Good Soil

Introduction

Welcome

Message Introduction:

Last week, we concluded our series on Romans 5:1-11 called ‘Reasons to Rejoice.’

In the final message of the series, we explored the profound truth of being friends with God (Romans 5:11). This truth carries immense grandeur, magnitude, and transformative power—yet we often struggle to believe it. And when we fail to believe, we hinder its effectiveness in our lives.

We learned 3 reasons why we struggle to believe or rejoice in the truth of being friends with God, or any truth for that matter.

The first was an underlying belief that our heavenly father is like our earthly father.

The second was Sin distances us from the truth

The third was, It’s in our head, but not in our heart.

It’s the last point that I want to build on this morning.

See, it’s one thing to believe the truth in your head but its an entirely different experience to believe it in your heart.

To know/believe something in your head means you understand it as a fact, but knowing it your heart means it has truly shaped the way you live, think and feel. In other words, it transforms you from the inside out.

The way you and I know the truth has got to your heart is by observing our behaviour.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I look at my actions and ask myself, ‘Do I truly believe?’ I say I do and I like to believe that I think I do but my actions tell me otherwise. Our behaviors always reveal our beliefs.

Has anyone ever been there?

If you have, it’s likely the truth is still in your head and hasn’t yet reached your heart.

Well Jesus has something to say about this matter of the heart. Listen to this passage in:

Main Passage:

Mark 4:14–20 NLT

The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

In this passage, we learn that in order for God’s word to reach our heart, be firmly planted and produce results in our lives, it requires for the heart to be, what Jesus calls, “Good soil.”

Title:

Good Soil

Prayer:

In Jesus name, Amen!

Body

Story:

In 2023, my wife and I lived in Ethiopia for a few months. It was my first time in 19 years since 2004. I had a lot of negative ideas on what I thought it would be like based off of the last time I was there. Last year however was an entirely different experience and I fell in love with Ethiopia.

I remember arriving to Ethiopia with my parents and I was so tired that I couldn’t wait to get home and sleep. We got to our place and I went straight to the bedroom to lay down in my bed. What I didn’t know was mattresses in Ethiopia were hard as a rock. I ended up hurting my face. My whole body. I was so used to laying in bed that I did not foresee hurting myself.

Explanation:

I wonder — and try to work with me here on the illustration — if Jesus and His word were to lay down in our hearts would it be solid or soft.

Question: Would our hearts be soft enough — like soil is for planting a seeds — for the word to take root and produce fruit in our lives?

When we say the word heart, what exactly do we mean?

The word ‘heart’ in the Hebrew is ‘Levav’. It some biblical contexts, it’s associated with the organ in our bodies. The Hebrew people however often understood it as the place where the will, thoughts, and emotions reside. In modern language, we would usually say the word soul. Same meaning but a different word.

Many times in scripture, God would claim that the human heart is deceitful above all else, meaning to say that the heart naturally deceives itself to believes lies instead of the truth. Its wicked, bad and sinful, yet people don’t even know it (Jeremiah 17:9).

Romans 1:25 says, “They traded the truth about God for a lie.”

When we allow our hearts to continue in this state, it results in what the bible calls, ‘a hardening of our heart’ or ‘evil/unbelieving heart.’

Illustration:

Hebrews 3:12–13 NLT

Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

Application:

The author warns his audience and us from developing a hardened heart so that we don’t turn away from the living God.

Jesus in Mark 4:1-20 desires the same by sharing the story of the farmer who scattered seed.

Transitional Sentence:

In todays passage, we will explore three reasons why the Word of God doesn’t yield results in our lives.

Points

First Main Point: A Hardened Heart

Explanation:

At the centre of Jesus’ parable in Mark 4:1-20 is his conversation with the disciples and his quote from Isaiah 6:9–10. Let’s read what He says Mark 4:10-13:

Mark 4:10–13 NLT

Later, when Jesus was alone with the twelve disciples and with the others who were gathered around, they asked him what the parables meant. He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘When they see what I do, they will learn nothing. When they hear what I say, they will not understand. Otherwise, they will turn to me and be forgiven.’” Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?

One reason Jesus taught in parables was to reveal the condition of a person's heart. Those with open hearts receive the truth, allowing it to take root and shape their lives. However, a hardened heart resists the truth, rejecting it and becoming even more calloused because it despises what it refuses to accept. 

Illustration:

Mark 4:15 NLT

The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away.

Application:

If we choose to not accept Gods word, we will not see the word of God take root and yield results in our lives.

Second Main Point: A Shallow Heart

Explanation:

Did you know that the depth of a plants roots heavily depends on the soils condition? If the soil is shallow than the roots of the seed can’t grow deep.

In a similar way, if we ‘slightly’ accept and welcome God’s word, we may see a little bit of growth but what grows quickly dies because God’s word hasn’t taken root in our lives.

Illustration:

Mark 4:5–6 NLT

Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died.

Mark 4:16–17 NLT

The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.

Application:

Remember, the problem isn’t the seed. It’s where the seed, the word of God, is planted that’s the problem: It’s a shallow heart.

Third Main Point: A Crowded Heart

Illustration:

Illustration 1: Show what it looks like to crowd out something.

Illustration 2: Mark 4:18-19

Mark 4:18–19 NLT

The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.

Application:

Let’s observe our thoughts, worries, desires, pleasures and ask ourselves, is it crowding out the Word of God?

Conclusion

Now What:

Cultivate a Fertile Heart

Mark 4:20 NLT

And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

Call to Action:

Prayer:

In Jesus name, Amen!