God Got his hands Dirty with Me

Last week we talked Where transformation takes place.

That would be the Heart.

From a more modern, practical standpoint what we might call the Will and

from the spiritual view we might call this the spirit of the man.

God’s promise made in Eze 36:26 of a new heart isn’t based on surgical procedure but a reconditioning of the heart.

Ezekiel 36:26 NET

26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.

As we’ve already discussed, the heart in its natural state is far from God and incapable of producing any real life.

In Luke we find Jesus teaching.... in story form..... about certain conditions of a human heart and how they reacted to the only thing that has the power to transform them, the Word of God.

Luke 8:4–15 NET

4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from one town after another, he spoke to them in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled on, and the wild birds devoured it. 6 Other seed fell on rock, and when it came up, it withered because it had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and they grew up with it and choked it. 8 But other seed fell on good soil and grew, and it produced a hundred times as much grain.” As he said this, he called out, “The one who has ears to hear had better listen!” 9 Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant.10 He said, “You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand. 11 “Now the parable means this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in a time of testing fall away.14 As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.15 But as for the seed that landed on good soil, these are the ones who, after hearing the word, cling to it with an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with steadfast endurance.

For transformation what the heart needs is the Seed.

God’s Word

Obviously, the not just any soil can handle the seed.

The First Heart , the footpath, was hard.

The enemy immediately came and stole the seed away. The worst outcome possible occurs...Nothing! Zero Transformation.

Then there was the rocky ground. That heart recieved the Word with Joy and it started to spring up and produce life, but because it was shallow, uncommitted; as soon as the trails of life of a little ridicule came into the picture, that new life withered and died

Then there was the thorny ground.

A life consumed by the cares of this world. Money, Power, Status, Sex, Reputation, Adventure: as Jesus put it “the cares and pleasures of this life”

New Life sprang up but it was choked out and NEVER MATURED.

Last we have the Good Soil. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a farm or tried to grow a garden, but if you have, you know what this ground looks like and you also know it did just magically get that way.

Some where along the way that soil got tilled. Some rocks got pulled out and tossed aside and then weeds and the thorns got cut back.

The soil got tilled and cultivated and was made ready for the seed.

Over the 4 soils mentioned, I have personally been ALL 4.

I’ve been hard hearted and rebellious

I’ve been shallow and uncommitted to Christ

I’ve been consumed with building my own kingdom and smothered in the pride of my own life.

Choked by my own lusts.

There are some in this world who for whatever reason and at God’s good pleasure were Good Soil from an early age.

But I have found that for the majority of men I meet, their story is somewhere between the footpath and the thorns right now and they see very little hope of ever being good soil.

That’s where my story could have ended.

There is a passage in

Lamentations 3:22-23 where we are told the Mercies of God are Fresh Everyday.

Thank God for that.

God is faithful even we are faithless.

He used the trails and the pain in my life to patiently cultivate the soil of my heart; stripping out the stones, cutting back the thorns and tilling up the hard fallowed ground of my heart until it was ready for his Good seed.

I’m nowhere near the perfect man BUT, I can say without any shame

I am a new man, my heart has be Re:formed and daily I am being transformed into the likeness and image of the Son of God.

My heart is becoming like His

It’s still a long journey and a daily process that must be attended to, but one that is producing a marriage that honors God and brings such life to Ivy and me and to those around us.

It produces life in my children, purpose and passion for day, a renewed sense of Joy, Freedom, Peace, Love, the list is long and the harvest is far greater than I ever deserved.

I want you to know that this transformation is NOT a FAIRY TALE.

And NO MATTER here your heart has been or what you have done, if you are willing you CAN EXPERIENCE true transformation.

Take some time this week to allow yourself to envision a life where such a transformation was real and active.

Wherever your heart is today on the spectrum of Soils, ask the Holy Spirit to cultivate your heart and prepare it for transformation, prepare it to receive the Word which has the power to completely transform us as men.

The Apostle Paul said he was Unashamed of the Gospel because it was the Power of God for a salvation that completely restores and renews mankind.

The world see this Gospel, this message as pure foolishness, but there in lies the brilliance of God in that he choses to use the foolish things of this world to confound those who think they are wise.

Trust in the foolishness of God’s plan and ask him to cultivate the soil of your heart into Good Soil, ready for transformation.

Until next week

24 ‘May the Lord bless you

and protect you.

25 May the Lord smile on you

and be gracious to you.

26 May the Lord show you his favor

and give you his peace.’