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[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Alright, take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to Matthew chapter 13. If you enjoyed that, say Amen.

[0:11] Alright, I am so glad that you're here today. Glad we're in the house of God together. And we're going to learn what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 13. This is the beginning of parables and Jesus is going to start using parables.

[0:23] He has been preaching in the synagogues, but he's kind of been kicked out of the synagogue and he's now on the seashore. So you're going to catch on to the fact that when you want to get a message out, you'll preach anywhere you can.

[0:35] And so now Jesus is on the seashore and he's using parables and he's teaching people and he's getting the gospel out. He tells a story about a sower who goes out to sow and he begins to sow the seed.

[0:47] That kind of fits old-fashioned Sunday. I thought as I prepared the message about how many times I've seen my dad with a big thing of seed and his hand in there and throwing it out with his hand before he got the cranker thing.

[1:00] And then after he got the cranker thing, he finally got up to a machine. He could pull behind a tractor. And then I even was known to plant some things, you know, sow some seed with the big cedar behind me.

[1:11] And I would get out in a big field and go to sleep. Anybody ever been on a tractor and gone to sleep? Hold your hand up. Anybody? I'm the only one. I'd go to sleep. And nobody would ever know what had happened.

[1:22] I remember I ran into a tree. I was up there sowing the seed and I ran into a tree. And it woke me up, jerked the tractor around. I got it back around and got out in the field again.

[1:35] And I was sowing. I said, man, I hope Daddy never finds out. I finished and there was no evidence that I'd messed up. But about four weeks or five weeks later, Daddy said, somebody made an extra trip or two through that field.

[1:50] And it's very heavily seeded in some areas. So Jesus is talking about sowing seed. And all these farmers would have understood it. But it's a lesson about us hearing the gospel and us spreading the gospel.

[2:02] And so I want to talk to you today about fruitful lives. That's what we're supposed to live. That's the idea here. It's not that you're supposed to live it. It's what's going to happen if you are really receptive to the word.

[2:15] So look with me, if you would, in chapter 13 and verse 19. We have a lesson about hearers of the gospel. The Bible said, When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and understands it not, then comes the wicked one and catches away that which was sown in his heart.

[2:34] This is he which received seed by the wayside. Now, if you've got your Bible open, you might want to underline in verse 13, seaside. That's where he's preaching. He's out there now. And he's out on a boat.

[2:45] And he's preaching. The water's like his PA system. And helps echo his voice up to the people on the side. And he's talking about sowing seed. But it tells you what he's talking about. In verse 19, it talks about hearing.

[2:57] Circle the word. Heareth the word of the kingdom. When you hear the word of the kingdom. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.

[3:08] So he's talking about the kingdom. And then he talks about, in verse 4, when you sow the seed, some of it will fall by the wayside. You know, they didn't have large open fields. I wish I could take you to Peru and show you.

[3:21] Many of the fields would be a terrace in the mountains where we live. There would be a terrace. And honestly, a terrace wouldn't be any wider than this room right here. Sometimes half of this room. And so they would sow this level.

[3:33] And then down to about 10 feet or 6 feet, there's another level. And it just keeps on going down. That's why it's called Andes. Andes Mountains comes from a Spanish word which means terraces. Andes. And so that's where that word actually came from.

[3:46] And so they're the terraced mountains. And so when you throw the seed, some hits on the wayside. So look if you would at verse 4. And when there was some sowed by the wayside. Verse 19, he explains it.

[3:57] In verse 19, in the first part of the passage, he's preaching to the crowds. All the people that came to hear him. In a minute, after it's all over, he goes alone. And his apostles come to him and they say, Lord, why are you talking to them in parables?

[4:11] And he's going to tell them, really, so they won't understand. That blows your mind. But that's what he was saying. He said, so they won't understand because it wasn't given to them. But let me explain it to you. And so he explains in verse 19, when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and understands it not, then comes the wicked one and catches away that which was sown in his heart.

[4:31] This is he which receives seed by the wayside. So if you've got your Bible open, maybe beside verse 4, verse 19, you could write closed minds. These are people that got hardened minds.

[4:42] These are people that don't want to listen. They're hard. They're closed. Prejudice has blinded them against the light of the gospel. They're unteachable, maybe because of their pride.

[4:54] They may be afraid to hear new truth. It could be they got immoral character. And they say, I do not want to hear. And so there are many people that when the gospel goes out, they're just like, I don't want it.

[5:07] The Bible says that the natural man receives not the things of God. For to him they're foolishness. And so there are people that are hearing the gospel. And when they hear the gospel, they're just like, that's ridiculous. I'm not listening.

[5:19] I don't care what you got to say. It doesn't matter what the Bible says. I don't agree. They are closed minded. I hope you're not like that. I hope you're not a person who's developed a hard heart or a bitterness towards the things of God.

[5:32] Look at verse 5. Then you've got some superficial people, some shallow people. Look at verse 5. But some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth.

[5:47] Underline, stony places, not much earth, no deepness of earth. Verse 6. And when the sun was up, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

[5:58] So you've got this part of the ground where there's some good ground, but it's just really shallow. It's a superficial ground. It may look like good ground, but right under the ground, there's rocks.

[6:09] It's a hard place. Verse 20. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same as he that hears the word and with joy receives it. But it has no root in him and it dures for a while.

[6:21] But for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by, he's offended. So here's an emotional person. You ever been in one of those church services and you've surely heard pastors say he was gloriously saved.

[6:35] I remember when I was a kid, they'd say some people got saved and some people got gloriously saved. And usually gloriously saved is a guy that's crying a lot. You know, they really they really acted like they were really bad people.

[6:45] They got saved. I remember a girl coming. And I keep us. She came to the church and she was a very tall girl. So for Peru, she was probably five, eight, five, nine, five, 10, which is very tall for a Peruvian girl.

[6:57] And she came. And boy, when I got through preaching the gospel, she came up and she was crying and all distraught and all torn up. And and she came up and she got gloriously saved.

[7:08] I mean, she was the most exciting salvation testimony we had ever seen at the Hunter Baptist Church in Adikipa. We'd never seen anything like that.

[7:18] She came one more week and never came back and never loved God and nothing was real. It had fallen in. And she said, man, I like that. I like that. But it was a superficial thing.

[7:29] She was only putting on a little bit of a show. They do not think these people do not think things through. They're too concerned about fitting in. They get quickly, emotionally excited.

[7:42] A flame comes, a fire burns. But it's real brief and all the daily disciplines and will discourage him. Any opposition destroys him. So there's they're not saved, by the way.

[7:53] The first guy wasn't saved and the second guy's not saved. They come and you come to church and you probably know that because you live in the southeast. You think everybody's born again because everybody's been saved and they've all prayed a prayer.

[8:05] But it hadn't been real. It never took root. You'll know that before the passage is over because Jesus is going to explain it to us. And so what happened is these people like were excited. Man, I'm glad to hear that.

[8:15] I'm really glad to hear that. And they pray the prayer and quote unquote, they sign the card to join the church. They even get baptized. But nothing happens. No fruit. No fruit. The hard ground, you're like, well, sure, it didn't get any fruit.

[8:28] The seed never even got in. But in this one, you're like, maybe they got saved. They didn't get saved. No fruit came forth. It was they didn't accept Christ. The next group are busy people.

[8:39] You might write beside verse five, shallow people are superficial. They're shallow or superficial. By verse seven, you can write busy people. The Bible says in verse seven, and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them.

[8:54] So some of the seed as he's throwing the seed, some falls on places where the ground's not real good. And some falls on hard places and other falls among the weeds and the thorns and the briars.

[9:05] And verse 22, he explained that. Look at verse 22. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hears the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful.

[9:20] So here you got somebody else. These guys are so they're so busy. They got so much going on in their lives that the things of God get crowded out. They don't have time for God.

[9:32] They have time for Bible study. They have time for prayer. They have time for church. Too much and too many things are clamoring for their attention. They're just too busy for God.

[9:44] So, so far he's sown the seed and it's fallen on three places that haven't brought forth any fruit. Now, you got to understand, you know, we're talking to farmers and farmers would understand a guy's going out to sow.

[9:57] And they know that when you sow it, you're not just looking for little green sprouts. You're not just looking for something to happen there. You want to see some results. You want to see some fruit. If you're going to sow wheat, you want some wheat to come up, not a wheat plant.

[10:09] You want the wheat in the, in the, in the stalk. If you're planting corn, you want to see some here's the corn and it's not happened. There's been, there's been hard places and hard places with hard hearts.

[10:19] There's been shallow places and there's been busy places, but there's this fourth place where the seed fell. Look what it says about it. If you would, verse eight, these are receptive people. Write that down beside verse eight, receptive people, but other fell into good ground.

[10:34] And brought forth fruit. Some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. So this other falls into good ground, into receptive hearts, into people that are willing to listen.

[10:48] And so they have listened and they have heard, and it has fallen into good ground. If you want to know who that is, look at verse 23. Look at verse 23 and see who that is. But he that receives seed into the good ground is he that hears the word and understands it and also beareth fruit.

[11:06] So there's this one person of all these four types of land. Only one type of land worked. And that was the good ground. And the good ground got the seed, understood the seed, and the seed did its job in their heart.

[11:23] And the seed did its job in their heart. There are others that are ready to hear and listen. They're not too proud. They're not too busy. They're willing to think things through.

[11:34] They are ready to obey. Their lives produce evidence that the seed is there. Notice that the one that really receives the word brings forth fruit.

[11:49] In verse 23 there, you should mark, you should mark, beareth fruit. There's evidence that the seed was there. There's evidence that the seed was there.

[12:00] If you go out six weeks from now, it's growing. If you go out a month from now, two months from now, three months from now, this seed has taken root and fruit is coming.

[12:11] The only true question about the ground is how much fruit. It wasn't will it bring forth fruit. It was how much. Some will bring forth 30-fold, some 60-fold, some 100-fold.

[12:24] But where the seed lands in good ground, it brings forth fruit. Where it lands, it brings forth good fruit. In Jesus' day, they expected an 8-to-1 harvest.

[12:37] That was kind of the accepted amount of fruit you should get. 8-to-1. And Jesus said 30-to-1, 60-to-1, or 100-to-1. The gospel makes a difference in their life.

[12:49] Which kind of hearer are you today? Which kind of hearer are you today? Do you have your mind closed because of sin and pride? Is it just appearances to you?

[13:01] Are you shallow and superficial? Or do you find other things to be more important than Jesus and his work? Or are you ready to hear and believe and obey?

[13:11] Okay, now before I go to the next point, you really need to consider this. Please understand that just because Anon with joy, he received it, nothing happened. Nothing happened.

[13:23] You do understand that when you truly get saved, he changes you. You are not who you were before. This is not a matter of praying a prayer, getting baptized, or signing a card.

[13:35] It's a matter of God doing a miraculous work in you. And when the seed gets into your heart, it takes root and it bears fruit and it changes you.

[13:48] Now let me just tell you, Southeastern preachers, we've got cultural Christianity. It's like, all right, you're saved. You prayed the prayer, you're saved. I know there's been no change.

[13:59] I know there's been no difference. I know that you're the same drunk you were when you came in. You're the same addict you were when you came in. You're the same prideful, arrogant person you were when you came in.

[14:09] There's no change. Here's what the Bible would say. It didn't take root. It didn't take root. Because when you get saved, it will bring forth fruit.

[14:20] There will be a change. You are a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. There's going to be a change. Let me just say to you, if you knew Hebrews 12, you'd know this.

[14:33] That you'll either be changed or you'll be chastised. You will not just stay the same. The Word of God changes real believers.

[14:44] If you understand that, say amen. First lesson is to hearers. Please hear. If you've got an ear, hear. Please hear. And that's this. That salvation is not about joining a church.

[14:56] It's not about getting baptized. It's not about signing a card. It's about God doing a genuine work in your heart by the grace of God and with the Word of God.

[15:07] Second lesson. First lesson was to hearers. The second lesson would be to sowers, which I hope the majority of us are sowing. Look, if you would. Look, if you would. Some lessons about being a sower.

[15:18] The guy, we go forth sowing seed. And so I can take from this lesson, I can learn what's going to happen as I'm a missionary, as I'm a pastor, as I'm a Sunday school teacher. I can learn because every Sunday this morning, y'all gathered in little pockets all around the room and you sowed some Bible seed.

[15:36] And when you're going out and you give out a gospel track and when you invite somebody and you share the gospel with your family, you're giving out gospel seed. And so there's some lessons for us as we look at it. It's easy to get discouraged.

[15:47] You can imagine right now that the apostles are beginning to notice we're not having much success. We just aren't having much success. They don't let us in the synagogues anymore.

[15:59] Now we're on the seashore. Used to be we had a pulpit in a nice building and now we're sitting in boats. That's how we get to talk to people. Not welcome in the synagogues. People were listening, but they were walking away unchanged.

[16:12] You do know that before Jesus' ministry is over, he will actually look at his apostles and say, Are y'all going to leave me too? I mean, nobody seemed to be hearing the message.

[16:24] So you could get discouraged and this can be a very encouraging passage. Why? Because the harvest is sure. The harvest is sure. Okay, the hard ground didn't get it and the shallow ground didn't get it and the thorny ground didn't get it.

[16:37] But there was some good ground and the word did sink in into some good ground and make a difference. They could know that not all seed would produce, but some would. They could sow in confidence.

[16:49] When we sow the seed of the word, we really do not know what we're doing or what effect the seed is having. You do not know. You're a Sunday school teacher.

[17:00] And you do not know the difference God may be using you to make in people's lives. You're teaching a Sunday school class. You're teaching a vacation Bible school class. You're teaching your children.

[17:11] Your children even get off the path and go do wrong. But the word of God may be doing a work that you don't understand until a lot later. I can tell you that most of us probably, if we were honest, can remember somebody who made an incredible impact in our life.

[17:27] I will never forget Ed and Margie Gunn. I will never forget them. They were the people that taught us from the time I was 7th grade to 12th grade. They were the people that taught the 7th, 8th, 9th graders.

[17:38] And they also taught all the way. We were a small church in a small city. So they taught me all those years. Five years they taught me the Bible. And, you know, Margie has never, I don't know that Margie was more the speaker than Ed.

[17:53] Ed just kind of sat there with her and Margie did most of teaching. But I don't know that Margie has ever been out of the United States. But her little students have been all over the world. And her little students preached everywhere.

[18:04] And Margie made such an impact in my life. Margie taught me the things of God. Ed taught me the things of God. They loved me when other people might not have loved me. They cared about me. And you don't know what impact your sewing is doing.

[18:17] You don't know what impact your work is having. The folklorist and short story writer, Gee, tells this story. In the church where he worshipped, there was a lonely old man, old Thomas.

[18:29] He'd outlived all of his friends and hardly anyone knew him. When Thomas died, Gee had the feeling that there would be no one to go to his funeral. So he decided to go. So that there might be someone to follow the old man to his last resting place.

[18:43] There was no one else. And it was a wild, wet day. The funeral reached the cemetery. And at the gate, there was a soldier waiting. He was an officer. But on his raincoat, there were no rank badges.

[18:55] The soldier came to the graveside for the ceremony. And when it was over, he stepped forward. And before the open grave, swept his hand upwards in a manner of a royal salute. Gee walked with his soldier.

[19:07] And as they walked, the wind blew the soldier's raincoat open to reveal the shoulder badges of a brigadier general. The brigadier said to Gee, you will perhaps be wondering what I'm doing here.

[19:19] Years ago, Thomas was my Sunday school teacher. I was a wild lad and a sore trial to him. He never knew what he did for me, but I owe him everything I am or will be to old Thomas.

[19:33] And today, I had to come and salute him at the end. Thomas never knew what he was doing when he taught Sunday school, when he taught those kids. When we sow seed, we can't expect quick results.

[19:46] That's probably the most discouraging thing about sowing seed. I remember as a little boy, we would plant watermelon seeds. You do not understand what a little redneck boy with an outhouse outside and a little tub on the back porch.

[20:03] He took baths in what he thought. We planted those seeds. I ran out there to check. The very next day, I was wondering where my watermelon was. And I got out there. There was no watermelon. There was nothing. And I can remember going day after day.

[20:14] And finally, I came running in. I said, hey, there's some plants out there. And then one day, I saw that little bitty watermelon, that little bitty thing that wasn't a watermelon. And I was so excited.

[20:25] You can't plant the seed. You can't sow the seed. You can't do the ministry and count results real quick. It takes a long time to grow into the full-grown tree.

[20:36] The Sunday school teacher has no idea how God's using them. Can I talk to every Sunday school teacher here? You're teaching Sunday school. You're working with children. You're in the nursery. And you're helping people. And you have no idea what you're doing.

[20:46] You're just sowing the seed and not seeing any results. But you can count on something. God's Word is powerful. And God's Word can change lives. And you may not know it until you're at your graveside and a brigadier general walks up and says, That man changed my life.

[21:00] D.O. Moody was a famous pastor evangelist in his day. Started a whole place. It was a Sunday school teacher who came to see him at about 19 years of age, dying of cancer, and said, I want to tell you about Jesus.

[21:12] I may be dying. I want to tell you about Jesus. And he became the great evangelist D.O. Moody. Think of someone that influenced you and did an even great work in your life and who might not even realize it right now.

[21:24] What do you think? Right now. Who was that teacher? Who was that preacher? Who was that person that God used? Where are you as a seed sower this morning? Have you gotten discouraged and wondered if it was worth it?

[21:37] Have you grown careless and stopped teaching and sharing the words? Some of us would be like, I took care of kids long enough. I done taught them not heads long enough.

[21:49] And it could easily become, it's not worth it. But you don't know what's worth it. I think the other day, Sean Bateman was in Lyle, Tennessee.

[22:02] That's where my church was. I got saved. It was a little church. This is the sticks. Sean wouldn't even drive by it. He said, sides of the mountains. And he said, who knew if a pavement was going to run out up there? And I texted him.

[22:14] I typed him on Facebook. I said, that's where I got saved. Wrigley, right there in that town. It was two miles from where he was. And he wouldn't even go by. But he said he told them. He said, my mentor got saved right over here at Wrigley.

[22:26] And everybody up there was like, what? What? Because little old place like that, you could get discouraged. You could begin to think it's not working. But maybe God isn't working.

[22:36] You don't know it. Have you allowed doubt and tiredness to pull you away from who you are and who you were made to be? Are you trusting that God will bring a harvest if you will just be faithful?

[22:47] Should you find someone that God greatly used in your life and say thank you for all that God did in and through that person? So there's two lessons you've looked at so far. The hearer and the sower.

[22:59] By the way, if you're a teacher and a servant and you're working, sometimes it's easy to get discouraged. Sometimes it's easy to think, I'm not sure it's worth it. But you don't know what God's going to do with the seed you're sowing.

[23:11] So keep sowing the seed. Amen? Third lesson in this passage of Scripture in verse 10. They said, Jesus, why do you speak in parables? Look at verse 10. Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

[23:24] So Jesus is going before the Jewish nation and he's talking to them in parables. He's telling them a story, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And the funny thing is when he answers, he said, I'm really telling them so they won't get it.

[23:38] Read the passage. I'm doing it so they won't understand. The elite religious crowd would think it was foolish childishness. The regular unlearned people would be able to grasp the truths.

[23:49] God had chosen to do a work that the Jews weren't ready or able to handle. Verse 11. You need to underline this in verse 11. This is where you're going to find out about us. The church, saved Jews and saved Gentiles will come together and form the church.

[24:05] There are Jews, the church, and Gentiles. We are the church. And a saved Jew is a part of the church and a Gentile is part of the church if he's saved. Verse 11. He answered and said unto them, because it's given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them it's not given.

[24:21] So there's this unseen thing. In the Old Testament, people didn't know that God was going to come to a place in the work of a redemption and set Israel to one side and bring in this wild group of people, us, the church, and let us have about 2,000 years to do a work and to get the gospel to the world.

[24:39] And they didn't know that. But God's plan was, Israel, you've quit doing your job. You've lost it. You know all the truth, but you're not practicing it. You've become religious, but you're lost, and you're not sharing the gospel.

[24:50] And I'm going to bring this other group of people in. So we're in a parenthesis in history. The Jews have been set aside, and the Jews are coming back. But right now, God's using us. Jews had failed to carry out the ministry.

[25:02] In verse 12, they had had everything, but they'd lost it. And so in verse 12, he said, if you have it, I give it to you. And if you don't, I won't. And he was taking it from Israel and giving it to the church. Look at verse 13.

[25:13] I speak to them in parables, because they seeing, see not. Hearing, they hear not. Neither do they understand. It's just like it said in the book of Isaiah. You shall hear, but you won't understand.

[25:24] You'll see, but you won't perceive. Your heart is waxed gross and dull of hearing. Your ears are dull of hearing. And your eyes have closed, thus at any time you should be converted. He's not talking about individuals. He's talking about a nation.

[25:35] It was like Israel. You had your chance. This big nation of Israel. You've had your chance to get the gospel out. He's saving individuals, because the church, well, he started by all Jewish people.

[25:46] All Jewish people. So the individual could get saved, but God's setting aside this great Jewish nation. And he's setting them aside to bring us in and let us be used. We were given what so many wanted.

[25:58] The opportunity to see Jesus as God in human flesh, crucified, rising again. Look at verse 16. Blessed are your eyes, for they see. Hey, you apostles, your eyes see, your ears hear.

[26:12] Verse 17. Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, but they haven't been able to see them. God has given us great privilege. Look this way just a second.

[26:22] Please listen to this. You're in the church. Not some invisible, universal thing that nobody sees, but a local congregation meeting together to obey God and to carry out his work.

[26:36] We're saved and we're baptized and we're bonded together, bonded together to carry the gospel message around the world. How will you respond personally as you understand what God has given the church, your church?

[26:50] And it should be a great opportunity and a great responsibility. Do you understand who we are in history? If you read the Bible, Genesis 12, the last part of 11 in Genesis 12, he picks the Jewish nation.

[27:02] And from then on, it's the Jews. Until you get the New Testament, God sets aside the nation. And he puts us in their place to bring about jealousy to cause them to want to do great things. And they're coming back and God's going to use them in a great way.

[27:13] But right now, at this point in history, God has given us the gospel. He's given us the word. He's given us the power of the Holy Spirit. He's given us the opportunity to make a difference all around the world. You can't take this lightly.

[27:25] You can't just act like, well, I'm saved and I'm going to heaven and it doesn't matter. You've got to realize he placed in our hands a great trust, the word of God. Last thing I want to show you, verse 8. Do you see that the story that the real believer, the one that was truly receptive, brought forth fruit?

[27:55] The real believer brought forth fruit. How is your fruit bearing? How much is your life lived to the honor and the glory of God? Do you realize that if you were to produce disciples over your lifetime, in the lowest number, you would still make a great difference?

[28:13] Do you realize if you trained 30 people to follow Jesus, saw them get saved and saw them learn how to love God and serve God, and in your whole lifetime, only 30 people learned to walk with God because of your sharing truth with them, you'd make a tremendous impact.

[28:29] There ought to be fruit in your life. You were not saved to sit, soak, and sour. You were saved to serve. You weren't saved so you wouldn't go to hell.

[28:40] You were saved so you could serve the great God of heaven. Do you take seriously the ministry that God has given you? I don't know how you don't. I don't know how you don't realize, man, I have the word of God.

[28:52] I have the Holy Spirit of God living in me. I must share Jesus. I must share truth. I must help others to grow. Do you realize that if the seed hasn't produced any fruit in your life, you should have no confidence in your salvation?

[29:07] You need to look at me and listen a second. If you say, I got saved, but I haven't really seen God ever do anything with me, then I'd be checking my pulse. I'd be trying to find out, has God done a work in me?

[29:19] Salvation changes lives. You may not be a great soul winner. You may not be a great disciple, but the fruit of the Spirit is going to start to be evident in your life. A change in character is going to be evident in your life.

[29:31] Sharing the gospel is going to be evident. You're going to want to talk about Jesus. He made a difference in your life. He made a difference in your life. What's hindering your hearing this morning?

[29:42] Why do you not respond to his wonderful gospel message? You've come to church. You've heard the gospel. It's been sung for you, and it's been preached to you.

[29:53] Why won't you? Is it your pride that you never want to humble yourself and repent? Is it that you think that your life is just too full and important to take time for the things of God?

[30:04] Is it that you only want to do what others do? You follow the crowd without taking the things of God seriously. How will you respond to the Word of God? The seed, the Word, will change you today.

[30:19] You are a sinner. You have failed God. You deserve hell. You failed God. You deserve hell. The wages of sin is death. The Bible talks about a first death, physical. A second death, hell.

[30:32] And you sinned against a holy God. But Jesus loves you. The Bible says God commended or showed or proved his love toward us, and that while we were yet still sinning, Christ died for us.

[30:44] He loves you, and he paid your sin debt, and you can be saved today. You're going to look and say, hey, I'm hearing it. And some of you are going to be, I don't believe any of that. I'm just too hard to listen to that. I ain't got time for that foolishness.

[30:56] Or maybe you'll superficially get it, but some of us will say, I want that seed. I want God to change my life, and that will be salvation.

[31:07] I invite you this morning to trust Jesus. I invite you to trust Jesus. I invite you, if you're here, to realize the great responsibility you have about serving God. This world is not your home.

[31:18] You're just a passing through. Your treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. God has no plan for you to think this world is where you live. You're supposed to be getting ready for the next one where you'll live forever. Are you involved in the ministry?

[31:31] Are you sharing the gospel? Do you realize that God has big plans for you? So I ask you today, if you're not saved, to get saved. And if you are saved, to say, God, I'm going to get in more, and I'm going to start living out who you are in me.

[31:46] Father in heaven, I love you, and I praise you, and I thank you for the opportunity to share your word. And I pray, God, that you'd save somebody this morning. I pray that you'd save somebody. I pray somebody would come to know you today as their personal savior, and I will give you praise for what you do.

[32:00] I pray, dear God, that you would not only save someone, but that some of your servants would come back and say, I've been discouraged, but I'm not going to be anymore. I'm going to get involved in doing what you called me to do, and I'm going to share the word.

[32:11] I pray, God, that some of your people would go find somebody who you used to make a big difference in their life, and that they would say thank you to them. I pray, dear God, you'd help us to take seriously the opportunity, the privilege, and the responsibility you've given us with your word.

[32:26] And I'll give you praise and honor and glory. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.

[32:44]  Thanks.