⁴ One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: ⁵ “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. ⁶ Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

⁹ His disciples asked him what this parable meant. ¹⁰ He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:

‘When they look, they won’t really see.
    When they hear, they won’t understand.’

¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. ¹² The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. ¹³ The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. ¹⁴ The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. ¹⁵ And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

Luke 8:4-15

Dear God, I’m preaching at a local church this Sunday, and I’ve had this sermon idea running around my head for at least a month leading up to this. So I thought I would take time away from my Saul series and spend a moment preparing for this sermon.

So here’s my idea. A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to the Voxology podcast. I don’t think I could find the exact episode or moment again, but I remember he was talking about hearing a woman say, “If I take hell out of the equation, I don’t see a compelling reason to follow Jesus.” That broke my heart–mainly because there was a time in my life that I could relate to that statement. As a child growing up in a Baptist church and going to revivals and Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) conferences, I heard the question more than once, “If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would go?” Most of the times I was walking the aisle, I feel like I was doing it to buy my “fire insurance.” I am so thankful that I actually went to an FCA Leadership Conference in 1987 that taught me there is a Christian life to be lived and how to live it.

Before I go any further, Holy Spirit, I know I’ve prayed about this over the last month, but as I sit here and type these words this morning, please reveal yourself through my fingers and this keyboard. Take my mind and heart to the places you need them to go for the good of the people, or maybe just that one person, who will need to hear what you have for them through me on Sunday. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart bring glory to you and be pleasing to you, oh Lord.

So here’s the rough overview of my plan. Holy Spirit, correct me if I’m doing anything wrong:

• Start with Voxology story: If I take hell off of the table, I don’t see a compelling reason to follow Jesus.
• If we were having lunch with a friend, and they asked us this question, how would we answer them?
• Happiness study by Sam Peltzman that reveals married people are likely to be happier than unmarried people.
  • But we don’t take that knowledge and get married so we can be 30 points happier than we would be if we were unmarried. We marry for love.
• We should not enter into our relationship with God with anything other than him in mind.
• We enter into this relationship because we carry around sin, insecurity, and this hole in our heart that we are constantly trying to fill. When we find God and a relationship with him, we turn loose of that and experience a life that produces fruit.
  • Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
• How do we provide the Holy Spirit space to grow good fruit in our hearts?
  • Parable of the Sower
  • Odds are that the hearts in this room are not represented by the path or the rocks.
  • Most in this room are either fertile soil or soil that chokes out the Spirit with weeds and thorns.
• Every gardener knows you have to weed your garden and tend your soil with water and fertilizer.
  • How do you tend your soil?
• What is your floor
  • My floor:
    • Daily prayer journal
    • Faithful and consistent giving as well as extra giving
    • Intentional time in conversation with Megan
    • Hearing at least one Bible lesson/sermon from someone else each week
    • Communication with at least two male friends each week
    • Avoiding sexual temptation/lust.
    • Exercising at least four times a week.
    • Serve my wife by doing chores, favors she asks, and even using headphones
  • Things I add to the floor:
    • Extra writing projects
    • Volunteer work and praying for our community and country
    • Listening to Christian music and Christian podcasts
• Use the bulletin insert to make up your own floor

Father, I pray that this is the message people need to hear from me this weekend. I pray that there might just be one person for whom this is a blessing. I pray that out of this time people would be drawn into deeper relationship with the God who loves them and only wants to grow great fruit in them for their sake. Make this all about loving you and not about any selfish gain on our part. You are worthy of my worship and my praise. I pray that you will share that with others through me.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen