be done in your heart a waste of time. Repentance is important, humility is important, confession is important, surrendering unto God, all of those things are important. None of those should be distractions. of your heart affects the crops that's going to be established. So that's what Jesus is doing in these parables. He's making a strong, strong analogy because this is what Jesus knows is that the Word of God is good seed. It's not the seed that's the problem. It's the heart condition. That's the problem. If there's not fruit in your life, if there's not production in your life, if there's not forward progress in the things of God and in the kingdom, spiritually, it's not because the seed is bad. It's because the heart condition is not in a place to receive the seed. Am I talking to the right church? You're all right here. And so I want to talk about these three different kinds, four different kinds of soil. And again, I just remind you, he that had ears let him hear. The first one deals with a heart, heart, heart, dealing with ground that's hard. And the statement I would make is, "Break up the hard ground." Here in Matthew 13, 4, "As he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and devoured them." But look at 19, "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, does not penetrate, it does not get into the soul, it doesn't get into the heart, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in the heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside." Here is the thing to always keep in mind. You have an enemy. If you don't believe

you have a human enemy, good for you. I wish I could say that. But if you don't have an human enemy, great. But I can tell you, you've got a spiritual enemy. You've got a devil who does not want you to conform to Christ, who does not want you to grow in God. You have an enemy. And here's what the enemy does. Whenever you hear the word of God, whether it be in a setting like this, and you do nothing with the word, it really is one of those things on how long it takes for you to forget what was preached. How long does it take? By the time the football game is over and somebody in the house asks you, "What was a message about?" Or by the time you get to dinner tonight, or when you go to work tomorrow, and man, how was church there say, "Oh, it was great. What did the pastor preach on?" Okay, give me a minute. Give me a minute because whenever that takes place, I'm telling you what the enemy does. He's going to snatch that word so that it never has an impact or an effect upon your life. He's coming to snatch it away. So Jesus is clearly making the statement about what the enemy will do. He'll take that word from you. But then Jesus goes a little bit further and says, "What happens in a case like that is people hear the word, they basically don't believe it, don't take it in, and never become saved. That hardness is reflected in either resistance or an unbelief or an unwillingness to respond to the word of God." There's a posture that we should have. You never want this time when we come together to just be 35 minutes of you coming here on Sunday, just to check the box that I came to church, heard a message, and went home. It's really a matter of position yourself. You should always have the thought when you're coming to the house of God. I'm going to worship. I'm going to see people, but I'm going to hear the word. Why? Because the word has ability to make me better, to conform me more to Jesus Christ. It's not just enduring 35 minutes of just some inspirational talk or some motivation. So the analogy of this is about the ground being hardened and needs to be broken up. Hosea 10, 12 says, "Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shall our righteousness of on you." So the scriptures is really telling us that a hard heart can really sit under preaching and teaching and still become unchanged. Jeremiah declares this. He says this, "This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts. Do not waste your good seed among thorns. O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the Lord, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all of your sins." You can certainly see that there's not a good

alternative to this if our hearts remain that way. Unquenchable fire doesn't seem very appealing to me. Here's what the Lord knows though. Here's where repentance comes in. Here's where humility comes in. Here's where surrender to the Lord comes in. Because when we come to that posture in our life, it is the Lord that absolutely is able and will change the heart. It's the Lord that does it. Here's Ezekiel 36, 26. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove your heart of stone and give your heart a flesh. This is what the Lord does. He, when we have a posture of wanting to know him, to hear from him, to understand him, he gives us a new heart that that ground will no longer be hard. Here's the second one. The second group of people that Jesus talked about is those who don't have much root. And so the statement I would make here is develop deep roots. Here's Matthew 13, 5, and 6. Listen this, and I probably should describe this. Of course, we're talking well over 2,000 years ago. They did not by no means have all the equipment that we have for farming then, like we have now. They had some makeshift plows. They had some oxen that would pull it.

But they had no way they were able to break up the ground like we do now. So obviously the oxen will pull the plow through and they're making the groove so they're able to plant the seeds. But it's not getting all the rocks out. It's not getting all the stones out. They're just cutting the ground enough to put the seed in. That's the picture that Jesus is using here. And this is what he's saying. Seed is coming. Some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth. They immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up and they were scorched and because they had no root, they were to the way. Listen to his explanation. But he who received the seed on stony places. This is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself. But endures only for a while for when tribulation, persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. So look at the picture of what Jesus is saying. That can happen to some of us. We can be in a place like this. We can be in a place where we're here and preaching and teaching of the word of God. And the seed is being planted. And we receive that seed to such a degree

that something sprouts up, either an excitement about being in the house of God or the excitement of knowing that the word can really change my life. That I can be different. Or seeing God shower blessings up on you and realizing that this is a God who does want to bless us, who can bless us, just a real enthusiasm about the experience of having some sort of encounter with God. But then this is what happens. Something takes place in life that you didn't plan for. Or something takes place that you didn't expect. Tribulation comes in your life or some kind of challenge, some kind of trial, persecution, some kind of challenge. Maybe God didn't answer a prayer and you got very disappointed and distraught. Or maybe a loved one that you've been praying for, died and passed away or a relationship went bad. He said when we have some seed in our life, some word in our life and it sprouts up immediately, but when those trials come, he says there's not enough of a root system to keep you enduring, not enough of a root system. And let me just tell you this, every one of us in the faith will have to experience trials. You're gonna have tribulation. You're gonna have challenges. There's gonna be some prayers

that didn't get answered the way you want. We talked about that a few weeks ago. There's gonna be some things you encounter in your life and they're gonna set you back. There's gonna be some moments when you're gonna feel a little bit distraught with God. Here is what the scripture is saying. That's because you got some seed, you got some understanding of who God is and what God can do, but you didn't let it develop a root system. And as soon as something came that affected you in a negative manner, you walked away from God. I'm gonna tell you this, nobody walks away from Jesus, except there's some kind of encounter that causes them to get distraught with God. Some kind of encounter, some kind of experience. Something you didn't expect. You can see people that what we call a backslidden from the faith and maybe they're doing drugs or maybe they're doing alcohol. It wasn't the drugs or the alcohol that took 'em out. It was something that affected their heart in a manner that their thoughts about God was not the same The reason that all of you are still walking with Jesus now, it's not because you haven't had any trials or persecution or tribulation, but it's because you developed a root system deep enough that even when those things came, you still stand strong for Jesus. You still stand strong because of the root system.

I think anybody that's lived in human tried to do a flower garden or plan anything. You've ran into kalichi. You can go test it right now, even go home, get a shovel, and stick it in the ground. Maybe you can dig up six inches, eight inches, but you're going to hit something almost like the shovel is plank, and you think it's rock or a stone. But all it is, it's a bed of kalichi where that's thickened, and how that comes about is when water's come, when rains come, it's taking the minerals that are in the soil and pushing it down. If it takes it all the way down, then of course you develop a drainage system, etc. If the water doesn't take it all down, then wherever those minerals stop, they start to develop layers and layers and layers. And over the years, those layers get higher and higher, and what you got underneath that top surface is kalichi. So you're hitting that ground and it's just layers of minerals that's in the soil, layers of minerals. Now farmers here, honestly, they dig deep enough where they can cut that stuff up, and they develop enough drainage system when the water comes, it can take all those minerals down. But some of us in our life don't dig down deep enough. We'll get some seed, we'll get some word, and we'll get some excitement, we'll get some enthusiasm, but we don't dig down deep enough for those roots to really develop in that drainage system. Here's what the bottom line. Jesus said this, not me. Some of us got kalichi hearts. We got kalichi hearts. We got some surface level there, but not enough where we've taken the word of God and let it really break our hearts to a point to where the Word of God, when it goes in, it's beyond just emotional.

It's just beyond excitement. It's beyond an encounter, but it's a faith that endures. Here's what Colossians 2, 6, and 7 says. And now, just as you accepted Christ, Jesus as your Lord, hear this, you must continue to follow Him. I love what David said in his testimony for baptism. He said, I thought I was a Christian. I believed that I was following God, but now I really know what it means to follow after God. Hear this. And now, just as you accepted Christ, Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught and you will overflow with thankfulness. It's a root system. It's breaking up that hard ground, not just on the surface, but letting the Word of God go deep in you that you may develop a system that endures through difficult things. Here's the third one, and I'll just say it this way, remove competing growth. Here's where Jesus talked about a heart that was being choked out by other things. Listen, verse number seven of chapter 13 and then the explanation. He said, "In some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked them." Here's the explanation in 22. Now, he who receives seed among the thorns is he that here's the Word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word and he becomes unfruitful. Here's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is basically saying picture this the heart as the ground. You receive the Word, you accept the Word, but there's no clearing of the weeds,

no clearing of the thorns, no clearing of the stuff that's competing in your ground. And you've seen this, you can see it. You can see it if you've got a flower bed or depends on what kind of acreage you got, where you see nice, nice flower grow up, but you see all kinds of weeds around it. The flower is there. You can see it. You can see the head of lettuce, but you also see the weeds. You can see the cotton, but you see all the weeds within it. There's enough going on where the seed is planted in you. It's received, it's accepted, and it's bringing forth fruit. But also, as you well know, whatever prepares the ground to grow good stuff Also prepares it. Same ground, same work, same preparation. Good stuff will come out just as you want it, but also bad stuff can come up. Now, no farmer is gonna look at that, those weeds around the lettuce and leave it there. No farmer's gonna come and say, look how great my field looks and you see all the weeds around it. No woman's gonna go out there and show somebody their flower garden and you can see all the nice beautiful flowers, but it's all choked up with weeds. We won't do that. We'll clear the weeds. We'll clear that stuff out so that what you see is the desire of what you wanted to come out of that with all the tillage, all the irrigation, all the seeds and all the preparation,

so you've got a beautiful flower bed or a wonderful looking field. But we don't go at it the same way when it's stuff in our hearts. We actually get comfortable with it. We actually get kind of used to it being there because we see some good stuff. We see some good fruit. So when our heart gets so full of can't get enough money, want more money, work on ourselves to death, to accomplish more money, we don't see that as a weed because after all, I got a good flower growing. So we overlook the weed. We don't, when we have desires to do things, which nothing wrong with that. I desire to do this, desire to do that, desire to do that. We don't think that those desires get overboard because why? We got some good flowers growing. We don't pay attention to the things that's also growing with the good. I can tell you right now, I can let ministry, I can let church, I can let kingdom of God stuff overwhelm my heart. And because I see the fruit of the ministry, I don't catch the fact, but yet, Tyrone, you've got more things going on with ministry. You're actually loving ministry, loving the kingdom of God and loving the church,

then you are your relationship with Jesus. It can choke you out and you don't notice it or you don't pay attention to it. Or you just look at the fruit of other things and think well, that can't be so bad. Jesus is telling us no, you can't let stuff compete against what Christ wants to do with the word of God. You can't let that stuff compete in your life because eventually that stuff will overtake it. That will overrun you, that will overtake it. So Jesus is warning us that these things can choke out spiritual growth. Mark 4, 18 and 19 causes the care of the world, the seafulness of riches, desires for other things. Luke A14 calls it the pleasure of life. And really the question is not whether these possessions are inherently evil. None of these things are that God blesses. Never look at the things that God blesses you with as being as anything wrong with that. The scripture is real clear to us that the blessings of God come without sorrow. Everything God blesses us with is good. The matter of it is if are those good things more important to you than your relationship and the fruitfulness of your life in Christ Jesus. Sometimes the greatest threat to our spiritual growth is not what we reject, it's what we refuse to release to let go of. That can be the greatest threat to your Christian walk

in the Lord. Here's the last one of course, and this is the good ground. This is a heart that's cultivated. This is a heart that receives a word of God. This is a heart that's accepted it and it's growing and it's producing good fruit. You're beyond hardness, you've gotten through that. You're beyond shallowness and you even know how to get rid of stuff in your heart that's competing and what you got here is good ground. Here's eight and nine and then the explanation in 23. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop. Some 100 folks, some 60, some 30. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Here's the explanation, but he who receives seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understand it. Here's the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some 100, some 60, some 30. That's a good soil, that's a good ground, that's a good heart, receiving the word of God. That heart has been converted, that here's the word, understands the word, let the truth of God sink in and honestly walks out a genuinely saved relationship with Christ. And the Holy Spirit is so good to help us do that. The word of God and the Holy Spirit work together that it may produce some genuine faithfulness in our life that always leads to obedience.

Here's what James says, James 1, 20. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives. Team, you can come. Get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives. And humbly accept the word that God has planted in your hearts. For it has the power to save your soul. Get rid of that stuff. Accept the word of God. Humbly, which means submitting to the word of God. And watch the power of it. But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you're only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don't obey it, it's like glancing at your face in the mirror. You see yourself walk away and forget what you look like. So what James is saying is listen. When the word of God comes, we used to say it in the old church, every time that there's a sermon preached, your response ought to be ouch or amen, something ought to challenge you. Every time the word is preached or there ought to be something you ought to agree with. Ouch and amen. Never when the word of God is preached should there not be a response. Something even challenges you. That's an ouch or something says, come on, I got that. That's an amen. But what James is saying is you'll get the ouch. And you may even take a moment to reflect on the ouch and say, man, yeah, I need to fix that. I need to change that.

But as soon as you walk away, you forgot what the ouch has encouraged you to take a look at. And you just continue walking on with life as if you never heard the word of God at all. I'm telling you, Christians can be some of the most practical atheists as if we never heard the word of God at all. As if we don't even know God exists, we can be some of the most practical atheists. Because we take the word of God. We take a look at what is done, what is saying to us. And as soon as we walk away, we forgot what we just saw. Here's what Jesus is saying. Here's what the word of God is saying. Our ground, the ground of our heart is never a perfect heart. But it's one that's been transformed by God's grace so that we should always be responsive to the word. I want to encourage every teacher in CTC, every preacher, everyone leading a small group, a city life group, everyone that teaches at the Bible College, just keep on preaching. Keep on teaching. Just like right now, I'm looking at this crowd and there's four types of heart in here. I don't know what kind of heart you got, but this is what I know the word of God can be the one that transforms you. And so our job is just to keep preaching the word of God. And this is the promise that we have in 1 Thessalonians 2, 13. Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you receive His message from us, you didn't think of our words as mere human ideas. We're beyond that. You know a message that's brought to you, something that's taught to you from the word of God. It's not just human ideas. Human ideas will only inspire you and motivate you and you know this as well as I do. You only get inspired and motivated for a season. But the word of God has an eternal, eternal impact.

It don't come and go. It's eternal. He says, listen, when you receive this message, you didn't think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God, which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe. You believe? You hear. You let the word of God work in your heart and it will continue working and continue producing good fruit in your life. Everybody stand if you would in prayer team. You can come. I'm going to pray. Pray for you all because here's what I know, where ever, hopefully there are desires for all of us to have good ground, but here's what I know. Whatever heart condition you have right now, that does not have to be your destiny. If you have a hard heart, you don't have to keep living there. If you have a shallow heart, you don't have to keep living there. If you've got a heart that's producing good stuff but it's getting choked out, you don't have to keep living there. You, one of us, can have a heart that's producing good fruit or a good harvest. Lady V and I was with some friends from the church last night and Lady V actually started singing "Madiachi." I'll play that on the screen one of these days soon. [BLANK_AUDIO] And she was talking about the environment of where she worked and the type of people and the behavior of the people on her job. She particularly talked about one particular person. She said different things about him, what he does, how he was. And she just basically said, she ended with these words, "The guy was a complete jerk." Well, one Sunday at CTC, she comes in here and guess who she sees, the jerk.

Sitting in CTC. She gave it a couple of weeks because she's thinking, "Okay, people can go to church, that don't mean anything." But she gave it a couple of weeks. And after a couple of weeks, after working with him every day, the dude was absolutely different. He was different. So she talked to him and said, "I gotta first of all tell you, I was shocked to see you at church." But the other thing is, you really have become a different person. And he said to her, "Well, isn't that what church is for? That you go to church to hear the Word of God and it changes your life?" He says, "I am changed." And then he said these words. He says, "I know I was a jerk, but I'm not any longer because the Word of God has changed my life." That's the testimony of what God's work can do when you've got the right ground. Father, I want to thank you now for this opportunity we've had to hear the Word. I'm so grateful, Lord God, what you're doing in all of our hearts, each one of us. I pray that all of us can testify the fact that we're witnessing good harvest in our life. Thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold because we're receiving the Word of God and putting it in good ground. In Christ's name we pray, amen. God bless you, have a great day. [music] I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, and I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered, and I saw the Lord, and he heard, and he answered. That's why I trusted, that's why I trusted. ♪ And He said, I saw the Lord ♪ ♪ And He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trusted, that's why I trusted ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trusted, that's why I trusted ♪

♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He said ♪ ♪ I saw the Lord, and He heard, and He answered ♪ ♪ That's why I trusted, that's why I trusted God ♪ ♪ I saved the Lord, who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail ♪ ♪ So I trusted God, who will never fail ♪ ♪ So I'm the one who will never fail ♪ ♪ He will never fail ♪ - Thank you, God. We'll see you next Sunday. (dramatic music)