Productive or Not? It's up to you!

This Story was so important to God that he recorded three seperate perspectives of it to shed different lights on it!!!

Luke 8 (King James Version)

11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God

Matthew 13 (King James Version)

19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.

Mark 4 (King James Version)

20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit , some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

     There were four ground types. ONE seed. That seed was the same on all four ground types. There was power in the seed to grow and produce in ALL FOUR ground types. If there is no growth is has NOTHING to do with the seed. 

 14 The sower soweth the word.

     If I have the Word of God THE incorruptible seed and I am not producing... there is only one conclusion to make. It is MY soil/heart that is at fault! It is time to examine the soil for problems. 

1.      Wayside heart:

a.       Satan comes to steal the Word from the HEART of the one who doesn't understand it.

b.      This person doesn’t understand because they don’t want to. They don’t Value God or His Word. They don’t take the time to try to understand it.

2.      Stony Heart:

a.      This is the heart with no root…Receives with Joy but doesn’t take the time to dig deep and grow roots into the word.

b.      This is a matter of being superficial but not taking it seriously. You are glad to hear it, but you don’t turn off the TV and get into the Word to find out more and make sure it’s in deep.

3.      Thorny Heart: Choke and Unfruitful

a.      This person has

                                                                i.      Endeavored to understand it.

                                                              ii.      Taken time to dig roots

                                                            iii.      BUT

b.      Cares of this world have choked it out…making it unproductive.

                                                                i.      What will we wear, eat, drink, house… gentiles seek after these things…

c.       Deceitfulness of riches… have choked it out making it unproductive.

                                                                i.      Deceived into believing more money will solve the problem. Only God is provider. He WILL provide ALL you need, want, desire on HIS terms!

                                                              ii.      “I just need to make a little more, get another raise, get that next Tax Return… that’ll put me over…” but it doesn’t.

d.      Lusts of other things… have choked it out making it unproductive.

                                                                i.      The Pressures of other things taking the place of you time and attention in the Word.

4.      Good Ground Heart:

a.      Hears

b.      Understands

c.       Bears Fruit

                                                                i.      Some 100, 60, 30, etc…

d.      This person has:

                                                                i.      Endeavored to understand through time away from TV and distractions. Spent time studying it out.

                                                              ii.      Taken it further and Dug deep to grow roots against trends and the opinions of others. He CANNOT be told it isn’t true or doesn’t work.

                                                            iii.      Casted down ALL distractions and unproductive thoughts and activities.

                                                            iv.      Fought past every opportunity to fail and through FAITH and PATIENCE inherited the promises.

                                                              v.      Received to the degree he was able to rid himself of the thorns and weeds in all their variety!

Darrell:

What have you done in the last week that prevented you from doing something more productive?

            This includes not only bible time, but working on God assigned projects instead of watching TV.

            What Thorns are attempting to take your attention and trust off of the Word of God… His word NEVER fails. If you aren’t receiving it’s YOU! Fix IT!

DW