I'm sure it's happened to you.
You've been in a conversation with a friend at a coffee shop.
You've been talking with your spouse after the kids have gone to bed.
You're driving along and your kids are chattering away in the back seat.
And you find yourself saying, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
And suddenly with horror you look up and you realize their mouth is still moving.
And you have no idea what they are saying.
And you have completely stopped listening minutes or even more ago.
Maybe you've been there.
We get distracted.
We get caught up in our own thoughts.
We find that in the middle of conversation,
we're still thinking much more about ourselves than what is being said to us.
It happens to us when we get on airplanes.
The steward and stewardesses stand up in front and give instructions on what to do in an emergency.
Have you been on a plane recently?
Have you noticed how few people even put down their reading material or look up?
How easily we don't listen.
I remember one time I did listen.
It was the first time I went rock climbing.
The guy who took us said,
this is your harness.
Put it on this way.
Clip it in this way.
Double check it like this.
And I listened because my life depended upon it.
But often, so often in life, we don't listen, do we?
And I know that this is true not only in our interpersonal life,
but it is true in our spiritual lives as well.
How often we stop listening.
Even when the words continue to come to us,
we stop listening to God.
We stop looking for Him to speak to us.
We stop believing that what He has to say to us is really, really important.
We get distracted.
We start thinking about ourselves.
And we stop listening.
And in all this way,
we grow in patterns of becoming deaf
and not listening to God
and what He has to say to us this morning.
We are going to continue in our series in the book of Luke.
If you want to pull out your pew Bibles,
we're on page 864.
Luke chapter 8 is our passage this morning.
And it is about hearing and listening.
So, turn with me there,
and we will read our passage together.
And dive in.
Luke chapter 8.
We're going to read verses 1 through 21.
Soon afterwards,
He went on through cities and villages,
proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.
And the twelve were with Him,
and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities.
Mary called Magdalene,
from whom seven demons had gone out,
and Joanna,
wife of Chusa,
Herod's household manager,
and Susanna,
and many others who provided for them out of their means.
And when a great crowd was gathered,
and people from town after town came to Him,
He said in a parable,
a sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed,
some fell along the path
and was trampled underfoot,
and the birds of the air devoured it.
And some fell on the rock,
and as it grew up,
it withered away,
because it had no moisture.
And some fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew up with it
and choked it.
And some fell into good soil
and grew
and yielded
a hundredfold.
And as He said these things,
He called out,
He who has ear
to hear,
let him hear.
And when His disciples asked Him
what this parable meant,
He said,
To you it has been given
to know the secrets
of the kingdom of God.
But for others,
they are in parables,
so that
they may see,
they may not see,
so that seeing,
they may not see,
and hearing,
they may not understand.
Now the parable is this,
the seed is the word of God.
The ones along the path
are those who have heard.
Then the devil comes
and takes away the word
from their hearts
so that they may not believe
and be saved.
And the ones on the rock
are those who,
when they hear the word,
receive it with joy.
But these have no root.
They believe for a while,
and in time of testing,
fall away.
And as for what fell
among the thorns,
they are those who hear,
but as they go on their way,
they are choked
by the cares and riches
and pleasures of life,
and their fruit
does not mature.
As for that in the good soil,
they are those who,
hearing the word,
hold it fast
in an honest and good heart
and bear fruit with patience.
No one,
after lighting a lamp,
covers it with a jar
and puts it under bed,
but puts it on a stand
so that those who enter
may see the light.
For nothing that is hidden
that will not be made manifest,
nor is anything secret
that will not be made known
and come to light.
Take care,
then,
how you hear.
For to the one who has,
more will be given,
and from the one who has not,
even what he thinks he has
will be taken away.
Then his mothers
and his brothers
came to him,
but they could not reach him
because of the crowd,
and he was told,
your mother and your brothers
are standing outside
desiring to see you.
And he answered them,
my mother
and my brothers
are those who hear
the word of God
and do it.
Let's pray.
Lord,
even as we have just sung,
we pray now.
We pray that you would speak to us,
that you would speak to us
through your holy word.
Lord,
we thank you
that you have given us
your word,
and we thank you
that you have given us
your Holy Spirit
by which we have understanding,
and by which you open our eyes
and our hearts
to know
and to understand
what it is
that you are saying to us.
God,
I pray this morning
for our hearts
and our ears
that we would be open
to you,
that we would be ready
to receive
what you want to say
to us this morning.
Lord,
use me
that the words
that I speak
would be your words,
would be useful
for all of us
as we sit under your word.
We pray these things
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So this section
is quite a long section,
and it comes right after,
if you remember,
Pastor Nick last week
talked about the encounter
that Jesus had
at Simon the Pharisee's house
with Simon and the woman,
and what you saw
was that these two people
responded dramatically differently
to Jesus
because of their understanding
of who he was,
but also of their understanding
of their own sinfulness.
The woman
who was completely
an outcast
in the culture
received Jesus
with worship
and adoration
sacrificially
and even shamefully
showing her devotion
to him,
demonstrating
that she understood
who Jesus was
and her need for him.
Whereas Simon,
the proud Pharisee
who thought he was righteous
in his own
and had very little
to be forgiven of,
treated Jesus
shamefully himself.
by not giving him honor
nor showing him love
and respect.
And so,
this story
which reveals the hearts
of these two people
is then,
I think,
the springboard
that launches us
into this section of text.
And you see
at the beginning
and at the end
what you have
is a community
of people
around Jesus
as he's going around
and doing his ministry
of preaching and teaching.
At the beginning,
you see,
there's this,
Luke recalls,
Jesus is traveling around
doing his ministry
of proclaiming
the word of God
and with him
are traveling disciples.
And so interesting,
isn't it,
that Luke makes sure
to mention.
Look,
do you see?
It's not just the woman
at Simon's house.
Here are other women
who are hearing
and receiving
and being brought in
to God,
to Jesus' circle.
They're the ones
who are hearing the word
and responding
and seeing its power
at work in them.
And then at the very end,
he brackets it
with his own flesh
and blood
coming to him
and saying,
come out and see us.
And Jesus says,
oh,
don't you see
how important
the word of God is
in our community?
In fact,
it takes greater precedent
than flesh and blood.
Those who hear
the word of God
and do it,
those are the ones
who are my real
spiritual family.
And so,
Jesus shapes
this whole story
around this
hearing the word of God
and talking about
how it is,
how important it is.
And at the center
of it,
of course,
we see
is this parable.
Now,
a brief note
about parables
because parables
are kind of fun.
Jesus uses parables
a lot.
This is the first
major teaching parable.
There was a little one
back in chapter 7.
But in the book of Luke,
this is his first parable.
Parables are stories
that have a point,
that have references
to things that people
understand
to make a point.
Most of the time,
they're not allegories.
An allegory is something
that has one-to-one
correspondence
between each detail
and some truth
that's trying to be
communicated.
In fact,
this is the one parable
that seems more
allegorical than many
because both the seed
and the soil
are representative
of particular things.
But most parables
simply have one point
that they're trying
to make.
Jesus uses these parables
and it's fascinating
when you saw this
when we read it
in verses 9 and 10
as the disciples
asked him about parables.
Why are you preaching
in this way?
What is going on?
He says,
I'm preaching
so that you
who receive the secrets
or maybe
the word underlying
that secret
is the idea of mystery.
You're actually
receiving a mystery
not like some
esoteric knowledge
that you can only have
through being
physically deprived
for a long time
and having a spiritual
experience.
But a mystery of
this is something
that wasn't known before
but now has been
made known by God.
And so he's saying
you are receiving
this message
this message of knowledge
about what it is
that God is doing
in the world
and who he is.
But it's interesting
because he then goes on
and quotes from Isaiah
about those who hear
but never hear
and those who
listen but don't understand.
And he says
part of the reason
I tell in parables
is because some people
will listen
and some people won't.
And to those
who listen
it will be great food
that will feed
and fuel
their understanding
of God.
But to those
who won't
to those who can't
in fact
it will harden them
and they will be
increasingly frustrated
and their hearing
will have less
and less
power in their lives.
And so that's
just want to clear up
some of the
the sort of
surrounding things
because we're going
to spend most of our time
talking about the parable.
And what I want you to see
is all these things
point to
the meaning of the parable
is the meaning
of this whole section
I believe.
We see Jesus' exhortation
in verse 18.
Take heed
how you hear.
This is his point.
This is the point
of the parable.
And this is the point
of our sermon
this morning.
Take heed
how you hear.
And as you see
the parable
I'm not going to rehearse it
it's a fairly
straightforward thing.
It's a common
Palestinian picture
of how you would
sow a field.
A guy has a bag
with a lot of seed
and he walks up and down
and he just reaches in
grabs a handful
and he throws it.
And the picture
is he's throwing it abundantly.
He's throwing it
without regard
to how receptive
the soil is
from his own perspective.
He's just sowing the seed
and he walks up and down
the field
and he does this.
And he's sowing it
on the edges
where there may be
thorns growing.
He's throwing it
where the soil
doesn't look very good.
In Palestine
the soil sometimes
was very shallow
and you couldn't see
that the rock
underneath it
was very near
the surface.
There would be
walking paths
at times
right through the middle
of an agricultural field.
And so
he's just sowing the seed
and seeing how
it falls
in different soils.
And that's what he says
in this parable.
And there are two things
I want to examine
this morning with you.
One is the seed itself
and two
is the soils
that they land in.
And how that informs us
as we think about
Jesus' primary exhortation
for us to take heed
how we hear
what Jesus has to say
to us.
So let's look first
at the seed.
In verse 11
it's very clear.
Look with me.
Now the parable
is this.
The seed
is the word
of God.
The word
of God
is not a phrase
actually used
often in the Gospels.
Luke uses it
just a couple of times.
In Luke 5
he uses it
to describe
what the crowds
were coming to hear
when they gathered
to listen to Jesus
as he preached.
It's used in chapter 11
most likely
to refer to the Scriptures
that they would have had
in the first century
which would be
the Old Testament
in that time.
But we see
Jesus
and we see Luke
shaping this whole section
of
or we see Luke
shaping this whole section
that we've been looking at.
Do you remember
back in chapter 4
Luke
began by quoting
Jesus
as he read
the prophet Isaiah
in the temple.
And he said
this prophecy
about the
kingdom of God
being at hand
and about how
the lame
would leap for joy
and how the blind
would see
and how the captives
would be set free.
And he sat down
and he said
today
in your hearing
this Scripture
is fulfilled.
So Jesus' teaching
was always about
how the Old Testament
was informing
what does it mean
that the kingdom of God
is at hand.
But
he was saying
more than that.
He was saying
that this points
to something new
that is happening today.
And so this is what
I want to talk about
for a little bit.
What is the seed
of the word of God
that Jesus is referring to?
I think there are
two aspects to it.
First
the seed
is a seed
that has content.
The message
of the kingdom
is the message
that Jesus
is proclaiming
about how God
is fulfilling
all of his promises
in the Old Testament.
And if you were
reading Luke
it would have been
post-resurrection.
It would have been
post-ascension.
It would have been
after Jesus
had risen
from the dead.
And you would have
probably heard about
or if you read
through the whole book
you would have gotten
to chapter 24
verses 26 and 27
where Jesus
opens the scriptures
to his disciples
after the resurrection
and talks about
the prophets
and Moses
and how they all wrote
concerning him.
how he would be
crucified.
How he would
offer himself up
on the cross
for sinners.
How he would
rise again
from the dead
three days later
demonstrating
his victory
over sin
and death.
And so the message
of the word of God
is focused
on Jesus
himself.
it is about
him and his work
and how he
is the fulfillment
of the riches
of God's work
throughout all
of creation
redemption
and even
into glory.
And so the content
of it
wasn't just
information
this is what
God is like.
It wasn't just
history
this is what
God did.
It wasn't
just
theology
this is how
it works
although it is
all of those
things.
But the message
the word of God
is more than that.
The message
of the word of God
is about a person.
And this is the seed
that Jesus is
referring to
when he says
the seed is the
word of God.
I just want to
stop for a minute
and point out to you
that we don't have
Jesus preaching
today but we have
this
and this
from Genesis
to Revelation
helps us to
know
this
this Jesus
and this word
of God
this is the word
of God
because it points
to what John
refers to
in John 1
the word of God
who became flesh
and dwelt among us
and we have beheld
his glory
the glory
of the only
one.
this morning
I want to ask you
what do you think
about the word of God
when I say that?
Is it ethical
instruction?
Is it morality?
How to be a better
person in this world?
Is it advice
on how to live?
How to
wisdom
on how to do better
in your finances
or your marriage
or whatever?
is it information?
The core of it
I believe
is the understanding
is that the word of God
is revelation
it is God
in his
as my seminary
professor would call it
God's gracious
self-disclosure
the word of God
is God
coming to us
as humanity
and saying
this is who I am
I have created you
to know me
and I want you
to know
what kind of God
I am
and I'm going to show you
what kind of God
I am
through history
through all the works
that I do
through all the ways
that I change life
but at the pinnacle
of it
I want you to see
who I am
by seeing me
in human flesh
in the person
of Jesus Christ
this is what
the writer of Hebrews
says
in the times past
long ago
and many times
in many ways
God spoke to our fathers
but now
in these last days
he has spoken to us
by his son
God is making himself
known to us
through his word
this is the whole point
and so it has content
Jesus Christ
and him
crucified
at its center
but it also has power
Jesus uses the image
of a seed
if you go out there
and you take an acorn
and you plant it
under the sidewalk
in 20 years
the sidewalk
will be gone
and there will be
a tree growing up
uprooting
that sidewalk
the seeds
have this incredible
imagery
of power
when you plant
a seed
what happens
it produces
life
what seems like
this dry
raisin like thing
that won't do anything
when you plant it
in the ground
in good soil
it actually
produces
life
and this is why
he uses this image
because it's so powerful
to capture
what the Bible
thinks about
the proclamation
of the word
of God
this is what
Nick referred to
in the beginning
in the book
of Ezekiel
the prophet
went and preached
to a valley
of bones
and yet
it had power
and in that power
God worked
to bring life
it's what we read
earlier in Isaiah
I will not let
my word
return
to me
empty
but it will
always accomplish
the purposes
for which I sent it
it is what
in the book
of Romans
the apostle Paul
talks about
the gospel
the message
about Jesus
being the power
of the word
of God
for all people
and why he says
in chapter 10
how can anyone
be saved
unless someone
preaches to them
unless they
let me say that
right
how can anyone
be saved
unless they hear
the message
and how can
anyone hear
the message
unless someone
preaches
to them
you see the Bible
tells us
that the verbal
proclamation
of this message
of who Jesus
is
is at the very
center
of the powerful
work of God
doing things
in our life
to bring life
spiritual life
where there is
death
friends
does God's word
bring life
to you
maybe you
see it as
restrictive
or condemning
maybe you see it
as legalistic
maybe you think
it's dry
or boring
or irrelevant
Jesus is reminding
us this morning
that the word
of God
is a seed
that has power
to bring life
to us
spiritually
so he says
the seed
is the word
of God
take heed
how you hear
it
but then he goes
on and he talks
about the sower
as he throws
the seed
there are all
of these soils
aren't there
there are all
of these different
soils
that that seed
lands on
the first seed
is the
the rocky path
it's hardened
it's not
receptive
what does
this look
like
sometimes
I think
we think
a hardened
person
is someone
who fights
with us
when we talk
about God
or those sorts
of things
he's the one
who responds
angrily
or defensively
against it
but I'll tell you
what
you know
what I think
the truly
hardened
heart
looks like
disdain
it doesn't
matter
I don't
care
it's completely
irrelevant
to me
you can
argue
what you
you can
if you argue
you care
about something
when you don't
care at all
a hardened
heart
I think
looks like
that kind
of dismissiveness
and the word
just bounces
off
as it
would
if you
threw it
on a
well-worn
footpath
in first
century
Palestine
as one
pastor
describes it
in the
hardened
heart
the seed
never
penetrates
the mind
it never
touches
the conscience
it never
enters
the heart
not only
is the heart
hardened
then
but Jesus
says
but also
there is
another
dynamic
that comes
along
the birds
symbolizing
the spiritual
forces of
darkness
and the
enemy
of our
souls
he comes
in
and he
whispers
to us
that seed
doesn't
work
that's
absurd
no one
would do
that
you
you're
going to
look
really
foolish
to your
friends
if you
believe
that
well
that's
not
going to
really
help
you
when the
rubber
meets
the
road
the
enemy
comes
in
and he
whisks
away
this
word
with
all
of
these
lies
I
remember
when I
was a
teenager
I
grew up
I
actually
went
to a
church
I
don't
believe
it
preached
the
gospel
very
clearly
but it
talked
about
Jesus
we
read
the
Bible
it
bounced
off
me
it
bounced
off
me
for
years
and
years
I
remember
my
sophomore
year
some
of
my
friends
were
really
vibrant
Christians
and I
mocked
them
and I
made
fun
of
them
the
holy
rollers
I
called
them
because
they
were
praying
for
their
friends
and reading
the
Bible
and I
thought
it
was
foolish
maybe
you
remember
what
it's
like
or
maybe
you've
known
people
you
love
for
whom
that's
true
take
heart
God
changed
me
he
can
change
them
too
so
that's
the
hardened
heart
what
about
the
shallow
heart
challenge
of
trials
and
expectations
the
seed
seems
to land
well
oh
I'm
so
excited
about
this
there's
a
great
emotional
response
of
joy
and
happiness
yeah
that
sounds
great
that
sounds
wonderful
but
it
falls
on
shallow
and
rocky
soil
and
the
root
doesn't
go
deep
the
gospel
doesn't
penetrate
into
the
recesses
of
our
lives
it
doesn't
get
down
into
our
values
and
our
priorities
it
doesn't
take
hold
of
the
breadth
of
all
that
we
are
and
then
when
a
trial
comes
along
when
it
becomes
hard
when
it
becomes
costly
to
believe
what
we
believe
there's
no
power
for it
the
wind
comes
and
pulls
it
up
I
have
a
neighbor
she
is
an
organic
vegan
something
or
other
I'm
not
quite
she's
but
she
grows
the
most
amazing
garden
in
the
world
she
actually
has
chickens
and
she
moves
her
coop
so
that
their
fertilizer
can
fertilize
their
garden
and
literally
she
plants
the
same
seeds
I
do
and
I
see
in
my
pitiful
little
garden
these
sprouts
that
come
up
and
when
I
go
away
for
two
weeks
in
the
summer
and
it
gets
dry
and
there's
no
rain
and
nothing
happens
my
plants
wither
and
die
hers
are
like
burgeoning
and
overflowing
over
the
fences
and
she's
like
do
you
want
three
bushes
of
tomatoes
because
I
can't
handle
all
the
ones
that
I
have
friends
this
is
what
happens
our
hearts
are
like
the
soil
in
my
garden
when
it
gets
hard
when
it
gets
dry
can't
stand
up
strikes
me
that
I
see
this
happening
in
two
different
ways
two
different
seasons
of our
lives
one
is
transition
for
those
of you
who
are
college
students
when
you
leave
college
so
many
times
the
root
is
shown
to
be
shallow
in
the
trial
of
that
transition
or
maybe
you're
about
to
have
a
baby
having
a
baby
is
one
of
those
times
when
it
can
be
very
easy
for
the
soil
to
just
show
its
weakness
and
the
plant
to
show
its
lack
of
roots
sometimes
it's
the
changing
of
friendships
the
loss
of
people
who've
helped
us
spiritually
sometimes
it's
being
hurt
by the
church
by
people
in the
church
relationally
it's
at
these
times
when
we
see
how
deep
the
root
goes
it's
also
of
course
as
Jesus
makes
clear
during
times
of
trial
whether
it
be
facing
sickness
or
a
loss
of
a
job
the
breakdown
of
a
relationship
I'm
sure
each
of
you
can
fill
in
the
trials
that
you
have
seen
or
the
trials
that
you
have
seen
others
walk
through
to
say
I
felt
those
I
know
what
they
are
so
some
seed
falls
on
hardened
and
bounces
off
some
seed
falls
on
the
shallow
and
yet
doesn't
take
root
some
seed
is
choked
out
by
the
cares
and
the
riches
and
the
pleasures
of
life
notice
that
it's
not
all
bad
things
right
I mean
Jesus
in the
imagery
uses
thorns
and
thistles
and
interestingly
there
are
like
140
plus
different
varieties
of
thistles
that
grow
in
Palestine
in
Israel
and
so
that
was
an
interesting
side
note
that
there
were
lots
of
them
to
grow
up
but
to
notice
that
they're
not
all
bad
things
certainly
we
can
let
bad
things
grow
up
in
our
life
and
choke
out
our
desire
to
know
God
and
His
word
but
sometimes
it's
good
things
it's
success
it's
a job
promotion
it's
getting
married
it's
another
kid
it's
moving
into
a new
house
and
yet
all
of
these
things
can
rise
up
and
choke
out
the
word
of
God
and
whether
they're
good
or
bad
at
the
end
of
the
day
we
love
these
other
things
more
than
we
love
the
word
of
God
we
love
these
other
things
more
than
we
love
Christ
and
can
I
just
say
that
there
are
times
when
in
this
modern
era
in
evangelicalism
today
I
fear
that
we
out
of
a
desire
to
avoid
being
legalistic
don't
stand
and
make
a
priority
of
the
word
of
God
in
our
lives
we
don't
want
to
make
our
quiet
time
a
legalism
so
we
say
well
we'll
get
to
it
when
we
can
except
when
we
don't
and
the
more
we
do
that
the
more
we
don't
and
suddenly
we
find
it's
been
months
since
I
last
sat
down
and
actually
read
my
Bible
or
my
kid
keeps
being
successful
in
sports
and
then
suddenly
they
have
games
on
Sundays
and
then
maybe
once
or
twice
yeah
there's
flexibility
this
isn't
legalism
but
it
grows
and
it
grows
and
grows
and
suddenly
you
haven't
been
to
church
in
three
months
because
other
things
have
just
grown
up
in
your
schedule
and
we
don't
fight
the
battle
to
make
it
a
priority
and
hear
me
clearly
I
don't
want
it
to
be
a
legalistic
duty
that's
not
what
Jesus
is
picturing
here
but
he
is
warning
us
of
the
danger
of
letting
all
these
other
things
grow
up
in
our
lives
and
choke
out
do
we
treat
the
word
of
God
as
the
seed
that
is
able
to
give
us
power
or
do
we
presume
and
then
of
course
finally
talks
about
the
good
soil
the
good
soil
that
does
what
he
says
it
holds
it
fast
with
a
good
and
honest
heart
the
good
soil
is
that
which
treasures
and
receives
the
word
of
God
not
only
does
it
receive
it
but
it
clings
to
it
and
holds
on
to
it
and
it
bears
fruit
with
patience
which
means
that
it
recognizes
that
it
will
take
time
for
this
process
to
happen
and
that
the
word
of
God
is
not
a
vending
machine
that
produces
immediate
results
at
every
turn
but
instead
it
is
this
organic
reality
that
produces
in
us
life
over
time
and
the
good
soil
receives
it
with
a
good
and
honest
heart
that
sees
and
values
the
truthfulness
of
it
and
trusts
in
its
power
friends
I
got
to
watch
someone
receive
the
word
of
God
as
she
walked
through
facing
sickness
and
ultimately
as
she
walked
through
facing
her
death
and
though
she
struggled
at
times
with
faith
though
she
struggled
to
know
how
to
respond
though
the
trial
was
fierce
and
the
winds
blew
hard
and
there
were
times
when
she
was
overwhelmed
what
I
saw
was
she
turned
to
the
word
of
God
some
of
you
helped
her
giving
her
passages
of
scripture
to
read
every
day
giving
her
books
that
are
going
to
point
her
to
the
scripture
every
day
and
I
saw
her
cling
to
that
in
that
trial
I
got
to
see
good
soil
up
close
and
personal
and
it
was
so
encouraging
to
me
it
was
the
thing
that
got
her
and
us
through
it
in
many
ways
friends
how
do
we
know
how
do
we
know
what
our
soil
the
soils
of
our
heart
is
like
well
it's
interesting
right
because
Jesus
says
that
the
fruit
of
it
is
what
a
harvest
the
fruit
of
good
soil
is
a
harvest
and
a
harvest
that's
a
hundred
fold
and
if
you've
been
a
farmer
in
Palestine
a
hundred
fold
would
be
a
miraculous
response
it
would
be
a
an
unbelievable
a
supernatural
harvest
so
Jesus
is
using
something
he's
using
this
imagery
to
say
what
the
seed
is
going
to
produce
is
more
than
you
could
even
ask
or
imagine
in
your
life
this
is
what
the
word
of
God
will
do
for
you
so
here's
the
challenge
as we
close
the
challenge
is
how do
we
respond
to
this
it's
very
easy
to
take
this
parable
and
say
well
I
guess
I
got
to
get
my
soil
right
how
do
I
how
do
I
get
out
my
weeds
and
dig
a
little
deeper
and
you
know
how
do
I
make
sure
that
I'm
not
choking
and
you
know
what
that's
not
a
bad
impulse
we
ought
to
stop
and
take
stock
of
the
reality
of
our
heart
and
ask
ourselves
are
we
hardened
are
we
shallow
are
we
being
choked
out
is
that
the
soil
of
our
heart
but
underneath
the
message
of
the
soil
is
the
message
of
the
seed
God's
word
the
message
of
Jesus
Christ
has
power
to
bring
you
life
and
you
don't
have
to
clean
up
your
soil
completely
before
it
can
begin
to
do
its
work
in
fact
part
of
the
cleaning
up
the
soil
is
the
very
work
that
it
will
do
all
that
he
requires
of
you
is
to
come
and
say
I
need
it
I
need
it
I
need
it
and
that's
what
Jesus
is
exhorting
his
hearers
take
heed
do
you
hear
it
will
you
listen
to
it
will
you
let
it
get
into
your
life
and
transform
you
are
called
to
receive
that's
what
he's
asking
you
to
do
and
what
does
this
look
like
how
do
we
apply
this
how
do
we
pursue
a
life
of
hearing
the
word
of
God
friends
it's
not
rocket
science
you
have
to
read
the
Bible
it's
just
that
simple
you
have
to
read
the
Bible
and
you
have
to
figure
out
how
to
read
the
Bible
in
whether
you're
Susanna
Wesley
and you
literally
put
your
apron
over
your
head
in
the
middle
of
13
children
and
you
have
your
Bible
in
the
middle
of
the
kitchen
while
chaos
ensues
around
you
or
whether
you're
putting
it
on
your
iPad
so you
can
listen
to
it
audio
as you
drive
to
work
in
the
morning
or
as
you
exercise
whether
it's
late
night
choosing
to turn
off
the
television
so
that
you
can
read
the
word
of
God
before
you
go
to
bed
whatever
it
is
whether
it's
plastering
Bible
verses
on your
mirror
in your
bathroom
so you
can see
it
every
morning
be
some
grand
Bible
reading
plan
where
you're
reading
12
chapters
a day
and
doing
two
hours
of
Bible
study
you
don't
have
maybe
it
will
get
there
I
hope
you
love
the
word
of
God
so
much
that
it
might
get
there
but
if
you
don't
start
with
just
the
basics
let
the
word
of
God
speak
to
you
and
let
me
just
say
for
a
minute
if
you're
here
this
morning
and
you're
exploring
Christianity
and
you're
recognizing
maybe
my
heart
is
open
to
this
maybe
I
want
to
know
more
about
this
the
best
thing
you
can
do
is
to
open
the
Bible
and
to
read
it
read
about
Jesus
start
with
the
gospel
come
talk
to
me
if
you
want
to
talk
to
me
about
where
to
start
but
just
read
the
Bible
let
God
speak
to
you
seek
for
ways
to
have
the
word
of
God
present
in
your
life
and
not
only
that
but
also
seek
a
community
this
is
so
fascinating
that
Jesus
bookends
this
story
with
pictures
of
communities
of
people
who
are
receiving
and
treasuring
the
word
of
God
together
make
it a
priority
to be
in a
small
group
do
something
beyond
Sunday
morning
where
you
have
some
other
believer
in
your
life
who
is
reminding
you
of
the
scriptures
whether
it
be
a
small
group
that
formerly
at
Trinity
or
whether
it's
a
few
people
who
get
together
to
read
and
pray
or
whatever
it
looks
like
don't
think
you
can
do
it
alone
and
I
know
this
is
proverbially
preaching
to the
crowd
but
let
me
make
it
a
priority
to
be
here
on
Sunday
and
to
hear
the
preaching
of
the
word
of
God
come
back
on
Sunday
night
hear
the
preaching
of
the
word
of
God
again
what
a
great
blessing
you
get
two
instead
of
just
one
how
wonderful
is
that
and
not
only
come
but
prepare
yourself
one
pastor
wrote
this
when
people
listen
to
a
sermon
they
make
some
kinds
of
evaluations
good
or
not
very
good
it's
the
sermon
they
want
to
assess
but
according
to
the
parable
of
the
soils
it
is
really
God's
word
that
because
the
way
we
respond
shows
what
is
in
our
heart
good
hearing
is
just
as
important
as
good
preaching
think
about
as
you're
sitting
there
right
now
how
can
I
be
a
good
hearer
some
of
you
need
to
take
notes
some
of
you
need
to
get
up
and
walk
to
the
back
halfway
through
just
so
you
don't
fall
asleep
some
of
you
need
to
make
sure
you
go
to
bed
so
that
you
can
be
ready
to
receive
the
word
of
God
and
this
certainly
isn't
a
pass
for
us
as
preachers
to
get
lazy
on
how
we
preach
we
work
hard
and
pray
for
us
that
we
would
preach
the
word
faithfully
and
powerfully
but
take
seriously
maybe
your
responsibility
to
be
prepared
here
as
you
come
week
in
and
week
out
to
hear
the
word
of
God
proclaimed
so
the
questions
I
leave
you
with
what
part
of
my
life
is
not
informed
by
the
Bible
and
what
does
it
say
about
that
how
can
I
let
the
roots
grow
deep
am
I
reading
the
word
of
God
regularly
do
I
need
to
be
equipped
to
understand
it
more
do
I
need
to
seek
out
someone
else
to
help
me
read
the
Bible
well
and
how
and
where
am
I
pursuing
a
community
of
and
engaged
with
the
word
with
others
let's
pray
Lord
we
thank
you
for
your
word
we
thank
you
that
it
does
have
power
to
save
us
Lord
be
with
us
as
we
continue
to
worship
you
Lord
in
communion
and
in
fellowship
afterwards
Lord
may
the
word
of
God
dwell
richly
in
us
for
your
glory
we
pray
in
Jesus
name
amen
well
friends
today
we
are
celebrating
communion
as
well
let
me
ask
those
who
are
serving
to
come
forward
and