Soil Test
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· 7 viewsGod gives the gospel to each person. But the soil of our heart decided the outcome.
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Moved Next Door
Moved Next Door
US Government
had done all kinds of
illegal and wrong
things through year.
1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act
Control Prices
Government Monopoly
Force supply down
create demand
raise prices
Paid farmers not to work.
From the Desk of: Don Genereaux
Honorable Secretary of Agriculture
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir,
My friend, Dan Hansen, over at Honey Creek, Iowa, received a check for $1,000.00 from the government for not raising hogs. So I want to go into the "NOT RAISING HOGS" business next year. What I want to know is, in your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to raise hogs on? And what is the best breed of hogs not to raise? I want to be sure that I approach this endeavor in keeping with all government policies.
As I see it, the hardest part of the "NOT RAISING HOGS' program is keeping an accurate inventory of how many hogs I haven't raised.
]My friend Hansen is very joyful about the future of the business. He has been raising hogs for twenty years or so, and the best he has ever made on them was $422.90 in 1968, until this year when he got your check for the $1000.00 for not raising 50 hogs.
Question: If I get $1000.00 for not raising 50 hogs, then would I get $2000.00 for not raising 100 hogs? I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding myself to about 4,000 hogs not raised the first year, which would bring in about $80,000.00; then I can afford an airplane.
Now another thing - these hogs I will not raise will not eat 100,000 bushels of corn. I understand that the government also pays people not to raise corn and wheat.
Would I qualify for payments for not raising these crops not to feed my hogs I will not be raising?
I want to get started as soon as possible as this seems to be a good time of the year for the "NOT RAISING HOGS" and "NOT PLANTING CROPS" business.
Also I am giving serious consideration to the "NOT MILKING COWS" business and any information you would have on that endeavor would be greatly appreciated.
In view of the fact that I will be totally unemployed, I will be filing for unemployment and food stamps, and was wondering how long that process takes.
Be assured, Mr. Secretary, you will have my vote in the upcoming election.
Patriotically yours,
Don Genereaux
P.S. Would you please notify me when you plan to give out the free cheese again?
Getting paid
not to farm
may work in the USA.
But it doesn’t work
with God’s kingdom.
Jesus’ famous parable
The Sower:
And when a great crowd was gathering 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.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Most did not understand.
Disciples came after
privately
asking for explanation.
And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant,
Jesus breaks it down:
4 types of soil
1 sower
1 seed
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
What is the seed?
Seed is the Word!
The seed is
the Word.
the gospel
the truth.
Seeds have power
to germinate.
Word has power
to bring life!
Jesus continues to explain:
He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
Who is the sower?
Christ is the one
who gives truth
to us.
Jesus came
out of his way
to this world
to sow.
The Seed
The Seed
Seeds have power
to germinate.
Word has power
to bring life!
Christ’s Object Lessons The Sower and the Seed
Receive into the soul by faith the incorruptible seed of the word, and it will bring forth a character and a life after the similitude of the character and the life of God.
Seeds are
unassuming
“simple”
miraculous
The truth,
this is not
what Jews
wanted to hear.
Christ’s Object Lessons Chapter 2—“The Sower Went Forth to Sow”
They expected the Messiah to prove His claims by mighty deeds of conquest, to establish His empire on the ruins of earthly kingdoms. This expectation Christ answered in the parable of the sower. Not by force of arms, not by violent interpositions, was the kingdom of God to prevail, but by the implanting of a new principle in the hearts of men.
They wanted
fireworks.
war
conquest
Jesus came
like a seed...
no drama
yet still miraculous!
Christ did not come
with a sword
but with
a bag of seeds!
The biggest issue
that we face today
same as Jews.
We often don’t want
what Christ has to offer.
We look for fulfillment
other things that
excite the sense.
The simple truths
of God’s word are
not sought after
by most people
in this life.
Like the Jews of old
we miss the chance
to receive the seed
into our soil!
4 Soils:
Hard Path
Hard Path
first soil
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.
Notice
they heard
but didn’t accept
Not 10/40 window
not dark area
Who is this?
your neighbor
your child
your friend
your co-worker
They heard.
but they rejected!
Why not accept?
Jesus disciples
ask for understand.
Jesus explains:
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
Why did they not accept
the teaching?
Jesus said:
“they did not understand it”.
Why didn’t they understand?
Because they didn’t listen!
Christ’s Object Lessons (Chapter 2—“The Sower Went Forth to Sow”)
The seed sown by the wayside represents the word of God as it falls upon the heart of an inattentive hearer.
Why are they not
paying attention?
Like most,
they are distracted!
Distracted with what?
pleasures of sin
selfish goals
useless interests.
As the author of Hebrews says:
they were:
Hebrews 3:13 (ESV)
… hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Sin is deceitful.
It lies!
It lies about priorities.
Christ’s Object Lessons Chapter 2—“The Sower Went Forth to Sow”
The spiritual faculties are paralyzed. Men hear the word, but understand it not. They do not discern that it applies to themselves. They do not realize their need or their danger. They do not perceive the love of Christ, and they pass by the message of His grace as something that does not concern them.
The hard path
hear but don’t recieve.
Why not?
don’t understand?
Don’t understand what?
Purpose of seed.
Power of gospel.
Value of truth.
That it is for them personally!
So the birds
snatch it up.
And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
Satan does not want
people to meditate
on the truth.
He doesn’t want them
to think about it.
He keeps them distracted
and then
snatches truth
from their heart.
Next soil:
Rocky Soil
Rocky Soil
gardening with rocks
hard work.
House we looked at to buy.
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.
They heard
they received.
with joy!
Different than hard path.
Hard path did not receive.
Rocky soil.
seed germinated.
“recieved with joy”.
But...
What happened
“time of testing”
“temptation”
What is wrong with
stony ground soil?
Why does plan die?
but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.
Lacks roots
rooted in
word
Christ’s life.
Stony ground,
plant doesn’t feed
Christ
His righteousness.
What does it feed on?
self!
Professed believer.
but
No real change.
Like Pharisees
legalistic
not obedient
Jesus explains:
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
In the parable
sun comes out
plant does.
Jesus explains:
sun =
tribulation
persecution.
Many Christians
cannot handle hardships.
Christ’s Object Lessons Chapter 2—“The Sower Went Forth to Sow”
Many receive the gospel as a way of escape from suffering, rather than as a deliverance from sin.
In other words,
they like the gospel.
they like good news.
they like message of salvation.
But they don’t want
to change
stop sinning.
They liked
beautiful presentation.
They didn’t count cost.
When they see,
Christian life
is not easy.
They give up
not interested.
Christ’s Object Lessons Chapter 2—“The Sower Went Forth to Sow”
They cannot bear reproach for Christ’s sake. When the word of God points out some cherished sin, or requires self-denial or sacrifice, they are offended.
The cost
of changing
costs too much.
They are not intersted.
They desire Savior
but not Lord.
Many years ago the old country fair in parts of England was, besides being the place of exhibition for farm products, [the place] where employer and employee met. . . .
Farmer Smith wanted a boy to work on his farm. He was doing some interviewing of candidates. A thoughtful looking lad of about sixteen attracted him. The boy was confronted with a rather abrupt question from the gruff old agriculturist. “What can you do?” The boy swung back at him in the same style, “I can sleep when the wind blows.”
. . . Notwithstanding he didn’t particularly like the answer to a civil question he got from the teenager, there was something about the gray eyes of that fellow that got under his skin.
He approached the lad again with the same question, “What did you say you could do?” Again the same answer bounced back at him, “I can sleep when the wind blows.”
Mr. Smith was still disgusted with such an answer and went to other parts of the fair to look into the faces of other youngsters who might want a job on a farm, but there was something about that answer he got that stuck to him like glue. First thing he knew his feet were carrying him back to meet the steady gaze of those deliberate eyes of the boy with such strange language.
“What did you say you could do?” for the third time he thundered at the farm help. For the third time, too, the farmer got the same answer. . . . “I can sleep when the wind blows.”
“Get into the wagon—we’ll try you out.” . . .
One night Farmer Smith was waked about 2:00 a.m. with what might be a cyclone. It seemed that gusts from the north in only a few minutes developed with intensity to threaten the roof over his head. The trees cracked and noises outside turned the nervous system of our friend upside down. The speed he used to jump into his trousers was only outdone by the lightning as it broke up the darkness outside. With shoes half-laced he rushed out into the farmyard to see if anything on the premises was still intact, but he would need the services on a wicked night like this of that new boy. He called up the stairs of the attic where the latter slept, but the response was the healthy lung heaving of a healthy lad. He went half the way up the stairs and thundered again, but only a snore echoed back. In excitement he went to the boy’s bed and did everything but tear the bed clothes from the youth, but the lad slept on.
With a mixture of desperation and disgust he faced the gale, and out into the farmyard he plunged. He first approached the cow barn. Lo and behold, the milk producers were peacefully chewing their cuds, and the inside of their abode was as snug as a mouse under a haystack. It didn’t take him long to discover how the boy had chinked up the cracks of the cow abode and reestablished the locks and hinges. In the pigpen he found the same tranquility, notwithstanding the forces at work that night.
He turned to the haystack. As he felt about in the darkness, it didn’t take him very long to determine again the preparation of the lad with the gray, steady eyes. Every few feet on that feed stack wires had been thrown and weighted on each side. With this construction the alfalfa was peacefully under control and laughing at the elements.
Our farmer friend was stunned with what revelations he had in a few minutes of that cyclone night. He dropped his head. His mental maneuvers shot like lightning to the boy snoring in the attic. Again, the peculiar answer of a few weeks ago slapped him in the face: “I can sleep when the wind blows.”
The boy had made
the proper preparation
for the storm.
Each of us
are going to face
a similar storm.
Question is:
will we be sleeping well?
Are we making
the proper preparations
to weather the storm?
What are those
preparations?
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
The problem with
The stony ground:
they are not converted.
Christ’s Object Lessons In Stony Places
If we love Jesus, we shall love to live for Him, to present our thank offerings to Him, to labor for Him. The very labor will be light. For His sake we shall covet pain and toil and sacrifice. We shall sympathize with His longing for the salvation of men. We shall feel the same tender craving for souls that He has felt.
This is the religion of Christ. Anything short of it is a deception. No mere theory of truth or profession of discipleship will save any soul. We do not belong to Christ unless we are His wholly. It is by halfheartedness in the Christian life that men become feeble in purpose and changeable in desire. The effort to serve both self and Christ makes one a stony-ground hearer, and he will not endure when the test comes upon him.
Yes, Brothers and Sisters,
there is some work
that needs to be done.
But,
let us do it
with hope and cheer.
3rd Soil:
Thorns
Thorns
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.
Weedy Garden
After Europe
weeds everywhere
gave up.
What are the weeds?
The New King James Version Chapter 13
cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
What care of this world?
Deceitfulness of riches???
Work
Kids
Bills
“Keeping up with Jones”
Biggest excuse today?
“I don’t have time.”
Why?
too busy
work
family
distractions.
We are trying
to run in this
rat race.
Most would admit
we are running...
in this rat race.
I googled
definition of phrase
rat race:
The unpleasant life of people who have jobs that require them to work very hard in order to compete with others for money, power, status...
Are you
running this race?
Put like that,
we don’t want
to admit it...
But in reality
most of us are.
The weeds...
they choke
out the plant.
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Be honest...
we need to work...
But do we really
need the things
we think we need?
Nice car.
Nice house.
Nice manicured yard.
Why do we “need”
these things???
Famous line from move:
“We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.” - Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club)
Question:
how can we stop?
Like an addiction...
costs a lot.
brings not lasting joy.
Worse!
It chokes out
spiritual life!
Have you ever watched the show, "Hoarders?" It's about people who have a hard time throwing things away. They simply collect and, eventually, the clutter overwhelms them.
The thing about a hoarder is that, unless there is a change within, the garbage will collect again.
There is a small farming town north of Manhattan, Kansas that had a notorious hoarder family living there. They had completely filled their front porch with bags of trash and it wasn't long before their yard and driveway were completely full of trash, broken refrigerators, stoves, worn out sofas, lawn mowers and an old car--and they didn't drive!
And then one morning a sign was posted on their front door that read, "Moved Next Door." And they had--they had literally moved next door! It seems the inside of their house was just as full of clutter and trash as the yard and so they had no choice but to move.
But you know they took some of their old trash with them, and it wasn't long until their new house was as trashy as the old one!!
Sometimes our lives
become so cluttered
with junk of this world
that we can’t
serve God.
Christ’s Object Lessons Among Thorns
Men may profess to believe the gospel; but unless they are sanctified by the gospel their profession is of no avail. If they do not gain the victory over sin, then sin is gaining the victory over them. The thorns that have been cut off but not uprooted grow apace, until the soul is overspread with them.
If we want
to have victory
in this life.
We need more time
with the Lord.
But time,
is what everyone says
“they don’t have”!
Solution:
make time!
Take some things
out of life.
Work less...
How?
Buy less.
Sound simple.
but it is hard.
Choosing to
lose the rat race.
Have more simple things.
Ugly house
Ugly cars
Ugly clothes.
(unfashionable).
Can I be honest.
if you want to
exit the rat race.
Move away.
Poor country village.
Nobody cares
about your nice heels
clean SUV.
TRUE HAPPINESS
IS FOUND IN SIMPLICITY.
People in the rat race are:
Christ’s Object Lessons Among Thorns
They are working for others’ good; their duties are pressing, their responsibilities are many, and they allow their labor to crowd out devotion. Communion with God through prayer and a study of His word is neglected.
Distractions:
Mark says:
but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Anything that
steals the attention
is the enemy!
Christ’s Object Lessons Among Thorns
Whatever attracts the mind from God, whatever draws the affections away from Christ, is an enemy to the soul.
Love of display
Seeking Money
Seeking Power
Seeking Secular
They must be
warred against!
Final soil:
Good Soil
Good Soil
Must first think
about how
good soil became
good soil!
Few places in world
buy a house
amazing garden soil.
Most places
terrible soil
hard packed
rocky
full of weeds
lacking nutrients
lacking organic matter.
What do we do?
throw up hand?
Give up?
No!
we improve the soil!
In the parable
soils = our hearts.
We cannot
change ourselves.
But we can
make a choice
pray for help.
God will answer
help us to
chance soil type!
Soil Test
Soil Test
Nowadays,
common to do soil test.
Find out many things
ph
N, P, K
micro nutrients
Some say,
really important
to do test
so you can
know what to add.
Sometimes,
we really don’t know
where we are at.
We like to believe
we are good soil
but are mostly weedy soil.
We need to pray
ask God to reveal
where we are at.
If we are not
good soil,
at least we know
there are solutions.
Good Soil
Good Soil
Jesus said:
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.
What is different
about good soil?
Not natural.
Takes time
to make good soil.
Good soil
prepared
to be good!
Intentional effort!
Diligent labor
tilled
rocks removed
weeded
These things
don’t just happen.
3 hours at church.
Christ’s Object Lessons Preparation of the Soil
At the very outset of the Christian life every believer should be taught its foundation principles. He should be taught that he is not merely to be saved by Christ’s sacrifice, but that he is to make the life of Christ his life and the character of Christ his character. Let all be taught that they are to bear burdens and to deny natural inclination. Let them learn the blessedness of working for Christ, following Him in self-denial, and enduring hardness as good soldiers. Let them learn to trust His love and to cast on Him their cares. Let them taste the joy of winning souls for Him. In their love and interest for the lost, they will lose sight of self. The pleasures of the world will lose their power to attract and its burdens to dishearten. The plowshare of truth will do its work. It will break up the fallow ground. It will not merely cut off the tops of the thorns, but will take them out by the roots.
They heard
held fast.
Not perfect
broken sinners
(the have some weeds too)
But receive
repent
turn to god
whole-heartedly
Our job
to receive
allow Christ
to grow us.
Farm Hands
Farm Hands
In Nebraska
they called
hired employee on farm
“farm hand.”
In the parable
God is sower
But
aren’t we supposed
to help sow seed too?
In this way,
we are the
farm hand.
We are working together
with God
in the work
of farming.
Just as Christ,
we are hoping to see
a great harvest.
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.
So we
work
and
wait.
During a particular drought several years ago, much of the seed that had been planted did not come up. The seed that did produced runty plants that promised a scanty yield, if any at all. Grass burned up in the intense heat, and the cattle nearly starved. Many farmers were forced to sell their cattle. Except those who faced bankruptcy or foreclosure, few farmers were giving up. In many cases they could be seen plowing up hopelessly lost crops and planting other seed. They worked in hopes of refreshing rain and an eventual harvest.
If they were so persistent, should sowers of the seed of the Word of God do less?
Question?
how active are you
in sowing seed?
May I suggest,
on great way
to leave rat race.
Help you focus more
on what matters.
God is clear,
there will be harvest!
Some of those seeds
will Bears fruit!
We better be part
of this great hope!
Actually Matthew is
more emphatic:
Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Today
each of us
seek to become
good soil.
since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
Let us each
continue to seek
that growth.
Never Too Late
Never Too Late
At age 5 his father died.
At age 16 he quit school.
At age 17 he had already lost four jobs.
At age 18 he got married.
Between ages 18 and 22, he was a railroad conductor and failed.
He joined the army and washed out there.
He applied for law school, he was rejected.
He became an insurance sales man and failed again.
At age 19 he became a father.
At age 20 his wife left him and took their baby daughter.
He became a cook and dishwasher in a small cafe.
He failed in an attempt to kidnap his own daughter, and eventually he convinced his wife to return home.
At age 65 he retired.
On the 1st day of retirement he received a check from the Government for $105.
He felt that the Government was saying that he couldn’t provide for himself.
He decided to commit suicide, life wasn’t worth living anymore; he had failed so much.
He sat under a tree writing his will, but instead, he wrote what he would have accomplished with his life. He realized there was much more that he hadn’t yet done. There was one thing he could do better than anyone he knew. And that was how to cook.
So he borrowed $87 against his check and bought and fried up some chicken using his recipe, and went door to door to sell them to his neighbors in Kentucky.
Remember, at age 65 he was ready to commit suicide.
But at age 88.........….Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Empire was a billionaire.
Moral of the story: It's never too late to start all over.
MOST IMPORTANLY, IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDE. NEVER GIVE UP...... NO MATTER HOW HARD IT GETS.