Sept. 6, 2024

More Seed and Soil Discussion

More Seed and Soil Discussion

We consider Matthew 13:1-23

Spreaker Apple Podcasts Spotify PocketCasts Amazon Music Overcast Audible Castro iHeartRadio Castbox Podchaser TuneIn Deezer Pandora RadioPublic Podcast Addict RSS Feed YouTube Fountain PlayerFM Goodpods Podverse Podyssey Breaker Podurama Audacy JioSaavn
Spreaker podcast player icon Spreaker Spreaker Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify PocketCasts podcast player icon PocketCasts PocketCasts Amazon Music podcast player icon Amazon Music Amazon Music Overcast podcast player icon Overcast Overcast Audible podcast player icon Audible Audible Castro podcast player icon Castro Castro iHeartRadio podcast player icon iHeartRadio iHeartRadio Castbox podcast player icon Castbox Castbox Podchaser podcast player icon Podchaser Podchaser TuneIn podcast player icon TuneIn TuneIn Deezer podcast player icon Deezer Deezer Pandora podcast player icon Pandora Pandora RadioPublic podcast player icon RadioPublic RadioPublic Podcast Addict podcast player icon Podcast Addict Podcast Addict RSS Feed podcast player icon RSS Feed RSS Feed YouTube podcast player icon YouTube YouTube Fountain podcast player icon Fountain Fountain PlayerFM podcast player icon PlayerFM PlayerFM Goodpods podcast player icon Goodpods Goodpods Podverse podcast player icon Podverse Podverse Podyssey podcast player icon Podyssey Podyssey Breaker podcast player icon Breaker Breaker Podurama podcast player icon Podurama Podurama Audacy podcast player icon Audacy Audacy JioSaavn podcast player icon JioSaavn JioSaavn

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