Sept. 6, 2024

More Seed and Soil Discussion

More Seed and Soil Discussion

We consider Matthew 13:1-23

We consider Matthew 13:1-23

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:05.960
Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

2
00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:12.800
the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone.

3
00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:17.120
It is Friday, September sixth, twenty twenty four. It is

4
00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:20.800
currently three point fifty six pm Central Time, and I

5
00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:24.800
am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio

6
00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:32.000
located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well. Once again, the

7
00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:36.359
podcast has taken us somewhere and well has left me

8
00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:39.439
stranded for now. Maybe at some point later the podcast

9
00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:41.280
will come back by and pick me up, but for now,

10
00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:43.399
it's kind of just like, hey, it opened the door,

11
00:00:43.399 --> 00:00:45.640
pushed me out. This is where you're staying for a

12
00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:48.439
little while. Make the best of it. I'll be back

13
00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:50.119
in a little bit. Okay. I know I'm actually the

14
00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:52.840
one who's supposed to be driving the podcast, but sometimes

15
00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:55.880
the podcast is the one driving me, because I never

16
00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:58.880
intended that. Here we are at the end of a

17
00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:01.000
week and we're kind of of well, we're kind of

18
00:01:01.079 --> 00:01:04.799
stuck and well looking at a parable about the seed,

19
00:01:05.159 --> 00:01:09.239
the sower, the soils. Right, we've been looking at that,

20
00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:12.200
and I don't see us. I don't, at least I

21
00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:14.319
don't see me getting picked up and taken out of

22
00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:18.879
this area anytime. Hopefully maybe by the end of the weekend,

23
00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:22.239
I can have extracted myself. I can call for an extraction.

24
00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:25.400
You know, I need an extraction. Extraction point Okay, you

25
00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:27.879
go all military on you, but I need out of

26
00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:32.560
this situation now. Okay. But here we are, and well,

27
00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:36.159
I'm hoping you're finding it beneficial. I've given you some assignments.

28
00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:38.599
I hopefully you've been working on it. Hopefully you've been

29
00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:41.879
listening to some random sermons on Mark chapter four, the

30
00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.560
parable the seed, the sower, the soils. Of course, that

31
00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:49.439
same parable is mentioned in Matthew thirteen and some other passages.

32
00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:52.079
Hopefully you've been reading it. And remember, I believe, at

33
00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:54.799
least when it comes to Mark four, that maybe the

34
00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:58.680
key to Mark four is actually Mark chapter three. Hopefully

35
00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:02.920
you've been working on that. But just a little while ago,

36
00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:06.120
I look, I had headphones on, I was listening to music.

37
00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:08.599
And while I was listening to music, I happened to

38
00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:11.080
open up the sermon's two point oh app and I

39
00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:14.560
tapped on the feed tab and I'm like, wait, what

40
00:02:14.759 --> 00:02:19.240
is this? So the word I'm like, oh, you got

41
00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:21.479
to be this is a sermon that's just recently showed

42
00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:26.560
up in my feed. It's about the same parable, except

43
00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:29.080
this time I stead of using Mark four, they go

44
00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:33.639
to Matthew chapter thirteen. Okay, so then I'm like, okay,

45
00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:36.719
stop what I'm doing. I'm going to at least address

46
00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:40.479
this because I'm getting this feeling that when I arrive

47
00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:43.680
at church Sunday, I know we're working on Romans, and

48
00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:45.479
we need to be in Romans two to one looking

49
00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:48.520
at the there four there, and I know we need

50
00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:51.520
to continue to work on eschatology. But I'm having a

51
00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:55.919
strong feeling that the first hour Sunday may get hijacked

52
00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:59.240
and I may bring I may bring with me well

53
00:02:59.319 --> 00:03:02.479
this parable and all of the issues that we're trying

54
00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:05.759
to figure out. So I'm just gonna keep talking about it,

55
00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:08.840
almost in a way for maybe it's sermon prep, maybe

56
00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:10.919
it's just to help us. But we're gonna we're gonna

57
00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:14.520
obviously review this sermon and see if we get any answers.

58
00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:16.520
This is kind of where we are, so just kind

59
00:03:16.520 --> 00:03:18.479
of I'm gonna try to summarize this. This is the

60
00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:20.400
cliff notes to kind of get you all on the

61
00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:23.120
same page. All right, Are you ready? It all started

62
00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:25.240
because I wanted to get the most out of the

63
00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:27.960
study Bible that I've owned. It's been at the church,

64
00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:29.520
and I'm like, I'm going to get the most out

65
00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:32.000
of it. I'll open it up. Oh, here's an essay

66
00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.439
on how to read and study the Bible. Well, this

67
00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:36.879
will be fun. I'll just walk right through it. Right,

68
00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:39.199
we'll just walk right through the article. It'll be four

69
00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.360
five episodes. It'll be simple, it'll be easy, and we'll

70
00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:47.039
have it. We'll make it somewhat fun, entertaining, maybe interesting.

71
00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:49.479
Maybe we'll come up with a new Bible study method.

72
00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:53.080
Who knows right? Well, So I turn on the microphone.

73
00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:56.240
I introduced the article. We read the We read the

74
00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:00.879
first basically two paragra first maybe three four paragraph Everything's

75
00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:05.520
going really smooth. And then we get to the kind

76
00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.319
of the key thesis in this article. And the key

77
00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:11.759
thesis is when it comes to being an effectual Bible student,

78
00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:14.560
when it comes to being an effective Bible student, when

79
00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:17.240
it comes to actually getting out of something out of

80
00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:20.439
God's word. As a Bible reader and Bible student, you

81
00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:27.079
begin not with your mind, you begin with your heart.

82
00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:31.360
In other words, their idea is this, you can read

83
00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:33.839
your Bible, you can study your Bible. You can memorize

84
00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:35.879
your Bible, you can go to church, you can go

85
00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:38.399
to Bible study. You can listen to sermon after sermon

86
00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:40.560
after sermon, you can read, you can study, but it

87
00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:44.279
will be of no effect unless your heart is right.

88
00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:46.920
So what you have to do is get your heart right.

89
00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:52.560
Then Bible study will actually do something. But then it

90
00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:56.040
almost seems to imply that it's the Bible that helps

91
00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:58.399
fix your heart. Well, how can the Bible fix my

92
00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:00.000
heart if my heart has to be already be right

93
00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:03.279
before I read my Bible. So then it was a

94
00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:06.680
little confusing kind of circular reasoning, a little contradictory, and

95
00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:10.800
so that got us into well, what were they using

96
00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:14.439
to justify this approach while they were using Mark chapter four,

97
00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:18.920
verses three through twenty. So then we started digging into

98
00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:21.759
Mark chapter four, three through twenty. This concept I called

99
00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:25.399
in to question the concept. I'm already I don't think

100
00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:27.560
Mark chapter four has anything to do about telling me

101
00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:30.480
how to be in an effective Bible student. We're throwing

102
00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:33.399
that out. There's the other view that Mark chapter four

103
00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:37.680
in this parable, what it's really do is to show you,

104
00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:41.199
like all of this soil and this soil this soil

105
00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:44.279
represents certain kinds of people and they're not saved. Only

106
00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:47.519
one soil represents salvation, and that's the last one. This

107
00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:51.680
is really almost like a test of salvation approach, and

108
00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:53.879
we kind of call that into question. And we've just

109
00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:56.879
been working and working and working on it. So what

110
00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:59.399
we're gonna do is, I don't know what the approach

111
00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:01.399
is going to be, what we're about to hear, but

112
00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:04.600
we're gonna listen and see where it takes us, all right,

113
00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:10.480
and hopefully remember one of the I think it's the

114
00:06:10.519 --> 00:06:14.240
interesting thing of this podcast is whenever we kind of

115
00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:16.800
whenever the podcast in a sense takes me somewhere and

116
00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:18.360
knocks me out of the car and say this is

117
00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:21.560
where you're staying for a little while. I like the

118
00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:25.399
way kind of the discussion develops. Like sometimes it can

119
00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:28.560
be it can kind of be difficult, it can be

120
00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:30.560
all over the place. It may not be that polished,

121
00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:33.199
it may not be that produced, because typically you're hearing

122
00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:36.680
in real time me trying to process whatever we're trying

123
00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:40.759
to fix or resolve. And then slowly but surely it

124
00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:43.000
gets a little bit more clear, it gets a little

125
00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:46.839
bit more polished, and then hopefully by the end you're like, okay, wow,

126
00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:50.759
so we started here, we ended here. We've looked at

127
00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:56.759
every possible perspective and theory and interpretation, and now we

128
00:06:56.839 --> 00:06:59.360
know why these seem to work, these don't seem to work,

129
00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:04.680
and end up somewhere much more clearer than where we started. Now,

130
00:07:04.920 --> 00:07:08.160
that's my hope. A lot of times people don't focus

131
00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:11.160
on the end. They'll focus on, well, here you did this,

132
00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:13.560
or you stumbled hear you, and it's like, yeah, but

133
00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:17.920
can you just let the process work itself out? I

134
00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:20.480
think some people just think every you know, episode has

135
00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:24.000
to be this very polished and produced and perfect thing.

136
00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:27.279
But I like it to be more organic, raw and real,

137
00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:30.839
which then we kind of stumble together through. But you're

138
00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:32.519
supposed to be a part of the process. You're not

139
00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:37.079
supposed to be just passively, you know, spectating. You're supposed

140
00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:42.120
to be you know, not actively participating is how it

141
00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:44.519
should work, but it doesn't always do that. But are

142
00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:46.360
you ready? I don't know where this is going to go.

143
00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:50.959
I wish it was in Mark four because Mark four

144
00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:53.079
is really where I'm focusing. That's why I give you

145
00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:56.360
that assignment about Mark chapter three. But I think this

146
00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.879
could be beneficial for this reason. If we figure out

147
00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:05.240
that the interpretation to Mark four is dependent upon Mark

148
00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:10.160
chapter three. But if the same parable is told in

149
00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:16.600
Matthew chapter thirteen, if Matthew chapter twelve is radically different

150
00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:25.600
than Mark chapter three, well then that my theory would

151
00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:30.040
possibly fall apart. Right unless this parable was told at

152
00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:35.600
different times, and Matthew is taught saying Jesus spoke this

153
00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:38.080
parable at this time, and Mark is giving a different

154
00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:42.240
time when Jesus told it, well, then it's not going

155
00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:46.039
to matter, right, do you understand what I'm saying? If

156
00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:49.480
Mark three is the answer to Mark four, that really

157
00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:56.559
won't matter. That really won't matter because Matthew thirteen would

158
00:08:56.600 --> 00:08:59.559
be different and it's the same parable. Right, So unless

159
00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:03.080
it's Hey, Jesus told the parable and Mark four at

160
00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:07.480
this time and this context. So therefore that context helps

161
00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:10.200
you how you interpret it. But over in Matthew thirteen,

162
00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:12.840
when he told the parable, it was a different context,

163
00:09:12.919 --> 00:09:16.559
so that context would help determine the interpretation. So I'm

164
00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:20.960
starting to question now my Mark three hypotheses that I

165
00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.440
put forth. I'm starting to question it now because I

166
00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:26.080
did I wasn't giving it much thought about, well, how

167
00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:30.039
does it show up in the other passages? So still

168
00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:32.159
go ahead and work on it. I don't know what

169
00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:34.919
you're going to find, but we will see, all right,

170
00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.000
So we're just going to listen to this. It kinda

171
00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:41.840
I'm kind of disappointed because I really thought I was

172
00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:44.600
onto something with the Mark three thing. I really thought

173
00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:54.000
I was onto something. But if I'm looking at Matthew twelve, yeah,

174
00:09:54.039 --> 00:10:03.600
well does it work in Matthew twelve? Hmm? I wonder

175
00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:05.480
if it works in Matthew twelve. I don't know. I

176
00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:07.799
don't know. All right, Well, we're gonna go to Matthew

177
00:10:07.799 --> 00:10:10.720
thirteen and we will see, all right. I think typically

178
00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:13.279
when the parable is taught in Mark four or in

179
00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:17.600
Matthew thirteen, it just tends to be just focus on

180
00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:20.919
the parable, forget what comes before it. But I think

181
00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:25.159
maybe when Jesus tells a parable, is it possible that

182
00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:28.639
he tells a parable that there's something motivating the parable

183
00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:35.519
and it's something that comes before. I'm just I'm throwing

184
00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:38.039
out now questions, all right, I'm throwing out questions. So

185
00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:42.360
I just I just think, yeah, you can compare Mark

186
00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:47.399
three in Matthew twelve and see if there's a similarity

187
00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:52.399
somehow that would work and explaining Matthew thirteen and Mark

188
00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:55.360
chapter four. I know, now the situation's becoming a little

189
00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:58.960
bit more complicated. But see in my brain, was matt

190
00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:04.960
Mark three is the ant sir? It may be, I

191
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.279
guess it can't even be the answer if well, the

192
00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:12.879
telling of the parable is the same in Matthew thirteen

193
00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:15.639
and Mark, for it's the exact same telling of it.

194
00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:19.399
They would have to be interpreted then based off what's

195
00:11:19.799 --> 00:11:24.000
it is the context? See the context there would be

196
00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:28.399
no context and we could really establish, right, we may

197
00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:30.720
need a harmony of the gospels here. I don't know,

198
00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:33.320
all right, something to consider. I know, I'm just talking

199
00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:36.759
it out in real time, but that's what we do.

200
00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:37.639
Are you ready?

201
00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:40.720
Here we go, Here we go. We're gonna go to this.

202
00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:44.200
The name of this let me see, let me find

203
00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:47.840
here it's called so the sword so or so, the

204
00:11:47.879 --> 00:11:53.000
sword so, the word so the word from First Baptist Church.

205
00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:59.200
What do we know here? First Baptist Church, and there's

206
00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:05.919
probably Wilmington, Delaware. First Baptist Church, Wilmington, Delaware. The name

207
00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:09.559
of the actual pastor is Sam Knickerbocker and it's an

208
00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:13.799
independent Baptist church, and I guess they had a special

209
00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:19.919
speaker in on eight twenty one, twenty four and they

210
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.840
preached a sermon entitled So the Word. It's a guest speaker,

211
00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:27.039
guest preacher.

212
00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:27.600
And.

213
00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:31.879
Well, we're gonna listen to it. We're gonna listen to it,

214
00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:34.759
and we're gonna analyze it, critique it, and we're going

215
00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.399
to see how they approach the parable. All Right, I

216
00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:38.960
know I've kind of thrown out now kind of a

217
00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:42.879
whole harmoneutical can of worms. They're trying to figure this out,

218
00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.840
but we will, we will unpack it little by little.

219
00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.399
But so maybe this is going to be Maybe this

220
00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:51.080
is good because it's going to make me now question

221
00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:55.440
my great theory I was developing about Mark three is

222
00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:59.279
the answer Mark three is the answer to Mark four.

223
00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.279
But Mark three can't be the answer answer to Mark

224
00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:05.360
four because the parable is not just in Mark four,

225
00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:08.360
it's in Matthew thirteen. So unless Matthew twelve and Mark

226
00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:12.120
three are basically similar, then we have completely different context

227
00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:14.440
for the telling of the parable. So then does that

228
00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:17.159
mean it's the same telling of the parable? Or do

229
00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:20.000
we have different tellings of the parable? Those are questions

230
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:20.759
we need to ask.

231
00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:21.320
All right.

232
00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:24.559
In the meantime, let's see what happens here we go.

233
00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:29.919
You have your Bibles with you this evening. Hopefully you do.

234
00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.200
You start turning over to Matthew chapter thirteen, if you would.

235
00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:42.480
In Matthew chapter thirteen, We're gonna look at a text

236
00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:46.000
here might be very familiar to some.

237
00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:51.279
I think he just put something in his mouth, some

238
00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:53.519
kind of like throat lodginger. I don't know what he did.

239
00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:57.679
He puts something in his mouth, Okay. I always hate

240
00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:00.559
when I do that at church. I always forget because

241
00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:03.000
you have the lapel mic on, right. So like when

242
00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.840
I'm in a podcast, I'll think about I'm always explaining

243
00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:08.399
to you, oh that was my pencil, or or that

244
00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:10.960
I'm holding my Bible, or like I'm always trying to

245
00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.320
tell you or you know, I've got a bottle of

246
00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:15.879
water in my hand. I'm always I'm very conscious of

247
00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:19.840
every sound when I'm podcasting. But when I'm just standing

248
00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:21.919
in front of the people and I got a lapel

249
00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.639
mic on, I don't give it any thought. Right, I

250
00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:27.320
can just be drinking. I can be because the people

251
00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:29.679
are looking at me. They know exactly what I'm doing,

252
00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:31.960
and then I'll forget and I'll go back and listen

253
00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.440
to the audio of something I preached a church, and

254
00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:37.240
I'm like, what in the world was I think, like,

255
00:14:38.519 --> 00:14:44.080
that sounds horrible, that sounds that's trash, that's you know,

256
00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.279
because you don't think about it. You just get caught

257
00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:47.960
up in the moment that you have people in front

258
00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.360
of you. They can see anything you're holding, they can

259
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:53.039
see anything you're picking up, they can see what you're doing,

260
00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:56.919
so they they know, but you don't know how that

261
00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.320
translates over there. So that clearly sounds like he just

262
00:14:59.320 --> 00:15:02.200
puts something in it his mouth, some kind of something.

263
00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:06.039
So now I hope that doesn't. It may it probably

264
00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:09.279
won't impact the people. It probably will not impact the

265
00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:12.120
people there. How it's going to transfer over into the

266
00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:14.639
audio of listening to it, like if I if I

267
00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:20.279
got something in my mouth, you know, and I'm You're like,

268
00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:23.320
that's gonna come back, So hopefully it doesn't. But yeah,

269
00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:26.240
that's that's what. It sounds like. He just puts something

270
00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:29.200
there in his mouth. So it seemed very obvious, all right.

271
00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:32.000
In fact, I'll just play it again, see if you

272
00:15:32.039 --> 00:15:33.000
can hear it here we go.

273
00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:37.200
You have your Bibles with you this evening. Hopefully you do.

274
00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:40.480
You start turning over to Matthew chapter thirteen, if you would.

275
00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:50.000
Matthew chapter thirteen. We're gonna look at a text here.

276
00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:57.159
It might be very familiar to some. So we refer

277
00:15:57.240 --> 00:15:59.799
to it as the parable of the Sewer, and so

278
00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:04.000
we're gonna look at it. You're there with me in

279
00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:08.840
Matthew thirteen. Look with me. We'll start in verse number one.

280
00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:12.159
Here says the same day when Jesus out of the

281
00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:15.039
house and sat by the sea side, and great multitudes

282
00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:17.639
were gathered together unto him, so that he went into

283
00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:20.440
a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on

284
00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:24.519
the shore. And he spake many things under them in parables, saying, behold,

285
00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:27.679
a sower went forth to sow, And when he sowed,

286
00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:31.159
some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came

287
00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:34.759
and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where

288
00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:37.840
they had not much earth, And forthwith they sprung up

289
00:16:37.879 --> 00:16:40.480
because they had no deepness of earth, And when the

290
00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:43.519
sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had

291
00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:47.000
no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns,

292
00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:49.960
and the thorns sprung up and choked them. But others

293
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.840
fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some one hundredfold,

294
00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:58.279
some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let

295
00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:02.759
him hear if you jump din verse eighteen. Christ explains

296
00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:04.920
this parable for us said, hear.

297
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:05.160
Ye.

298
00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:08.680
Therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone hereth the

299
00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:11.720
word of the Kingdom and understandeth it, not, then cometh

300
00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:13.519
the wicked one and catcheth a way that which was

301
00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:16.480
sown in his heart. This is he which receives seed

302
00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:19.519
by the wayside. But he that received the seed into

303
00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:21.960
stony places, the same as he that hereth the Word

304
00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:25.799
and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not

305
00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:29.079
root in himself, but dureth for a while. For when

306
00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:33.640
tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the Word, by and bye,

307
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:37.279
he is offended. He also that receives seed among the thorns.

308
00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:39.200
Is he that hereth the Word, and the care of

309
00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:42.079
this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word,

310
00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:46.000
and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receives seed into

311
00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.400
the good ground is he that heareth the word and

312
00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:52.839
understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, bringeth forth some one hundredfold,

313
00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:57.519
some sixty some thirty. Let's pray our having the Father.

314
00:17:57.559 --> 00:17:59.319
We come before you, Lord, just want to thank you

315
00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:03.440
or the opportunity to get into your word tonight, Lord,

316
00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:08.559
to gather together freely Lord, and be able to praise

317
00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:11.240
you with song and more, just to worship you, Father God.

318
00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:13.400
And there's pray that you'd be with us now, Lord,

319
00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:16.359
that you'd use your word to speak to our hearts

320
00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:18.000
in the way that only you can dear God, and

321
00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:20.119
that you'd be glorified. And all this done here tonight

322
00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:25.880
in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, So just kind of

323
00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:29.519
really kind of getting right into this text this evening here,

324
00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:31.880
we really kind of start picking it apart with the

325
00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:34.640
explanation that Christ gives. Well, we'll go back and look

326
00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:37.480
at the parable itself, but looking start with the explanation

327
00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:40.519
that Christ gives of this parable, we'll start to see

328
00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.400
what are the different aspects that Christ is talking about

329
00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:46.039
here with these different things. What is this seed? What

330
00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:48.759
is the soil represented?

331
00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:54.839
Okay, so he's set remember the one audio we listen

332
00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:58.759
to emphasize one main meaning and a parable. Now, they

333
00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:02.000
didn't really stay true to that he's he's not going

334
00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:04.680
there's one main message here in the parable, there's one

335
00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:06.880
main meaning. He's going to We're going to just start

336
00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.519
looking at the individual parts of what each thing represents.

337
00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:12.160
So we'll see maybe he's going to start with the

338
00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:14.440
individual parts and all the things that represents, but end

339
00:19:14.599 --> 00:19:18.440
up with one message. The other one started with the

340
00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.440
idea that there was one message, but then seem to

341
00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:25.000
have abandon that to some degree. Remember the last message

342
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:28.680
we listened to, when it says that sower or when

343
00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:32.960
it says to see, where's the explanation, uh, when someone

344
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:37.240
see when anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and

345
00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:40.160
does not understand, okay, well, then that doesn't necessarily say

346
00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:44.279
but okay. Typically when it says the sower went out

347
00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.680
to sew all right, remember that, typically it's the idea

348
00:19:48.759 --> 00:19:50.960
they went to sow the word of God, right, and

349
00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:54.119
so many interpret the word to be the entire Bible.

350
00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:57.079
But the last message we listened to, they didn't say

351
00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:01.039
they went against that idea. It's not necessarily the entire Bible,

352
00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:03.799
it's the message of the Kingdom. And we talked about,

353
00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:07.440
well then how do we understand that? And the last message.

354
00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:10.240
He articulated that that view, but then kind of it

355
00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:12.559
just kind of all fell apart at the end, and

356
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:15.400
it was so it was so frustrating. So I don't

357
00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:17.039
know how he's going to handle the meaning of the

358
00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:20.680
word here or does the word word appear Well, all right, yeah,

359
00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:23.559
this is very I'm starting to think maybe okay, well,

360
00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:26.559
all right, I'm not gonna I was going to start

361
00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:29.400
throwing out some theories about the different accounts, but okay,

362
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:31.359
we'll just see where he takes.

363
00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:36.440
This hinting here. We'll see that jumping right in. Let's

364
00:20:36.440 --> 00:20:40.240
say with verse nineteen, and Christ starts explaining here says,

365
00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:44.039
when anyone hereth the Word of the Kingdom and understandeth

366
00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:46.519
it not, then come with the wicked one and catch

367
00:20:46.519 --> 00:20:48.319
it the way that which was sowing in his heart.

368
00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:51.559
So the sowing of the Word of the Kingdom was

369
00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:53.920
happening into the heart of this person, who says, this

370
00:20:53.960 --> 00:20:57.680
is he which receives seed by the wayside. So right

371
00:20:57.720 --> 00:20:59.839
off the bat here Christ is kind of opening up

372
00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:03.279
the meaning of this parable here is the seed here's

373
00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:06.359
referred to as the Word of the Kingdom. We're dealing

374
00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:09.480
primarily with the Gospel message. If you were able to

375
00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:12.680
look over in uh Mark at the same account, it

376
00:21:12.759 --> 00:21:15.920
just calls it the Word. If you go over to Luke,

377
00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:18.319
I believe it says it's the Word of God. And

378
00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:21.640
we know it's the Gospel because when Luke also has

379
00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:25.000
say that the Word is taken away from him lest

380
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:27.559
you should believe and be saved. So we know we're

381
00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:28.640
dealing with the Gospel.

382
00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:34.880
Okay, So and I and I have no problem. I

383
00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:38.680
think we need to reduce this to the idea that

384
00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:41.160
when you preach the either we want to refer to

385
00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:43.839
this the message of the Kingdom, hey, the Kingdom of

386
00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:47.880
God has arrived, repent and believe, or the Gospel message.

387
00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:51.400
If we kind of bring those concepts together, we're reducing

388
00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:53.960
this to it's this is not about how to be

389
00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:57.680
an effectual Bible student or anything. This is about when

390
00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:02.079
the when the Gospel or the Kingdom message is proclaimed

391
00:22:02.359 --> 00:22:07.400
here or how people respond to it. All right, if

392
00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:10.200
we reduce it to just that, then we can we

393
00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:12.119
can then definitely kind of throw out that this is

394
00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:14.880
the key to being effectual Bible stood in anything along

395
00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:19.839
those lines. This and again, is it about is it

396
00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:22.319
just is the goal here? Is the main message of

397
00:22:22.359 --> 00:22:27.720
the parable simply to demonstrate there's different responses to the

398
00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:31.279
message the end. That's all it's supposed to establish. And

399
00:22:31.319 --> 00:22:33.680
we've turned it into a proof of salvation. And I

400
00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:36.880
think we've got to be so careful. But let's see

401
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:38.119
where he takes this.

402
00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:43.400
But I believe it's even more than just that's from

403
00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:45.880
the Word of God. I will see some of that

404
00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:46.799
as we go through more of it.

405
00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:51.559
But again, the God, okay, well he expands it, so

406
00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:55.000
the other message kind of limited it. He expands it.

407
00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:58.559
This is basically it's the Gospel, but it's it's the

408
00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.319
entire Word of God. So this is the Word of God.

409
00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:05.039
So the seed is when the Word of God is

410
00:23:05.079 --> 00:23:08.440
put forth, the teaching of any of it, any part

411
00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:11.880
of it. This is how people receive any part of

412
00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:17.799
the Word of God. All right, we'll go with that theory.

413
00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:18.720
We'll go with that theory.

414
00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:24.799
Gospel specifically mentioned here, and so it's the seed that's

415
00:23:24.839 --> 00:23:28.599
been sown in. Is the gospel message? Well, let's just

416
00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:30.559
pause there for a moment and think what is the

417
00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:34.000
gospel message? And it's basic form. We're talking about the death, burial,

418
00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:38.440
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For myself. I grew up

419
00:23:38.440 --> 00:23:41.759
in a home where I mentioned you in our video.

420
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:45.359
I was raised at home that was half agnostic and

421
00:23:45.400 --> 00:23:49.000
half Jehovah's witness The way that worked out, my parents

422
00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:51.160
split up when I was about two months old, and

423
00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:54.000
so my dad he was the one that had primary custody,

424
00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:55.559
but he worked a lot, a lot of times out

425
00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:58.519
of town. So his sisters, which would be my aunts,

426
00:23:58.519 --> 00:24:01.640
and then also my grandma raised me and my sister

427
00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:03.759
for the most part, well aunts and Grandma where all

428
00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:07.559
Jehovah's witnesses. My dad he was the agnostic one. He's like,

429
00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:11.920
maybe there's a God, maybe there's not. And so I

430
00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:13.480
grew up in this home with a.

431
00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:20.880
And again, if we put it in its context, now,

432
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:23.440
he's saying that this is the gospel message, the death

433
00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:30.240
Baryl resurrection of Christ. Did Jesus I mean, I know

434
00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:32.880
this will be somewhat controversial, but did Jesus I know

435
00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:36.359
he mentions his death baryl resurrection. It's clearly mentioned, but

436
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.640
his preaching seems to be more the Kingdom of God

437
00:24:39.720 --> 00:24:46.200
is at hand, Repent and believe right, Like I know,

438
00:24:46.279 --> 00:24:49.759
we kind of insert, well, the gospel message is the

439
00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:54.400
you know, the death of Jesus Christ as a substitutionary atonement,

440
00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:59.119
his burial, his resurrection. Well, I mean, I understand Jesus

441
00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:04.480
does teach, but is the primary focus here on the

442
00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:07.680
message of the kingdom. Remember there is there is much

443
00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:12.920
disagreement in Christianity over this point, right, what exactly is this?

444
00:25:13.400 --> 00:25:15.839
Because you see, if you go from maybe an extreme

445
00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:18.960
form of dispensationalism, you can kind of place this in

446
00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:23.559
a dispensational category and some of the confusion could just

447
00:25:23.559 --> 00:25:25.480
go away because you're like, well, this had a specific

448
00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:28.200
message for a specific people at a specific time, That's

449
00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:31.599
what he's referencing here. But you know, and then the

450
00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:34.880
idea of being fruitful would be more for Israel, right,

451
00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:39.960
because they have some covenant promises about being fruitful. And

452
00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:44.319
so do we go. I may we may need to

453
00:25:44.359 --> 00:25:47.559
look at like a more a dispensational approach to it.

454
00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:49.680
I'm not saying that's an answer either. We're throwing out

455
00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:53.400
all kinds of different concepts. But let's see, obviously we're

456
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.599
listening to this to get this concept and see where

457
00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:56.039
it takes us.

458
00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:01.960
Is two opposing views. They were both wrong, and so

459
00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:04.960
I was all confused. I didn't you know, I didn't

460
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:07.880
know what the truth was. I was told that there

461
00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:09.920
was a God. I believed that there was a God,

462
00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:15.200
but I didn't know who he truly was. Go forward

463
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:20.200
years later, moved out of that home and just lived

464
00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:24.359
with my dad after by age sixteen, when I was eighteen,

465
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:27.400
I moved to Kansas. I grew up in southern California's

466
00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:31.680
and Kansas now still not going to church anywhere, ended

467
00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:35.039
up in a different church, of a Pentecostal church where

468
00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:40.880
things were definitely not done clearly or biblically. And during

469
00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:43.640
that time I had an older lady came up to

470
00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:46.640
me and asked me the question do you know Jesus?

471
00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:49.880
And the answer I gave her was yes, I know

472
00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:53.799
who Jesus is. Well, two things were wrong there. Number one,

473
00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:56.400
the only Jesus that I knew of was the Jehovah's

474
00:26:56.440 --> 00:27:00.240
witness Jesus that they say is only a man, he

475
00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:03.519
was not God. So that Jesus is not saving anybody.

476
00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:07.240
There's my first problem. The second part of the problem

477
00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:10.720
there is she asked if I knew Jesus, and I said,

478
00:27:10.920 --> 00:27:14.359
I know who he is. Even in that answer, she

479
00:27:14.359 --> 00:27:18.000
shouldn't be able to understand I don't know him. I

480
00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:21.759
know of him or of someone called Jesus and so,

481
00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:25.519
but she just thought that was the greatest thing, and

482
00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:29.400
because I said, I know who he is. And the

483
00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:31.359
only other thing anybody asked me after that was if

484
00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:33.920
I wanted to start helping out with teaching the youth

485
00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:35.720
group and getting involved with the youth group that way.

486
00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:38.599
Is like, I had no business being in any of

487
00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:41.200
that position, but by the grace of God, God removed

488
00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:44.519
me from that, and I ended up getting into a good,

489
00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:48.200
solid Baptist church and was sharing some of this with

490
00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:50.480
your pastor earlier. And I would be sitting there, I

491
00:27:50.680 --> 00:27:54.200
hear the preaching of God's word, and my pastor would

492
00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:57.359
be up there. He'll be preaching about salvation and getting saved,

493
00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.720
and I would be sitting there in the pew. I

494
00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:03.359
remember specifically thinking, I have no idea what he's talking about,

495
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:05.519
but if I stick around long enough, maybe I'll get

496
00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:09.160
it figured out. And so about two months go by

497
00:28:09.240 --> 00:28:13.039
and the pastor invites me on this overnight camp trip,

498
00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:15.480
and I go along because it sounded like a fun

499
00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:18.279
time and there was preaching that night, and I knew

500
00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:21.160
I needed God's help. So I went forward to pray

501
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:24.039
at the altar, and my pastor that brought me there,

502
00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:26.079
he came with me and he said, you know, why'd

503
00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:28.839
you come forward? I was like, just with the pressure

504
00:28:28.839 --> 00:28:30.839
of life, I just don't know what to do anymore.

505
00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:32.839
And it wasn't I had anything bad going on, but

506
00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:35.640
just at that stage of life, just you know, feeling

507
00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:38.039
the pressure of things around you and living without God,

508
00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:42.599
there's a lot of pressure there. And so he said, well,

509
00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:45.599
first thing's first, you know that you're saved. And I

510
00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:47.559
knew that I didn't know, and I told him that

511
00:28:47.559 --> 00:28:50.000
I don't even know. So he took me aside and

512
00:28:50.119 --> 00:28:53.559
he took the word of God and he showed me

513
00:28:54.039 --> 00:28:56.480
the Gospel. He took the time to show me who

514
00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:59.920
Jesus Christ really is. That Christ is not just saw

515
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:02.680
oh man, but he is God in the flesh that

516
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:06.799
you're in. The Bible, the real Bible says that in

517
00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:08.559
the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God,

518
00:29:08.599 --> 00:29:13.039
and the Word was God. Jesus Christ is the Word.

519
00:29:13.079 --> 00:29:14.640
He is God in.

520
00:29:17.640 --> 00:29:20.640
I'm getting a little worried here because what we want

521
00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:25.079
to know is the parable. Okay, what we want to

522
00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:30.759
know is, yeah, all the questions that I have brought up.

523
00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:32.680
I don't know if we're going to get anything close

524
00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:34.599
to that. Now I'm getting worried. Now, I'm getting really

525
00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:37.079
worried because there's not a lot of time left in

526
00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:40.680
this message. It really isn't maybe I mean put it

527
00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.480
this way, he needs to get to his major thesis

528
00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:46.279
within probably the next ten to fifteen minutes, or this

529
00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:49.440
whole thing is going to just unravel into I don't

530
00:29:49.480 --> 00:29:50.720
know what. I don't even know how we're going to

531
00:29:50.759 --> 00:29:53.680
be able to classify this. I don't know what this is.

532
00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:57.240
But h all right, so well, but I'm going to

533
00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:59.039
be hopeful. I'm going to be hopeful. I'm going to

534
00:29:59.079 --> 00:30:02.200
be hopeful. We're going to hopeful right right. I'm not

535
00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:06.119
gonna be cynical. I'm not gonna be negative. We're gonna

536
00:30:06.119 --> 00:30:09.279
get all the answers we've ever asked in regards to

537
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:13.880
these this parable and the different accounts of it. A right,

538
00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:17.519
So here we go. Let's go find these answers.

539
00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:22.240
The book that I had taught to me growing up

540
00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:25.839
is said that Christ is or the word is a God.

541
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:30.640
They corrupted it, they changed it. But when I'm being

542
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:36.440
shown from the scriptures, that he is God. I had

543
00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:39.680
God was speaking to my heart saying, this is my word.

544
00:30:40.039 --> 00:30:44.640
This okay, Now, a couple of things. Well, for he says,

545
00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:47.119
the spirit of God was talking to me. Okay, wait

546
00:30:47.160 --> 00:30:49.400
a minute, what's happening here? What's happening? But I want

547
00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:51.440
you to just consider something. See this, I'm trying to

548
00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:54.839
figure out how this plays out. Everyone preaches the parable. Okay, Well,

549
00:30:54.920 --> 00:30:57.759
he admits he didn't have an understanding. So he heard

550
00:30:57.759 --> 00:31:00.240
the word, he didn't have an understanding, and he kind

551
00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:02.640
of goes forward, and then someone tries to start explaining

552
00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:05.000
to it. Well, according to the parable, doesn't Satan just

553
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:07.160
come in and take it away? So why didn't Satan

554
00:31:07.240 --> 00:31:14.319
just show up and take it away? Right? But now

555
00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:17.960
the spirit is talking to him. I'm gonna back this

556
00:31:18.119 --> 00:31:19.680
up just briefly.

557
00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:28.119
But when I'm being shown from the scriptures that he

558
00:31:28.359 --> 00:31:32.519
is God, I had, God was speaking to my heart saying,

559
00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:34.799
this is my word, this is truth.

560
00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:40.279
And then yes, so God was speaking to his heart

561
00:31:40.359 --> 00:31:44.160
saying this is truth. Now is that? Do we have

562
00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:48.279
a built in voice that says this is truth? This

563
00:31:48.359 --> 00:31:52.440
is truth? Now I've heard Christians do this. I've had

564
00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:56.319
had I've had people. I've had people literally visit my

565
00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:59.799
church and say, well, the Spirit hasn't really shown me yet.

566
00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:02.559
If what you're saying is true. So meaning that they

567
00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:05.440
have a built in detector that tells them when a

568
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:09.440
message is true when a message is false, making them

569
00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:13.880
the default then pope, making them their magisterial authority, that

570
00:32:14.279 --> 00:32:17.799
they can listen to preaching and based off an inside voice,

571
00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:20.559
they know whether it's true or false. Well, if that's

572
00:32:20.599 --> 00:32:24.160
the case, if every Christian has the inside voice telling

573
00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:27.160
us this is true, this is true, well then all

574
00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:31.319
Christians should believe literally the exact same thing, because any

575
00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:34.559
deviation would mean God would be saying that's not true,

576
00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:37.240
that's not my word, that's not true, that's not true,

577
00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:40.559
that's not true. But even with this parable in Matthew

578
00:32:40.599 --> 00:32:45.759
thirteen and Mark four, there's literally no agreement which soils

579
00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:48.720
represent saved or not saved. No agreement. The word word

580
00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:50.960
is that, the word the whole Bible is that, the

581
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:53.079
gospel is that the message to the kingdom. Do we

582
00:32:53.160 --> 00:32:56.160
understand this from a dispensational standpoint, we could go all

583
00:32:56.200 --> 00:33:01.279
the disagreements on it. Well, God should be speaking to

584
00:33:01.319 --> 00:33:04.119
my heart going that message not true, that message not true,

585
00:33:04.200 --> 00:33:05.799
that message not true. I should just be able to

586
00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:07.720
go listen to sermons and go. God told me that

587
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:09.839
when it's not true. God told me that when's not true,

588
00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:14.119
God told me that's not true.

589
00:33:17.079 --> 00:33:21.880
And beyond that, just other aspects of the errors that

590
00:33:21.960 --> 00:33:26.200
I had been taught growing up with that Jehovah's witness background. Here,

591
00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:29.160
they'll say that, you know, God is too loving to

592
00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:32.880
ever possibly send somebody to hell, so Hell can't possibly exist.

593
00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:36.519
That's just talking about annihilation. You cease to exist. There's

594
00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:40.279
no there's no real hell, there's no real punishment like that. Well,

595
00:33:40.319 --> 00:33:43.599
as I'm being shown from the scriptures contrary to that,

596
00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:48.279
I'm being confronted with a lot of things here, and

597
00:33:48.279 --> 00:33:52.200
then I'm I'm left there understanding that I already knew

598
00:33:52.200 --> 00:33:55.400
I was a sinner, but now I'm realizing I have

599
00:33:55.559 --> 00:33:58.799
sinned against a holy and a righteous God, and I

600
00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:01.079
deserve whatever he says as I do. It doesn't matter

601
00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:04.720
what I think about it. If his punishment for that

602
00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:09.400
sin is death and including hell in that, well then

603
00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:13.519
that's what I deserve. But I am so thankful I

604
00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:16.079
pastored did and stopped there. He showed me what Jesus

605
00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:19.239
Christ did for me, how that he died on the cross,

606
00:34:19.639 --> 00:34:21.400
and then he was buried, and he rose again the

607
00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:25.360
third day, according to the scriptures. And all I have

608
00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:29.360
to do is put my faith in him, because there

609
00:34:29.400 --> 00:34:32.480
is nothing that I can actually do to earn my salvation.

610
00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:35.360
I can't be good enough. There's nothing I can do.

611
00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:37.440
I just have to trust in the Lord, put my

612
00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:40.360
faith in him and him alone, not just to add

613
00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:42.320
him to everything else in my life, but to put

614
00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:45.360
my faith in him and him alone. And then I'm

615
00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:49.880
saved because he paid the price for me, not that

616
00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:53.800
I can do it myself. That gospel message that is

617
00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:58.480
the primary thing being looked upon here as the seed,

618
00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:03.239
this gospel message, and it's been sown into the hearts

619
00:35:03.239 --> 00:35:05.519
of these different people in this passage. And we're gonna

620
00:35:05.880 --> 00:35:09.599
look through some of this rather quickly, and then something

621
00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:11.000
else that I can look at it with this, So

622
00:35:11.719 --> 00:35:14.159
it's sown in the heart of this one that received

623
00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:17.679
seed by the wayside, and this says that it's just

624
00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:19.480
kind of lands on the surface. And then if the

625
00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:22.840
seed is taken away and kind of picture, if you will,

626
00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:25.840
you have this this field where you might you know,

627
00:35:26.280 --> 00:35:28.559
plant some wheat or something along those lines, and then

628
00:35:28.599 --> 00:35:30.480
around the edges of that field, or maybe a path

629
00:35:30.519 --> 00:35:33.239
through the middle, you have that trodden down area where

630
00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:36.920
the ground has just been so worn and beat down.

631
00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:40.320
There's this hard and nothing can penetrate it. That is

632
00:35:40.360 --> 00:35:41.840
the wayside that.

633
00:35:43.800 --> 00:35:47.440
Now I'm just gonna point this out especially I'm gonna

634
00:35:47.480 --> 00:35:49.039
get this from the King James as well. But look

635
00:35:49.079 --> 00:35:52.360
at Matthew thirteen night eighteen, because I've probably preached it

636
00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:55.119
the same way. The seed just kind of falls on

637
00:35:55.159 --> 00:35:58.199
the on the path and it doesn't go in. It can't,

638
00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:02.159
it can't penetrate. It pounces off, right. That's kind of

639
00:36:02.199 --> 00:36:04.000
the way I've always But look at how at least

640
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:07.800
the new King James translates it Matthew thirteen eighteen. Therefore

641
00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:10.280
here the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the

642
00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:12.599
word of the Kingdom and does not understand it, then

643
00:36:12.599 --> 00:36:15.800
the wicked one comes and statues away that was sown

644
00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:20.960
in his heart. This is he who received the seed

645
00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:25.159
by the wayside. So it says that has sown the

646
00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:31.679
seed in his heart. But that sounds like it's getting somewhere.

647
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:33.719
Now I'm gonna I'm gonna read the same thing from

648
00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:35.679
the King James. So I'm gonna reach down and grab

649
00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:41.199
another bible. I'm gonna grab another bible. I happened to

650
00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:43.599
just pick up a Scofield. I wonder if his notes

651
00:36:44.519 --> 00:36:49.360
leaves this into a dispensational perspective. All right, it says

652
00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:59.360
this is how it's translated in the King James. All Right, hmmm, okay, yeah,

653
00:36:59.400 --> 00:37:05.000
he does have I may have to look at what

654
00:37:05.039 --> 00:37:08.400
Schofield says. All right, Matthew thirteen nineteen. I'm gonna get distracted.

655
00:37:08.440 --> 00:37:10.119
I'll go to the verse eighteen. Hear ye, therefore the

656
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:13.199
parable the word. When anyone heareth the word of the

657
00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:16.199
Kingdom and understand it not then cometh the wicked one

658
00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:19.679
and catcheth a way that which was sown in his

659
00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:24.360
heart makes it sound like it makes it inside the heart.

660
00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:28.920
That's how the text makes it. Now again, it's a parable,

661
00:37:29.079 --> 00:37:31.880
Am I supposed Are we supposed to get that focused

662
00:37:31.880 --> 00:37:34.760
on the details. I tend to argue that that's where

663
00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:38.039
the problems began. This is just trying to show you

664
00:37:38.079 --> 00:37:41.440
the different ways it's received or not received. But okay,

665
00:37:41.480 --> 00:37:43.280
all right, but it seems to make it in the heart.

666
00:37:43.320 --> 00:37:45.079
So I don't know if we should preach that. It

667
00:37:45.199 --> 00:37:48.079
was just kind of it doesn't penetrate, it just falls

668
00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:51.039
on that path, but it seems to indicate it it

669
00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:53.159
makes into the heart. So how do we do we

670
00:37:53.320 --> 00:37:55.440
does that change anything? I don't know.

671
00:37:55.519 --> 00:37:55.840
I don't know.

672
00:37:56.360 --> 00:37:57.760
Let's see where he goes with this.

673
00:37:59.320 --> 00:38:02.320
Hardened ground in that way, and there's people out there,

674
00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:05.800
that's where they're at right now. Their heart is hardened.

675
00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:09.320
They don't want to hear the word of God. They

676
00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:11.840
reject it. And that's the picture here by this one

677
00:38:11.880 --> 00:38:14.880
that receives seed by the wayside. In the verse twenty,

678
00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:16.880
it says, but he that receives seed into the stony

679
00:38:16.920 --> 00:38:20.760
places the same as he that heareth the word, and

680
00:38:20.800 --> 00:38:23.920
a non with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not

681
00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:26.199
root in himself, but dureth for a while, for when

682
00:38:26.239 --> 00:38:29.960
tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and bye,

683
00:38:30.039 --> 00:38:32.800
he is offended. So they have a different picture here

684
00:38:32.800 --> 00:38:35.480
of this one where the seed goes into this stony ground.

685
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:40.199
There's still this stone there that the seed is not penetrating.

686
00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:43.639
But you see this life spring up out of the ground.

687
00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:47.199
You see this outward appearance of this life but there's

688
00:38:47.239 --> 00:38:51.440
nothing inside, there's no root. Now we see people like

689
00:38:51.480 --> 00:38:54.480
that again today where maybe they'll come into the church,

690
00:38:54.519 --> 00:38:57.119
they'll hear the word of God and they'll try to

691
00:38:57.760 --> 00:38:59.920
apply the word of God to their life, but without

692
00:39:00.599 --> 00:39:03.760
the inward change, there's nothing inside. And then when it

693
00:39:03.800 --> 00:39:07.360
gets hard they turn away from it because it's not

694
00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:11.599
in their heart. Again, there's still no salvation in that position.

695
00:39:11.679 --> 00:39:15.320
If it's not inside, if it's just this external appearance,

696
00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:20.440
that's not salvation. But then you can move on down.

697
00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:23.800
In the passage the verse twenty two, he also that

698
00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:26.800
receives seed among the thorns is he that hearth the word,

699
00:39:26.880 --> 00:39:28.760
and the care of this world and the seitfulness of

700
00:39:28.840 --> 00:39:34.960
riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful. This person

701
00:39:35.119 --> 00:39:38.360
was on their way to being fruitful. It means there's

702
00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:42.639
growth happening. This person's accepted Christ, they've accepted the gospel,

703
00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:44.880
and they're on their way to becoming fruitful. But then

704
00:39:45.679 --> 00:39:49.400
something happens and they become unfruitful. Here and knows it says,

705
00:39:49.400 --> 00:39:52.119
the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches,

706
00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:58.519
they choke that word, and this person becomes unfruitful. These

707
00:39:58.559 --> 00:40:00.800
outside influences these things of the world.

708
00:40:03.559 --> 00:40:07.880
Okay, his approach appears to be all right. So if

709
00:40:07.880 --> 00:40:12.760
we go through this Matthew thirteen nineteen, when anyone here

710
00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:14.960
at the word of the Kingdom and understandeth not, then

711
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:17.159
cometh the wicked one and catches the way that which

712
00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:19.719
was sown in his heart, that is he which received

713
00:40:19.719 --> 00:40:22.559
seed by the wayside. So he's he has determined that

714
00:40:22.599 --> 00:40:25.800
the person in nineteen, that that represents a person that

715
00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:29.519
represents people in verse nineteen of people who are not saved.

716
00:40:29.800 --> 00:40:31.960
Then he says verse twenty, But he that received the

717
00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:34.079
seed and stony places the same is he that here

718
00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:36.519
at the word and Anon with joy receiveth it. Yet

719
00:40:36.559 --> 00:40:39.320
not hath root and himself, but doreth for a while,

720
00:40:39.480 --> 00:40:42.519
For when a tribulation of persecution arives because of the word,

721
00:40:42.719 --> 00:40:44.920
by and by he is offended. I think he had

722
00:40:45.280 --> 00:40:48.840
indicated that verse twenty one is not saved. So he

723
00:40:48.880 --> 00:40:51.880
has two that are not saved. Then twenty two and

724
00:40:51.960 --> 00:40:54.880
twenty three he says, are saved. So he goes with

725
00:40:54.960 --> 00:40:58.119
the fifty to fifty approach. Others go with three of

726
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:00.840
them are a loss. Only one is said. See, there's

727
00:41:00.920 --> 00:41:03.920
not even agreement in christiandom who is saved and who

728
00:41:03.960 --> 00:41:08.719
isn't saved in this parable? That see? But again, supposedly

729
00:41:09.039 --> 00:41:11.039
we can. God will be the one that'll tell you

730
00:41:11.079 --> 00:41:13.320
what is true and what is not true. Well, then

731
00:41:13.320 --> 00:41:15.320
if God is the one telling you true or not true,

732
00:41:15.360 --> 00:41:18.039
then why do no Christians agree literally on this parable?

733
00:41:18.039 --> 00:41:22.039
And remember, according to Mark, if we don't understand this parable,

734
00:41:22.199 --> 00:41:25.199
we can't understand any of them. Then what is our hope?

735
00:41:25.199 --> 00:41:28.519
If no one can even agree on this parable?

736
00:41:32.559 --> 00:41:36.559
All right, choke out the word of God in their life.

737
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:41.840
I used to be a over a youth group in

738
00:41:41.920 --> 00:41:45.320
Alabama for our period of years, and I see this

739
00:41:45.400 --> 00:41:48.519
thing in people of all different ages, basically lots, sometimes

740
00:41:48.519 --> 00:41:52.679
with the teenagers where they they get saved and they

741
00:41:52.679 --> 00:41:56.320
start growing in the Lord. Then like, hey, I wanted

742
00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:58.480
to let you know I got a job, but I'm

743
00:41:58.519 --> 00:42:03.400
gonna start missing some Wednesday night services And well, well

744
00:42:03.400 --> 00:42:06.840
why did you take that job? We're gonna miss church? Well, well,

745
00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:08.320
could I gotta be able to pay for my car?

746
00:42:08.519 --> 00:42:10.920
Well did you really need the car? Well? I need

747
00:42:10.920 --> 00:42:13.840
the car to have my job. Well, why don't just

748
00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:15.119
give rid of all of it and be a church

749
00:42:16.039 --> 00:42:18.760
but the cares of this world, and that the seitfulness

750
00:42:18.760 --> 00:42:21.639
of riches choke out the Word of God in their life.

751
00:42:21.639 --> 00:42:24.039
And the next thing you know, like, oh, well, I'm

752
00:42:24.039 --> 00:42:26.119
gonna have to start missing some Sundays. They want me

753
00:42:26.159 --> 00:42:29.000
to work on Sundays now, And then before you know it,

754
00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:33.119
they're just becoming completely unfruitful and they're not even in

755
00:42:33.199 --> 00:42:33.800
church anymore.

756
00:42:33.800 --> 00:42:38.719
After a while, everyone just quit your job if you're

757
00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:43.679
required to work on a Wednesday or a Sunday. Now,

758
00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:46.360
I do understand you can make sometimes bad decisions that

759
00:42:46.400 --> 00:42:50.199
can hurt you spiritually. At the same time, it's easy

760
00:42:50.239 --> 00:42:52.599
to tell someone hey, you don't need your job, you

761
00:42:52.599 --> 00:42:55.239
don't need a car, you just come to church. It's

762
00:42:55.239 --> 00:42:59.760
always easy to tell someone else that, okay, because you're

763
00:42:59.800 --> 00:43:03.719
a church getting paid to be there. If you're the pastor,

764
00:43:03.800 --> 00:43:06.199
it's easy to tell someone else, hey, you quit your job.

765
00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:08.519
You don't take that job and you be at church. Yeah,

766
00:43:08.519 --> 00:43:12.039
because I'm at church getting paid to be there. Right, okay,

767
00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:14.159
all right, all right, there is a little bit of it.

768
00:43:14.159 --> 00:43:16.400
Come on, you gotta at least see that's a little

769
00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:20.039
bit ironic, right, Hey, you don't get a job that's

770
00:43:20.039 --> 00:43:22.320
going to take you away from church. You come here

771
00:43:23.480 --> 00:43:26.320
because I'm getting paid to be here, So why don't

772
00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:29.159
you then you quit your job and just come to

773
00:43:29.239 --> 00:43:30.360
church and don't get paid?

774
00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:30.679
Right?

775
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:33.239
All right, No, but people kind of need jobs to

776
00:43:33.440 --> 00:43:36.239
pay bills and do things. Now you, I guess you

777
00:43:36.239 --> 00:43:38.360
could argue, well, the teenager may not need it, but

778
00:43:38.400 --> 00:43:40.920
it depends on his family, right. I can't speak for

779
00:43:40.960 --> 00:43:43.239
that teenager's family. But look, if I didn't have a

780
00:43:43.320 --> 00:43:47.039
job and I started working very young, I wasn't gonna

781
00:43:47.039 --> 00:43:49.639
have anything, right because basically I had to pay for everything.

782
00:43:50.719 --> 00:43:55.760
So yeah, but I do understand that whenever I think

783
00:43:55.800 --> 00:43:57.920
the key is is now that you have this job,

784
00:43:58.159 --> 00:44:00.599
you do understand that this could have negat of impact

785
00:44:00.639 --> 00:44:02.760
on you spiritually because you're going to be taken away.

786
00:44:02.800 --> 00:44:04.239
So what are you going to be doing to make

787
00:44:04.320 --> 00:44:05.679
up for the fact that you're not going to be

788
00:44:05.719 --> 00:44:08.280
a church or like? It's more I think that's maybe

789
00:44:08.360 --> 00:44:10.920
more the approach than just saying, well, you should just

790
00:44:11.480 --> 00:44:14.360
quit your job and get rid of your car. I

791
00:44:14.400 --> 00:44:17.280
think that's I don't know, Okay, again, I don't know

792
00:44:17.320 --> 00:44:18.920
what any of that really has to I guess I

793
00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:23.400
can see how he's attaching it here. That that's what

794
00:44:23.559 --> 00:44:27.320
can choke away or stop us from being fruitful, is

795
00:44:27.480 --> 00:44:29.880
all of these other cares. And there's probably some truth

796
00:44:29.920 --> 00:44:32.400
to that, But how do you manage I think the

797
00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:36.079
issue is you're gonna have these cares, whether you argue,

798
00:44:36.239 --> 00:44:37.840
whether you want to have them or not, unless you're

799
00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:39.840
just basically going to sell everything and go live in

800
00:44:39.840 --> 00:44:42.239
a monastery. Now, the key is how to not let

801
00:44:42.280 --> 00:44:45.639
these cares then have the negative impact. Maybe that's the discussion.

802
00:44:45.719 --> 00:44:50.440
I don't know, but it happens not just with the teenagers.

803
00:44:50.480 --> 00:44:53.800
I know of adults making the same decisions. Oh I

804
00:44:53.840 --> 00:44:56.639
got this new promotion, but I have to move to

805
00:44:56.960 --> 00:44:59.440
this state over here, and like, okay, do you have

806
00:44:59.480 --> 00:45:01.280
a good church lined up that you can go to

807
00:45:01.320 --> 00:45:04.880
over there? Like, oh, I don't know, I haven't actually

808
00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:08.199
looked into that. Like that should be the first priority

809
00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:11.480
before you even think about taking something like that. Keep

810
00:45:11.519 --> 00:45:16.559
the Word of God, keep fellowship, keep keep Christ first,

811
00:45:17.239 --> 00:45:20.519
not just following after these things of the world, because

812
00:45:20.559 --> 00:45:23.519
when you do, you follow after this deceitfulness of riches,

813
00:45:23.599 --> 00:45:27.639
the things of this world become unfruitful. Is there anyone

814
00:45:27.679 --> 00:45:30.880
in here tonight says I want to be an unfruitful Christian.

815
00:45:32.280 --> 00:45:34.360
I don't think any of us would say that. We

816
00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:36.760
all want to be fruitful. We all want to be

817
00:45:37.199 --> 00:45:38.840
we want to be like the good ground, where the

818
00:45:38.840 --> 00:45:42.000
Word of God grows in us and produces fruit. They

819
00:45:42.079 --> 00:45:43.719
say in verse twenty three, it says, but he that

820
00:45:43.800 --> 00:45:45.920
receives seed into the good ground is he that hereth

821
00:45:45.960 --> 00:45:49.239
the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit and

822
00:45:49.239 --> 00:45:52.079
bringeth forth some one hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

823
00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:56.840
We want to see that we're growing in our own life,

824
00:45:56.840 --> 00:45:58.440
and when we go out and we witness to others,

825
00:45:59.119 --> 00:46:00.920
that's the kind of person we hope to find, right.

826
00:46:01.320 --> 00:46:02.800
We hope to find these people that are on the

827
00:46:02.800 --> 00:46:05.679
good ground where they will be fruitful, and they'll multiply,

828
00:46:05.719 --> 00:46:07.199
and we'll see them grow in the Lord. That's an

829
00:46:07.239 --> 00:46:10.239
exciting thing. But wait, go out. We don't know what

830
00:46:10.320 --> 00:46:11.719
kind of person we're talking to, do we?

831
00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:21.440
So here's the thing. What makes the people different? What

832
00:46:21.599 --> 00:46:26.800
makes some people have the wayside soil? What makes some

833
00:46:26.840 --> 00:46:28.760
people have? Let me go through each one of them

834
00:46:28.800 --> 00:46:33.039
the way the king James and Matthew thirteen describes him.

835
00:46:33.320 --> 00:46:37.079
What is it that makes some people the what we'll

836
00:46:37.119 --> 00:46:42.800
call them? How do we call them? The stony places people?

837
00:46:42.960 --> 00:46:47.440
Are the wayside people? What makes the people the ones

838
00:46:47.480 --> 00:46:49.880
that have or hang on, let me see here the

839
00:46:49.920 --> 00:46:53.920
wayside people? What is the people the stony places people?

840
00:46:54.440 --> 00:46:58.480
And then what is the people who are the among

841
00:46:58.519 --> 00:47:01.800
the thorns people? Who are the wayside people? What makes

842
00:47:01.840 --> 00:47:05.519
some person a wayside person? What makes another person the

843
00:47:05.559 --> 00:47:09.599
stony place person? What makes the other person a in

844
00:47:09.719 --> 00:47:12.440
the thorns person? And what makes the other one the

845
00:47:12.440 --> 00:47:15.639
good ground person? What makes the difference? Hey, when you

846
00:47:15.679 --> 00:47:17.639
go out, you want to find the people with the

847
00:47:17.639 --> 00:47:22.119
good ground? Well, what makes the difference? How do how? What?

848
00:47:22.320 --> 00:47:25.000
What's the issue? Does the people have to fix it?

849
00:47:25.159 --> 00:47:27.440
And again if you say, well God has to fix it, well,

850
00:47:27.480 --> 00:47:29.639
then why doesn't God just make us all good ground?

851
00:47:29.880 --> 00:47:32.480
We all receive the word and then boom, we're all

852
00:47:32.519 --> 00:47:36.159
good now. Because then if you say the ground represents

853
00:47:36.199 --> 00:47:38.800
the heart, then what you're saying is then God has

854
00:47:38.880 --> 00:47:40.960
to give us basically a perfect heart. Well, then if

855
00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:43.480
everyone has a perfect heart, you see how you just

856
00:47:43.559 --> 00:47:46.599
kind of you just get yourself into these circle circular

857
00:47:46.719 --> 00:47:49.079
reasoning or it just it just goes in a circle

858
00:47:49.119 --> 00:47:53.280
and It's like, well, wait, how does this work? What

859
00:47:53.440 --> 00:47:57.880
determines the condition of the heart? You say, it's God alone. Okay, Well,

860
00:47:57.920 --> 00:48:01.679
then if someone doesn't have a good heart, and then again,

861
00:48:01.719 --> 00:48:03.519
if God the loan gives you the good heart, then

862
00:48:03.559 --> 00:48:06.880
you're saying that then when someone gets saved, because then

863
00:48:07.039 --> 00:48:08.679
they have a perfect heart. Well then if they have

864
00:48:08.719 --> 00:48:12.039
a perfect heart, then then there's no okay. You see,

865
00:48:12.639 --> 00:48:15.119
it almost gets exhausting talking through it over and over.

866
00:48:15.239 --> 00:48:18.199
Let's see if he offers us any deeper insight into

867
00:48:18.199 --> 00:48:19.480
any of this or answers.

868
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:26.360
But before we get too far into that aspect of it,

869
00:48:27.000 --> 00:48:29.119
you know, as we go through the explanation that Christ

870
00:48:29.159 --> 00:48:31.519
gives it this parable. He tells us right off the

871
00:48:31.559 --> 00:48:36.039
top here what is the seed? The seed is the gospel.

872
00:48:36.079 --> 00:48:38.760
It's the word of God. He explains the soil for

873
00:48:38.920 --> 00:48:42.519
us that is the heart when to which that gospel

874
00:48:42.519 --> 00:48:46.360
message is received. But then I began to question myself

875
00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:48.679
and asks why don't we refer to this as the

876
00:48:48.719 --> 00:48:51.599
parable of the sower. I didn't get that out of it,

877
00:48:52.119 --> 00:48:53.880
And then it hit me when I read verse eighteen

878
00:48:53.960 --> 00:48:56.880
again it says Christ said here he therefore the parable

879
00:48:56.920 --> 00:48:59.639
of the sower. He called it. That's a good reason

880
00:48:59.679 --> 00:49:02.760
for us to call it that, right, And so then

881
00:49:02.800 --> 00:49:04.559
I want to know, well, well, why is it the

882
00:49:04.599 --> 00:49:06.960
parable of the sower? Why not the parable of the seed?

883
00:49:06.960 --> 00:49:08.599
Why not the parable of the soil? Why is it

884
00:49:08.639 --> 00:49:10.840
the sower? What can we what can we learn about

885
00:49:10.840 --> 00:49:15.000
the sower from this parable? Well, when I read through

886
00:49:15.039 --> 00:49:19.199
the explanation there again, I noticed I don't see anything

887
00:49:19.199 --> 00:49:23.199
about the sower in that explanation. And to be fair

888
00:49:23.199 --> 00:49:24.800
about it, though, if you read it in Mark, there

889
00:49:24.840 --> 00:49:28.440
is one sentence about the sower. It says the sower

890
00:49:28.760 --> 00:49:31.840
so with the word that's it. So I says so

891
00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:32.719
or so with the word.

892
00:49:34.079 --> 00:49:34.159
So.

893
00:49:34.360 --> 00:49:35.800
I wanted to go back to the beginning of the

894
00:49:35.840 --> 00:49:39.000
parable and see if I can find anything about the

895
00:49:39.119 --> 00:49:41.960
sower that way. So go with me there, go to

896
00:49:42.039 --> 00:49:46.119
verse number three from Matthew thirteen. There, and we're going

897
00:49:46.159 --> 00:49:50.280
to see a couple of things. Verse three is he says,

898
00:49:50.360 --> 00:49:53.119
and he spaked many things on them parables, saying behold,

899
00:49:53.440 --> 00:49:57.760
a sower went forth to sow. So this man here,

900
00:49:57.840 --> 00:50:00.800
he's just going out and doing his job. He's doing

901
00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:02.599
what he is supposed to do. He's just going out

902
00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:05.480
to sew. And then when he sowed in verse four,

903
00:50:05.639 --> 00:50:09.239
some seeds fell by the wayside. Verse five, some fell

904
00:50:09.320 --> 00:50:13.559
upon stony places, and verse seven say some fell among thorns,

905
00:50:13.599 --> 00:50:16.360
and then verse eight, but others fell into the good ground.

906
00:50:16.519 --> 00:50:19.119
So all we know about this man, he's going out

907
00:50:19.199 --> 00:50:21.280
doing his job, and the seed is going into all

908
00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:24.920
of these different places. So I tried to put myself

909
00:50:24.960 --> 00:50:27.239
into the picture and see what can I learn about

910
00:50:27.239 --> 00:50:29.880
this sower. And I tried to draw upon my own

911
00:50:29.920 --> 00:50:34.400
gardening experience. But while I enjoy gardening, I don't have

912
00:50:34.480 --> 00:50:36.280
anything that would relate to sow in a field. I

913
00:50:36.320 --> 00:50:39.239
lived in Mobile, Alabama. We had some raised beds in

914
00:50:39.280 --> 00:50:42.119
the backyard. It was a lot of fun, but it's

915
00:50:42.159 --> 00:50:47.039
not like planting a field. And so thinking about this situation,

916
00:50:47.239 --> 00:50:49.480
trying to, you know, in biable context and trying to

917
00:50:49.519 --> 00:50:52.440
picture it. You know, they would plow this big field,

918
00:50:53.119 --> 00:50:54.639
and after they have it all plowed and they have

919
00:50:54.679 --> 00:50:56.760
the ground prepared, and you have somebody with maybe the

920
00:50:57.039 --> 00:50:59.800
sack of seed, we'd go around and start spreading seed

921
00:50:59.840 --> 00:51:00.760
in to that field.

922
00:51:03.039 --> 00:51:09.519
Now, remember the other sermon said they didn't till the ground, right,

923
00:51:09.639 --> 00:51:13.199
they called it broadcasting sewing. I think is what they

924
00:51:13.280 --> 00:51:17.159
referred to. So do we have disagreement on exactly how

925
00:51:17.199 --> 00:51:21.360
they sowed the seed? Do we have disagreement?

926
00:51:24.039 --> 00:51:24.159
Like?

927
00:51:25.760 --> 00:51:28.800
Oh boy, like? So did they till the ground first?

928
00:51:28.920 --> 00:51:31.199
If they tilled the ground first, then there would have

929
00:51:31.199 --> 00:51:34.239
been no wayside ground right, There would have been no

930
00:51:34.360 --> 00:51:36.400
stony place, there would have been no thorns because the

931
00:51:36.400 --> 00:51:38.880
ground would have all been tilled. So did they till

932
00:51:38.920 --> 00:51:45.000
the ground or not till the ground? So the more

933
00:51:45.039 --> 00:51:48.159
sermons you listen on one passage, sometimes it can bring

934
00:51:48.199 --> 00:51:51.159
you to the brink of does anyone agree on anything?

935
00:51:51.320 --> 00:51:54.159
We seem to now have two different tellings of exactly

936
00:51:54.159 --> 00:51:56.239
how they sowed the seed. There can only be one

937
00:51:56.519 --> 00:51:59.400
correct way. Look, if you have all this different ground,

938
00:51:59.400 --> 00:52:03.239
that just means you just throwing the seed. He didn't

939
00:52:03.239 --> 00:52:04.920
till the ground. He tilled the ground, there would be

940
00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:07.000
no thorns, it would be no stony place, there would

941
00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:12.920
be no wayside. It would just be tilled ground.

942
00:52:15.559 --> 00:52:17.840
But then that still didn't match what I'm reading here

943
00:52:17.840 --> 00:52:21.480
in the passage, because if that were the case, then

944
00:52:21.519 --> 00:52:23.400
the majority of that seed would be going into the

945
00:52:23.440 --> 00:52:23.960
good ground.

946
00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:29.159
Is okay, so good, good good? So now again he's

947
00:52:29.199 --> 00:52:30.840
saying that that's how they typically would do it. I

948
00:52:30.880 --> 00:52:32.920
think that's I think the issue is that's how maybe

949
00:52:32.960 --> 00:52:35.280
we would do it. That's not how they did it.

950
00:52:35.320 --> 00:52:37.639
But okay, all right, so yeah, in our mind, you

951
00:52:37.679 --> 00:52:39.519
would have the tilled ground and so all the seed

952
00:52:39.559 --> 00:52:42.440
would basically go into the good ground. All right, So

953
00:52:42.480 --> 00:52:44.679
now he's going to try to offer an explanation then

954
00:52:45.079 --> 00:52:47.960
why the parable is told this way? All right, let's

955
00:52:48.000 --> 00:52:49.800
see what his explanation.

956
00:52:49.360 --> 00:52:54.960
Is prepared it's ready. But with this guy here that

957
00:52:55.039 --> 00:52:56.960
Christ is talking about, it's not like he has this

958
00:52:57.159 --> 00:53:01.199
prepared field. You know, there's seed on the wayside, which

959
00:53:01.199 --> 00:53:02.719
I could see maybe a little bit of that when

960
00:53:02.760 --> 00:53:05.039
you're planting a field, But why is there still all

961
00:53:05.039 --> 00:53:07.239
the stony ground? Why is there still all the thorns?

962
00:53:07.760 --> 00:53:09.480
Why hasn't that been taken care of? It's like this

963
00:53:09.559 --> 00:53:11.840
guy who just has this bag of seed and he

964
00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:13.679
doesn't have a field. He's just out there. He's just

965
00:53:13.719 --> 00:53:19.159
like casting it everywhere, he's throwing seed. Then it hit me,

966
00:53:20.920 --> 00:53:22.840
isn't that how we're supposed to be with the gospel.

967
00:53:24.159 --> 00:53:27.559
We don't have this nice prepared area to place it.

968
00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:30.039
We just are supposed to go out and spread it everywhere.

969
00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:33.440
We can't judge somebody's heart whether they're going to be

970
00:53:33.960 --> 00:53:36.280
hard hearted or receptive to the word of God. We're

971
00:53:36.280 --> 00:53:39.079
just supposed to give it to them. When we start

972
00:53:39.079 --> 00:53:41.079
trying to judge somebody's heart and say, oh, I'm only

973
00:53:41.119 --> 00:53:44.199
gonna wait for the person that's in the good ground,

974
00:53:45.039 --> 00:53:48.440
we're putting ourselves in God's position because we don't know

975
00:53:49.880 --> 00:53:50.880
we don't know their heart.

976
00:53:53.519 --> 00:53:57.199
So then wouldn't the argument be Remember that this all

977
00:53:57.239 --> 00:53:59.760
started with an article saying, Hey, you can't be in

978
00:53:59.800 --> 00:54:02.400
a f actual Bible student until you have the right ground.

979
00:54:02.400 --> 00:54:04.440
You got to have the right heart. Wouldn't this, though,

980
00:54:04.519 --> 00:54:07.880
be the idea just everyone should read and everyone should

981
00:54:07.880 --> 00:54:10.239
study the Bible, and everyone should be given the Bible

982
00:54:10.760 --> 00:54:14.239
and not worry about the condition of the heart. Then

983
00:54:14.360 --> 00:54:19.639
let the Bible do its thing. Right, Is it going

984
00:54:19.719 --> 00:54:21.679
to be the Bible that transforms the heart?

985
00:54:26.519 --> 00:54:31.960
But we can we can make it a lot more

986
00:54:32.000 --> 00:54:36.639
about us than it's supposed to be. Because when we'll

987
00:54:36.639 --> 00:54:39.519
get to the explanation that Christ gives on this parable,

988
00:54:39.960 --> 00:54:43.400
he talks about the seed the Word of God, and

989
00:54:43.440 --> 00:54:45.719
he talks about the heart of the person who's receiving it.

990
00:54:46.639 --> 00:54:48.440
But he's not really telling us much of anything about

991
00:54:48.440 --> 00:54:51.800
the sower, because as long as the sower is doing

992
00:54:51.880 --> 00:54:55.280
his job and spreading the word, that's all that matters

993
00:54:55.440 --> 00:54:57.519
as far as the sower is concerned it because it's

994
00:54:57.519 --> 00:55:01.039
not about us beyond just being faithful to so with

995
00:55:01.079 --> 00:55:04.119
the word of God past that, it's not about us.

996
00:55:07.079 --> 00:55:08.880
It's the word of God has to do a great

997
00:55:08.920 --> 00:55:10.760
work in somebody's life.

998
00:55:13.760 --> 00:55:15.719
Okay, So it is the word of God that does

999
00:55:15.760 --> 00:55:18.599
the work. So then it's not you got to get

1000
00:55:18.599 --> 00:55:21.000
the heart right before you get the word. No, the

1001
00:55:21.039 --> 00:55:23.440
word goes to everyone and then the word is the

1002
00:55:23.480 --> 00:55:27.840
one that then changes the heart. Is that not the correct?

1003
00:55:29.519 --> 00:55:33.079
So this is completely opposite than the article that we

1004
00:55:33.159 --> 00:55:38.280
how many different I think if we just keep a

1005
00:55:38.320 --> 00:55:41.920
notebook of all the different interpretations and slight variations, I

1006
00:55:41.920 --> 00:55:43.840
don't know how many we're going to end up with.

1007
00:55:46.079 --> 00:55:48.119
We can make all kinds of excuses. We can flip

1008
00:55:48.159 --> 00:55:50.519
it around, and we can make it about ourselves on oh,

1009
00:55:50.519 --> 00:55:52.599
why I can't share the Word of God with this person,

1010
00:55:52.840 --> 00:55:54.320
or why I can't do this right now? Why it's

1011
00:55:54.360 --> 00:55:57.559
not a good time. And I'm no exception to that.

1012
00:55:57.639 --> 00:56:04.519
I've done it before for silly reasons. We were again

1013
00:56:04.679 --> 00:56:07.119
winter in Alabama. I had the youth group. We were

1014
00:56:07.239 --> 00:56:10.599
taking the teens to camp for a summer trip, you know,

1015
00:56:10.639 --> 00:56:14.199
summer camp or whatever. And we have this fifteen passenger

1016
00:56:14.320 --> 00:56:16.280
van full of teenagers. Me and my wife are taking

1017
00:56:16.280 --> 00:56:18.360
them to camp. And as we go, you know what,

1018
00:56:18.480 --> 00:56:22.519
eventually man needs more gas. We stop at the gas station.

1019
00:56:23.280 --> 00:56:25.280
As we stopped there, I you know, I open up

1020
00:56:25.280 --> 00:56:27.039
my door and there's this big U haul truck on

1021
00:56:27.079 --> 00:56:30.000
the other side of the pump, and I hear the

1022
00:56:30.079 --> 00:56:32.760
music coming from this this U haul truck, and it

1023
00:56:32.840 --> 00:56:35.119
kind of catched me off guard a little bit. It's

1024
00:56:36.239 --> 00:56:39.920
if you can imagine like this heavy metal music mixed

1025
00:56:39.920 --> 00:56:43.280
with some bagpipes in there. It wasn't something I was

1026
00:56:43.280 --> 00:56:46.400
familiar with. Some people I've talked to, we are familiar

1027
00:56:46.400 --> 00:56:48.719
with them, but I had never heard anything like this before.

1028
00:56:48.719 --> 00:56:51.400
It's like, well, that's a little weird. But there's nobody

1029
00:56:51.440 --> 00:56:52.559
in the truck. So I just get out and I'm

1030
00:56:52.559 --> 00:56:56.360
pumping gas. As I'm pumping gas, I look back here

1031
00:56:56.400 --> 00:57:00.119
towards the gas station and the doors open up and

1032
00:57:00.159 --> 00:57:03.559
there's just like massive mountain of a man comes walking

1033
00:57:03.599 --> 00:57:10.159
out and just from that distance, I'm already starting to

1034
00:57:10.199 --> 00:57:15.039
feel intimidated because this man he looks rough and he's big.

1035
00:57:16.079 --> 00:57:19.079
And then I noticed as he's walking, he's walking my direction.

1036
00:57:19.199 --> 00:57:22.119
As he gets closer, he gets bigger, gets closer, he

1037
00:57:22.159 --> 00:57:30.159
gets bigger, and I'm getting nervous. But why so, I'm

1038
00:57:30.159 --> 00:57:34.440
not concerned about his soul. I'm concerned about me, and

1039
00:57:34.480 --> 00:57:36.199
that's not where I should have been in that moment

1040
00:57:37.519 --> 00:57:39.920
when he comes over. He if I had to describe

1041
00:57:39.920 --> 00:57:42.679
this man to you, I see him walking towards me. Picture,

1042
00:57:42.800 --> 00:57:46.880
if you will, a Viking, just without the helmet. That's

1043
00:57:46.920 --> 00:57:51.079
what this man looked like. But here I am feeling

1044
00:57:51.199 --> 00:57:54.239
intimidated by him, and he hasn't done anything to warrant that.

1045
00:57:54.320 --> 00:57:57.559
I mean, he can't help that. He's big, I mean, right,

1046
00:57:58.039 --> 00:58:00.639
but I'm here, I am, I'm like, he just go

1047
00:58:00.800 --> 00:58:03.840
like and I'm done. So I'm ready to finish getting

1048
00:58:03.880 --> 00:58:05.480
gas and get in the van and get out of there.

1049
00:58:06.280 --> 00:58:08.440
But then as about to get back in the van, Guy's.

1050
00:58:08.199 --> 00:58:15.719
Like, no, Oh, so God talks now directly to this guy.

1051
00:58:18.480 --> 00:58:21.559
Oh boy, here we go. The God speaks to us

1052
00:58:21.599 --> 00:58:26.239
outside of the Bible concept. All right, all right, But

1053
00:58:26.400 --> 00:58:29.559
let's see how this goes down. I'd like to know

1054
00:58:29.639 --> 00:58:33.800
the name of the metal band with bagpipes. Metal band

1055
00:58:33.840 --> 00:58:38.440
with bagpipes. I'm trying as much as I know about music.

1056
00:58:39.039 --> 00:58:43.400
I'm not drawing a correlation between metal band with bagpipes.

1057
00:58:43.480 --> 00:58:45.800
I've got I gotta find out the name of this band.

1058
00:58:45.840 --> 00:58:49.800
We have to That's now forget Mark chapter four, forget

1059
00:58:49.840 --> 00:58:54.239
Matthew thirteen. We need to find the metal band with bagpipes. Look,

1060
00:58:54.280 --> 00:58:56.800
I know some of the people who listen to this podcast.

1061
00:58:57.039 --> 00:59:00.039
You guys like some metal, right. I know some of you.

1062
00:59:00.519 --> 00:59:03.480
I know because anytime I mention a metal album, some

1063
00:59:03.519 --> 00:59:04.920
of you will email me. I know we have a

1064
00:59:04.960 --> 00:59:09.199
listener he's from the UK, who I know he likes

1065
00:59:09.559 --> 00:59:13.000
his medal and I think I have some person he

1066
00:59:13.559 --> 00:59:15.199
I don't know what state he is. I think he

1067
00:59:15.239 --> 00:59:17.760
always catch when I'm mentioning anything like I can mention

1068
00:59:17.880 --> 00:59:20.599
any other music. They don't email I even hint in

1069
00:59:20.679 --> 00:59:23.639
anything related to metal, and they're like, boom, I know that.

1070
00:59:23.800 --> 00:59:29.000
So the metal band would buy bagpipes. That's okay, But

1071
00:59:29.199 --> 00:59:30.920
now we get to the serious part. Let's see what

1072
00:59:31.320 --> 00:59:31.880
happens here.

1073
00:59:33.199 --> 00:59:36.960
You mean to go talk to this man. First, it's

1074
00:59:37.000 --> 00:59:39.719
like asking God, like did you see how big this

1075
00:59:39.800 --> 00:59:43.719
man is? And and I had to get to the

1076
00:59:43.760 --> 00:59:47.960
point in myself. Again, this is not a good thing

1077
00:59:48.039 --> 00:59:49.119
on my part, but I had to get to the

1078
00:59:49.119 --> 00:59:52.639
point in myself where I said, Okay, fine, if I die,

1079
00:59:52.800 --> 00:59:54.719
my wife can drive the van home. Everybody else will

1080
00:59:54.719 --> 00:59:57.639
be okay. And so once I hit that point like okay,

1081
00:59:57.880 --> 01:00:00.280
I'll go talk to this man. So I go around

1082
01:00:00.280 --> 01:00:02.199
the pump, I hand the guy a track, I start

1083
01:00:02.239 --> 01:00:05.119
talking to him. He's a real friendly guy. And I

1084
01:00:05.159 --> 01:00:06.880
got to talk with him, and he told me some

1085
01:00:07.039 --> 01:00:08.679
couple of things that caught me off guard. The first

1086
01:00:08.719 --> 01:00:11.599
thing he told me when we're talking about God is

1087
01:00:11.639 --> 01:00:13.599
that he said he didn't really believe in the God

1088
01:00:13.599 --> 01:00:17.199
of the Bible. He believed in Thor because he came

1089
01:00:17.239 --> 01:00:19.320
from a line of Vikings, which is why he looked

1090
01:00:19.360 --> 01:00:19.679
like one.

1091
01:00:22.719 --> 01:00:26.000
Metal fans are nice. That's the moral of this story.

1092
01:00:26.360 --> 01:00:30.480
Metal fans are nice, okay, right right, that's not really

1093
01:00:30.519 --> 01:00:33.480
the moral. Other story it's not getting us. We're not

1094
01:00:33.519 --> 01:00:35.760
gonna get any answers about the parable. I don't think so.

1095
01:00:35.840 --> 01:00:37.679
I don't think we're going to get too many answers

1096
01:00:37.719 --> 01:00:39.960
about the parable, but let's let him at least finish

1097
01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:42.760
this story and then I don't know if we're gonna offer.

1098
01:00:43.000 --> 01:00:45.920
I'm gonna offer maybe one more concept to all of

1099
01:00:45.960 --> 01:00:46.800
this and then we'll wrap it.

1100
01:00:46.880 --> 01:00:50.800
Up, okay. And so that caught me off guard a

1101
01:00:50.800 --> 01:00:53.440
little bit, but it helps some other things make more sense.

1102
01:00:53.880 --> 01:00:55.760
But then as I continue to talk with him and

1103
01:00:55.800 --> 01:00:59.159
to try to tell him about Christ, he also said

1104
01:00:59.159 --> 01:01:03.119
that while he believed in Thor, he was really starting

1105
01:01:03.159 --> 01:01:06.280
to think that this that this Jesus Christ of the Bible,

1106
01:01:07.199 --> 01:01:09.440
he might really be the true God. And he felt

1107
01:01:09.440 --> 01:01:12.159
that Christ was trying to reach out to him personally,

1108
01:01:13.119 --> 01:01:15.519
not just because I was witnessing to him, but he said,

1109
01:01:15.519 --> 01:01:17.400
I was probably about the fourth person in the last

1110
01:01:17.400 --> 01:01:20.400
two weeks that came to tell him about Christ. And

1111
01:01:20.400 --> 01:01:22.840
so he's like, I really think this Jesus is trying

1112
01:01:22.840 --> 01:01:26.079
to reach me. I didn't. He didn't get saved during

1113
01:01:26.119 --> 01:01:30.599
that time. But here I am making it about me

1114
01:01:31.760 --> 01:01:33.519
rather than about this man's soul.

1115
01:01:36.360 --> 01:01:39.960
Now I do like that, Memral, here is that taking

1116
01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:42.840
this parable and that it's the parable the sower. But

1117
01:01:42.880 --> 01:01:46.000
the Sower's not really not really mentioned or seen in

1118
01:01:46.039 --> 01:01:48.880
the story per se other than just throwing the seed.

1119
01:01:49.599 --> 01:01:52.480
And so that if we perceive ourselves as the sower

1120
01:01:52.559 --> 01:01:54.960
sowing the seed, then we just give the seed to everyone,

1121
01:01:55.079 --> 01:01:57.559
and it's not about us, and we and we have

1122
01:01:57.679 --> 01:02:00.960
to remove ourselves from the picture, and and we don't worry,

1123
01:02:00.960 --> 01:02:04.239
we don't judge other people. We just give them the word.

1124
01:02:04.320 --> 01:02:07.360
That is rather profound. And I got nothing but respect

1125
01:02:07.400 --> 01:02:09.960
for that, and that is awesome. And at the same time,

1126
01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:14.159
being very vulnerable and being very honest of the intimidation

1127
01:02:14.599 --> 01:02:17.880
which he felt. I think that's awesome. And there's nothing,

1128
01:02:18.000 --> 01:02:20.599
there's nothing, but I got nothing but good things to

1129
01:02:20.639 --> 01:02:23.760
say about that. It's awesome. And that's a challenge to

1130
01:02:23.800 --> 01:02:25.480
me to make sure I always stay out of the

1131
01:02:25.480 --> 01:02:28.079
way and I just try to get the word out

1132
01:02:28.079 --> 01:02:30.800
and just remove myself from it. I try to follow

1133
01:02:30.840 --> 01:02:32.400
that as much. That's why I don't give my name.

1134
01:02:32.400 --> 01:02:35.800
That's why I've always done that from the very beginning.

1135
01:02:35.840 --> 01:02:37.920
That's why on our church sign I never put my name.

1136
01:02:38.119 --> 01:02:40.519
It's not about me. It's not the church is never

1137
01:02:40.559 --> 01:02:42.360
to be about me. The podcast is never to be

1138
01:02:42.400 --> 01:02:46.679
about me. So I'm very I try to do that,

1139
01:02:47.079 --> 01:02:48.920
and I don't do that because I'm spiritual. I do

1140
01:02:48.920 --> 01:02:50.840
that because I know I'm not spiritual, and how easy

1141
01:02:50.880 --> 01:02:53.039
I can make it about me. So I love all

1142
01:02:53.079 --> 01:02:55.519
of that. Now I'm a little frustrated because I don't

1143
01:02:55.519 --> 01:02:57.480
think we're going to learn really anything about the parable

1144
01:02:57.519 --> 01:02:59.639
per se. But that is a good observation. It's a

1145
01:02:59.679 --> 01:03:01.880
parable well the sower. But the sower really is not

1146
01:03:02.039 --> 01:03:04.679
mentioned much in the text. That's why sometimes I refer

1147
01:03:04.760 --> 01:03:06.840
to it. I've been referring to it as the parable

1148
01:03:06.880 --> 01:03:09.519
of the soils because that seems to be the focus.

1149
01:03:09.880 --> 01:03:12.079
But it's the parable of the sower, and I think

1150
01:03:12.119 --> 01:03:13.800
there is a valuable lesson there. So I do think

1151
01:03:13.800 --> 01:03:14.840
that's a great observation.

1152
01:03:16.880 --> 01:03:20.079
We can all make those excuses, though, can't win. We

1153
01:03:20.159 --> 01:03:22.199
can say, you know, it's it's not a good time

1154
01:03:22.199 --> 01:03:25.559
for me right now because maybe it's like my hair's

1155
01:03:25.639 --> 01:03:28.360
not looking right. Well, I don't have to make that excuse,

1156
01:03:28.440 --> 01:03:32.840
but some people might, right, and so may If you

1157
01:03:32.880 --> 01:03:35.880
have kids, you go to the grocery store, the kids

1158
01:03:35.880 --> 01:03:39.280
are just acting like a bunch of kids, and you

1159
01:03:39.280 --> 01:03:42.880
feel embarrassed by You're like, oh, I don't want people to,

1160
01:03:43.719 --> 01:03:45.480
you know, think bad about me. With the way the

1161
01:03:45.559 --> 01:03:47.000
kids are acting right now. So I'm just I'm just

1162
01:03:47.000 --> 01:03:50.159
gonna walk away. Well, my wife has been in those situations,

1163
01:03:50.199 --> 01:03:53.239
and that's when God mocks with her heart too, and

1164
01:03:53.320 --> 01:03:55.360
leads her to somebody and she shares the gospel with them,

1165
01:03:55.400 --> 01:03:57.519
and he usually has the best conversations at those times

1166
01:03:58.039 --> 01:04:01.039
when we feel the most inadequate. It's surely when God

1167
01:04:01.119 --> 01:04:11.039
is doing the most work. We have to understand it's

1168
01:04:11.079 --> 01:04:11.760
not about us.

1169
01:04:15.519 --> 01:04:17.599
I'm just going to stop there because he only has

1170
01:04:17.639 --> 01:04:19.679
a couple of minutes left. There really isn't no more

1171
01:04:19.679 --> 01:04:22.159
time for him to do any exit. I mean, we're

1172
01:04:22.159 --> 01:04:24.199
not going to get any answers here, but I do

1173
01:04:24.280 --> 01:04:27.280
want to throw this out there. I didn't mention maybe

1174
01:04:27.320 --> 01:04:29.079
a possible way of trying to deal with a lot

1175
01:04:29.119 --> 01:04:32.519
of these complexities and difficulties, what if we looked at

1176
01:04:32.559 --> 01:04:36.719
it from a stronger dispensational perspective. And so I did

1177
01:04:36.760 --> 01:04:41.920
look up the dispensational perspective on the parable of the Sower. Right,

1178
01:04:42.199 --> 01:04:44.679
So here is what I have. I'm not saying it's

1179
01:04:44.719 --> 01:04:46.840
going to be very beneficial, but here we go, all right,

1180
01:04:47.519 --> 01:04:51.880
The Kingdom and Mystery form dispensationalists see the Word of

1181
01:04:51.920 --> 01:04:54.119
the Kingdom as referring not to the coming of the

1182
01:04:54.159 --> 01:04:57.199
literal earthly kingdom promised to Israel, but to a mystery

1183
01:04:57.320 --> 01:04:59.679
form of the Kingdom that exists during the current age.

1184
01:05:00.079 --> 01:05:02.760
This age, sometimes called the Church Age, was not revealed

1185
01:05:02.800 --> 01:05:06.360
in the Old Testament. Preparation for the future kingdom. The

1186
01:05:06.400 --> 01:05:09.800
parable reflects the conditions during the current dispensation, where the

1187
01:05:09.840 --> 01:05:12.280
message of the Kingdom is sown, but not all who

1188
01:05:12.320 --> 01:05:14.639
hear it accept it. Only some receive it in a

1189
01:05:14.679 --> 01:05:16.920
way that leads to fruitfulness, which is a preparation for

1190
01:05:16.960 --> 01:05:20.360
the future earthly millennial kingdom that will be established when

1191
01:05:20.440 --> 01:05:24.599
Christ returns. The parable also indicates the growing rejection of

1192
01:05:24.639 --> 01:05:27.280
the Kingdom message by the Jewish nation, leading to the

1193
01:05:27.320 --> 01:05:30.440
inclusion of the Gentiles and the proclamation of the Gospel

1194
01:05:30.480 --> 01:05:35.039
to all nations. A strong dispensationless interpretation would emphasize the

1195
01:05:35.079 --> 01:05:38.039
importance of understanding the present age and light of God's

1196
01:05:38.039 --> 01:05:40.960
brighter plan for Israel and the nations. The parable encourages

1197
01:05:41.000 --> 01:05:43.840
believers to examine their responses to the Gospel and warns

1198
01:05:43.840 --> 01:05:48.719
of the dangers of superficial or divided commitment. Overall, a

1199
01:05:48.760 --> 01:05:51.760
dispensational approach views this parable as illustrative of God's current

1200
01:05:51.800 --> 01:05:54.000
program in this age where the message of the Kingdom

1201
01:05:54.079 --> 01:05:57.400
is sown, but its full manifestation awaits a future dispensation.

1202
01:05:57.800 --> 01:06:00.800
So this seems to be more almost the idea, Hey,

1203
01:06:00.800 --> 01:06:04.559
this is the message of the Kingdom, and that kingdom.

1204
01:06:04.679 --> 01:06:07.360
Especially when it comes to the Jews, they they were

1205
01:06:07.360 --> 01:06:11.960
not understanding. They weren't understanding the kingdom at hand, right

1206
01:06:12.039 --> 01:06:15.559
that Christ bringing forth a spiritual kingdom. They were rejecting

1207
01:06:15.639 --> 01:06:18.800
Christ and in a sense rejecting his message to the Gospel.

1208
01:06:19.039 --> 01:06:22.440
And they ultimately rejected him as king. And they so

1209
01:06:23.239 --> 01:06:27.159
that the ultimate fulfillment is when I get if we

1210
01:06:27.199 --> 01:06:29.599
say this, the ultimate fulfillment is in Israel. They will

1211
01:06:29.639 --> 01:06:32.599
come a time that Israel. God will then change their

1212
01:06:32.639 --> 01:06:37.119
heart completely. Right, look at Ezekiel, they will with the

1213
01:06:37.199 --> 01:06:39.519
heart of stone, will be replaced with the heart of flesh.

1214
01:06:39.639 --> 01:06:43.039
That is for Israel. They will believe, and then they're

1215
01:06:43.079 --> 01:06:47.199
gonna be fruitful. Look at Ezekiel thirteen, Look at Jeremiah.

1216
01:06:47.280 --> 01:06:49.400
Look at the promises given to Israel, and and and

1217
01:06:49.440 --> 01:06:52.000
the covenant made with them. They're they're gonna all of

1218
01:06:52.039 --> 01:06:55.360
a sudden, everything is gonna be fruitful that they're they're

1219
01:06:55.400 --> 01:06:58.039
they're gonna have provision, they're gonna have plenty, they're gonna

1220
01:06:58.079 --> 01:07:01.400
have protection, they're gonna be back in the lands. So

1221
01:07:01.559 --> 01:07:04.639
is there a dispensational approach to this that just eliminates

1222
01:07:04.639 --> 01:07:08.559
all of this And maybe that's why it's so confusing,

1223
01:07:08.800 --> 01:07:12.960
because we're not we're not we're removing it from its

1224
01:07:13.000 --> 01:07:17.440
it's an original audience. I'm not saying that that works,

1225
01:07:17.519 --> 01:07:20.639
but maybe that's something we have to consider because that

1226
01:07:20.679 --> 01:07:27.280
would maybe work better than my Mark three theory. All Right,

1227
01:07:30.119 --> 01:07:32.960
we didn't we didn't really get any answers. All right,

1228
01:07:32.960 --> 01:07:37.760
we've reviewed now two messages we have. We have thrown

1229
01:07:37.800 --> 01:07:41.559
out the you know that fruitfulness connecting it to that. Oh,

1230
01:07:41.599 --> 01:07:45.039
with this fruitfulness proved salvation because because you know by

1231
01:07:45.079 --> 01:07:46.800
their fruits, you will know them. We threw that out

1232
01:07:46.800 --> 01:07:49.519
in the last message because Matthew seven has nothing to

1233
01:07:49.559 --> 01:07:53.079
do with Mark four or Matthew thirteen. It's completely different context.

1234
01:07:53.159 --> 01:07:55.480
That fruit is completely different. That's fruit about proving whether

1235
01:07:55.519 --> 01:07:58.360
someone's a true teacher or false teacher, not about salvation.

1236
01:08:00.079 --> 01:08:04.719
But if the fruitfulness is hey, this is Israel and

1237
01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:11.199
Israel's responses to the offer of the kingdom. But there

1238
01:08:11.199 --> 01:08:15.400
will come an ultimate fulfillment when will their heart will

1239
01:08:15.400 --> 01:08:19.479
be changed and then they will be fruitful. We have

1240
01:08:19.560 --> 01:08:22.640
to go go back to the Ezekiel. We won't look

1241
01:08:22.640 --> 01:08:24.000
for it now, but you may want to go do

1242
01:08:24.079 --> 01:08:28.199
some cross referencing to Ezekiel's promise of basically the new

1243
01:08:28.239 --> 01:08:30.319
Covenant to Israel where they're going to get a new

1244
01:08:30.319 --> 01:08:32.359
heart and look at the idea of being fruitful. How

1245
01:08:32.399 --> 01:08:34.439
that shows up doesn't work. I'm not saying it does.

1246
01:08:35.000 --> 01:08:37.960
I know that's going a hardcore dispensational approach to this,

1247
01:08:38.239 --> 01:08:41.159
and I'm not saying it's correct, But some of these

1248
01:08:41.199 --> 01:08:45.520
other things are clearly falling apart. It makes more sense

1249
01:08:45.560 --> 01:08:48.279
to me. Hey, the seed is the word of God.

1250
01:08:48.359 --> 01:08:50.640
You give it to everyone, and then God's word does

1251
01:08:50.680 --> 01:08:58.560
the work. Or God's word doesn't do the work. God

1252
01:08:58.600 --> 01:09:00.560
has to get the heart ready to receive the word,

1253
01:09:01.319 --> 01:09:03.439
so then nobody can do the work. And then well

1254
01:09:03.439 --> 01:09:05.840
then when good, then we get into you just get

1255
01:09:05.840 --> 01:09:08.439
an endless amount of questions that way. Oh, I hate

1256
01:09:08.439 --> 01:09:10.279
when I get to the end, and I don't really

1257
01:09:10.319 --> 01:09:12.880
know if we accomplished anything. All right, Well, I've done

1258
01:09:12.920 --> 01:09:16.359
what I can. Thanks for listening. Continue to meditate on

1259
01:09:16.720 --> 01:09:20.079
Matthew thirteen, Mark chapter four, Luke, go ahead and do

1260
01:09:20.159 --> 01:09:22.159
that work on mark three and kind of see if

1261
01:09:22.159 --> 01:09:23.960
you can kind of figure out where my brain was going.

1262
01:09:24.479 --> 01:09:29.560
Maybe we'll discuss that in greater detail. We'll see. I'm

1263
01:09:29.560 --> 01:09:31.199
gonna have to do a little bit more work on that,

1264
01:09:31.640 --> 01:09:33.600
all right, but thanks for listening. Everyone, have a great

1265
01:09:33.600 --> 01:09:36.119
Friday evening. And hey, if we can figure out the

1266
01:09:36.159 --> 01:09:41.359
metal band with bagpipes, we got to figure out what that's.

1267
01:09:41.880 --> 01:09:43.840
That's what I needed to know, all right. He should

1268
01:09:43.840 --> 01:09:46.439
have told him about Jesus and then said who is

1269
01:09:46.560 --> 01:09:48.840
this band? Okay, that's what he should have done, all right.

1270
01:09:48.920 --> 01:09:51.640
But all right, well I guarantee you I will figure

1271
01:09:51.680 --> 01:09:54.000
it out, all right. Thanks for listening, everyone, have a

1272
01:09:54.039 --> 01:09:55.720
great evening. God bless