Take a Heart Look

Good Morning Church!

Going to start a little different this week…

The last 3 weeks…we as Americans have been met with tragedy after tragedy….

(The Assassination of a brother in Christ Charlie Kirk , Annunciation Catholic School shooting, Murder of Iryna Zarutska…

These have been the NEWS CHANNELS BIG 3…but this stuff happens every single minute…and not just here….around the world…And its been happening since the beginning of time…)

ITS NOT generational problem…its not a national problem…not a political problem…its a SIN PROBLEM…And there is only one solution to that problem…SO

Lets pray together and ask the Lord to return (Jesus is coming back, and He will do it in His time, but lets seek Him and let Him know we desire for Him to return…To destroy all this evil…Will you pray that prayer with me Church??

AMEN

Bibles out…Mark 4.

READ V1-20 ALL

This is the text we will be walking through today…

This text is referred to as the “Parable of the Sower”

NOW…The Next few weeks we will be examining 4 parables in Mark 4.

What is a parable?

By Definition- To compare one thing to something similar…

Not just that though….Parables used for doctrine (v2)

NOT just as an example or comparison…But that the parable is profitable for teaching the ways of the Lord…

So what do we see in this parable???

NOTICE…same beginning as the last 5 weeks!! (the multitude are pushing in!!!)

Jesus hops on a boat to get some space so He can teach…

So this great multitude is sitting on the shore line…as Jesus teaches them from a boat…

tells them the parable of the sower…

-A sower sows seed…

-He sows it on 4 types of soil (hard, stony, thorny, and good”

Now the soil in the parable is describing the heart of a person (v15 “sown in their hearts”)…(we are going to look deeper at the soil in a moment)

BEFORE we do that though…WHO IS THE SOWER???? WHAT IS BEING SOWN???

As we read we see that the SOWER is JESUS…

WHAT IS BEING SOWN???

V14 The Word!!!

(Stress the importance of the Word of God and Reading it!!!)

The biggest issues in the world….the biggest issues with man…is rooted in what happens in his heart when he hears the Word of God…

EVERY PERSON (man or woman) WALKING ON EARTH FITS INTO ONE OF THESE 4 HEART CATEGORIES…

The 4 Hearts of Man:

HARD HEART (v15)

Unsaved (no root)

The root is Jesus…You must be rooted in Him to live!!!

Seed is sown…The word of truth is given

“Falls by the wayside” -The edge of a road

Its hard…been trampled on and run over…baked by the sun…

And it sits on the surface

And immediately it is taken away by…

Fowls of the air? V 15 Thats Satan

So in this heart…Gods Word is preached…It hits a hard heart...doesn't take root…and Satan removes it…

Thats his job…to keep man as far from being rooted in the word of God…

He changes it…questions it…meddles with it…

So to confuse man…to make man hate it…

WANT SOME EXAMPLES???

Adam and Eve:

Genesis 3:2-5 “And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said You shall not eat of it, neither shall you  touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die: For God does know that in the day you  eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you  shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

The Temptation of Jesus:

4 words Satan used to tempt Jesus in Matthew 4.

“for it is written”

This is what happens in a person with a HARD HEART…

And when this happens

Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”

A hard barren heart doesn't bear fruit for the Lord…it gives the dust of the flesh…the workings of Satan…

Thats what leads to persecution…Thats what leads to the assassination of a man proclaiming the gospel to people who need it!!

A person with a reprobate mind…unfit/casted away/ worthless mind…

Doing things that aren't fit…That are crazy…

When their is no truth rooted in your heart…

You will believe anything…you will be fooled into thinking a man isn't a man…and a woman isn't a woman…and that a baby in the womb isn't a person …

Thats a hard hearted person…

Unrooted in the word…unrooted in truth…a mind given over to confusion

NEXT…

SHALLOW HEART (v16-17)

Again …Unsaved…No Root…but appear to be rooted…

A plant without a root cannot survive!!!!

This seed springs up quick!! (when it hears the word it receives it with gladness)

At the beginning it looks like its going to bear fruit…

But it has no root…its not being fed…its not being sustained…

This seed says its a Christ follower…Might even do some “Christian Stuff”…

BUT its short lived…When persecution comes…there true colors are shown…

When the sun …the heat comes…it gets burnt…

(football coach…we will know who we are the first time we get punched in the mouth)

When adversity comes we will know our true colors

Its easy to say…”Im a Christian”

Its easy to be a Christian when everything is going right…

BUT when things get hot…When persecution comes…when you have to die to that flesh…

When you have to stand on truth…(notice “persecution for the words sake”)…

When you are persecuted for the very word of God…

Who perseveres???

Jesus tells us…only the ones that are rooted…only those who have ME!!!

If your sitting in here and going…I don’t fit into either one of these categories…

I have placed my faith in Christ…I am Saved…

If thats you there is 2 things you must see…

1- you don’t fit into theses first 2 hearts…but your going to fit into one of the next 2…

2- The rest of the lost world fits into one of the first 2…Thats who you are coming into contact with…

So get familiar with them!!!

Lets get to the 2 categories you will fit into…

CROWDED HEART (v18-19)

NOTICE…theres a root here (v19 “becomes unfruitful”)

These are saved Christ followers

But they are planted among the thorns…

The thorns are the world…

As the plant grows…the thorns, the weeds, the thistle…it grows….

Who in here raises a garden every year???

When you don’t weed your garden…it grows up in the rows…you cant tell the fruitful plant from the weeds it gets so bad….

This seed is rooted in Christ…but the worldly things it lets in its life prevents it from bearing fruit…

Its fruit is choked out by the world…

Look at Verse 19 (the things that choke the Word)

-CARES OF THE WORLD- Priority of Survival, housing, grocery bill, water bill, car repair, doctors bills, kids sports…

-DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES- LOVE OF MONEY….Job/money/ financial well being…

-LUST OF OTHER THINGS- Love of Fleshly and worldly things…comfort, popularity, boats, cars, sexual lust…

CONSUMED WITH THE WORLD

1 John 2:15-17“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever.”

The temptations and things of the world are preventing this Christian from bearing fruit…

This is a common heart among Christians today…

The distractions, business, and lusts of the world get in the way of Gods Word…the reading and obedience of it…

A heart rooted in Christ…NOT PRODUCING FRUIT…

Thats the 3rd heart posture of mankind…

Then we have the final heart posture…

FRUITFUL HEART (v20)

A fruitful heart…Bears fruit…

Notice..a fruitful heart multiplies!!!!

It bears fruit!!!!

Over and over again in the bible…”go and be fruitful” populate right??

But what the NT says about bearing fruit is a little different…

Colossians 1:10 “That you might walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

SO the fruit we are bearing…its in our actions to the Lord…

Its in how we walk as a Christian…

How we serve as a Christian…

How we live as Christ followers…

(AUDIENCE) What are some good fruits in the bible??? (examples of men bearing good fruit???)

-Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control

-what are some real world examples of those??? (AUDIENCE)

-serving the body (bearing burdens)

-giving (time and resources)

-obedience to the word (denying the flesh, self control)

-Sharing the gospel (giving account for the hope that is in you)

-discipling

-loving your enemies…

-ALL THESE THINGS ARE GOOD FRUIT AND THEY ALL GLORIFY JESUS!!!!

Thats what a fruitful heart does…

It is rooted in GODS WORD…IT STANDS ON TRUTH…AND IT PRODUCES THINGS GLORIFYING TO JESUS

Which heart do you have???

Is it fruitful??? Praise God!

Is it crowded???

Is it shallow???

Is it a hard heart???

What is the state of our heart…

THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE TO MAKE MANKIND SEE!!!

WHICH HEART THEY HAVE…AND SHOW THEM THE HEART GOD DESIRES FOR THEM TO HAVE!!!!

And for some they wont see...(READ V12) We spoke about this last week as well…

For some this will cause them to be angry…to persecute Christians…(We saw that this week)

And I know many of you are angry…when we see a brother in Christ be brutally persecuted…we get angry at the persecutor and angry at the system of the persecutor…

Many of you fruitful hearted and rooted in Christ are experiencing a hurting anger…a mourning anger…

BUT REALIZE THIS…THE APOSTLE PAUL WAS A PERSECUTOR…

But he encountered the risen Christ…who showed Him the state of his heart…

In heaven…Paul will be standing side by side with those who persecuted him…

Thats the Gospel effect man….

Evil is all around us…We live in Satans playground…

Some of you are angry and want to fight…

This is the only way to do it…

Know what heart you have…if need be let the word that is being sown take root in your heart…

So you can go out and stand firm in that word and proclaim it…even if it means your life….

So that persecutors become brothers…so that hard hearts become fruitful ones…

Thats how we fight…we produce good fruit…We multiply

The word of God shouldn’t just sit on our heart it should be rooted in it…and a rooted heart produces a God glorifying service…a work that brings Jesus all the glory…

LETS PRAY!!!