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Jeff Fry
  - Joined on 07-31-2006
- Lichfield, UK
- Posts 237
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4 - Exploring Faith: What Can Keep Us from the Kingdom of God?
4 - Exploring Faith: What Can Keep Us from the Kingdom?
by Jeff Fry NIV Luke 8:4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." When he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, "'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.' 11 "This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
I. Intro
A. In the Exploring Faith series we have already looked at New Testament passages that asked:
B. Today we look at a parable of Jesus that forces puts before us a question that should challenge us.
1. We will look at the parable of the sower
2. Let's read it in Luke 8:4-15 and see what question it asks us
II. Which Person are You?
A. State
1. Taking a look at the passage
a) Who told the parable?
b) To whom was he speaking?
c) Who was the main character of the parable?
d) What was the sower doing?
e) Where did the seed fall?
f) What kind of different soils were there?
g) What did Jesus say the parable meant?
(1) what did the seed represent (God's word)?
(2) who does the sower then represent (God)?
(3) what/who do the various soils represent (people)? Let's look at this more closely …
2. The different kinds of soils:
a) soil #1 - hard soil:
(1) What kind of person does this soil represent?
(a) a person with hardness of heart - when the person hears the message their hard heart prevents the truth from penetrating and taking root
(b) this soil represents the person who hears the word of God
(c) does not understand & does not believe it
(d) and in this way Satan snatches the seed/word away
(2) What can keep us from the kingdom of God?
(a) hardness of heart - hearing the word .
(b) Satan then comes and snatches it away before they really understand it.(i) It's important to know how Satan works. The Bible calls him a liar and he tries to get us to believe what is false prevents us from believing God's Word which is the truth.(ii) If you start to get close to understanding the word of God, the truth, then Satan starts to do everything to suppress the truth so that you don't respond to it.(iii) NIV 2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.(iv) All through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation we read about the battle between good and evil, between believer and Satan. (v) Satan everywhere tries to block the seed of faith and prevent it from taking root and blooming like it should.
b) soil #2 - rocky soil:
(1) What kind of person does this soil represent?
(a) a person of shallow faith - this person's faith is shallow and thin. It starts well ("with joy") but never deepens or matures and therefore it is only temporary and soon falls away.
(b) this soil represents the person who hears the word of God
(c) understands and believes it for a while only
(d) they "fall away" or disbelieve when difficulties come because of believing the word of God
(2) What can keep us from the kingdom of God?
(a) Shallowness - a lack of maturity and depth with regard to faith.(i) if a new believer doesn't nurture faith so that it grows then it is in danger of shriveling and dying just like a new seedling will without water and a developed root system.(ii) it's quite easy as a believe to stagnate in one's faith. One way we've responded to this as a church is to have "Growth Groups" during the week where we can meet together to deepen our faith through prayer and Bible study. They exist to "encourage one another toward love and good deeds" (Hebrews) and they enable believers to go deeper and provide a means of accountability.
(b) Illustration: persecution can easily kill a weak faith just like sun can easily kill a seedling which does not have deep roots?(i) persecution such as ridicule for believing in God is still alive and well. An example of such persecution recently came to my attention.(a) This month the Director of Education at the Royal Society, prof. Michael Reiss, has stepped down 'by mutual agreement' after the press reported he had called for creationism to be taught in school science. Professor Reiss was an ordained clergyman with the church of England. His views were known to the society when it hired him.(b) It seems that he never actually called for it to be taught but his mention of it was enough for the RS and they dismissed them.(c) This is an example of persecution for believing the word of God that says God directly made man and woman.
(c) Application: what are you doing to grow and strengthen your children's faith?(i) One day they will leave the nest so to speak and they will leave it either with a strong, deep faith or a weak, shallow faith.(ii) One goal of our children's program is to provide a solid, spiritual foundation for the children in the church so that when they leave for university or the work place and encounter pressures on their faith they will be able to stand up under it without losing their faith.
c) Soil #3 - thorny soil
(1) What kind of person does this soil represent?
(a) distracted - this soil is a person who is too distracted by the worries, pleasures or riches of this world to care about God.
(b) this soil represents the person who hears the word of God
(c) but at some point in their spiritual journey of faith they allow their desires for other things to crowd out God
(2) What can keep us from the kingdom of God?
(a) a divided heart that puts the things of this world before God - it worries too much about matters of this life and very little about God (i) Christ said, " NIV Matthew 6:31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
(b) The Big Three - Money, Sex, & Power(i) Let's take money as that has been in the news lately with the big credit crunch in America. The collapse of the investment banking industry in America comes down to greed - plain and simple. Greedy mortgage lenders lent money to greedy people who wanted a house bigger than they could afford. The greedy mortgage lenders didn't tell them that because they wanted their money. And those taking out the mortgages didn't really want to know - they just wanted the big house. (ii) Jesus warned us about this - Matthew 6:33 which we just read basically says don't be greedy for things that you need, but be greedy for God and His kingdom - not YOUR kingdom!!(iii) Jesus is saying, that the happiness of owning a big home is like a grain of sand whereas the happiness of seeking and knowing God is like the beach on a warm, sunny day (all the grains put together). So, seek the beach, not the grain of sand!
d) Soil #4 - good soil
(1) What kind of person does this soil represent?
(a) receptive - a person receptive to God's truth such that they give God control and open themselves to Him so that they produce fruit
(b) hears (i.e. understands) the word
(c) accepts the word and holds it fast in an honest and good heart
(d) bears fruit (100x , 60x , and 30x)
(2) What can keep us from the kingdom?
(a) We should avoid being unfruitful
(b) Spiritual fruit is well described in Galatians 5:22-23 which says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
III. Conclusion
A. which soil best describes you?
1. hard
2. rocky
3. thorny
4. good
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