Courtney, that was a wonderful song. I really enjoyed the words of that. A lot of truth. So thank you for that. Tonight, as I told you this morning, we are going to kind of switch gears and do what we normally have been doing in the morning, and that is to pick up in the gospel of Mark that we've been going through. We're moving into chapter four tonight, and things kind of switch gears again. Like I told you, Mark moves pretty quick. He just gives us little snapshots, whereas some of the other gospels kind of speak a little bit more in depth. But chapter 2 and even into chapter 3 we looked at 5 conflicts really as Jesus taught and preached and healed. You know, things were heating up. The Pharisees and the scribes were really always looking to find fault. And we saw in chapter 3 verse 6 that it came to a head where they and the Herodians came together and decided that they were going to form a plot to get rid of this guy that he had done enough damage for their religion and their reputation. So they wanted him out of the picture. And so things heat up from that point on. But Jesus isn't deterred. He continues to go out and preach and teach and keep his eyes focused on the Father's mission. And so we come into chapter four tonight, which is where we'll spend most of our time, just for reference. The parallel account to a lot of this is Matthew 13. One of the things you'll see in the synoptic gospels, as they're known, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is a lot of these stories are in each gospel. But when you read them together, you'll get a bigger picture of it. John's gospel is a little bit different, which is often why we tell people to start there. It really points to the deity of Christ and focuses on that. But the synoptic gospels have a lot of these stories together. So Matthew 13, if you go home and want to look at this a little bit deeper, read that chapter along with Mark chapter 4. You'll get a good picture of everything that's going on. I want you to think about as we get started tonight, especially some of you that are a little bit older, how things have changed when it comes to how we interact together and the way that things have changed as far as the way that we listen. Because listening is kind of a dying art in today's culture. I know that from listening to a lot of you and my grandparents, you know, there was a time when Your neighbors knew each other, that families would all get out on the porches, you know, and interact and talk. Before televisions, you know, you would gather around a radio. Believe it or not, young people, there wasn't always television and internet. and you had to gather around a radio and that was a big deal to listen to a radio program and everybody would be quiet and focused and listening to what was going on on that and even sitting down to a meal. I mean, you know, everybody's so busy now and you rush to the drive-thru and eat in the car and everybody's doing their own thing, but hopefully You try to make it a priority. We try to make it a priority in our home to sit down at least and have dinner together. That's a good time to talk and to listen about what's happened during the day. But our culture now has kind of left the listening stage behind, and we've become more of a visual culture. I mean, young people always have something, usually a tablet or a phone or a computer in front of their face, and it's just very hard, which is one of the reasons why I tried to throw a little visual aid this morning with the mirror. because that sticks in your mind. I know Donna did a little visual with the globe this morning and those things, you know, even PowerPoint presentations and things. For younger people, they need stimulated visually to try to keep their attention, and that's why it's sometimes hard, I think, for the younger generation to come to church. You ask somebody to sit for an hour and listen. That's pretty foreign to them nowadays. So, you know, unfortunately, their mind needs stimulated by what they see, not so much by what they hear. But Jesus comes along, And he didn't have, obviously, the technology that we have at this time to show visual aid. So he had to do something with his teaching, too. He had to try to do something to capture people's minds and paint a picture for them so that they could learn and understand. And the way that Jesus did that was by something called parables. He used parables. Now, what is a parable? Well, the Greek word, the root of that, para, means to come alongside. So, think about the Holy Spirit. In the Greek, he's called the paraclete. That means someone that comes alongside of you. The Holy Spirit comes into us, he comes alongside, he's our advocate, he's our comforter. He's there with us That's used in a lot of English words specifically. I think of Jeff paramedic It's someone that comes alongside of you and your time of need come alongside the doctors to aid you in your time of need well a parable is a story that comes alongside of a teaching to show you a picture image of a visual of gives you a visual image of a teaching of a lesson so To kind of make that make sense, it's like a mirror in one sense, but it's like a window too. It's a mirror in that it shows us ourself, like we talked about this morning. It gives you an image of what may be going on in your life, but it's also a window that you can look through to see God and to see the lesson that he may be trying to teach you. And so Jesus in this chapter is really going to begin to teach parables. And again, Matthew 13, the parallel of this is all about parables, a lot more in that chapter than there is in Mark 4. But you would see that teaching. And tonight's story is one that I'm sure most of you have heard of. It's called either the parable of the sower. Sometimes it's called the parable of the soils. Either way, same story. Mark chapter 4, verses 1 to 20. I'm not going to read all the way through tonight for time's sake. Basically it breaks it down into this way in verses 3 to 8 Jesus is going to tell the parable. He's going to tell the story Then in verses 9 through 12, he's going to give his reasoning behind teaching in parables and what we're really going to look at tonight is verses 13 to 20 where he explains The parable so just kind of give you an understanding I'm sure like I said most of you know the story but the main thing you'll see in there is there's a sower and There is a farmer that's going out spreading seed. There is the seed itself that's being spread. And then there are four types of soils. Four types of soils that we'll see. And basically the sower in this instance is Jesus, but anyone that proclaims the word of God is sowing the seed, the seed being the gospel. And what we want to look at tonight is the soil represents the hearer and how they receive that word. Like we again, we talked about this morning. Are you hearing? And as you hear it, what is it doing to you? What is it doing to you? Because Jeff made a good point. You know, you cannot look at the Word of God and not have something happen. That doesn't mean you're always going to change, but when you don't change, whether you know it or not, you're being hardened. You're being hardened towards it. So something's happening, even if you're not willing to make a move. And so, tonight I want you to look at these four soils with me and ask yourself, what type of soil is my heart because everyone in this room, everyone in this world has one of these types of soils for a heart. So let's go to the Lord in prayer tonight and then we'll take a look at this parable together. Father, we thank you tonight for your word. We thank you for the Holy Spirit that takes it and convicts us and challenges us, God. And it is true that we don't want to ever leave the Bible unchanged and unaffected, God. The difficult thing of faith, like Jeff said, is that it takes us out of our comfort zone and it makes us put our eyes, and more than that, our hope in something that we can't always touch and feel and see. And yet, Lord, we walk by faith and not by sight. And so give us the strength, when we are convicted, when we're challenged, to step out of our comfort zone, to realize that leaving behind certain things in our life is the only way that we're going to benefit and grow. and receive much better. We can't receive the blessings of God when our hands are gripped tightly around other things. So let us let go and trust you that you are faithful, that you are good, that you are loving and that you care for your people and you know what's best for us. So open our eyes and our hearts tonight. I pray that our hearts would be fertile soil that would receive the word and grow and bring forth much fruit. And to your glory and honor, we ask these things. Amen. The first type of soil and the first type of heart that Jesus is going to talk about is in verse 15. This I would title to you being the hard heart. This is the hard heart. Now in the story that Jesus tells, he says that the sower goes out. Now understand in those times, they didn't have broadcast spreaders or something hooked behind the tractor. The farmer had a little pouch that he wore on his waist, and he would simply walk along and take that seed and just throw it. So, you know, depending on the wind and what happened, it went everywhere. Some of it got where he was trying to get it. Some of it would fall. And they had paths. through the fields that they would walk as they scattered it. This first type of soil, he says, is when the sower takes the seed and as he's scattering it, some of it kind of just falls out of his hand and drops on this footpath where people have walked, animals have walked, and man, it's just packed down like concrete. It's completely hard. And so we see in verse 15, Jesus says that as the sower sows the word, these are they by the wayside where the word is sown. But when they have heard, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their heart. Now, in Matthew's gospel, this same account, he says, in this same parallel verse, that they didn't understand it. The reason why it couldn't do anything was they couldn't understand it. And what he means in that passage is they couldn't make a connection. between the gospel message and their own life. They couldn't understand their need to receive the good news of Jesus Christ. Now, we know for the Pharisees and the scribes, the reason they didn't understand it is they were so law-based, tradition-based, self-righteous that they thought, man, we've got this figured out. Why on earth are you coming and preaching to us when our lives are just perfect? You know, if anything, you need to conform to the way that we live as we follow the Old Testament law and everything would be right. And so their hearts were so hard that they couldn't see a need for it. But there are many people today that still cannot make a connection between the good news of Christ and why they really need it. Many people won't deny the fact that things are wrong in their life, but They don't like to call things sin anymore, right? We call them a lot of things, but sin is not something we like to call them. We may call it excuses. We may call it bad habits. We may call it faults and shortcomings. But nobody likes to call the things that are wrong in their life sin anymore. But the Bible speaks specifically about anything that misses the mark, that falls short of God's standard, it's a sin. And that is a transgression against God. That is something that is directly attributed towards Him. And so it's more than just a little mistake or something that we may have just done a little bit wrong. It carries weight behind it. And so there's a lot more gravity to what we do than just being a bad habit. It's a sin. And Matthew says they didn't understand it. They couldn't make a connection. And some people just feel that they don't need it. They just don't need it. They say, well, you know, you have your way. I have my way. At the end of the day, we're all trying to go the same path. We're all searching for the same God. And we'll all get there eventually if we're good people. So there's a lot of reasons why the gospel doesn't penetrate a heart. But it all comes back to a basic rejection of Jesus Christ. It all comes back to a basic a basic understanding in your heart that says, I don't need Christ. I've got this, that, or the other thing to help me through that. And really, if you were here last week, remember we talked about the unpardonable sin when we looked at Mark's gospel and we went through that? The devil will come along and do his best to snatch away that word. He will distract, he will draw your mind away, because he knows every time you're presented with that gospel, and he can snatch that away, and pull that away, and get your mind off of what you need to do, it just hardens you a little bit more, and a little bit more, and a little bit more. And that gets dangerous. Because he'll start to put all these things in front of you to draw you I think about think about how many distractions There are for us as believers or things in in the world in general There's so much advertising and so much again. We're visual people and Think of the marketing campaigns were bombarded with with materialism, with sexual innuendos and things in front of us, our minds are constantly being battled for. And, you know, we talk about the fact that Christ lives and rules and reigns in the hearts of his people, but the battle for your mind is very real. And the Bible warns us continually to take every thought captive and don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. There's a battle going on for the way that you think, because how you think affects how you act. And so it's very important that we understand this fight that goes on. And as we look at this verse, the soil is packed down. It's packed down because a lot of people have traveled through this area, and that doesn't allow the seed to penetrate it. And what I want you to see from this first soil, if maybe that's where you're at today, is be careful who and what you expose your heart to. Because the more of the world you expose it to, the more things that walk through your life, spiritually speaking, it packs down that soil. And it gets real hard sometimes for the things of God to find their way into your life when the world has got it so packed down and hard. Proverbs 4.23 says keep your heart, keep the heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life or the way that your life flows out. Keep your heart with diligence. Sometimes we just swing open the doors of our hearts and let anything and everything get in there. And the thing that's hard about that is a lot of stuff in the world is morally neutral. Money, for example. Money's not good or evil. It's neutral, but it's what you do with it. That's why it says the love of money is the root of all evil. If you allow that to become a god for you, if you get so focused on money that it draws you away, then it becomes evil. But in and of itself, it's not bad. You can be blessed with money, or honestly, you can be cursed with money. We know people on both sides of the fence. But don't open your heart to everything in the world to the point where it packs it down and makes it so hard that the Word of God can't penetrate it. Our hearts need to be plowed up, not packed down. And the message this morning is an example sometimes where God will lay something hard and put it in front of us because He wants to dig up that ground again. My point is to not come in here and just point out everybody's faults just because I get some kind of enjoyment out of, you know, picking on you guys. The point is I want to challenge all of us, myself included, to look at our lives so that God can get in there and dig that, you know, I put a garden out and the first time you plow that thing up in the spring, man, that dirt is hard and the tiller's bouncing and beating you to death because you're trying to get down in that ground. And sometimes that's how our hearts are. That first time when you get in there after a while and try to plow through that, it's not easy. But you have to have your heart dug up so that the Word can get in. Hosea chapter 10 verse 12 says, Break up your fallow ground. Break up that ground for it is time to seek the Lord till He come and reign righteousness upon you. There is a need for that ground to be dug up. The Lord has to plow up some things in your life. Think about it. Think about it when you were lost. Think about what God had to do in your life. I hear so many testimonies about people that say, well, you know, before I got saved, I was a mess. And then usually, the bottom had to fall out of something, right? Something happened in your life, And man, you hit that bottom. You hit that rock bottom. Well, I don't believe that's a coincidence. I believe that that was God digging up some ground, getting some stuff ready, because if you wouldn't have hit the bottom, you would have never looked up. Right? I mean, sometimes it's in those valleys that we finally realize that, hey, we're not as strong as we thought we were. And that is not just when you get saved, but even in your Christian life. God will empty us sometimes, remove things from us sometimes, so that we can grow and become better. It's not because he enjoys, again, watching us suffer and go through trials. It's because, like he said in James this morning, The trial of your faith works with patience, and patience will have its perfect work so that you can be mature and lacking in nothing. And he's wanting you to grow. The spiritual life is a growth process, but it takes that plowing up to get you there. So maybe tonight your heart's hard. Again, I would challenge you to look in the mirror and find out what cares, what sins, what things are crowding out God's Word and packing it down. And do some real soul searching. Do some real praying. Do some real time with the Holy Spirit and with God's Word. And find out what you need to do so that you can receive that Word again. So it begins to impact you and challenge you. You come to church Sunday after Sunday and don't get anything out of the message, it may be the preacher or it may be you. It may be you. So make sure that your heart is receptive and not hard. Number two, there may be the shallow heart. You see that in verses 16 and 17. He says that these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness. and have no root in themselves, and so endure, but for a time afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the world's sake, immediately they are offended, or they stumble. The first seed falls on that hard path. The second seed goes out and it falls on what appears to be some good ground. But the thing about Palestine is much of that region is limestone. There's a limestone bedrock all over that area with a layer of topsoil on top of it. So it may look good when you first throw the seed down, but it's only about that deep. And so he's saying that, you know, it springs up great until those roots try to go down deep into the ground And guess what? They can't go anywhere. And they can't get in far enough to get nutrition and grow. And so after a while, that plant has no life. He also says in verse 16 that they immediately receive it with gladness. which points to the fact that this was an emotional response. Now, God's given us emotions, and emotions are a good thing, but they're not the litmus test for how we ought to receive the Word of God, because emotions, as we've said, and feelings are all over the place, and they come and they go. And I've talked to many people, even in this church, that maybe at some point in their walk, were moved emotionally to make a decision for God, but it was never the Holy Spirit drawing them to a place where God was the agent creating that change. I've seen people swayed by guilt. There's a big difference between guilt and conviction. Guilt can be induced by just about anything, including a man. You can make somebody feel guilty about just about anything, even if they're not guilty. We see that in victimization of often in sexual crimes, where the victim is often made to feel like they were the offender because of the guilt that's placed upon them. And they think, man, this is my fault. I deserved that because of what I've done. And that's completely wrong. There's no guilt on that person's part. But you can make somebody feel guilty. Conviction is something completely different. Conviction is where God takes His Word and He reveals to you the things in your life that are wrong, not to push you down, but to bring you up to a place where you'll come to Christ or where you'll be restored in your relationship. There's a difference. Guilt presses you down. Conviction comes with the point of bringing you up and bringing you to God. So don't be swayed emotionally just by guilt. A lot of people have come and made decisions because of a friend. We see that a lot in young people and youth meetings and things like that. And that's why I don't believe in the get people in a room and everybody raise their hand or come forward together because, again, it's real easy for 100 people to come forward if maybe one person is sincere and the other 99 are just coming because their buddy went. You know, and so I don't believe in trying to induce a big crowd to come. Not that that's bad, necessarily, but I don't know if it's always so effective as far as the fruit. I'll give you a good example, the Billy Graham crusade, and again, wonderful ministry, I'm not condemning anything he does, it's great. But they've done research and studies on, you know, they give the invitation and you see people come from everywhere. And I do believe that a lot of those people come and get saved. But they have done studies and follow-ups on the people that fill out the cards in those crusades, and only about 10% really ever get plugged into a church, are committed and serving and following. I'm not saying they didn't get saved, but the fruit makes you wonder if 10,000 people come forward and only 1,000 of them are in church. and serving and admit to an active relationship with God. Did they just get caught up in that moment of that big decision? A lot of people think that Jesus is just to fix me up. He's a spare tire. Things in my life are bad. My marriage is bad. My job is bad. My health is bad. I know what I'll do. I'll come to Jesus and He'll fix my marriage and fix my job and fix my health, and that's what I need. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. You need Jesus because you're a sinner and you're lost and He forgives sin. Now, as you serve God and as you follow the Word of God, can marriages be restored? Can health be restored? Can all that stuff be fixed? Absolutely. Is there a guarantee that serving God means that all that stuff will fall into your life just perfect and fit nice and neat? No. Not in a fallen world where sin is still a reality. Unfortunately, no. Does that mean God failed? No. Does that mean that you failed? No. It means we live in a broken world where things are not as they ought to be, but we have an anchor that says even when the storms of this life are hard, we can hold on to that and know that there's something better. Because we don't live for this world, we live for the next. And so don't be swayed by that easy fix, that gospel that says God can do and give you this, this and this. God came and sent his son so that you could have Jesus. That's what you get. You get Jesus and that's all you need. A shallow gospel presentation. Many preachers today leave out repentance and dying to self and holiness and their gospel presentation. Again, it's easy to ask somebody, wouldn't you like to go to heaven when you die? Well, I would hope that the answer to that would be a resounding yes. But just telling somebody, you know, come accept Jesus and you can go to heaven when you die, that's not the gospel. The gospel is also, unless you repent, you'll likewise perish and take up your cross and follow me and be holy for I am holy. And all these things fall into that. So you've got to understand that there's a cost that comes with following Jesus. There's a cost that comes. You're dying to yourself. You're leaving behind. He says, whoever doesn't forsake your mothers and your fathers and your brothers and leave behind those things can't be my disciple. So a shallow gospel presentation can leave people springing up real quick, but dying quite quickly, as he says, when persecutions come. I want to read to you what one writer said, because I thought the way that he worded this was great. He says, concerning the case of persecution and tribulation that comes, it really is going to reveal if you have a shallow understanding of the gospel. He says, people in this situation, they begin to have problems with simple matters. like church attendance, prayer, and reading the Bible. They have a difficult time making a genuine, lasting break with their sins. They shrink away from the radical claims of Christ and the cross. They become offended when they are mocked, ridiculed, laughed at, or persecuted for their profession of faith. These are the people who make a profession, often running well for a time, and then wind up right back in the world. We've all seen that. In the end, they are further away from God than they were before they made their profession. Unfortunately, we see that with a lot of young people. They grew up in church, was active in the youth department, they get 18, they fall away, a lot of times they come back, a lot of times they don't. And, you know, it's hard to reach them because they say, well, I've done that, I've tried that. Well, you tried something, but maybe you didn't really try the truth. Maybe you didn't have what you thought you had. Were they really saved? No. How do we know for sure? Because there's no fruit of salvation in their life. He says, by the way, when a profession of salvation is real, it will last. It will last. We often call these types of people, he says, backsliders or carnal Christians. Do I believe in backsliding? Absolutely. It's biblical. But do I believe you get saved when you're nine and then you live until you're 90 and never have any fruit or any sign of life in you? No. I don't believe that. If you can go your entire life and not bear any fruit, have any desire to repent, any desire to live for God, I don't think your words really made a change in who you are. He says, in my opinion, they have never been saved. If the Lord saves your soul, He will change your life. When God changes a life, He does it forever. What He does in you will last. You may fall, but you will not stay away from His house, His presence, His throne, His word, His people, and you will not be able to stay out of His will. Amen. I agree 100%. 1 John 3, verse 9 says, Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, For his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God." Now you might think, oh my goodness, he just said we won't ever sin. I sin every day. So do I. The idea there is a habitual going out and looking for opportunities to sin, and when you get into it, say, huh, that's okay, that's what I wanted to do to begin with. We all sin. How do you respond to that sin? Do you love it? Do you enjoy the things that you used to do? Or is there an attitude of repentance? Is there an attitude of wanting to change? Is there a desire to put aside that stuff? I sin every day, and I can't stand when that stuff comes up, but it just shows me the reality that I'm far from where I need to be. And it presses me and pushes me to strive to be more like Christ. Right? We all struggle with that. But if you dive into that and still enjoy that, John says, you're not born of God. You're not born of God. Think about it this way in this illustration. Some of you that may go fishing sometimes or have ever been to the lake, you ever see a fish, you know, just jump out of that water and just kind of fly through the air? Well, it'd be ridiculous to think just in that moment that that fish jumped out of that water that his home is now no longer in the water. Of course not. Of course not. He jumps out, but pretty soon he's going to be right back in the water, swimming along like he always has. Because the water is still home, sweet home. And that's what Jesus is saying happens here. They spring up immediately, but it won't last. And that persecution and that tribulation is going to reveal that their profession was shallow. It had no root. Number three is the crowded heart. the crowded heart, verses 18 and 19. He says, These are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke out the word and it becomes unfruitful. So this farmer is casting the seed. Some falls on the path, doesn't do anything. Some falls on shallow ground, springs up and dies. Some falls on good ground, but in the good ground is also a lot of junk, a lot of thorns and thistles and things that are going to crowd it out and choke it out where it can't do anything. These are the type of people that try to hold on to the world with one hand and Christ with the other. And guess what's going to happen in that situation? Jesus will have all of you or he'll have none of you. You have got to understand that it's a forsaking to come to Christ. Because if you still love your sin and love the world, you will eventually succumb to that. It will win out in your life. Because a gardener has to love flowers, do you not? You're not going to go out and plant a garden if you don't really care about flowers. But you also have to hate weeds. You know, you can't say, I love to have a nice garden, but I also love all these weeds growing in my garden. No, no, you have to root them out. You have to dig them out too. Verse 19, look at what he says there. I would put a footnote on this, that three's a crowd. You've heard that saying, three's a crowd. He says, the cares of this world, number one, are part of these things that choke it out. How many things again in this world choke you and strangle you and get a hold of you to make the gospel ineffective? What do we hear so many people say when we talk to them about coming to church or getting involved or doing something? I'm just so busy. I'm just so busy. Right? And listen, there may not be anything evil in what you're doing. There's nothing wrong, necessarily, with going out and enjoying certain activities. But we enjoy so many activities that the cares of the world crowd us. And they crowd God to the point where He has to take a back seat. And that can become deadly to you if you allow it to push Him and choke Him and the Gospel completely out of your life. The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, There was a time, and you don't hear it as much as you used to, but the idea for a perfect life was what? Live the American dream. The American dream. And I would venture to say that the American dream has led a lot of people to hell. Because you spent so much time and energy chasing after that money, chasing after that bigger home, chasing after that new car, chasing after this and chasing that. I've seen fathers neglect their families and their children because they had to work 12, 16 hours a day, seven days a week, not because they needed it, but because they wanted it. And you can become so caught up in money that it drives everything that you do, that that's all you can think about is, well, man, they're offering us overtime. And listen, I understand if you have to put food on the table and you're trying to provide for your family, but if it's just for things, it will become deadly in your life, the deceitfulness of riches. It promises you things, but what happens with things? They get old, and they eventually lose their luster. Jesus said, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, or a moth, or rust, or thieves don't break in. That's where your treasure needs to be. But we search after the wrong things. And finally he says, the lust of other things. That's just idols. That's just anything that you put in your life that takes the place of God. Those three things can choke out a relationship with God. Just like these three soils, all three of them. Picture someone that doesn't get the gospel into their life to where it produces fruit. And these thorns can hold you back. You ever been to a carnival or somewhere and they have those helium balloons? And they've got them tied down so they don't fly away? Well, the balloon filled with that helium was meant to fly. But something's holding on to it and keeping it. And if it stays there long enough, what happens? We've all had kids bring home balloons and they let them float up to the ceiling and the ceiling prevents it from going anywhere. And then the next morning you come down and it's kind of about a foot down from the ceiling. And then eventually, and then if you leave it long enough, it's just, you know, a little deflated thing laying on the floor, right? That's what's going to happen if you allow all these things to hold you and grip you and squeeze you. Eventually it's going to choke the life out of you. And so the deceitfulness of all these things will eventually lead to death. Look at verse 20. Finally, the fruitful ground, the fruitful heart, it was sown on good ground. This is the place where all of us should strive to get to. to be hearers so that God can change our hearts. He says on verse 20, And these are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit. See, just like we talked about this morning. They hear it, you have to hear, and then say, that's true. I agree with God's estimation of myself as compared to his viewpoint of the word and where I need to be. There's an agreement there. They receive it and then do something with it. They do something with it. And in this case, on the good ground, they produce fruit. That work of grace that occurs in your life where you bear fruit. It's not your own strength. It's not your own ability. It's God putting the Word into your life, you receiving it, and through the Holy Spirit, man, He does some wonderful things. If you desire that, He says, Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. It's just a desire of your heart. If you want it, and you pray for it, and you look for it, you're going to get it. God is a loving and good God. He wants to bless His children. When I say bless, I don't mean give you a new car and money. He may do that. But when I say He wants to bless you, I mean He wants to bless you by making you more like Jesus. That's the real blessing. That's what He seeks to do in your life. What kind of fruit? What kind of fruit does He produce? Let me give you a few. He produces good works in your life. Colossians 1, verse 10. Paul says that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Listen, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. If the Word finds good ground in your heart, it's going to produce some good works. You're going to get busy for the Lord. You're going to want to win souls. You're going to want to disciple people. You're going to want to serve people. You're going to want to help people because you desire to do good works. It's going to produce holiness, and it's going to produce righteousness in your life. Romans 6.22, But now, being made free from sin, God forgives you of your sin and He breaks the bondage of your sin as well. Being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. You'll produce holiness. Philippians 1.11, you'll produce righteousness. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ under the glory and praise of God. You're going to produce a genuine spirituality. You can fool a lot of people. We see that continually. People can fool you, but you cannot produce fruit on your own. What kind of fruit? Galatians 5, 22 and 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, or self-control, against which there is no law. You see that? The fruit of the Spirit, that's something the Holy Spirit produces in you and that is evident in your life. He will produce praise and thanksgiving. It's hard for me to understand how people can come into God's house and work for God and not be thankful and excited about that. You know, I mean, I just don't understand that, because it's a fruit that's produced. Hebrews 13, 15, he says, If you walk around and are thankful for your Savior, and thankful for your church, and thankful for the people of God, and you continually have that on your lips, I think people will really catch on and say, man, what you're talking about sounds great. But if you say, you need to be saved, and then the rest of your day is spent murmuring and complaining and frowning and all this other stuff, they're going to say, man, I thought my life was bad. They're a real mess. We should be thankful. I know we don't always walk around with a big smile on our face, but you ought to be thankful for what you have. And finally, sharing and giving to those in need. There's a lot of people that need help. And the fruit that is produced ought to drive us to desire to do that. Romans 15, 27 and 28. It says, It has pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal, or that could be translated material things. Paul says, When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come to you I will come by you into Spain. He's saying that these people have a need. I'm going to take care of that physical need first, and then I will come on down to Spain to see you. And we ought to also have a desire to help people with their physical need. And as we close, I would encourage you to see that also, he says in this verse 20, that people hear the Word, and they produce fruit after they receive it. He says, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred. He says, everybody's going to produce at a different level. So, you know, if you look around at everybody and say, man, look at their ministry. I mean, they teach a Bible study and, you know, they serve at New Life Mission for hours a week and they're just producing stuff. And I can't do that. No, maybe not. But are you producing something? Everybody in this story was producing at different levels, but that's not the point. The point is they're producing something. Okay? So, my question is, don't worry about what someone else is doing, worry about what God's doing in your life, and bring forth the fruit that He wants to bring forth in your own life. We need to examine ourselves and see what God wants to do with us, what He has planned for us to do, and allow Him to do that. And again, as I said this morning, I'm going to have Jeff come and give the invitation, but the challenge is, for all of us, Get in the mirror. Get in the Word. And let the Holy Spirit... Like I said, if you want to stay dirty, if you want to stay stagnant, then you're going to stay there. But it's a, don't pray, I've heard people say, I pray for patience and I wish I never would because God really has worked me over. If you pray for it, he's going to do it. It's worth it, but it's going to come. If you want to grow, then you need to pray, God search my heart and try me. Open my eyes to my sin, open my eyes to myself. But don't pray that if you're not ready to change. Psalm 26.2, David said, Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my reins and my heart. That's a dangerous prayer if you don't want to get uncomfortable. But if you want to grow, then ask God to show you. Psalm 139.23, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. You're responsible for what you hear. And your heart is going to be one of these four areas. And I pray that you desire to be a fertile Christian where God's Word can grow and take root and produce fruit. But you've got to get in the mirror and you've got to prepare yourself. Receive the Word and let Him do that work. So if God's spoken to you this morning and maybe you didn't come, maybe He's speaking to you tonight, you have another opportunity to come and allow Him to work in your heart. As we stand tonight and as we sing, whatever your need, will you come? Only trust Him. 487. Will you trust Him tonight with whatever He has for you? It's scary, but it's worth it. If he's got a hold of you, you're safe. Where does he want to take you tonight? Come every soul by sin oppressed, there's mercy with the Lord. And He will surely give you rest by trusting in His Word. Only trust Him. Only trust Him. Only trust Him. Only trust Him now. He will save you. He will save you. He will save you. I want to thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for your prayers and your continued labors for the Lord here. It's been amazing to see everybody come together. Don't forget, like I said, BBS, there's still things you can sign up for and help. Don't feel like it's too late. If all of a sudden you've decided you want to help, we'll find a place for you to help. So thank you for that. Pray for those that are sick. Pray for the Labenstein family. And don't forget also, There's a little bit up in the air. I don't know what exactly with the softball thing. I've heard that this is going to be our last game. Not sure if that's the case or not for sure. But if it is, if you're able to, come out Tuesday. We have a doubleheader Tuesday, 7.30 and 8.30 over at Fords Field. Come out and support the guys. They've done a wonderful job for the first year. It's been a good time of fellowship. I think everybody's enjoyed it. So come out 7.30 or 8.30 and watch the guys and root them on. I think you'll enjoy it. So just keep that in mind. And I'm going to ask tonight, I'm going to call on, I'm going to ask Jeff, if you don't mind, to close us out.