MARK 4 EXAMINE THE SOIL OF YOUR HEART2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Mark 4 Examine The Soil Of Your Heart

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, this morning as we look at Mark chapter 4, it's a very familiar account. It's a very familiar passage. The parable of the sower, or as it could also be renamed, the parable of the soils. As we look at the different soils that Jesus uses as an illustration of

for us. And he uses these illustrations to help us consider and visualize some of the truths he wants to teach us. And so I've titled the message this morning, Examine the Soil of Your Hearts. And I do want to encourage you to do that this morning. It will take a little bit of effort on your part, a little bit of

focus on your part to allow the Lord to minister to you about the state of and the soil that is contained within your heart. But it is something that the Lord wants to do. In verse 2, we find as Jesus is preaching to this multitude that he begins to speak to them, it says in verse 2, by parables.

He taught them many things, and one of the methods that he used in teaching these things was these parables, these illustrations, these things that they were familiar with in their culture and in their context to help illustrate the spiritual truths that he was seeking to convey. I like what Pastor David Guzik says about parables. He says, the parable is like a doorway. Jesus' listeners stood at the doorway and heard him.

If they were not interested, they stayed on the outside. But if they were interested, they could walk through the doorway and think more about the truth behind the parable and what it meant to their life. And as we look at the parable of the sower, the parable of the soils this morning, here we are at the doorway. And I would encourage you, let's enter into the doorway and let's allow this illustration, this parable,

to really teach us some things that we need to receive from the Lord. Let's think through what this means for us and how this impacts our lives. And so there's three parts that we'll look at for examining the soil of our own hearts to help us consider and think through what the Lord wants to reveal to us.

And so three questions that we'll ask ourselves this morning. The first question is, how many of the soils have you experienced? In this parable that Jesus tells, he gives the example of four types of soil. In these different types of soil, it's appropriate for you to consider how many of them have

Have you personally experienced, not seen or witnessed or, you know, you could tell about other people who have different types of soil, but how many of them have you personally experienced in your own life and in your own walk with God? Now, as Jesus tells this parable in verses one through nine, he gives the parable itself and then there's some questions about it. And later on with his disciples, they begin to

ask him further information about this parable because they didn't quite understand it. And so we're jumping into verse 13 now. Jesus says to them, do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? And then he says in verse 14, the sower sows the word.

As we begin to think through this parable, and as Jesus begins to explain it to his disciples, he begins to give us insight into the significance of these different elements of the parable. And so the sower goes out to sow. And he says the sower is sowing not seed, but the word. And the word of God is being sown.

sown. Now, they would have understood what that was picturing because it was normal for them to sow seed. That was part of their life as part of their culture. It wasn't, you know, that everybody was a farmer, but they were all very closely related to those who were farming and those who had fields and they knew what it was like. And maybe you sow seed. Maybe you don't. Maybe you just pay somebody else to sow seed in your yard, perhaps. But

But the idea of sowing seed was they would cast it out. And so they would have their seed and they would throw it out and it would land in the field. And we're not talking about, you know, multinational, multimillion dollar farming corporations, right? We're talking about families who would have maybe an acre. And so they would, you know, be walking through their field and casting the seed, right?

And as the seed is thrown out in order to be able to, you know, reach the different areas of the field, sometimes the seed would fall on different types of soil. And that's what Jesus is picturing here. And in this case, he says, look, the sower is the one who's sowing the word. As the seed is pictured as going out and landing in the different types of soil, we're talking about the word of God landing in people's hearts.

Specifically, considering this morning, the Word of God landing on your heart and you receiving and hearing the Word of God. I would encourage you to think back to your first encounters with the Gospel message. And what was that like? What was the soil of your heart as the Gospel message went out? In those first encounters that you had, was the soil ready for the seed to be sown?

Jesus here will go on to explain, and we'll walk through this a little bit. The wayside soil is first. In verse 15, he explains this soil. He says, In this picture, the seed is being cast out, being scattered, and some of the seed is falling on the wayside.

The wayside could also be worded as the path or the walkway. And you can imagine, you know, if you have a field that, well, getting from one side to the other, there's, you need to walk in some form or fashion to get across. Or if you and your neighbor have fields aligned, you know, next to each other that you're walking kind of that, that borderline in between. And so there's this pathway that develops as you go back and forth on the different routes to the different parts of your field.

And so the pathway now is packed down. The dirt is hard because of the walking upon it. And as the seed is cast out, well, some of the seed falls on that pathway, but it's not really soil that's ready to receive the seed. That's not really the purpose of that soil. And so Jesus says, here's what the picture is. This is those who hear the word of God and

But it doesn't penetrate the heart. It doesn't make any difference. It doesn't make a change. They hear it. They listen. But then the enemy comes and takes away the word. Just like the birds come and eat the seeds off the top of the path there. The enemy comes and removes and takes away what was sown into their hearts. And so here Jesus reveals we're talking about hearts. We're talking about the word of God being sown, being delivered to our hearts.

And some of that seed fell on the wayside. Does that describe your first encounter with the gospel? Your experience with the message of Jesus Christ and what he has done for us? Did it, the first time you heard, was it not something that really impacted you? Was it something that just sat there, that just landed? You heard it, but it wasn't received. It wasn't something that impacted you in any way, but it

It was words that were delivered, a message that was given, but it didn't last. It didn't make a difference. It didn't change things. Was that your first encounter? Or perhaps you had more of the stony soil condition in your heart. And Jesus will describe that here in verse 16 and 17. It says, these likewise are the ones sown on stony ground, who when they hear the word immediately receive it with gladness.

Here this second type of soil, referred to as the stony ground or the stony soil,

For most of my Christian life, I always pictured this soil as like dirt with a bunch of rocks in it. And you've probably experienced that if you've, you know, ever dug some sprinkler lines or something. There's dirt and then there's a bunch of rocks and it's frustrating to hit those rocks in the midst of the dirt. But that's not actually the picture that the Lord is painting here. The picture really is a large rock that covers a lot of ground, right? And then there's a thin layer of soil on top of the rock.

And that's a condition that was common for the region of Israel. And so there is this large rock that's underneath the surface that's not visible. And so on top of it, there is this soil. It looks like good ground. It looks like good soil, but it's not because there's nowhere for the roots to grow. The roots begin to grow. And so Jesus describes this as, you know, it begins to spring up. It begins to grow quickly and

but it doesn't last very long because the roots cannot be established. And soon when the sun rises, when it gets too hot, the plant dies as a result of not having the root system that it needs, not having the moisture that it needs. And so Jesus says, this is like those who hear the word and they receive it with gladness.

They hear the word and there's this quick acceptance. There's this excitement and joy. There's this jubilance over, wow, this is such great news, such a great word. But he says it doesn't last. They endure only for a time. But as soon as there is some tribulation or persecution, as soon as it gets hot or difficult, then immediately they stumble.

Pastor Charles Spurgeon says the religion that is born of mere excitement will die when the excitement is over. When it's just the emotion, when it's just the excitement, that experience that happens, if that's the limit of it, it's shallow. There's not depth there for the roots to grow. And so it doesn't last very long. Is that the kind of soil that you had when you first encountered the gospel message?

Did you hear the gospel? Did you hear the good news of Jesus Christ and get excited about it and say, yeah, like that's amazing. I accept that. I believe that. And you begin to grow, but then there was some difficulty, some challenges that you face, some persecution perhaps, some pushback from friends or family or friends

what that would mean in your life and the application of it really became real to you as you began to try to live it out and whoa, this is a challenge. This is difficult. And perhaps that first go around with the gospel message was not very long lasting. It fell on stony soil. Maybe it wasn't the wayside for you. Maybe you didn't experience the stony soil with your first encounter of the gospel, but

Maybe instead it was the thorny soil that Jesus talks about in verse 18 and 19. Verse 18 says, And so here is Jesus explains this third kind of soil.

It's the soil that has thorns or weeds there in the ground. And so as the plants begin to grow, well, alongside of it, you know, they're watering the plants and alongside of it, the weeds are being watered. And the weeds begin to suck up all the nutrients, soak in all the moisture. They grow taller and so they collect all of the sunlight that is meant for growing.

the seed that was planted. And so the good seed is choked out as the weeds take over and seek to consume the entire soil, the entire plot of land. Jesus says some people are like this in hearing the word. They hear it. They accept it. They believe it. And they begin to grow. They begin to develop and have some maturity. But then there's some competition that happens within their heart. There's not just the pursuit of

of the word of god the things of god but now the cares of this world there's a distraction that is going on there's a division that's happening within the heart and other things are competing for the resources for the nutrients for the time for the attention that belongs to the lord and those things as they compete begin to choke out the things of the lord the things that the lord has said now those who have the thorny soil they they know it's true they believe the word

But there's a distraction. There's a preoccupation with other things that keep them from engaging in what they know is right. You know, there's lots of things that you know are good for you that you don't do, right? And there's lots of things that you know are bad for you, but you do them anyways. And there is, you know, the competition that happens because we know information, but it's not necessarily what we want, right? I know this isn't good for me to eat, but...

I want to eat it. It tastes really good. And so there's this competition between what I know, what I believe, and then what I actually practice. And that's what Jesus is referring to here. Does this soil picture your first experience with the gospel? You heard the message. You believed it. But as you began to walk with the Lord, well, then your career began to take off. And there was a distraction, a pulling away from God.

The things that God was speaking to you and the direction that God wanted you to take. Or maybe it was, you know, that relationship that began to dominate your life and begin to suck in the resources that belonged to the Lord. That there was this choking out of the word that God had given to you. And a focus instead on other things that distracted, that deceived, that choked out the message. Or perhaps your experience with the gospel message that first time

Was that likened to the good soil? The good soil, Jesus describes in verse 20. He says, Four types of soil. The wayside, the path that's a hardened heart. The stony soil, the soil that has a stone below it, so it's a shallow heart.

The thorny soil, which has a lot of things competing for the position, for the resources, it's a divided heart. Or did you have the good soil? The good soil is really the opposite of all the previous three. Instead of a hardened heart, it's a soft heart. Instead of a shallow heart, it's a heart with depth. There's room for the roots to grow.

And instead of a distracted heart or a divided heart, well, it's clean of those distractions. It's clean of those thorns and weeds so that the word can grow unhindered without competition from those others. This is the good ground. It's soft. It's deep. It's clean. And when the soil is in that condition, it produces great results. 30-fold results.

For some, 60-fold results. For some, 100-fold results. Pastor John Corson points out that most farmers would consider 8 to 1 as a normal, a good result, a good return on the seed that is sown. So this is even above and beyond what's normal. The 30-fold, the 60-fold, the 100-fold results are substantial. It's amazing what the Word of God will do implanted in our hearts when we have good soil.

And so we've been thinking about these soils and considering them, particularly with our first encounter with the gospel message. And one of the pitfalls of the familiarity of the parable of the sower is that as I come across this parable in each of the gospels, my mind first goes to the gospel message, which is appropriate.

Because, well, if you are an unbeliever, if you have not believed in Jesus Christ and been born again, the first word of God to you is the gospel message. Believe in Jesus Christ. Be born again and receive the forgiveness that God offers to you. That's the word of God. And yet I would remind you this morning that the word of God goes well beyond that initial message. The sower sows the word. And that's not just the gospel, but that is...

Well, the full counsel of the word of God. That is all that God would say to you. And here we have the reminder of the word of God being sown into our hearts. And it's appropriate to consider what kind of soil have you seen beyond the initial salvation experience?

You know, the whole illustration here of sowing seed, it helps us to kind of picture and think about that farming world, right? That farming mentality and understanding that there are seasons of farming. There are seasons of sowing and seasons of growing and seasons of harvesting and seasons of letting the land lay fallow. And then it starts over again and the soil changes from season to season, right?

And things, you know, change as the weather changes, the climate changes, as different things are introduced into the environment. And I would encourage you to think through your history in your walk with God and

Think about what are the seasons of different kinds of soils that you have experienced. You know, maybe if you take a slice of the earth and you can see the different layers of the earth, right? See the different types of soil and perhaps even revealing some of the history of what that ground has seen over the years. In a similar way, I would encourage you to think about your own life. After your initial conversion, after your born again experience and believing in Jesus, right?

The seed has been sown into your heart since then. And throughout your history, throughout your walk with the Lord, what kind of soils have you experienced? Have you experienced the wayside soil? Even as a believer, even as those who have known the Lord and received the gospel message, it's possible for us to develop a hard heart. I've experienced it. Seasons of my life where seed was being sown, but I was not receiving it.

The Lord was speaking. The Lord was saying things. The message was being received. It's not that, you know, there was no message being given, but that it landed on my heart and my heart was hard. And you might recognize these kinds of seasons in your life where you have that occasion where you acknowledge that God is saying something to you. All of a sudden, it like hits you. And all of a sudden, you realize, wow, God is speaking to me. But then as you begin to reflect on that, you look back and you go, wow.

This is the thing that God has been speaking to me for some time now, but it wasn't on good soil before. I can see how God was saying this over and over and over and over again, but my heart was hard and I wasn't getting the message. And later on, I can recognize that after I finally received the message and then I realized that there was some wayside soil on my heart. There are seasons of my life that

Hey, I don't want to hear what God says because I pretty much know what he's going to say and I don't want to do that. I don't want to be told that. I don't want to be instructed in that way. And so there can develop in any of us. And if we look at our history and our walk with the Lord, perhaps we'll see that there was that season of wayside soil where the ground was packed down, where our hearts were hard, where God was speaking, but we weren't listening.

Or perhaps as you look at the layers of your history and your relationship with the Lord, you might see those seasons of the stony soil. Again, beyond the initial conversion experience that God spoke to you some truth from his word. He gave you some instruction perhaps for how you are to behave in some context or for some steps of faith that he wants you to take. And you hear that.

The seed is sown and your heart responds and you're jubilant. You're excited. Wow, God is speaking to me. And you begin to go forward. You begin to grow. But now in the future, looking back on this season, you realize that didn't last very long. What happened? As you began to consider, you look and you see that things began to get hard. There was some challenges to obeying God in that way. There was some challenges to what the Lord said and the direction he called you to go. And

In the face of those challenges, those difficulties, that opposition perhaps from friends or family, the opposition from just the difficulty of obeying the command caused things to get hot. And that word burned out because it was shallow. There was not much depth to it. Perhaps there was that occasion where the Lord said, submit to your employer.

As you're reading through the book of Ephesians and you're like, wow, this is a word from the Lord. I'm going to be a witness for him in the workplace. And I'm going to submit to my employer as to the Lord. I receive it. Yes, that's what the Lord wants. And you begin to do it. And then all of a sudden your employer asks you to do something stupid. And you're like, no way am I going to do that. Right? And then there's a whole transformation, a whole change. Because all of a sudden it got hard to do what God called you to do. Because of the shallowness.

reveals that stony soil within the hearts. Or perhaps as you look back at your walk with the Lord, you see the different layers, and you can see, you can spot those seasons of thorny soil, where you find your heart divided. Oh, you know the truth, and you know what God has said, and you love the Lord, but also there's so many other things that are needing attention, demanding time. You have responsibility for things. You have

desires for things and goals you want to accomplish. And you could see those seasons where God has spoken to you. He's given you some direction. He's given you instruction. He's led you in some way. But now looking back, you didn't continue down that path. You didn't continue to see that word grow and develop. Well, because then there was some family responsibilities perhaps, or some workplace opportunities perhaps.

Maybe some, you know, sporting events that you really wanted to participate with or some relationship that you wanted to develop and pursue with a particular individual. And these things began to compete and to choke out the thing that you know God had revealed, that you know God had spoken. Hopefully, as you look back in your history and your walk with the Lord, you also see those seasons where you had good soil, where there was some real transformation in your life.

Some real change in your heart as God's word was sown and as you received it and responded to it and it changed things and things were set aligned and set straight and corrected and established and miracles happened and there was so much growth and fruit from those times where you received and heard and responded to the word of God. This morning, I would encourage you to consider how many of the soils have you experienced?

Allow the Lord to stir up some reminders of some of the things that he's spoken to you over the years. Consider, what kind of soil did it land on? Where are you at now with those things that God has spoken to you throughout your walk with him? And as we think about this history and our time with the Lord, I would even encourage you to take it a step further. Let's narrow it down a little bit. Here's the second question to help us examine the soil of our hearts. What kind of soil have you had

this past month? Let's kind of zero in. I mean, we can look at the seasons throughout our walk, and there's been times where our hearts have been hard. There's been times where there's been thorns and competition in our hearts for the things of the Lord, or that shallowness. There's been times of good soil and good fruit. What about like recently, this past month? Which soil best describes your relationship with the Lord right now?

Which soil best pictures where you're at and where you've been over the past few weeks, beginning part of 2020. One of the ways to determine the type of soil is to get some soil samples. The Ohio State University provides a little diagram to help you do that. If you're wanting to figure out the type of soil that you have, they recommend, here's what you need to do. You need to get some samples. And to get some samples from, well, the different types of areas of your property.

You have a vegetable garden, you need to go and get some samples from there and consider that soil. You have a front yard, a backyard, you have some trees, a little flower bed, you know, go and get some samples and they provide this zigzag pattern. You want to just get, you know, and make sure you're not getting just one exception to the rest of the ground, but stagger them a little bit, get some zigzags so that you get a good picture of what's really going on with the soil that you have.

In a similar way, I would encourage you to think through your receiving of the Word of God in a few different contexts, in a few different places. Take a sampling from a few different spots and find out what is the condition of my heart over this past month or so? What's been the condition of my soil? How am I responding to the Word that is being sown? And so perhaps you could consider your personal devotional life, spending time with God and His Word on your own. Here's a

quick look at the Bible in three years, starting from the middle of January through a couple weeks of January, just a snapshot of some passages. Maybe you need to kind of go back through your notebook a little bit and think through, whether it's, you know, reading through the Bible in three years or some other reading plan that you're following. What's your devotional time been like for the past few weeks, for the past couple months? What's it been like lately? You're reading a

The word's being sown. It's being cast and falling upon your heart. What kind of condition is it landing upon? Has it been a hard heart for you in your devotional time? You're reading, like you're getting through the schedule, right? You're getting through the passage for the day, but is it penetrating? Would you find as you consider this past month that your heart is perhaps like the wayside where there's no receiving of the word? It's just the reading through it.

In Mark chapter 3, it tells us that Jesus was grieved over the hardness of the heart of the Pharisees, the religious leaders. It's interesting to consider because these guys knew the scriptures. They studied the scriptures. They quoted the scriptures. But although they immersed themselves in the scriptures in that way, there was not a receiving of it. The scriptures were being sown, but it was falling on hard hearts. And any one of us can find ourselves in that position.

Whereas we spend time with God and His Word that we're getting through it. We maybe know it really well, but we're not really receiving it. It's not penetrating the surface. It's just laying there and nothing else is happening. Or perhaps as you look at the past few weeks and consider your devotional life, you might see some examples of stony soil, some shallowness perhaps.

Have you read anything this past month that got you excited? You got fired up, you read this, oh wow, this is amazing, this is so important, this is so cool. But then a few days later, the fire has gone out. That word was forgotten. It was short-lived. It was shallow. As you think back over the past month or so, as you perhaps look back over your notes and consider some of the things that the Lord was speaking, do you see evidence of the thorny soil?

You saw some things that the Lord was saying and oh, you receive some encouragement, some help, some comfort, some edification, some instruction from the Lord and you began to live it out. But oh, then there was this competition, this division in your heart between so many things. I think that thorny soil is one that I continue to be mindful of and to battle against in my own life.

Right now, as I look back over this past several months or so, last few weeks or so, I have, of course, things going on here at the church. I have things going on in my workplace and some highs and lows and some difficulties and challenges there. I have some things happening in my kitchen, long, hard project that we weren't planning to go this long and hard, but here is this kitchen remodel that's ongoing. I have some things going on in my kitchen,

Another thing that I'm involved with is on the side, I developed a while back a plug-in that I sell online for other website developers, and I've been having some problems with that recently, some security issues. It's kind of a big deal, at least in my head. A couple thousand sites are going to be affected by the things that are happening right now, and so there's this

call this demand for attention from all these different areas of my life. I can easily find myself divided and allow things to choke out. What's the Lord saying? What is it that the Lord wants to do? You find the thorny soil, the stony soil, the wayside soil, or are you finding good soil right now in your life?

As you look back over the past month, you see that your time with the Lord, oh my goodness, the word is being implanted and God's speaking and beginning to produce things and grow things. And you're seeing things change in your heart because of the word that's being sown. I hope that's the case. What's it been like for you? But we don't want to just consider that aspect of our spiritual life and our walk with God. Hey ladies, what's Psalm 23 been like for you? Take a sample of that.

Well, what's your receipt of that? I mean, I don't know about you, but the ladies study is really transforming my life. No, I'm just kidding. No, ladies, what's happening as you're walking through the video sessions, as you're walking through the homework is the seed is being sown as you're participating in that, but what's it landing on? Do you find it landing on a hard heart that you're hearing the words, you're going through the materials, right?

But there's not much that's really impacting or penetrating in any deep way. Or would you find that it's more like stony soil? Like you hear it and oh wow, that's such a great message and such great encouragement. The comfort that we have with the Lord is my shepherd. Oh wow, it's so amazing. And then the next day I'm not comforted anymore because I already forgot the comfort that I have with the Lord is my shepherd. You find it landing on shallow ground.

Where you're encouraged, you're moved, you're motivated for a short time. Or perhaps you find it landing on thorny soil. Where it's great, you know, this Bible study is here and there's this homework that I can do, but oh, there's this division between I have responsibilities and things that I need to do and things that I want to accomplish. And there's this competition for the word that is sown and the instruction that God has given. Or are you finding this landing on good soil?

Where God is really developing in you an understanding of him as your shepherd. And you're seeing fruit. You're seeing change as a result. Now, of course, I don't want to just pick on the ladies. Hey, guys, no more excuses. Take a sample of the soil. How is this landing for you? How is this working in your life? As you hear Tony Evans, as you receive the messages, as you participate or listen in on the discussions that are happening, as you go through the homework, do you find it landing on hard heart?

I mean, you're going through the material. You're receiving the word being sown, but nothing's really happening. Or do you find it landing on stony soil where you get that quick response? You get excited about, oh, wow, the Lord showed me this. And wow, this is so powerful. This is so meaningful. But then it burns out. You're like, yes, I'm going to be the man God's called me to be. And then by Monday morning, you're a woman. Like, giving up, not doing what it is that God spoke to you about.

Or is it the thorny soil? Yeah, man, the Lord is speaking. And then, oh, this is so great. And then I get to work on Monday morning. And then it's like, but I got to get to work. Not saying we don't have to work, right? We do. But it's that battle for priority. It's that battle for the devotion, the passion, the thrive of our heart. And we allow sometimes those things to choke out what it is that God has said. And we forget. We let go of the word that was sown.

Or guys, are you finding this land on good soil? And you're not making excuses anymore. You're really seeing what it is that God has called you to. You're really working towards being a man of God. Responding to, receiving, and accepting the word that God has sown. Take a sample. See what it looks like. You might consider another sample of Sunday morning services. What's that been like for you on Sunday mornings?

Last week, we talked about the love that God has for you. Nobody loves you like Jesus. Have you held on to that this week? Did that really land and make an impact? Did it fall on good soil? Are you striving to become great? Is that something that is still a part of your life and you're working towards and you're allowing God to lead you continually in that attempt to become great in the way, the manner that he has prescribed?

Did you hear that message? Were you there? Maybe you weren't even there, so you're not even on the soil charts, but if you were there, how did it land? Did it land on hard heart? You heard it? Yeah, it was okay. You know, nice picture, but didn't really mean much. Didn't really change anything for me. Would be like the stony soil? Storny. That's thorny and stony at the same time. Maybe you have both, okay? All of the above. Did it land on the soil where you were excited about it? Like, that's really cool, man. I like that. That's amazing. And

Oh, wow, how much Jesus loves me. Oh, great. But then a few days later, I don't know if Jesus loves me. Hey, we're going to have those battles. But are you allowing that word to grow? Are you excited about it and then forgetful of it? Excited about it and then moving away from it, burning out or letting it be choked out? Are the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of the promises that are given in all the enemy's tactics and all the lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes, lots of deceitful promises given?

that will distract us from and keep us from the things that God has said? Or are you finding your time in church to be really fruitful, where God's casting out his seed and it's impacting you, it's changing you, that seed is landing, it's going deep, it's beginning to produce changes and growth, and you can see the work that God is doing. Now, again, I would remind you that

Talking about these pictures as casting out seed and the producing of growth and producing of fruit. These things take time. So not everything is instant and overnight. And sometimes there's a wavering, but then a faithfulness overall, right? So we don't have to condemn ourselves needlessly. But it is good to examine ourselves honestly and allow the Lord to bring to light. What's the condition of my heart over this past month?

As I've been walking with the Lord for a few weeks now here in 2020, what's my heart been like? Where am I at in my relationship with the Lord? Well, then finally, thirdly, I would ask as we examine the soil of our hearts, what kind of soil will you have this week?

It's one thing to look back at your beginning, your relationship with the Lord, your first encounter with the gospel, or to look at the history and the layers of soil that have developed over your time with the Lord. It's important to look at the recent past and see the past few weeks and where your heart is at. But it's important to look at the past

It's only valuable to an extent because you can't change the past. You can't go back and go back and unfail where you failed before, right? You can't go back and change the condition of where you were, but you can, as you look ahead, allow the Lord to change you this week. What kind of soil will you have this week? The seed's going to continue to be sown. God's going to continue to speak forth his word. He's going to continue to reveal himself to you and speak forth his word for you.

Take a look at verse 9 here of Mark chapter 4. Jesus says, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. There's a command here, an exhortation to stir yourself up, to listen up, to pay attention. You have the opportunity to hear what the Lord is saying. You have the opportunity to have good soil. No matter what you've found as you look back over the past few months, you have the opportunity to hear what the Lord is saying.

Whether you found good soil or thorny soil or stony soil or wayside soil, no matter what kind of soil you've had in the past couple weeks, you have the opportunity right now to make a change and to have good soil in your heart. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The commentator C.G. Mule says, the whole story thus becomes a parable of

about the learner's responsibility and about the importance of learning with one's whole will and obedience and not merely with one's head. This whole parable of the sower teaches us not so much about the way that we're receiving in the sense of how it's being given to us, but it speaks to us about how we are receiving that which is being given. There is a responsibility of the learner. You see,

Here's Jesus, the greatest teacher that ever existed. He's casting out the word and the word is falling on wayside soil, hardened hearts. And the word is falling on stony soil and thorny soil as well as good soil. So we can't make excuses and say, well, I would be really receiving the word and it would be producing fruit in my life. If only Jerry was a better teacher, then, you know, things would really be different.

If only that men's study or that women's study was, you know, a bit better. If only there was some more substance to it or better, you know, intellectually or better in some other form or fashion. If only this, if only I had a better Bible reading schedule, you know, then things would be changing and we like to shift the blame onto other things. But the reality is the seed is being sown and the quality of the seed is good. And the quality of the...

the things that are being sown into our lives from the Lord, it's good quality. That's not in question. The question is really, how well am I doing as a learner, as a recipient? I have the opportunity to have good soil. Verse 20, Jesus says, these are the ones sown on good ground. Those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit. Some 30-fold, some 60, and some 100.

The ones who have good soil are those who, first of all, hear the word. Now, as you look at the other soils, all the soils heard the word. They all have that in common. They all heard the message. They all received it. It was coming in. But again, with the example of the religious leaders, we can be receiving that with a hard heart or a thorny heart or a divided heart or a shallow heart. Jesus says they do three things. They hear the word and then they accept it. Not all of the soils accepted the word.

The wayside did not accept the word. Now, the interesting thing is the others did. The stony soil, the thorny soil, they accepted it. It penetrated. It began to grow. They didn't last. And so they didn't bear fruit. So the good soil is the one that hears the word, accepts it, and then endures so that it bears fruit. Important thing to consider for us this morning is that good soil is achievable for anyone. It's achievable. You can have good soil.

You can have God working in your life in a supernatural way and producing transformative change in your heart through the word of God. You have that capacity. It was about a month and a half ago, this guy stopped by my house with a sales pitch. Hey, let me come in and work on your lawn. I mean, I can get it nice and green and solid. I'll fertilize it. I'll plant new seed. It's going to be amazing. You're going to be so...

impressed with my results. I guarantee my results for two years. Well, that sounds interesting. So let me give you a sample. And so he calls one of his guys. They take it out and they just start to work a little patch in my yard and they're poking holes in it and putting seed in there and spreading fertilizer and packing it in. What do you think? Well, it looks good. I haven't seen anything happen yet. I'll come back and you can have me do the whole yard. I was like, well, how much is it going to cost? I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? Well, it's this much per bag and

How many of our bags we use, that's how much it'll cost. Well, that's quite a gamble. I mean, it's like, well, what can you afford? And he's trying to negotiate, right? How about if I just do half the yard? I'm like, why do I want half of my yard looking good? So we went back and forth a little bit. And ultimately, I said, no, thank you. But they still had done that work. And so I have this little patch in my yard. Can you spot it?

I took this picture this morning. Kim and I were talking about it yesterday. Like, wouldn't it be nice if our whole yard was like this? Listen, our whole yard could be like that. If I was willing to invest an unknown amount of funds and pay this guy to do it, or if I was willing to go get the materials and put in the labor myself, I could achieve these results in my yard. But you'll notice this is what my yard looks like. I've not been willing to invest.

and what it takes to have that kind of yard, to have that kind of soil. You know, in a similar way for our hearts, we all have the capability to have good soil, and we can grow abundantly in our relationship with the Lord. We can receive from the Lord incredible things, and see real transformation and change, and see Him work in our lives and through our lives.

but it will take an investment. And unlike the grass, I can't pay somebody to give me good soil in my heart. I have to put in the investment. I have to put in the labor. I have to put in myself. Taking my heart to the Lord and saying, Lord, my heart is thorny. I've got all these competing passions and desires, and I need help. Removing the weeds.

from my heart. Lord, my heart is shallow. I mean, I get excited about things for you and I get excited about what you say, but I don't have any depth and I hit that rock bottom and then I don't last in the things that you tell me. And Lord, I need you to help me break up that fallow ground and dig deep that your word might take root in my life. Lord, I can see that my heart's been hard. Your word's coming, you're bringing it forth, but it's really not making an impact at all in my life. And there's some effort there.

on our part, but there can be a change. And you know, the author of this gospel is a great example of that. His name is John Mark. He was with Barnabas and Saul on their first missionary journey, but he bailed in the middle. Seems like he had a shallow heart. Started out with them, but didn't last the course.

Or maybe it was thorny. There was, you know, he got word from home and things he needed to take care of. And so for whatever reason, he abandons the trip. And later on, Paul and Barnabas fight over this because when they want to go on round two of the missionary trip, Barnabas says, let's take John Mark. And Paul says, no way, he abandoned us. He had a shallow heart. He had a thorny heart. It's not a good idea. Whatever the case of what was happening in John Mark's life at that time, later on, he becomes Peter's companion.

Later on, he becomes Paul's companion again. It was a change. Even though the condition of his heart was one way previously, it didn't eliminate the possibility for there to be good soil now. And that's true for every one of us. Whatever we find in our history, whatever we find in our recent past, God can soften the hardened heart and he can deepen the shallow heart. He can devote the divided heart. But we need to bring our hearts to him, allow him to do the work.

And to continue in that, bringing our hearts to him, letting the word of God make an impact in us, obeying it without question, without reservation, but giving our hearts completely and over, completely and totally over to the Lord. Examine the soil of your heart. I would encourage you to let the Lord continue to reveal and speak to you about how his word is impacting your life. And so Lord, we lift up our hearts to you and you know and you see exactly how

the conditions that are there and the seasons that we've gone through and the season that we're in right now. I pray, God, that you would help us to hear your word. Lord, let it penetrate deep and make a big difference in our lives. Let it transform us. Help us, Lord, to devote ourselves and to not be divided. Help us, Lord, to dig deep and to not be shallow. Help us, Lord, to be soft and open to what you have to say. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.