Becoming Better Soil

[Music] [Music] all right this morning actually last week if you remember we were talking about the process of faith talking about elements of faith and as we said most people see us as a healing ministry which obviously that is a very large part of what we do it has snowballed you might say because people saw that we got results so they started calling and then the testimonies got around and they just kept getting more and more to the point where it got to be that was a majority of what we did and then of course people started asking us to come and speak on healing and so we would go and do the DHT and that just kept growing and growing to where it kind of overshadowed almost everything else that we did now and in my mind whenever I started of course it was huge because that was the need of the moment and then we saw truth and we saw the results of it and we started sharing that and of course the natural results is when something works that it grows so we saw that part of the ministry grow but then people started seeing that is all we did and they when people talked about a say-so jejunum that's a it's a healing ministry well actually everything every ministry does is a healing ministry just most the time it doesn't always necessarily go back to physical healing it's healing in some area if somebody's trying to get better or get well or get fixed you might say in their spirit their soul or their body the emphasis on the physical healing of the body of course is what we usually refer to as healing but when Jesus referred to healing he always referred to the total person he wasn't just he wasn't just interested just in the physical part but at the same time you know if you pour water on dry ground or I should say if you pour water on the ground wherever its driest that's where it's going to go first because that's where the need is and it's the same thing with many people lives but he said yeah last week most people's too Marie needs are in the areas of physical healing because of sickness or disease and in the area of finances because that's where most people struggle and many times the financial struggle is because of the physical struggle because if you're physically in you know a bad situation generally it costs money to get out of it if you're going to go the natural route you might say and so and in saying that not actually I'm not talking about really either one of those particularly today even though what I am going to talk about can be applied to all of it but this morning and I want to take you first and most of you already know this and so we're gonna or you already know about this I'm just going to refer to it and then I'm going to get right into the message but in mark chapter 4 you'll find something both in mark 4 matthew 13 and luke 8 yep some think there for a second all three of these Gospels they're called the synoptic Gospels which means that they are you can kind of look in you find the same stories and basically all three of them and in this in this particular story this is journey called the parable of the sower which is totally wrong because the message in that parable is not about the sore it's not about the person Jesus is who it's referring to primarily it's not about him sowing the word it's really about the soil that the word is going into and the reason we know that is because he defines four different types of soil and basically we have said that these four types also show not just the four types of people in the world but these are the four types of soil into which the Word of God can go into I guess that's redundant into which it can go into them trying to straighten up my speech a little bit make it easier to understand sometimes but in all of these it talks about the soil and so today the primary thing and this has been with me for actually a little bit of time now it's just kept growing kept growing and then I heard something the other day somebody was talking about a an oyster and how a pearl is birth and I don't know if you realize it or not but a pearl comes from an irritation in an oyster whenever a piece of sand or something gets in there and it irritates the oyster tooth and it can't get rid of it so it starts to encase it with something that will make it no longer an irritant and what it encases it with becomes a pearl and so the primary aspect of that is to know this whatever most irritates you should become your pearl because it should actually become something of great value to you because it should help you overcome the irritation of it so notice you can always get rid of everything but you can develop an insulation against the irritation and that makes you a better person to give that you can't always get it rid of the irritation and say let me put it this way you can't always fire your boss all right okay so I'm glad none of my people in here said Amen okay so anyway but so when they were talking about that I started looking at this and just like that seed just like that that little irritation this idea about the soil kind of stayed with me and every time I would kind of go okay that's yeah that's interesting and I'd come push it aside it would come back again and it kept coming back and so finally I said okay all right I'm going to look at it and so I started looking at it so in it it finally dawned on me that basically what Mark chapter 4 is about is showing us the different types of soil but not just that because the real problem comes in whenever especially today see Christians especially had this tendency to depending on kind of where you come from what side of the theological spectrum you come from you'll have a tendency to and I guess I should finish the whole sense that if you come from a fatalistic background which is generally along the lines of the cow mystic thought if you don't know any of that stuff don't worry about it but all I'm saying is that many times we would look at things and say oh this is who I am or this is how I am and however I am you know that that's how I've got to be well that's very fatalistic and it says that you can't change which it goes against everything in the Bible right because the whole purpose of the Bible is to level the playing field get us into a position where we can change right and I'm not talking about you know natural change I'm not talking about the way that the world would say to change I'm talking about God recreating your spirit on the inside so there's the change so the reason people generally can't change is because they're not changed on the inside but once you get changed on the inside then the outside can be changed but if you're not changed on the inside and you do happen to change the outside that changes usually only temporary and Wolford right tell me one time he said man's way of dealing with sin is to suppress it keep it in check hold it hold it at bay he said God's way of dealing with sin is to eliminate it right in other words take it out of you and so and thereby changing you now in saying that what that means is this if we're looking and this is what came out of my study mark for Matthew 13 and Luke chapter 8 and and this may be a little slightly different look at things but and I'm not saying this is the primary purpose of that parable obviously the primary purpose of the parable is taking in the Word of God and the results of the Word of God in a person's life and it shows different types of soil but only and you'll see and I'm not going to go through all of it I'll read some of it but you're gonna see that you know in one oil nothing happened I mean nothing it didn't even receive it really some of it received it for a little while but whenever persecution came or as we would say the heat is on that it says when the Sun comes out and it burned it up that would be the heat coming on and when you're in that then sometimes it burns up because it has no root in itself in the in the soil itself and so that tells us that we are supposed to have root in our self because we're the soil and that root in our self and matter of fact you'll if you do a study on roots it's amazing what you'll see because you'll find all kinds of references to it both old and new Testament in New Testament the primary reference to root is to a root of bitterness and not allowing that root of bitterness to get in you because a root in something I'm not talking I'm talking with the natural now also that I have actually seen them no doubt you have to but I've seen sidewalks where you know how they they're formed together and a root a seed can get in there and start growing in the most fragile looking plant can actually cause that sidewalk to buckle concrete it can push it up it can crack it you know soil settling under a house can cause cracks in the foundation and say all these things are natural references just as Jesus used but at the same time you can see the spiritual implications if you don't if okay if you're not the right kind of soil it can cause cracks and damage to your foundation are you with me so far all right now and so when you but you look at these different types of soil and it started hitting me strong it just kept coming incoming of okay what kind of soil are we because you can look at the four types and go okay well what kind am i and a lot of people say well I'm I'm the fourth kind you know because the fourth kinds the only one that really produces anything and the fourth one is the only one that produces 30 60 or a hundredfold so you can see that there's three different levels of production in the fourth soil so now we're talking about soil can be there's a whole group of soil do you see you see what I'm saying you can have you know if you're maybe you're the fourth type of soil and even then you might only produce 34 and and but now what I'm getting to is this you don't have to stay there you you can become thirty fold you can become this and even if you're the dry soil you can become good soil and really that's what I really want to talk to about today is becoming better soil not allowing the world to put into your mind that whatever you are you have to remain there that you have to stay there that you can't change because you can change Amen you can make that decision chain we're going to talk about that and I'm going to show you from Scripture what it actually says about it and this may take a couple of weeks actually to go do every bit of it because I'm not gonna be able to keep you here all day in a seminar fashion so I'm only gonna be able to hit on a few things but before we go to mark for first I'm gonna read to you from second Timothy chapter 3 second Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 says and this is Paul writing to his protege his disciple Timothy and he says this know also so you can tell he's Paul was was very forceful in his writing and several things he talks to Timothy about tells him what to do how to do certain things even in this passage but here he says this know also I mean this is the very direct listen know this to make sure you get this right that in the last days perilous times shall come well okay we know from Scripture that the quote-unquote last days started literally at the resurrection of Christ right and we would even say on the day of Pentecost we could even put his four back of the day of Pentecost because he said in the last days these things will happen and Peter quoted from that scripture saying that this is that so we know the last days started 2,000 years ago so we know we're 2,000 years down the road in the last days which means it's later than you think all right so we know we're in the last days and now we can even see sons if you want to look at them that show that we are in the last of the last days now how much of the last days that's up to pretty much anybody's guess but the Bible tells us to look at things and to notice and not be unaware and to not be caught sleeping right so we're to be aware of these things now the emphasis is not being aware in the sense of you know thinking about technically when Jesus gonna return even though that should be something we're looking forward to because it says he's returning for those who are looking for his return and so we should be looking at that but not so much the day and the time but us being ready whatever he shows up that's the parable you got the parable of the ten virgins and you got the parable of the oil that were they ran out of oil and because some were asleep and whenever the the the bride when the groomsmen came and so it is up to us to stay awake and to keep oil in our lamps until he comes because we don't know exactly when he's going to come amen and so that means you have to treat everyday now those of you that have dealt with healing look at it this way in healing we tell everybody we go for the instant why because we believe it's done and it should be instant and and we keep going for the instant and if it's not this second we believe for the instant in the next second and if it doesn't happen that second we believe for the instant in the next second you saw them saying we're always believing for the instant even if it takes a period of time to get there the thing to know is that it gets there again because it is done and sometimes you may feel like you're you know trying to dig through the Great Wall of China with a spoon but how many of you know if you were inclined to do so you could do it it may take a while but you could do it right now that he is trying to cut down on that time that helps if you got somebody on the other side digging towards you all right because then it can work together so anyway don't get too far off in analogies so let's go and read verse two now he talked about perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful underline unthankful and think remember that word unthankful unholy without natural affection trucebreakers false accusers Wow like taken out of the headlines incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good here that despisers of the that are good traitors heady highminded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away now I could spend the rest of this year going through verse 2 & 3 & 4 and taking each one of these and preached an entire message on each one of these different characteristics of the last days because and I could use newspapers I could use common you know current events to actually talk about each one of these things and bring them out so there has never been a time when we have seen these things so prevalent and really in everybody's mind you might say so he says here he says to turn away from such for of this sort verse 6 are they which creep into houses and lead captives silly women laden with sins led away with divers or various lust and this is a whole other whole message right there you could go into now but look at verse 7 ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth now remember this verse because we're going to come back to it it's the this is the primary reason I read this passage ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth there is I don't know of a time in history maybe there has been just not aware of it I'm somewhat of a historian so I try to keep up with those things but I'm not aware of another time in history when we have seen people Christians that have been chasing learning chasing knowledge not and I'm not talking about just in the secular realm right I mean there there has never been a time if you go back through history it's amazing because most of the people of what we would call higher education people most of the great inventors most of the great discoverers you know explorers most of them were people of faith Christian faith right most of the scientific discoveries were discovered about of Christian faith if you go back and look it is amazing why I believe it is the the mind of Christ that was working in them to cause them to question it was God in them both to to to will and to do of his good pleasure that he would put it in them what about this what about that and caused him to seek answers and work that out in them and I believe that was the Holy Spirit working with them to help them discover great discoveries and help them bring those things in but now beyond that and and as long as it was kept within the realm of understanding that God is the giver of knowledge true knowledge and that God was the one that was birthing that then it was safe but the problem is this and it's amazing because if you look at Rome you know there's the old saying you know all roads lead to Rome and you know then there's the other saying that says rome wasn't built in a day well it might not have been built in a day but the the bricks that were laid for the roads that led to rome were constantly being laid so it might not have been built in a day and and but there was always work every day toward building roads to it now kind of follow along with me here because what it happened was because of rome because of the roads of rome information traveled quickly and those roads led to business to commerce and there was a lot of good done but the system the amazing thing is we didn't really follow the Roman system we benefited from the idea of some of the Roman systems but the system that has most captured the Western culture and the church is the Greek culture and because of that it shifted from a Hebrew culture to a Greek culture and the problem of that is say the Hebrew culture emphasized discipleship one on one relating learning asking questions but it was learning by doing while the master carpenter was building something the apprentice disciple carpenter was there watching and doing right they did that the master carpenter didn't sit in a room and just tell the other apprentice you know gather all a whole bunch of apprentice carpenter together and say here's how you build a house and tell him and didn't do it it was done by doing it would they learn by doing but generally I believe mainly because of the financial benefit of crowds as opposed to discipleship the Western culture moved toward systems of mass education and so then and it went from just you know groups you know smaller groups to larger groups to universities different things like that and because of that this Greek culture say the Greeks idolized two things the physical body and education and because of that and because of the now you know thank God that the Greek language came along when it did because it was so specific and so easily transferable and they the entire world basically spoke Greek at one time which made it really easy for the gospel to be spread so in that sense it was very good but the bad part was the Western culture took the education the learning part of it did away with a gospel part of it and idolized education and lifted it to the point where it became God and now for you to even suggest that it might not be God's will for someone to go to college that's blasphemy even among some churches and so and and I'm you know I'm not saying Pro or you know con against it I mean it's you know I would say if you're gonna go you should definitely make sure that's God's will for you don't just automatically assume because even Charles Finney is to talk about people that would assume the will of God and he said for you to assume something without seeking the will of God without knowing God's will he said that is the same thing as denying God's will and going after your own plans right now again I'm trying not to get off-base here I wanna stay on topic but in this because of this Greek idea of culture and learning we have begun began and it's in the church now it has bled over into the church you might say to where we have exalted education to where now it becomes God and many times we talk about pursuing God we talk about chasing God we talk about seeking God which are not words we generally use as a whole here we have what that implies and we do what it implies but it is not you know we don't just say the words oh I'm seeking God without having a basis of the reality of what you're trying to find you understand the difference because a lot of people say oh yeah I'm a god chaser oh yeah I'm pursuing God okay what does that actually mean you know does it mean you show up at church early and spend an hour at the altar crying begging every week because if you think that's pursuing God then you're also saying that God can't be found because you've been doing it for the last six years right and so I don't just throw those terms around the Bible says if you seek you will find and so if you're not finding is because you haven't really saw it right I think though that wouldn't go over big anyway alright so now but what this comes down to is this because of the idolization of education or I would even say of learning Abdallah JH because of that in the world in the world system that has bled over into the church because most people in the church spend more time in the world than they do in church so you're here for an hour two hours whatever it is three hours sometimes on a Sunday whatever it is and then but you're in the world you know forty hours at your job generally speaking you know plus whatever else time you're in around people or whatever so you spend the majority of your time in the world so it is almost impossible I would say it is impossible without your absolute dedication to making sure it doesn't happen it would be impossible for the world's ideas or the world's worldview all of that to not get into you make sense right it's sad but and and the thing is to have it any other way almost would require you living in some commune somewhere which of course the world would then classify as a cult which the world classified Christianity has a cult if you read the early histories of Josephus they call it the cult of the Christians right and so I'm not saying that we should be a call ok I'm not saying that at all do you see what I have to say what I am saying I have to say what I'm not saying ok so well what I am getting at is this the idolization of knowledge has created in the church now that because it's bled into the church it has created this idea in the church that what's next what's the next new thing what's and and the bad part is Christian leaders propagate this thing by saying oh the the next revival oh the next anointing oh you got to get this this new and our God is doing a new oh it's our new refreshing it's a new thing that God is sending and it makes you well they give the impression that if you don't get it you're out of the loop and you're not you know you're not with the cool kids anymore and so to be with the cool kids you got to be with you know the the newest thing that's coming around the newest freshest idea the next anointing the next breakthrough and that falls right in line with what Paul was telling Timothy that what we have to watch for is that this danger of always learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth yeah I'm also hear me well I'm not saying that we ought to be you know so satisfied and smug within our thought and ourselves that we think we have all truth right now and there's nothing more to learn right because but the real key is this there is not that much to learn in Christianity now if you get into areas of theology yeah you could spend the rest of your life learning and ever coming to a knowledge of the truth there are theologians right now that I have no clue what the truth is and if you were actually that the fact is they have built themselves into an idea or a position that if you ask her if you really looked at him they have moved away from true theology and it moved into psychology or and/or into philosophy and they were and the only reason they call it theology is because it has something to do with spirituality or something to do with God but it has nothing to do with true theology which is extremely simple and can be summed up in one word Jesus right if you wanted to take another word to sum it up you'd say it's love right but then you'd have to describe what love is a good thing with Jesus is you see what love is right by his actions because that's what he lived now you know so really there's not and you've heard me say this before and I don't want to I'm going to read this I want to get into a few points and here in verse 7 we just read as as ever learning never coming and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth now as llanes and Humphreys withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt Minds reprobate concerning the faith but they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be made shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was but you have fully known my doctrine manner of life purpose faith long-suffering charity and patience and it gets us now that's not where he stops that's where I'm taking a breath - just for a second Paul says you've seen these guys they're always learning always but never coming to a knowledge of the truth they're constantly do they withstand the truth right they argue against it and then he says but you you know and then notices what didn't notice what he puts he says you know my doctrine not and not just what I teach you know my manner of life you know what I teach and how I live it out that's where most Christianity falls short most Christianity is big on teaching big on learning but very small very short on actually living it out and it ends up with our heads full of knowledge and our hearts still crying out to really know God and because of that we keep seeking more knowledge thinking that the knowledge is what's going to fulfill us that eventually will get filled up and it'll all be good and you know the church really hasn't helped that much because it keeps propagating that idea one because it wants to keep you coming and now and I you know I'm not saying you would necessarily do any better if you didn't come if you're sitting alone at home you know if things don't change things don't change right so but now notice what he says he said you fully know my doctrine my manner of life my purpose he knew his purpose what does that mean that gets us Paul I can't prove that well yeah I could actually we could go through Scripture I could prove it but Paul had a vision statement Paul had a vision think about that he said Timothy you've known my purpose well for him to know his purpose Paul had to know his purpose for Timothy to know Paul's purpose Paul and know his purpose right and that means he had to be able to put his purpose out and he made it very clear his mission statement was very short to present all men perfect in Christ Jesus he said that that's my that's my vision statement that's that's my goal and he hittin it and he knew I will never fulfill it but I keep moving toward it amen so know what he says here then he goes in there watches he said you fully know my doctor manner of life purpose you've known my faith you've seen it now think about this so you ought to have a doctrine you ought to have a manner of life you ought to have a purpose even a vision statement saying this is my why am I here right your faith your long-suffering your charity your love and charity the here is the word it means to love without expecting to get anything back okay its unconditional love basically and then he says and my patience my consistency in all these things he said you've known my persecutions verse eleven you've known my afflictions which came unto me at Antioch at Iconium at Lystra what persecutions I endured but out of them all the Lord delivered me notice when he didn't mention well you know you remember that bad time we had in that one town and they really hated us when we got out I remember that remember that years ago he was in it he said Antioch Iconium Lystra everywhere I go people hate me people first to give me people do these things and I go through all these afflictions but God the Lord has delivered me from them all think about that well how do we know he delivered him of all he's writing a letter right if he hadn't been delivered it had been killed because he was being persecuted they tried to kill him right so he says here verse 12 yay and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution but evil men and seducers now that's evil people that try to convince other people to also become evil right shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived now what ray says but you continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of knowing of whom you've learned him see he gate he said listen the reason you can be assured of what you know is because you know who taught it to you why because you've seen my manner of life you've seen the way I've lived you've seen how I've suffered persecution how I had things done to me but I didn't retaliate you've seen that right he said and that from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus and he was not saying that your knowledge of the scripture can save you he was saying the Scriptures led you to faith in Christ which can save you be that to many people put their security in their knowledge even in their knowledge of Scripture and the bad part is too often whenever their idea of Scripture their particular slant of doctrine fails them they lose faith in God well they don't actually lose faith in God they lose faith in their knowledge of what they think was God you get that I get letters all the time from people oh you know God failed me on this Oh God them I prayed and I didn't get healed I prayed and this didn't happen I pray it and so I'm turning my back on God and as I've said before I'm the wrong person to write that kind of letter to write because I will respond all right many preachers I'm sure they just hit delete or whatever it is I actually respond to those things right and I will tell you why you're the creation and not the creator and who gives you the right to think that just because you think God felled you you don't have to live according to what he said you that because what you think he promised may not be what he promised right and now you're trying to turn your back on God and I bet I know this may sound a little strong but many people write me as if they're turning back on God was the worst thing that ever happened to God as if they would act now I'm not saying God won't miss you he may I may not but he made okay but do you understand but for us to think that somehow we as individuals are so important that us not walking with God is going to just shake the gates of heaven that is the absolute epitome of arrogance right we have to realize we are here for his pleasure amen yeah in the process of that there are great blessings that we can enjoy that we can benefit from but he is not there to bless us we are here to bless him amen and we got to get that first all right now now notice he says here verse 16 all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof here that scripture is good for reproof for correction for instruction and righteousness so that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works I charged thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine for the time will come nay he's going right back to verse 1 the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables but you watch in all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist make full proof of your ministry for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to all them also that love his appearing do your diligence to come shortly unto me for demas has forsaken me having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonica crescens to Galatia Titus and to Dalmatia only Luke is with me take mark and bring him with you for he is profitable to me for the ministry and Titus have I sent to Ephesus the cloak that I left at rest with Karpis when you come bring with you and the books but especially the parchments here that of all that stuff he said bring my cloak why because it's cold and damp here I need my cloak but mainly bring my books bring my books and the parchments now the parchments refers especially to the the the Old Testament Scriptures and to the letters that were written gather all these things together bring them all together now then he says no what's this he says verse 14 Alexander the coppersmith didn't mean much evil the Lord reward him according to his works that's pretty strong right of whom be thou we're also for he has greatly withstood our words which means what as far as Paul is concerned she was stood his words you have withstood the gospel why cuz that's all he talked about right at my first answer no man stood with me but all men pursuit me I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge now now see he kind of blasted Alexander the coppersmith and they's right back over into forgiveness right so he's living correctly notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory for ever and ever amen right now remember ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth now as I said before it's not never what we talking about becoming good soil becoming better soil all right because I don't care where you're at you can become better soil I mean I mean unless you or right now receiving 100% answers to every prayer you pray every person you lay hands on they're instantly healed right in front of you unless you're at that point unless you're operating in the floors of the mind of Christ and until everything you you put your hands to is blessed and operating and functioning and you are fully functioning in every good work until you're there you can become better soil amen now so it sits and as I've said before it's not that you don't know enough the problem is that you know too much of the wrong stuff right now why do you know too much of the wrong stuff because education knowledge has been exalted to the point where if you're not seeing results in your life you think it's because of a lack of knowledge you get that you think if you learn more you will fill the hole and once you fill that hole then everything will work right that's not true right it's not just through knowledge there has to be not just a doctrine but there also has to be a manner of life the doctrine has to be lived out it's not just knowing it most people that I know of have a lot more doctrine than they have manner of life instead what I mean by that now words their manner of life doesn't match their doctrine or what they say they believe no so the problem in the church is that everyone thinks that they need to learn more again because the entire Western civilization has embraced the Greek method of thought which is basically like I've been saying that learning or education or knowledge is the panacea for everything now if they're for instance with this what they'd say if there's a problem in your life learn more the problem will disappear when you know enough now that's in the world but it's also in the church maybe even more so in the church right true Christianity now let's get to becoming better soil true Christianity is very simple love God love your neighbor as yourself which means what do to them what you would want done to you that's sums up all of Christianity right because if you're doing that you're you're walking in love you know pretty much constantly right now Matthew 18 and that's look at this because I really want to go back to this point and Jesus made some strong statements and these are some of the things that started coming up when I started even just meditating on these along these lines here in Matthew 18 verse 3 Jesus is speaking and he said and verily I say unto you except you be converted you could even say changed at this point and become as little children you shall not enter into the kingdom heaven whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven now notice first off what does he say he says verily I say unto you except you be converted and become like this little child right now what does that mean well it have you ever noticed shorten and and I want to take you in I'm not trying to get controversial here even though pretty much anything you say if it's truth there's gonna be controversy to it somebody's gonna make it controversial and so but if you look at children and you know a poly even talked about he said whenever he was a child he was alive unto God but dead to the law and then when he was awakened to the law he could became dead to God basically I'm paraphrasing but basically the same when I was a child and didn't know any better I was right with God but then I realized I've heard about the law and the law showed me that I was wrong and that's whenever I became dead to God because I realized that my sin had cut me off from God do you understand what I'm saying here and then he said and then I found Christ and I became alive to God again right so there was this process now notice most you know it's it's commonly accepted and and there's nothing in the Bible that says this per se does it doesn't use this term but often we will use a term called the age of accountability when it talks about a child you see a child and you think until they reach that age of accountability if that child dies they go to be with the Lord and then after that age of accountability and another difference now it's a different thing now they have to answer according to whether they have accepted Christ and so I'm greatly paraphrasing okay but then we would say there are three steps in this process you're alive to God right because you don't know any better basically and then you know better and when you know better you've messed up and you're dead to God so you need Christ to cover right so can we all agree that there's there's a basic truth there all right now and that's why I'm you know if we often when we say if a child dies that then they immediately go to be with the Lord because they are pure innocent as we would say and not guilty of even what we would consider original sin right and so in that sense I know there's a whole lot of theology there and please I'm not trying to be theological otherwise we'd be here all day you know splitting hairs and really getting into details that is going to end up at the end of what I just said anyway all right so just be easier to cut to the chase so now okay so the idea here that Jesus was talking about when he said become as a little child and say we want to become childlike not childish as we've said before see childish you see a child and they they can be many times selfish you know they don't want that toy until the other child wants a toy and then they want the toy right and so there is that thing that's in a child but they don't see that as wrong there's no knowledge of wrong there even though we look at it we say it's wrong why because we know right and wrong right good why cuz we've ate the apple anyway okay so okay we have the knowledge of good and evil now so you have this child but the amazing thing about a child is this - and this I believe this is one of the reason why Jesus used children as examples and even John Lake I remember one of his sermons he talked about where he went to a house where there was a huge cancerous growth on a person's face and this child was there and the child was sitting on dr. lakes lap and they were sitting there talking and this person sitting there with this huge cancer tumor on the face and as he's sitting across from and after a little while they're just sitting there talking and this child just a little child gets down off of dr. lakes lap goes over to this person puts his hand on the Pearl on the tumor on the person's face and the person and the tumor immediately Withers and falls off right now and obviously that child was being raised right okay obviously and but the main thing about it is this and if you see a child if you go to a hospital if you take a child to a hospital let's say you've got a healthy child and you take them to the hospital to visit somebody immediately it's amazing almost at any age you will see that child will immediately show empathy immediately it'll it'll see a person what's wrong with that person when are they sick what's what's wrong weather are they hurting why are they hurting that's not that said that makes me sad to see that person that's in a child that's the characteristic Jesus was talking about that's what we got to get back to that and but see now the thing is in all of our theological learning okay see a child sees that and a child gonna go oh well why why are you sick that's not right I want to make you better what can I can I make you better a child will try to do something to make the situation better one because a child even the child hasn't been hasn't learned a system of theology a child just knows sickness didn't right a child knows hurting isn't right and and the bad part is too often we educate the child out of that to least one because if we can't do anything about something we usually have to come up with a reason oh well you see that's because that person did something that they're showing and now they're reaping they've done something to cause it or what's in if you did you know did you do to cause that what why we want to put it back and what did you do why because that alleviates me of the responsibility to help and why because if you did that now see that's that's your fault and we're really quick at wanting to point the finger and place the blame and Jesus never placed the blame why because he knew the blame was inherent in man the blame is always there for anybody for anything if you want to go that route but Jesus wasn't there to place the blame he was there to take the blame on the cross but he was there to help the person and to take the thing off of them and that's what a child a child would never look at it and look at them and go well what sin did you commit a child would never looking to go you know you know why why do you deserve this so you must have done so you'd never hear a child say that at I'll a child just wants to try to help to alleviate the problem that's the characteristic Jesus was was the one to emphasize now look at because here's the problem okay they know and I just jotted down some notes they know of that to hurt isn't right they know that just to be sick and right but then they grow up being told that sickness and hurt or normal maybe that maybe they're not being told that God did it but just that it's normal that's just life that's just what it is you know and and so they say Oh what is it gonna be a part of my life well you know it may be because that's just a part of life and now they begin being indoctrinated with the idea that that is normal right well if it was normal it wouldn't be called dis-ease right if it was normal it would not be a sickness it would be part of life right and we wouldn't even think anything about it would just ask part of life but the fact is that we have you know an industry and and institutions that are dedicated to removing it proves it's not normal that it wasn't part of who we're supposed to be I mean see you knew I'd get healing in there somewhere right you know okay his self so that's why they call it dis-ease is because it's not right and a child knows it but theologians because they don't want to do anything about it or don't think they can they end up trying to make it part of normal and then they end up and and we get indoctrinated now notice there these children and they don't have the idea children do are not born with the idea that if a person sick god is punishing them they that's not in their idea right they still until they're told different if they have any viewpoint of God it's good right no notice this they grow generally they grow out of their innocence but it's usually because they're indoctrinated by the world this is normal it's a part of everyday life or and I could say even part of some of that doctrine ation indoctrination usually includes indoctrination as a Baptist as a Pentecostal as a presbyterian as a Lutheran as a Javas witness as a Mormon as a you name it part of that that indoctrination away from innocence is into a belief system that somewhere usually ends up putting the blame on God or on the sick person for the problems now understand there is sowing and reaping and if you sow to the flesh you shall of the flesh reap destruction that's the way it is what because you can't keep destroying the flesh and expect it not to be destroyed right and so there is sowing and reaping there are these these this application of it so if you want to find the blame yeah you could find the blame if a person sick you could usually find it in something they're doing you could find something you know too much stress too much this too much that not enough of this not enough good nutrition not enough exercise something yeah all that plays into it and that's why many times we have to look to God and say we need divine intervention we need help right I can fix some of these things but overall you're gonna have to do something there I'm gone right you know I'm dead that's what it comes down to but there is also the idea that you can't prevent things by you know exercise nutrition yeah you can prevent a lot of things can't prevent everything some of the healthiest people in the world you know jogging drop dead you hear it all the time things happen like that right that doesn't mean it's right but all I'm saying is that because we we understand that if we need help God is there to help I mean he's not gonna know I'm not gonna help you because you're you know you messed up five years ago I still remember that that time you know you kicked the cat and spoke bad about your neighbor you know so that's it you know don't come crying to me now that you're dying of four-stage cancer I'm just going to turn a deaf ear because you know you said an unkind word to that cashier or whatever was right now that's not God's nature his nature is to help now will he show you there of your ways absolutely but he will help even while you're in the error of your ways amen but we have been taught and most of our learning always learning and ever coming to a knowledge of the truth most of our learning goes back to the idea of well for if God's going to help me I have to know this before God can help me and what that means usually is I have to know this system before God can help me now if you're gonna receive from God you have to believe that he is and you have to believe that he's a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him we talked that and shows you that from Scripture last week but it's not and too often especially were what I came out of you might say or what I was involved in early on in my spiritual growth it came down to my knowledge of boy I would totally I would I don't even like using this word this way and it wasn't really this necessarily but it was almost in what most people think it was was a formula that you know you'd hear here's the formula and if you follow the formula this will be the results well you could say that about anything you know is there a formula to good relationships yeah you know care for the other person more than you do yourself that's the formula basically right but now if you say well follow the formula so if you're gonna try to build a good relationship on looking at the formula rather than having the good relationship as your focus you're not gonna have a good relationship because your well I'm doing everything right you must love me you have to love me I'm doing everything right I mean if you know that doesn't necessarily engender love right so it's not just following a formula but you have to know the process but the problem is especially the groups I was around the emphasis was not always on knowing God and knowing his will and knowing his nature and character it was knowing a formula it was knowing a process it was knowing a pattern right and that's the accusations that you usually put against it is oh you know you're the mayor name it and claim it and you know and blab it and grab it I mean I've heard all that stuff right and and you know yeah you know blab it and grab it why it's yours okay just here say it and believe it and do it it is yours but the idea is that if you want a relationship with God you're not going to get it just by doing everything right why because number one you're going to mess up and if your relationship is based on you doing everything right when you mess up you got no relationship so the best thing to do is don't build a relationship on you being perfect amen and don't build a relationship on you being really messed up either all right just I'm going to show you how good God's grace is because watch this I'm going to mess up and mess up and that's up and I'm going to keep on messing up on purpose just to show you how good god is well Paul said god forbid that we should continue to sin just so that grace can about they men so God answered all that now but now notice this true Christianity is getting back to the simple innocence of a child just knowing God's nature knowing that you see something wrong you fix it you know my dad was a policeman basically all my life and so many some of the biggest criminals were caught not because I hate to say this way not because of CSI or excellent police work most of the time they're caught because of a taillight being out because they they turned wrong or they some minor minor infraction of the law that caught a policeman's eye and so he pulled him over kind of find out this guy's a wanted serial killer right and and yet they had no clue who it was but whenever they got him and they started running DNA then they you know when they arrested him they did fingerprints ago well this fingerprint matches this at this murder scene and then we got DNA so just check his DNA and one thing led to another and he ends up getting caught and I use that I asked my dad sir I said how do you because he told me several different instances where he arrested people that was strange circumstances they should have happened that way and so how did you know to stop that guy and talk to him he said we he said policeman we drive down the road and we watch and if we see something that doesn't feel right we check it out now think about that now what is that guess what that is that's God working in them both to know and to do his will you get that God works in policemen that aren't even born again why because the the Bible says in Romans 13 that they are ministers of God those that yield that that will do okay that they are ministers of his now I'm not saying they're all right right I'm not saying they're perfect I'm not saying don't make mistakes they do their humans I know I live with one my entire life I knew I know the mistakes I know the times same place and guess what when policemen have parties the cops never get called right if they get loud nobody calls the cops or if they do call the cops cops make they show up and they go in and they say hey yeah I'm just making a call letting you know there's you know you got your neighbor car and then the couple say which neighborhood which said because when I see his parked his car parked near the fire hydrant he's going to get a ticket next time so tell me which one it is they called you fifth I understand the way things work all right they're not perfect they're human and that the copy' you don't want to get in front of is the one that had an argument with his wife just before he went to work that's not the one you want following you what he's looking for something right okay anyway it's totally different you know okay but let me just say I've lived it I've been there I've seen it and and it's funny because growing up you know I'd be with my friends in a car and a cop would get behind us and they'd all get nervous on a sec normal I'm like you're acting anything but normal right now you know you're a bunch of teenage guys sitting in the car you know nobody's moving right that that will draw his attention I said you know just be normal and I didn't get nervous because I was you know number one if we weren't do anything really wrong but I know that cop is a human right and the worst thing you want to do is act weird around them all right so now I'm saying all that because true Christianity is just getting back to the simplicity of the innocence of a child you don't have to have theology you don't have to know everything it is amazing to me that most revivals stop when people get real nitpicky over doctrine almost every revival that has ever died out it was when they started arguing over doctrine or when they started getting proudful in the area of well it happened with a right and it is also amazing that the majority of revivals that have broken out have been had they have started in Bible schools what but it didn't start amongst the staff it started amongst the students almost every time why because they come they're hungry for God they come they're desiring more of God and many times they get together and because of that God shows up in a way that that meets the the hunger of their heart and so but me and then many times the staff will if they're smart they'll keep out of it but if they're not they get involved and they start trying to correct things and they correct it till it does right I mean if somebody looked at you if a doctor looked at you and said okay I'm going to fix you and I'm gonna fix you until you're perfect most of you would die before they fixed you because they would cut you to pieces right you ever see somebody with plastic surgery they fixed it till it broke you know what I'm talking about people that do so much plastic surgery that they don't even look human anymore right and and it why because they keep fixing it and fixing it and thicken it sometimes we have to realize it's not about being fixed and being perfect it's more about you being willing to be flexible enough to accept people where they are and if they want to move forward help them move forward but mainly you also have to be willing to move forward amen and part of you're moving forward is you giving other people room to move forward right anyway that's all nothing all right look so now notice here in mark chapter 4 we're gonna go through this pretty quick in mark do you say well it's too late you've already taken too much time to go through anything quick well I'll go through it as quick as we can all right how about that mark chapter 4 verse 1 and he began again to teach by the seaside and there was gathered unto him a great multitude so that he entered into a ship and sat in the sea and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land and he taught them many things by parables and said unto them in his doctrine and his teaching hearken listen behold there were out a sower to sow and it came to pass as he sowed some fell by the way side and the fowls of the air came to borrowed it up some fell on stony ground so and he got seed that fell on the wayside that fowls came and devoured it now notice it said the fowls came and devoured it now the Bible also jesus also said that the enemy comes immediately to steal that which was sown in your heart he comes immediately you get that so whatever words you hear whatever seed of the word of God you hear it is sown into your heart but if it is not taken inside it's on the it's on the wayside then the the enemy the devil comes immediately to steal that which was sown in your heart right so if you hear a word on healing usually what happens he comes immediately to try to make you sick so you won't believe in the doctrine of healing right so but that's your chance to stand firm and to stand against that thing now so that's how he comes and that's the fowls that come immediately to devour the seed the reason it is devoured is because it was not taken in to the point where it was yours you had no root in yourself of it right and that root in yourself primarily and then listen come not going to go into this very much I will in the future but in Galatians chapter 5 it talked about the fruit of the Spirit and one of the fruit of the Spirit in the King James is called temperance well in every other translation every modern translation and it's a good translation the modern version temperance the word temperance means to be self-governing right another word for it is self-control now think about this a fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life gives you is him giving you the ability to control yourself it's not him controlling you you get that the fruit of the Spirit in your life is you being able to control yourself he wants you to be self-governing but you have to understand to be self-governing you have to have the right system of government which is the Word of God so your mind has to have the Word of God in it so that you know how to govern yourself accurately you give that but so that means that part of the fruit of the Spirit in your life is that you learn how to govern yourself according to the Word of God are you with me now that's that's huge we're going to talk about this in the future because the biggest parts of your life are going to have to do with self control now I'm talking about things that you actually can help cultivate right and that is in areas of self control which includes actually three different areas primarily number one is the area of the will and determining will your will and willpower right it is a fact it's a scientific fact that your willpower is stronger in the morning than it is in the evening and that your you use willpower like you use energy right and that if you use a lot of energy now you'll develop more energy but if you use energy you run out of energy that's why your body produces more energy and that's why exercise is good because it helps you produce more energy right willpower is exactly the same thing that you will here's the thing in the morning whatever hard thing whatever takes a lot of willpower and do it in the morning right because if you wait to the evening so that's why people join gyms and they go I'm gonna go in the evening when I get off and did Jim never sees them what because in the evening that all the willpower has been spent they are they run out of it it literally runs out like an energy but you can build more but the way you build more is by developing it in the morning by resisting certain things Eve you have willpower to resist things and as you resist everything you're using it but you're also building it just like building a muscle right so whatever neat whatever you need to avoid avoid it in the morning do you that and now understand this what that means is this by the evening you're pretty much out of willpower that's why when you get home you want to go home you want to pop down the couch watch TV for several hours and do you fall asleep or whatever it is you do what but it's what you want to make sure you do is whatever you don't want to do avoid it in the evening right don't have pecan pie saying make sure it's put up before you get home right Matt you don't want it sitting on the counter right when you get home because you have no willpower and you're kind of like oh I don't need that and you know and that's just what happened like you've you've used all your willpower so willpower is a huge thing where we talking about that in the near future again and your jesus said I didn't come to much to do my own will but to do the will of him that sent me what does that mean that means that he had a will but he was also able to keep his will in check and only do what the father wanted him to do you give that so it's the same thing now the other two aspects one as I said is one of the three is willpower the other is discipline and the other is habits now habits we should well in the beginning what we talk about discipline usually has to do with some kind of punishment you're I'm going to discipline my child it means I'm usually going to punish him but it should mean I'm gonna train them correctly right discipline doesn't shouldn't mean necessarily punished it should mean to train right and it's an aversion technique all right so but you have to develop discipline and people said well you know I just don't have any discipline no that's because nobody has discipline you develop discipline how do you develop this one by starting habits habits over a period of time create discipline say people said well you know I would love to man I just want to get from morning I want to pray every morning I want to pray for this period of time I just don't have any discipline no you have to establish a habit and you establish the habit of prayer and then in the beginning it will be discipline because you have to force yourself right but as soon as you have to quit forcing yourself you can tell at that point is to become a habit because you do it automatically when you do it automatically you're not having to force yourself when you do it automatically it's a habit it's no now people are going to go oh he is so disciplined no he has established habits right and those habits now form the discipline now all these things i'm done i'm not talking about self-will i'm talking about things that God has put in and that God wants you to use for his glory and then say you can go to a gym and you can exercise and you can do it for one of two reasons you can do it so you will have energy and strength and so that you can glorify God in your everyday life so you'll be healthier and stronger and you can glorify God or you can go because you want to stand in front of a mirror and you want to pose and see if you're doing it for God that's one thing if you're doing it for the mirror that's for you and that's different right and so or is so that you can you know well I want to look better in my clothing or I want to look better better - whoo right are you doing it for you you're doing it for God you're doing it for people well what is the determining cause you understand so there is a reason you know and it's like one of the reasons and it's obviously you noted that I have started using a little bit more you know gym language and that kind of stuff in my mouth okay what I'm speaking because I do it every day now I use that language I don't go to the gym every day I'm saying okay this is Bella Nylund total transparency and honesty here okay yeah I have been training more okay I have been exercising more but that you know part of it probably the main reason honestly is just because you know next year I'll be 60 April 1st next year I'll be 60 years old I still go on mission trips we still go not always easy places right some of them include climbing and you know Hills and stairs and things like that these these awful things that people have created like like stairs and things you know you know and we go to these these really third-world countries where they don't have elevators you know so I have to climb stairs so and so I want to be able to you know when you go there I don't want to be you know you take a team of say young men with me on this trip I don't want to be the last guy in the line leaders should leave from the front not from the back amen and I want to carry my own stuff I don't have to have somebody else carry my stuff for me amen and so I want to be in shape I want to lead by example and so I want to lead from the front I want to lead going up to you know I don't have the whole team passed me means I don't want that right uh dr. Sam Robb when he was in his 70s and he was going up at 4 o'clock in the morning you know he was the first one at church usually in the mornings and and but he would have 20 year old young men they'd come back off of a mission trip and go we can't keep up with him and he was 70 years old what because they didn't operate just out of the flesh he operated out of his spirit what does that mean that means that he had used his will he had disciplined himself he used to beat on our doors you know at 5:30 in the morning are you are you up surely you're not still asleep I've already written a book this morning since I woke up and you're not even out of bed even if it's that kind of said it's like you get around that kind of and see that key is who you hang around with because if you get around people they don't want to do nothing guess what you ain't gonna do nothing what because there'll be no pressure on you you need accountability you need somebody that can look to you and go hey did you do this did you do that are you going to do this whatever you commit to that's why making things public make a big difference if you well I'm gonna you know New Year's resolution is one do but I'm not gonna tell anybody you ain't gonna do it and the reason you're not telling them is because you already have plans not to do it so you have to be able to say it and put it out there and make it public so that you'll be embarrassed if it doesn't work right but it works if you have a good accountability partner within that that's why - or better than one amen proverbs tells us that see bleed or not God was smart he knows how we think he knows how we have we function how we operate right and he has set in motion a system that works to make us better soil amen because he wants us to produce a hundredfold he wants us moving forward he wants us listen whatever is alive grows right and so but we we we have the ability to determine how we grow amen we can grow here which nothing wrong with that as long as we grow here to the same degree right now we can grow here oh we can grow here see I say that not immaculately it's like suckin now see when I start preaching really short sermons you'll know that's only because I can hold my breath for so long that means I've quit training okay you know that's one of the things we've talked about here we've talked about opening up we've got buildings over there we're not using really right now it's more storage but we're planning to open a gym over there and putting the equipment after I've got enough equipment to put in there right now that we could stock a full gym and and then open it up for anybody in the church to come to and who knows you know what else we would go from there so there's things like that that we're looking at and so what because we want you to grow in every year spirit soul and body I mean that has been the one thing that God has consistently been really just hammering away at me this entire year almost a year and a half now spirit soul and body we can't emphasize one part and ignore the rest we have we're a total being we have a total gospel for the total person and we need to understand spirit soul and body and every part of that amen now okay so here we're talking about the soil now I want to go on through you already know this but I want to go yes what do I want to go I want to go back yeah go - well actually you know what in verse ya go to verse 30 verse 30 and he said where - shall we liken the kingdom of God or with what comparison shall we compare it it's like a grain of mustard seed which when it is sown in the earth is less than all the seeds that be in the earth but when it is sown it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs and shoots out great branches so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it and with many such parables poky the word unto them as they were able to hear it and notice as I said before this parable is not about the store it's about the soil so you have to determine what kind of soil are you can you become a better soil yes all right now how can you become a better sauce so now I want to finish up here by telling you how you can become better soil there four kinds of soil only one produces lasting fruit God wants us to produce lasting fruit the Bible says when Jesus returns will he find fruit he's coming looking for fruit right lasting fruit now so this now you know right here we have a highway 75 out here and if you go north up around Allen McKinney in that area then it's amazing cuz II I'm it's probably true here too I just don't know about it here but if you look north on the right side the east side of the highway it's not good soil right that's that's what they say it's very hard soil it's not good for horses it's not really good for crops I'm not saying you can't grow crops and it's just harder yeah there's a lot more involved in getting the soil ready and so on the right side on the east side of the highway 75 you will have it's hard soil it's not good for horses it'll hurt their feet if they're on it all day long it can actually and there's there's all kind of different things too but it's the reason it's bad soil is because and this is the characteristics whenever the person told us this is bad soil on this side what do you mean by that well that means it's hard that means it's dry it's usually cracked okay and it's harder to grow anything because there's no nutrients in the soil well the reason the reason it's dry it's hard dry and cracked is because there's no nutrients because if you take good sauce so you can reach your hand down in the dirt and if it's good soil it will almost stay together what because there's moisture right and there's good nutrition in it and if you plant something it'll grow pretty easily if it's good soil now think about it obviously I'm talking about the natural but I'm also talk about the spiritual so if you're gonna be good soil you can't be hard you can't be dry can't be cracked right you you've got to have good nutrients in you spiritually so to be good soil spiritually the type of soil that produces thirty sixty and a hundredfold that type of soil has to be soil that has nutrition in it well what nutrition well obviously nutrition of the Word of God obviously there has to be moisture in it there has to be the oil of the Holy Spirit I mean I could get very super spiritual and give you all these things out but obviously has to be God working yet the word has menu the what the there has to be good irrigation meaning that there has to be good moisture in the water within the in the soil which means what the washing of the water by the word of the word right so all of this goes together it is saying if you're going to be good soil if you're going to listen to him that has much will be given so if you want to be good soil you've got to be good soil right give you an off-the-wall quote here Mohammed Ali right whose real name was Cassius Clay but anyway Muhammad known as Muhammad Ali he said you should has he said it you should be the greatest in the world and if you're not pretend you are until you are that's what he said right who was of course he self-proclaimed the greatest now what did he say he knew and if you look at in my references of course the martial art background stuff my references come from that field you take someone like the current some of the current champions Conor McGregor people like that their mentality is I have to be positive and if I have a positive mentality then that draws the positive and I can become whatever I believe I can become no that's the positive mindset that but that's in the world right but now think about it it works in the world why because the world stole it from the Bible because the Bible tells us think on these things if it's good pure holy of good report if there's any virtuous any pray what does that think on positive things even dr. Caroline leaf in her studies on the mind it shows that you can think yourself smarter if you get this if you think to yourself I'm smart you will get smarter why because you produce more glial cells which actually helps I'm not to say it helps increase your intelligence but it helps you be able to use it faster right and so all of these things go together that if you're going to be good soil you have to decide number one I can be good soil and then you have to decide you know what I am good soil how am I good soil I'm reading the Word of God I'm doing what I'm learning I have good nutrition from the Word of God all the things that God needs it to be in me for me to grow he has put there so I can grow I'm good soil the nutrition is there all it needs is a seed of the word of God in there and guess what it'll grow right and so you have that in you but if you're saying no I'm just going to read what I got here I'm trying to hurry believe me trying to hurry okay bad soil hard dry cracked no nutrients good soil soft easily tilled get that Phinney talked about tilling the furrows of the heart that you have to be easily tilled okay flexible moist rich in nutrients the seed sown of course the Word of God the seed must be watered but the water itself is also the Word of God right so jesus said one thing is needful remember Mary and Martha oh my sister she won't help me and he says how one thing is needful what that one thing what does that one thing the word she decided to hear the word that one thing is needful the word okay I'll put it this way we said this we're taught this this morning the Word of God guess what it is it's miracle-gro right the word in in you can take some pretty bad soil and turn make it good okay now the key ingredient to becoming better soil and get this you heard this earlier remember what I said one of the key ingredients of these last day these last days would be unthankful remember that ain't it funny they would say that's one of the key things you would notice that would show us we're in the bad last days is because people would be unthankful yeah you can definitely say it today but now notices the key ingredient the key ingredient the one you know when Churchill said that the the key virtue was courage because behind it it was the basis of every other virtue then without courage you would have no other virtue well let me tell you the key component of being good soil is this becoming grateful becoming thankful say if you're thinking this is what I wrote down okay first off the keen green to become better soils become is being grateful and thankful Jesus said he was leaving us two things joy and peace these two things will produce life in abundance which is what he said he came to give us right so he gave us those two things that will produce life in abundance being grateful and thankful produces positivity in your life it'll make you a positive person overall you know we say he's an optimist or a pessimist right okay being grateful and thankful destroys negativity okay you will never find a grateful thankful negative person think about this alright or a positive ungrateful unthankful person you can't do it so if you want to become better soil you have to make sure that you become a person who is grateful and thankful now these are qualities that you can cause to come to pass you can decide to become grateful one and how do you do that by becoming thankful you start giving thanks for everything in your life no matter how small you give thanks for it and as you give thanks for it you'll get bigger things to be thankful for that's what it does it automatically it is sowing and reaping and when you're thankful to God for this thing then it allows God to give you a bigger thing that's just the way it works now I know this you know I'm not trying to be you know I'm not trying to have self-help seminar here I'm just telling you that you can become better soil by choosing to be grateful and thankful for everything that's in your life right not finding the negative not finding the well you know yeah I'll win the lottery but you know if I win the lottery they're going to take 1/3 of it anyway what who wants to I even bother playing well okay I'm not for the lottery but with that attitude you ain't gotta worry about it you're not gonna win anyway all right you understand what I'm saying okay you know that's one of the people there days somebody said you don't have to worry about that person though yeah a pessimist as a person that has a problem for every solution there you go all right so so how do you you begin practicing being grateful for the little things and you have the bigger things the Bible says that God's mercy is new every day you get that new every day know in my own life every day when I wake up I gotta be honest I'm excited I'm excited about life I'm thankful that I'm not where I used to be I'm not who I used to be I meant I'm thankful I'm grateful to God I'm grateful to God that he didn't forget about me whatever I went especially do my wilderness period I'm grateful to God for everything that I have now right and and you know some people look and go well you got this you don't have that and some other way you don't have this you know that but where I'm at is a thousand times better than where I was amen and so I'm thankful to God and I wake up expecting now get this first off I expect every day to be better than yesterday that's just in me what it wasn't what it's been there most of my life I would say but after learning about God and starting to know God it's stronger than ever well because I know tomorrow is going to be better than today and today is better than yesterday and that's the way it is and now my life also proves it right so but it didn't always prove it but now so every day I wake up now the thing is do I have challenges that would make me think oh well am I going to have this but yeah absolutely listen I get hundreds of phone calls every day hundreds okay 98 out of 100 are usually comprised of a person either crying or dying sometimes both right 98 out of 100 calls or like that now some okay the other two okay at least it's sometimes the percentage is bigger it's it's from people that are mad at me right you know for some reason is they're mad at me right and it's just it's usually I killed their pet sacred cow wait so now they're mad because they don't have a you know something to hide behind right and now I've exposed their their resistance to responsibility or I've said something they didn't like or I said something I said it in a way they didn't like it people come and attend I don't like the way you said that right that's the call as I get okay in between the calls where people are dying these are the kind of calls I get or the the one that really stands out I wore a shirt one time that had a fleur-de-lis on it you know the the French thing it was a buckle sure it came from the buckle I liked it it was a pretty shirt I got it I wore it I made the mistake of wearing it on camera and all of a sudden all of the Internet see he's other devil that's a satanic symbol those are satanic symbols on his shirt that proves he's not of the Deaf he's not of God he's of the devil and I'm like no it proves you're an idiot that's what it proves okay what so now but but because of that kind of stuff when I get ready to preach that automatically goes into my mind what what am i wearing that somebody can say something about what am i what am i you know how do I say this or how do I do that because I hear it all the time now admit it when I can say is if you're gonna email me please put it in the subject complaint or something like so I don't have to read I just delete automatically right that would make it so much easier all right because I don't don't give me three paragraphs before you get to your complaint because then I've just wasted my time right so but that's what goes on now but you have to understand this is not all I do right believe it or not now understand my mind is here my mind is doing this but how many of you know I'm also human I have fan extended family family is getting bigger all the time okay which means what more family means more what more in-laws right so I got the same problems everybody else does right I've got the same problems every human has I've got the same problems every family has we've got the same problems you know things in our life I have the same problems that any person leading a multi intern or an international ministry has of dealing with because if somebody and used to it was just me if I said something wrong they write me now if somebody over there says something wrong and somebody doesn't like it they write me you know this person said that I might be able to you know lose my salvation okay that tells me nothing what who said what when you know it's just people write me that stuff and they want to complain about somebody in another country so I've got all that so all of this goes on and then but I also have to recognize what is important to be able to push aside so that when the call comes through that needs my prayer they can get results I got to be able to pray amen so I got all that stuff and I'm not complaining I'm thankful these are the days I prayed for believe it or not these was enough well that I used to pray God please give me a platform to speak from because I have a message that needs to get out that's why we've we've really kind of went over and over this is not a stage see a stages for performance this is a platform a platform is so that you can have impact and input into people's lives this is not a stage say I'm not here to perform and neither is John or any of the worship team there they don't perform they have a platform by which to impact people's lives amen and just that strange word you know just changing that word puts a difference in your mentality and so reason I'm saying is because with all the stuff I have an opportunity every day to get discouraged and I'm not saying I'd come in every day you know bouncing or and you know mr. positive I'm not saying that I have emotions I go through things with people with family with different things and sometimes I come in but regardless of where my emotions are if somebody says can you pray we can pray why because my emotions have nothing to do with my ability to know the truth of God's Word and to trust him that he will keep his word amen so no as I said I had people you know didn't like different things so we have all these things not to mention the fact that I really do care about the church worldwide so like Paul said not to mention all the cares of the churches and all that kind of stuff that's there too because we're we see the needs of the church people around me and and and honestly people around the world that want me to remove their problems of sickness disease lack hurts and so these are always them on my mind that I have to stay ready to be able to do that and I want to be able to help every person and get the answer for them I don't want to have a you know a 50/50 success rate that's not good enough it doesn't read that doesn't represent Jesus so I have to decide every morning that regardless of everything else I am going to overcome every obstacle after this side I whatever comes in front of me whatever stands in front of me cannot stand in front of me because God is with me that whatever is there every problem that God has God is with me so I know that I can overcome God has put it in me to overcome there is nothing he will allow to get before me that he has not given me the ability to overcome amen and it's not out there somewhere it's right now it's already in there so there's nothing that can stand as long as I stand right so you know and actually I wrote this down this is absolutely true if God is for me if he's for me he's for you how do I know that because I can almost guarantee you've been a better Christian than I have and then why maybe because I've had I've dealt with more Christians than you have that that that's that's the biggest the biggest drawback to ministry is sometimes having to deal with people right if you could do ministry without people I would be heaven on earth it would be but anyway so okay yeah so I have I have to decide to be happy it's a decision right it doesn't naturally occur okay no joy and peace come from within right and joy and peace now you have to understand happiness has to do with external circumstances when you have joy and peace inside then regardless of the external circumstances you remain stable and you there is a happiness there is a joyfulness you might say but you have to decide to be happy see inside you have that no matter what's going on but whenever things are going on around you you have to decide to be happy in spite of those things right because I can tell you while you're planning on being happy the devil is planning on making you miserable and you get to decide you know which side you're gonna be on are you gonna be happy all day to be miserable you're gonna let a drive to work make your day bad are you going to let you know some you know person a cashier or something somewhere that gets snappy with you or something for somebody you can let that be bet it's always important to remember everybody you meet is going through a struggle everybody you meet if they're snapping at you it's probably not you it's their day it's what they're what they have decided to let their circumstances cause them to be a certain way don't do what they do and respond to circumstances on people that make sense okay so you have to decide to have joy and peace from within not based on external stimuli such as people or things or circumstances you become better soil by deciding to be better soil now that's the best news so far right just by deciding by deciding to hear and do the word of god by getting back up when you fall down you become a better you become better soil by deciding that nothing the devil throws at you or that you throw it yourself will be able to defeat you or stop you you have to have that root in yourself I refuse to let this thing beat me amen you were destined by God to overcome all the things go read the book of the revelation it was all written to the overcomer right not to the sufferer understand now listen everybody can suffer but you get to decide if you're going to overcome and you and everything in the Bible was written to overcomers not to just feel what I deserve this because I've suffered no if that's true everybody deserves it no you everybody suffer stuff you get to decide two people can go through the exact same thing one person suffers to it the other person is overcoming through it and you can tell the difference in how they talk amen so you were destined by God to overcome so overcome make that decision the first step to overcoming is to decide to change your thinking become positive change your speaking decide to say only what agrees with the Word of God speak only positive life you get that speak only life speak only the positive speak only victory do you hear I'm saying your how under how important this is that if you change your speech you will change your thinking you change your thinking you will change your actions amen when you change your actions you begin sewing good seed that's what it works and excellence is a choice it is a habit that is developed so therefore victory is a habit that is developed happiness joy peace are all habits that are developed generally people don't start with them in place but you can develop each one of these as a habit and as you develop a habit pretty soon in the beginning it's discipline then it becomes habit then it gets easy amen and it's just like anything else it begins to snowball so that's the real key now and I think that's it I think I'm done there I think I'd better be no matter what yes I am done yes there's more but I will not on that many much more exams but we will be talking about these areas habits disciplines the willpower we're going to talk about all these things very quickly amen so now I'm going to turn this over to them there and if you need ministry they will be glad to organize that for me and then I'm gonna put this stuff up and come back out and minister to you did you get anything out this this morning you know I would I would love to just come out here and speak very spiritual sounding stuff you know you can come on oh yes right right now that's good and basic you couldn't hear basically the question is I said earlier that you're in the world generally more than you're with believers and because of that you know a lot of the world attitudes and things can come off on you if you're not adamantly have made a strong decision to keep that off you you'll notice doctors deal with life and death situations every day but they don't just walk into every situation you know in you know a t-shirt and shorts and flip-flops what they go in ready for the situation if they go in and they know it's going to be I'm going to be dealing with a transmittable contagious disease they prepare ahead of time what do they do but on gloves put on the mask they go I mean they got everything right if they're gonna be dealing with blood they even have face shields nails that if blood splatters you won't get in their eye or something like that we need to be just that wise that we know every day we know we're going to be around people there say things you know even if we talk the Christian talk like we should we know if we do that there's only people that object to that they're gonna argue with it it's gonna hit them wrong sometimes it's gonna stir up Devils let's just be honest right and it can they can cause a reaction in certain ways that is why it is so important that before you get in out into the world that you take time to prepare as we would say to make this spiritual again that's whenever you put on the breastplate of righteousness when you put on the hell now you should never take those out but you should always take time in the morning first off as soon as possible as soon as you get up at some point take time spend time with God tell him who he is to you tell him it remind yourself of every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus as you do that you are protecting yourself you're preparing yourself to go out into the world and not let the world infect you I hate to use that term but you understand what I mean right but you're able to go out into the world and actually be there and be a light in that world rather than just hiding back and putting your light under a bushel you know as I say under a basket so it is important that you spend time in the beginning in the mornings you know this is another thing and again I am the finisher but one of the key things I could take yeah I could take anyone I could take this this group right here and we could go through and I could ask you what time you wake up in the morning and what time you have to go to work or whatever it is and based on that factor alone I could determine within at least 60% how successful you'll be in that because one characteristic that every successful person has is they every one of them wake up between 4 and 5 a.m. the people that are successful in their ears that wake up between 4 and 5 p.m. most of them that's in the morning not in the evening ok so okay so what because and the funny thing is look at the military what time they wake them up between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. I don't care what branch you're in generally especially in basic and that they train you to get up early and they train you as soon as you get up what do you do you make your bed you clean your these are disciplines that will serve you the rest of your life and and it's easy the second most determining factor well if there's three the first is what time you get up the second one is who you hang around with and the third one is what do you read or listen to those three things will if I know those three things I can determine almost 100% how far in life you will go in any field you choose to go in and I can tell you since God made us that way it also goes with spiritual things say too often we listen to these things and we think well that's a self-help thing or that's a motivational thing or that kind of stuff guess why that stuff works for the world because it was first started with God right God made us he knows that the world has found certain things that that work and they've taken them from the church or out of the Bible and yet we look at like oh I don't want to do that because the world does it know at least the world was smart enough to say hey that works I'll do it we should look at and go that's what the Bible says to do there are things we need to take back right and and claim it as our Christian heritage right there's a lot of things like that personal responsibility is another one right the rainbow is another one these are things that we need to take back it's part of our Christian heritage why because they've been hijacked amen so these are areas that you can just run your life because God expects you to have discipline in your life be diligent be disciplined [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: John G. Lake Ministries

Views: 28,282

Rating: 4.8215613 out of 5

Keywords: John G. Lake Ministries, JGLM, Curry Blake, Divine Healing Technician, DHT, New Man Seminar, Life Teams, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Dominion Bible Institute, Diversities of Tongues, God's Son Man's Servant, Renewed Mind, Healing in the Atonement, Killing Sacred Cows, iChurch, JGLM Media

Id: lTApoOtLWB4

Length: 105min 18sec (6318 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 02 2018