13 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. ² And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

³ Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

¹⁸ “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. ²⁰ But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. ²² Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. ²³ But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Dear God, this will be my Bible study passage for Monday night. It’s going to be my last 30 minutes with these men to have their undivided attention. I want to use this time with them well, Father. Please be with me right now as I prepare to get my thoughts together for a Bible study for them. I’m going to slip over the Microsoft Word to plot this out and then bring it back here to the blog, but my intent is that this entire time will be a prayer to you.

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FCA Leadership Conference

• Growing up Baptist, I accepted Jesus as many as 30 times between the ages of 9 and 17.
• Some of them have probably experienced what I did back then. The need. The joy. The freedom. But now what?
• 38 years ago this week, from July 13-17, 1987, I went to an FCA Leadership conference that talked about discipleship.
• I want to share a little tonight of what I learned that week nearly 40 years ago.

Parable of the Sower  

• Matthew 13:3-9 (Page 944)

³ Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

• Path – birds devoured
• Stony places – no roots so they withered
• Thorns – choked them out
• Good soil – massive crop.

So what does this mean?

• Matthew 13:18-23

¹⁸ “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. ²⁰ But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. ²² Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. ²³ But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

• Path – The person that hears it but just has no space for it and doesn’t take it in.
  • Stones – The person who hears it but the depth of their heart is shallow, and they aren’t ready to be serious about it.
  • Thorns – The person who plants it in deep soil and takes it seriously, but they don’t want to get rid of the other things in their lives that will choke out their faith.
  • Good soil – The person who takes it seriously and weeds out the soil of their heart to ensure their faith can grow.
• Fruits of the Spirit and all of Jesus’s vegetation parables.

Who are you?

• Everyone in here is one of these categories.
  • Who are you?
  • Who do you want to be?
• Who will you be after graduation this Thursday?
  • We’ve talked about we are the average of the 5 people/influences we spend the most time with.
    • Will you be intentional about who those five people/influences are?
  • We have talked about how Saul was prone to feeling sorry for himself and that caused him to use people for his benefit.
    • Will you be intentional about fighting for the rights of others more than your own rights?
  • We have talked about how flawed David was and yet how God loved and blessed him because his faith was about serving and respecting God and not seeking his own advancement at other costs?
    • Will you willingly take steps back and sacrifice for the sake of God and others?

What is your floor?

• For those in here with stony hearts or thorny hearts, will we decide to do something about it?
• Describe what Father Mike Schmitz said in his homily called “The Floor.”
• Give them my floor and my extras to add on top of the floor:

John’s Floor

• The prayer journals. Spending 15-30 minutes a day in a concentrated time of prayer like this has become a have to for me.
• Giving. Ten percent of our gross is a minimum.
• Intentional time in conversation with my wife at least once a day is a floor.
• At least one sermon/Bible teaching a week.
• Communication and contact with at least one of the two male friends I have.
• Avoiding sexual temptation/lust.
• Exercising at least four times a week.
• Doing the things I know bless my wife like fixing things around the house, managing our money and then sharing with her what our status is, doing my laundry, making the bed, etc.

Good things added to the floor

• Church. A lot of Christians would probably disagree with me on this one. While I feel like it is important to have a church you belong to and to be involved in that church, I don’t feel like the foundation in my life is cracking if I miss a week.
• My extra writing projects.
• Teaching.
• Engaging healthily through prayer and action in my community.
• Listening to Christian music. I mix it in during the week, but I also listen to secular as well.
• Listening to Christian podcasts. Similar to music, I mix it in, but it’s a “get” to.

It’s Time To List Your Own Floor

• Hand out sheets for them to list their own floor.
• NOTE: Theirs will be different from mine as my wife’s is different from mine.
• Give them five minutes to fill out.
• Does anyone want to share?
• Find someone in your life to share it with and be accountable to them.

Close in Prayer

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Father, I offer all of this to you. My next step will be to make some slides for this for PowerPoint. Help me to know how to do this well. Please take all of this and turn it into something that will find good soil in these men’s hearts. And I pray for the hearts of some others I know and who are on my mind right now. Please guide them. Comfort them. Direct them. Heal them. Cover them in your glory. Call them to you. Give them ears to hear.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen