CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

This is the message manuscript for May 25, 2008. I have gotten away from doing Holiday messages for some reason - not sure why. We usually do something at the beginning of the service to honor moms or dads or veterans or whomever the special day is designated for. In this case, it was Memorial Day and so we wanted to honor those who have served and are serving in our armed forces.

We began the service with a video, that honors those who have served. A casket was rolled down the center aisle with a flag on it. Some who had been in the military marched down behind and folded the flag before "taps" was played. Then one of those officers had all veterans stand and a prayer of thanks was given. Then they played while we sang: America The Beautiful.

For the message, we continued our series from the gospel of Mark.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
Mark 4:1-20

Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 4. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 867 or 885.

A middle-aged man was distraught over his wife’s stubborn refusal to admit she had a hearing problem. One day he asked his family doctor for advice how to convince his wife that she has a hearing problem. The doctor promptly told him that when he got home he could confirm the hearing problem by opening the front door and from there asking his wife what’s for dinner.
Then the doctor said, if she doesn’t answer, move closer to the kitchen. Repeat the question again, and if she still doesn’t answer, move right up to her ear and whisper in it, “What’s for dinner, honey?” In this way, the doctor assured him, she’ll have to admit she has the problem.
So the man raced home with joy in his heart and opened the front door. “What’s for dinner, honey?” he asked. His wife made no reply, so he moved closer to the kitchen and asked again. “What’s for dinner, honey?” Again, nothing was said. When he looked into the kitchen, sure enough, there she was at the kitchen counter. So, he tiptoed over to her and whispered in her ear, “What’s for dinner, honey?” She turned and looked at him straight in the eye: “For the 3rd time, I said, we’re having MEAT LOAF!”

Somebody did have a hearing problem, but the man didn’t realize it was him. The passage of Scripture we are looking at together, today, introduces us to people who had a tremendous hearing problem; and they didn’t even know it. In fact, they thought they heard and understood everything quite well. However, Jesus Christ begins to use a teaching method that will challenge their hearing, their spiritual understanding; and which will be directed at their hearts.

Mark 4:1,2 – “Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:”

Before we launch into the particular parable he used here, let’s take a moment to get the setting. Jesus had moved out of the confrontational and scholarly setting of the synagogues, and went out to the seashore by the Sea of Galilee. Last week, we found out why there were large crowds gathered and what danger that caused. Look at:

Mark 3:9,10 – “And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.”

So many people were flocking to Jesus, wanting to be healed, that he was actually concerned for his safety. So, he asked his disciples to get a boat ready; and it didn’t take long for him to need it. But, he doesn’t get into the boat to escape somewhere, he gets in the boat, to be safe and then to be able to keep teaching.

That would seem strange to most of us; and if there was such a large crowd, how in the world did they hear him teaching. They did not have the technology or sound systems we have now. Could he really teach large crowds from a boat? Before we launch into this parable, I want to take a couple of minutes to consider the setting of the Sea of Galilee.

On a DVD presentation entitled: “The Fifth Gospel: The Land and Sea of Galilee”, Pixner, a Benedictine priest-archaeologist, proposes answers to intriguing questions that surround Jesus’ ministry near the Sea of Galilee. We are going to watch a clip, less than 2 minutes in length, but one that will give you a picture of the area Jesus may have been; and a farmer in that area talks about the natural sound system that God built.

VIDEO CLIP: The Fifth Gospel: the Land and Sea of Galilee – 19:46-21:31

It was in this setting that Jesus was said to have begun teaching in parables.
A parable is a comparison. It is a common day story with a deep, spiritual meaning. It is not an allegory, where everything in the story seems to have a special meaning; but the story itself, in parable form, is a word picture of a spiritual truth.

Jesus began to teach the truth using parables (vs. 1,2)

According to the New Compact Bible Dictionary, a parable “was an effective method of revealing truth to the spiritual and ready mind and at the same time of concealing it from others.” Jesus was changing his way of communication. He had moved out of the synagogues to the seashore. He was speaking to a different type of crowd. These stories would gain tremendous interest in the listeners; but not all of them would be able to comprehend it. We will see why in a little while. These parables were not just to gain mind recognition of truth; but for heart change. The first one we are introduced to in Mark is when:

Jesus told the story of the sower, the seeds and the soils (vs. 3-8)

Mark 4:3-8 – “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Jesus used a story that people could relate to. As we saw in the video, it is possible, from the seashore, that Jesus could point to a field, where a farmer was planting seed and tell that parable. He uses a story of something they can see in present life to describe a spiritual issue that they cannot see – the work of the Spirit and Word of God on people’s hearts.

The parable is about a farmer who goes out to plant seed in his unplowed field. Some of the seed fell on the field where the path was well worn from foot traffic. It may have been from animals or even the sower himself, as he worked the fields. The seed would fall on the trodden path, but had no good soil to take root in.
The birds came and ate the seed.

Some of the seed fell on rocky ground, where the soil had no depth because limestone was so close to the surface. I have read that “in many places in Palestine there is only an inch or two of soil on top of a ledge of limestone rock. If seed falls on this ground it will grow and germinate quickly. The limestone holds heat from the sun which creates ideal conditions for seeds to sprout. But after the seed puts down roots in search of water it starves and dies as quickly as it grew. There is no substance on the ledge to sustain it.” The heat of the sun quickly did away with any growth there.

Then, there was some seed planted among thorns that had not come up yet; but they very soon did spring up and choked the planted seed. Barclay wrote: “The Palestinian farmer was lazy. He cut off the top of the fibrous rooted weeds; he even burned off the top; and the field might look clean; but below the surface the roots were still there; and in due time the weeds revived in all their strength. They grew with such rapidity and such [strength] that they choked the life out of the seed.”

And finally, there was seed planted in good soil, which produced grain, and it multiplied abundantly in the harvest. In fact, depending on the soil, it yielded 30, 60 or even 100 times the seed sown. According to scholars, back in those days a yield of 10 times the seed sown was considered a great crop.

That was the parable, the story. OK, so I know more now about Palestinian soil and farming in the First Century. But, what does this parable mean? Jesus will tell us in a few verses. But that is not what we are to know next. What Mark, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, tells us next, is about what Jesus said about why He spoke in parables:

Jesus used parables to reveal truth to His followers and to conceal it from those who rejected Him. (vs. 9-12)

He began his parable by saying: “Listen up!” and then immediately following the parable, he said:

Mark 4:9 – “And he said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

He is not poking fun at the earless; but He was saying that there were certain people with the right kind of hearing that would be able to understand what Jesus was talking about. Some time has now passed and he was alone with his twelve disciples and other close followers. They had some questions about these stories, these parables Jesus had been using.

Mark 4:10-11 – “And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables.”

“To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God.” His followers were the ones who had the “ears to hear” and who could understand the secret of the kingdom of God. The word translated secret here is the word from which get our English word: “mystery.” Over a period of time, God chose to progressively reveal His salvation plan; and over those many years, most people were not able to clearly understand it.
Later, the Apostle Paul would write:

Romans 16:25,26 – “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to [the] gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith.”

For now, the mystery was being revealed to the disciples, that this was a time of planting the seed as far as the Kingdom of God was concerned. It was not yet time for the complete harvest. Although people did not understand it in the past, now some of Jesus’ followers were given the ability by God to understand some of what he was talking about.

Those whom God had called were able to understand, to a point, that the kingdom of God was near because Jesus Christ came from the Father. Remember that Jesus preached this message to all those who would listen: not just His followers:

Mark 1:15 – “…The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

The good news of the kingdom was that God had come in the flesh, in the form of Jesus Christ, and he was THE ONE who could get them to God. Some were able to understand that; but most people did not see Jesus as the coming King; but as a common carpenter, who was a religious crazy man. They would agree with the assessment Jesus’ family gave about Him in Mark 3:21 – “…He is out of his mind.”

What was the kingdom of God? Sometimes called the “kingdom of Heaven”, it is one of those already/not yet issues in the Scriptures. When you become a follower of Christ, you are a part of the Kingdom of God, but you won’t experience it until this life is over. It sometimes was spoken of as something present; but mostly as the time when Jesus Christ would come back to Earth to rule for 1,000 years. We are to be living by the standards of the Kingdom of God now; but the reality of it won’t come until the future. Jesus overcame sin and death, but we will not realize that full victory until Jesus returns. Although there are not many of them, this is the place in Mark where we are hearing Jesus talk about the Kingdom of God, using parables. He is taking a complex spiritual issue and putting it into a common day story form. We will see more of this next week.

Let me tell you a story: There was once a boy who had a little dog named Charlie. One morning, Charlie woke up the little boy, when the boy realized he was not in bed; and in fact, he was not at home at all. He was walking in an abandoned warehouse. In that warehouse, it was dark and something didn’t smell right. As the boy continued walking, he stepped on a nail that penetrated the skin. He removed the nail and began to limp in pain. Then, he walked into some type of table that he could not see in the dark and hit his shin.

He finally found his way out of the warehouse and stumbled onto the street. He then realized he only had his PJ’s on as the wind and cold tore through him. A lady approached him, asking him for money; but he had none. Before he could even get the words out of his mouth, she gave him a push and a dirty look, saying: Thanks for nothing! He continued down the street, trying to figure out how to get back home. A car rushed by, spraying dirty water all over him. A man in a storefront seemed to take compassion on the boy and asked if he could help. The boy said: Yes, please; may I use your phone to call my mom and dad to come pick me up.

The man said that although he couldn’t let the boy in his store looking and smelling the way he did, he would make the call for this boy. The boy was pleased and gave him his parent’s phone number. The man went inside but didn’t come back out for what seemed like forever. All of a sudden, the boy heard the sirens of a police car pull up behind him, as he stood in front of the store. The police got out of the car, explained to the boy that the store manager had called them, complaining that a strange looking, strange smelling troublemaker was loitering outside his establishment. They loaded the boy in the police car and took him to jail.

After spending several hours in jail with some very scary people, his parents came to the jail and bailed him out and took him home. The boy was exhausted, in great pain and upset; was glad to finally be with his parents and be home. However, his parents yelled at him all the way home and once home, they grounded him for life.

What is the moral of this story? Never name your dog: Charlie

Why aren’t you laughing? Didn’t you understand my story – the moral of it? You are probably thinking: how could you have just wasted 2 minutes of my life! You’re right: this story makes no sense. But that is my point. The majority of people who lived in Jesus’ day thought the very exact thing about His stories. They make no sense. What in the world is he talking about? Now, Jesus knew what His stories were meant to teach; and those who “had ears to hear” understood them.
But, just as you must have thought: What is he talking about?, so did the people of Jesus’ day. But, what is even harder for us to understand, is that statement Jesus made about why He spoke in parables to the non-believers:

Mark 4:12- “So that ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

This is another one of Jesus’ statements that is hard from me to grapple with. It sounds as though God was intentionally keeping these people from understanding the gospel; so that they could not be forgiven of their sins. What? I thought the Bible said:

I Peter 3:9 – “[God]…is not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

All through the Scriptures, we read how God loves people and offers them salvation through his Son. In human terms, he makes the message simple, not hard. So, what is Jesus talking about here in Mark 4:12?

Jesus uses a quotation from Isaiah 6, in order to explain that it is about the hardness of the people’s hearts, not about God being mean.

Many of the people listening to the parables were like the people in the day of Isaiah the prophet:

Isaiah 6:9,10 – “And he said, Go, and say to this people: Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
And He may be referring to the prophecy that speaks of God’s people having hardened their hearts:
Ezekiel 12:2 “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.”
Jesus is saying that those who cannot hear the Word of God and apply it are not denied the possibility of belief, but are excluded from the opportunity of being further instructed as long as the disobedience continues. So a person may believe, but they are no longer open to instruction from the Word of God. Here in the Isaiah and Ezekiel passages, we have the Hebrew tendency to express a consequence as though it were a purpose – in effect, the message is this: go tell my message, but don’t expect anyone to listen to it. The effect will be their persistent refusal to accept what is said to the point where they have made themselves incapable of hearing it. Those living in hard, rocky or weedy soil can make themselves incapable of hearing the Word of God. Isaiah was to experience this for 40 years. This experience was replicated in Jesus’ ministry.”

You see: The people Jesus was talking about had already rejected him. So, as a sign of that rejection, he was going to talk in parables, and talk about spiritual meanings that they would not be able to understand. They were 100% accountable for their unbelief; and now, their resistance resulted in not being able to hear the clear, simple message of the gospel, even given in word pictures.

Vines wrote: “In other words Jesus comes and gives people the truth, but if they won’t see it, the time comes when they cannot see. If people won’t hear it, the time comes when they cannot hear. As they refuse to know the truth, they lose their capacity to know the truth. Jesus came so that people might have forgiveness of sin, that they might be converted. He was using the parabolic method as a wedge to open up their hard hearts, to give them opportunity to see the truth in picture form, to cause them to beget interest, to get their attention again, and to help them move on to find saving truth.

And let’s also keep in mind the truth of verse 11. God, the Holy Spirit, had revealed the truth of the kingdom of God to those who had believed. This has always been and will always be a work of the Spirit of God in the hearts of people. No one can take credit or boast when they “get it”, understanding spiritual truth to the point of trusting in Christ.

Ephesians 2:8,9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

So, these parables are all about a person’s responsibility to trust in Jesus for salvation; and that fact that the Holy Spirit must do a work on their hearts. If not, those who reject the truth will not be able to understand, repent of their sins, or be saved. We cannot fully comprehend the work of God in this matter; but we should be able to understand the human perspective and what is expected of us.
By the way, the followers of Christ were the ones who should have been able to understand these parables; but isn’t it interesting that Jesus’ own followers needed Him to “spell it out for them”?

Mark 4:13 – “And he said to them, Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”

Even Jesus’ followers had a hard time when Jesus began teaching this way. If you don’t understand this parable, Jesus asked, then how in the world are you going to understand the others about the Kingdom? So, he goes on to interpret it for them. This incident reminds us that even Jesus’ closest followers didn’t always understand what was going on or even what Jesus was trying to say. This should be an encouragement to all of us, me included, when I simply don’t understand many things I read in the Scriptures. Jesus tells us what this particular parable means:

Jesus explained to His followers that there are 4 possible ways to respond to the truth (vs. 13-20)

This is what I would call the SO WHAT section of this passage. As Jesus explains what this parable means, His followers will understand why people will respond differently to Jesus and the message of the gospel that the disciples will be responsible to teach in the future.

For us this morning, I am going to ask you to take some time for personal reflection, and ask yourself some tough, evaluative questions. Are you willing to do that? I believe the emphasis of Jesus parable, that he is about to explain, is on the soils, that represents the various heart responses of people. I want to challenge you to determine where your heart is right now, as it relates to the truths of God.

Mark 4:14 – “The sower sows the word.”

The farmer in this story is probably Jesus and His followers, who are speaking the truth of the word of God. Jesus does say that the seed is the word of God. He is now going to describe the different types of hearers of the word of God as the soil on which the seed fell. He begins with the 3 types of negative responses people were giving to the truth:

1. A hard heart does not respond

Mark 4:15 – “And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.”

I would like to apply these as though each of you represent one of these soils. Let me begin with this front section, going half way back; as though your hearts are the hard soil described here.

The truth of the Word of God is given, but your heart is so hard, it takes no root. And in this case, Satan is pictured as the birds who take away the word from your heart, the seed that is sown. So, Jesus does connect the non-believers to Satan. In fact, later, he will say that those who reject Christ have Satan as their Father, as they believe His lies:

John 8:42 – 47 – “Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Have you met anyone like this? You have shared what you consider to be the simple truth of the Word of God; and yet they just can’t get it. It is like the saying: I feel like I’m speaking to a brick wall. It makes no sense to them. In fact, they are completely cold to it. Don’t get frustrated. Jesus told you it would happen.

Is your heart hardened to the truth?
This is a good question to ask yourself. You have found ways to ignore the truths of God’s Word. For those of you who have not given your lives to Christ – you have hardened your heart so that the word of God has no effect. You blame your unbelief on science or hypocrites within the church or something else that makes sense to you. You have no desire to respond humbly to the Word of God. Can I give you this warning? There may come a time when God will give you over to your hard heart.

For those of you who are believers, we will see in the next several weeks that it is not only non-believers who can have a hard heart – we can as well. Some of you haven’t humbled yourself to God and his word for years. You think you know all you need to know; and you have lived in spiritual pride. You can’t remember the last time you cried over your own sin. You are not humbly walking with God. You hear the Word of God often, but it has been a long time since it had an impact on your heart.

As soon as the Word is spoken, you begin to think in a critical way, and how it needs to be applied to someone else, but has nothing to do with you. I can’t convince you. Only the Holy Spirit can soften your heart and help you to repent of your hard heart. Could this describe you? Let’s move on to the back section on this side; and let’s say you represent the 2nd soil: another possible heart response.

2. A shallow heart does not make long-lasting commitments

This second kind of soil, this second kind of heart makes an initial response that seems genuine. There is a lot of excitement:

Mark 4:16,17 – “And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.”

The testing of your commitment demonstrates that you were not truly believers. Many who followed Jesus were exactly like this. They seemed very excited while Jesus was doing his miracles and healing everyone. But, there came a time when he began to make demands; that is, when he explained to them the commitment they were going to make if they were to truly follow Him:

Luke 9:57-62 – “As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. To another he said, Follow me. But he said, lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Many showed interest, as though they were good soil; but when the realization of the costs of following Christ came, they showed themselves to be rocky ground. Jesus said: if you follow me, you may not have security. In fact, I may ask you to leave the country to follow me. You must place me above family. You must set aside your old way of living before you came to me, and you must live your new life, wholly dedicated to my kingdom. You must be willing to tell others about me and how they can get to God.

So, do you have a rocky heart? You’ve seen this haven’t you? Someone is very enthusiastic about the message of truth and following Christ. But, when the trials come, and their faith is tested, they abandon it, and go back to trusting in themselves. They didn’t count the cost of following Christ; and may not have been saved in the first place. What about you? Did you demonstrate a great desire at some point, but have never committed yourself to Christ? What is keeping you from doing so? It may be that your heart is rocky soil; and unless you humble yourself, you will think you are ok with God because you said some prayer when you were a kid. You may find out too late that the Word of truth never penetrated your heart.

Now, remember, just because you fail God or even doubt at times doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t a Christian. Consider the disciples themselves. They all failed Jesus – all the time. And near the end, they all fled. In fact, the leader, Peter, denied that he even knew Christ. Were they still Christians? Yes. But, in Jesus parable, he was explaining how many people would show good signs at first, but were not truly children of the Kingdom of God. There is a 3rd soil, a 3rd response.

3. A divided heart has other priorities

Let me talk now to this back section. Jesus described a third way that people had been responding to the truth about Him.

Mark 4:18,19 – “And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

This group seemed to be followers. They hung around longer. They sounded good. They looked good. But there were 3 competing things that eventually stole their heart away, and showed them to be pretenders. They had great intentions but did not make the lasting, true commitment to Christ.
Some of them left because of the cares of the world. Things were tough. They became involved in politics instead or saving the whales or coaching sports teams. These things could have been good, but their concerns for the things of this life overtook their desire for Christ and living for Him. Others were deceived by the pursuit of wealth. They bought into the concept that money solves all problems; and what you really need is more money and more stuff. So, in order to pursue more and more, they had to put aside their full commitment to Christ and the kingdom of God. They no longer heeded Christ’s words:

Matthew 6:33 – “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

And still others allowed other interests, other relationships, to take over their lives. They no longer were dreaming of how to accomplish great things for Christ; and that was replaced with accomplishing great things for themselves. They showed themselves not to be thorn ridden soil.

They have a divided heart. It is like the heart of the girl to which a young man once proposed. He said, “Darling, I want you to know that I love you more than anything else in the world. I want you to marry me. I’m not rich. I don’t have a yacht or a summer home or a sports car like Johnny Brown, but I do love you with all my heart.” She thought for a minute and replied, “I love you with all my heart, too, but tell me more about Johnny Brown.”

Do you know people like this? Everything looked good. It looked like they were devoted to Christ; but then other things, other concerns became more important to them. Perhaps they never truly committed themselves to Christ. Or, you could be truly saved, but living like a non-believer – if your heart is like this non-believer. You have all the signs of a follower, except for the fact that you are more committed to this life, the accumulation of stuff, having fun, money, security for the future. Could this be true of you? Then Jesus gives one more option and let’s pretend that this group up front represents this response.

4. A devoted heart humbly receives the truth and produces a spiritual harvest

Spiritual maturity it is not about how much you know, how often you go to church or how good you look on the outside. Sometimes, children are able to understand biblical concepts better than adults. Spiritual maturity is connected to a humble heart, no matter how old you are or how long you have been a Christian.
This kind of heart, represented by this good soil, is about a heart that has responded to the truth:

Mark 4:20 – “But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

These are the hearts that humble themselves, accept the word of truth and then apply it.

James 1:21,22 – “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your soul. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

True Christianity is going to result in action. You can argue all day about how you believe a person is saved because they said a prayer; but in the Bible, the emphasis is on fruit and the harvest. When we evaluate ourselves, we should see Christ continuing to work in us, using us to make a difference for Him. As the book of James points out, although works do not save us, faith without the corresponding fruit of works, is a dead faith.

When you came to Jesus Christ, you had to come as a child, completely believing everything He said, giving yourself to Him completely. That true commitment is borne out over time as you bear fruit by investing in other people’s lives in some way.

Walvoord and Zuck: “Giving out the news of God’s kingdom is like sowing seed on various kinds of soil. At Jesus’ first coming and in the present Age the kingdom is largely veiled in the face of satanic opposition and human unbelief. But despite this, God’s rule takes hold in those who accept Jesus’ message and His rule manifests itself in spiritual fruitfulness. But God’s kingdom will be openly established on earth at Jesus’ second coming with a glory yet undisclosed. Then there will be an abundant harvest. Thus the parable displayed god’s kingdom as both present but veiled and future but openly glorious.”

If you have this kind of heart, the good soil that Jesus describes, then when you hear the Word of God, you are willing to accept it. And it isn’t just about accumulating knowledge. Your heart is sensitive to God’s Spirit. You cry out for Him to change you and to lead you. And when His Spirit reveals something to you, you carry it out in your life. And when you fail, as you often will, you confess your sins and get your heart right. It is your desire to live for Jesus Christ, to know Him, to grow in Him; and to direct other people to Him. Does this reflect your heart?

Let’s Pray.