The Soil Determines The Harvest

Jesus identified the Parable of the Sower as the foundational teaching for understanding all other Kingdom principles, making it essential for every believer to grasp. The parable reveals that while every Christian has access to the same powerful seed—God's Word—the results vary dramatically depending on the condition of their heart soil.

The four heart conditions represent different spiritual states: the hard path symbolizes hearts hardened by busyness, offenses, repeated exposure without response, and pride; rocky ground represents shallow hearts that initially receive the Word with joy but lack the depth needed to withstand trials; thorny ground depicts divided hearts where worldly worries and material concerns choke out spiritual growth; and good soil signifies prepared hearts that receive, understand, and apply God's Word, producing various levels of abundant harvest.

True spiritual transformation and deliverance happen when God's Word penetrates deeply into our hearts, becoming our instinctive response to every situation. The Holy Spirit empowers believers to live supernatural lives above their circumstances, just as the apostles did when facing persecution and challenges. Cultivating good soil requires openness and teachability, removing competing priorities, providing spiritual nourishment through prayer and worship, and consistently applying God's Word to daily life. Similarly, farmers prepare their soil well before planting season. Believers must intentionally ready their hearts to receive God's Word instead of showing up spiritually unprepared.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:29

They are two farmers. Two farmers, right? They have the same seed. So two farmers, Tony and uh Jackie were farmers. They were given the same seed, but had a different harvest. Okay. Two farmers live side by side. They are in the same country, same climate, same seed. The seeds were from the same seed company. One walks away at harvest with a band overflowing with grain. So Tony, you're always on a bad side show. Jackie walks away with a battleful harvest at the end of the harvest season. Tony stares at a field that barely broke even. And all the neighbors are looking at Tony, so what is going on? They're scratching their heads. Why they had the same seed, same rain, same sunshine, same community, different harvest. What made the difference this morning? I want you to think of me. What do you think made a difference? Same seed, same soil, not same soil, right? Same, same climate, same place, everything else. Same planting season, harvest time. One had a bountiful harvest, the other one did it. What made the difference? The environment. One farmer prepared the soil, the other did not. So there's something quite interesting. Bible talks about the incorruptible seed of God, right? The seed was never the problem. It wasn't about the seed, they had the seed from the same company. One person prepared the soil, the other did not. So here, what makes a difference is that the soil made the entire difference. So I opened this series with this picture in your mind. Why? Because this morning Jesus is about to tell us the same story. Now, watch watch this now. You want to ask yourself as we read through the story that Jesus is about to teach us. You want to ask yourself who the farmers are. He's not talking about some farmers, you know, that we use for illustration. He's talking about we in this room. This story is about you. Jesus is about to teach us something very profound. Open the Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 13, verse 3 to 9. Welcome to Bible School, by the way. Welcome to Live Touch Academy. Every Sunday, we made this Bible school. Those online. You didn't come to entertain, you came to study, you came to receive something from the Holy Spirit that will change your life, that would change your perspective towards God. So it's good that screens are not working because you have to look at your Bible and read your Bible. Matthew 13, verse 3 to 9. Now listen, then he spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured it. Some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth. And they immediately sprang up, but because they had no depth of earth, but when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no roots, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked it. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Now many times Jesus repeats this same thing in Revelation. So he that's an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying. Now it's interesting that many Bible scholars consider this parable, this thing that we just read, as the most fundamental parable that Jesus ever told. So foundational that in the record of Mark, and if you look at Mark chapter 4, verse 10, two verses, verse 10 and 13, it's about when he was alone, those around him with the 12 asked him about this parable. They couldn't understand it. And he said to them, Listen to it carefully. Jesus said to them, verse 13, Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the other parables? In other words, in street language, if you are missing this one, you risk missing them all. In other words, if you don't get how this thing works, this particular parable, you're never gonna understand everything else I'm teaching you. Now, the word parable used here in the Greek means a comparing, a comparison of one thing with another, the likeness or the similitude of a thing. And so when we go back to actually when you read Matthew 13 again in the beginning, first two verses, the Bible says Jesus saw the multitude, and then he began to teach them many things in parables. Okay? In other words, he was teaching them many things, he was using the parables as a similitude. Okay? So what he spoke about about the soul went out to sow, he was making a comparison of how the kingdom works to how it actually works in real time. Does it make sense? And so what he's saying is that if you do not get this, if you don't get how this thing works, then you are not going to get anything else I'm gonna teach you because everything else I'm gonna about to teach you works the way this thing works. Amen? Okay, so come over me to Colatians chapter 2, verse 6 and 7 quickly. And it's interesting, it's it's important we understand this. He said, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. Rooted, built up in him, and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving, as we have received. So this is a challenge to the church. As we have received Jesus, he's saying that what we should be rooted and built in him. Amen. And so it's not Christianity, it's not something that you add to your life, okay? It's not something that everything else is taking place, and then you add this to it. You are expected to shift your total mentality, your thinking, everything else, to the way God wants you to think and be rooted in what God is telling you. Amen. It is not something that we do in passing. Do you get me? All right, now watch this now. As I already said in March, as a church, our focus is rooted in the word. Why? Because anything can be before you can be rooted, the ground must be ready. So Jesus, Paul is saying Colossians that we receive Christ, let us be rooted in him. Okay, be rooted in Christ. But before you can be rooted in Christ, your ground must be ready. How many believe that? If you have a stony ground, if you have all the four different soils that Jesus just explained to us in his parable, apart from the fourth one, which was a good soil, everything else has a problem with being rooted. Okay? And that is what we are going to be dealing with today. Today, I want to ask you a very direct and a very personal question: what kind of soil is your heart? Because listen carefully. What you are seeing as a result of what is in your hand is as a result of the type of heart or soul you have. It has nothing to do with the word of God. It has nothing because the Bible says in 1 Peter, the word is incorruptible. Okay? And everybody knows here that if you're a farmer and you have a seed without a soul, you can't have a harvest. Doesn't make sense. If you have a seed, right now you don't know you have a soil, you can't be having. So we have seeds. God has given us seeds in his word, but what determines your harvest is the type of soul that you are. And this is why Jesus was saying that listen, if you don't get this, you're not going to get anything else I'm about to teach you because everything has to do with you. You're not hearing me. If once you can become a child of God, you know, before I just came up from my office, I was thinking about something interesting. You know, we give Satan too much credit that we should. If demons can actually do what they're doing to you, you know what it you know what it translates? It translates that God is not powerful enough. That's the translation. If you believe that a demon can stop your destiny, if you believe the demon can that curse can stop you, or a covenant can stop you, in this sense you are telling God that God is not powerful enough. Oh, somebody's not hearing me. What kind of soil is your heart? Jesus began to teach them this parable. Go with me to Matthew chapter 13. We begin from verse 1 to 3. Listen carefully. On the same day, Jesus went up of the house and sat by the sea, and a great multitude were gathered together to him. So that he could, he got into a boat and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Then he spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, the soul went to sow. Now, this is interesting. Why watch this now? Jesus steps into the crowd and tells a story about a farmer's capture in the seed. Now, what is interesting about this is this. If you read on further on, the disciples, Jesus told them that, you know, to you it's been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom. To you, it's been given to understand how this operates. Amen? God is not trying to hide anything from us, He's trying to teach us how to survive in His kingdom and how to be productive. Now, let me emphasize this. When the Bible talks about fruitfulness, please get man away from physical things for a minute. Okay? We are focused and zooming in on spiritual fruitfulness, which Galatians details out to us clearly what God expects from us. Amen? And so watch this. Now Jesus said, It's been given for you guys to understand how this kingdom works. But to them, to those that are without, they can't comprehend it. They are not supposed to know. And so he steps in a crowd and then he begins the story by telling them how a farmer scatters a seed. But this is no ordinary story. This is no ordinary farming lesson. Jesus was about to explain the anatomy of a human heart. He was about to explain to his people, to his church, how productivity is derived in this kingdom. And he's saying that it has nothing to do with the Holy Ghost. It has nothing to do with God because what God has done is that God has prepared the seed for every single person here as a farmer. You have the same quality of seed I have. You're not hearing me. You have this, you have the same quantity of seed that I have. Everybody has access to the same things that God has. But the outcome is different. What causes the outcome? Because even if you looked at what he said towards the end of the parable, even the good soils here, the productivity is not all the same. It's 36 and a hundredfold. And so, what this parable is teaching us this morning, that anything to do with the kingdom has to do with you. Are you not hearing me? Jesus explains this parable. Watch this and go with me to Luke chapter 8, verse 11. Now I've had many so-called great men of God use this parable, telling people to plant seeds, money. Okay, they use this very parable to tell people that you know, plant a seed and you shall receive a hundredfold return. It's interesting, isn't it? Because the Bible tells us what the actual seed Jesus was talking about is. Luke 11:1 says, now the parable is this. Okay, the story is this, the similitude is this, the seed is the word of God. So listen, get in my live touch. Every single person here who goes to church who is a Christian has access to the seed. Oh, you're not hearing me. Whatever I have, you have. You have a Bible? Show me your Bible. God says this is the seed. You got it. Tell someone to say, You got it. Now watch this. Let's go to Matthew 13, verse 18 to 23 quickly. So let me kind of lead you to this place. He tells them this story, and the disciples are confused. So they come to him and they say to him, Uh, you gotta elaborate on this a little bit because we don't we don't get this. And so Jesus begins to explain the parable to them. Remember, have this in mind that this is a foundational parable. This is the foundation of a Christian walk. This is how God guarantees productivity, or you God guarantees you productivity as a Christian. This is how all the fruits of the spirit that we are expected to call it exhibit. This is the beginning of how this thing works. Amen. It is not about prayer, it's not about fasting, it's about everything, every road leads to one thing. And I've been saying this thing for how many years now? Every road as a Christian leads to one thing, what God has said about the situation. It's not about what your situation is, it's not about what circumstances determine, it's about what God has said about that situation. And Jesus is about to tell us a story based on this principle, amen. So he begins by saying in Luke 8, he says, We let's settle this. The seed here is not money. Hello, the seed is the word of God, in other words, whatever situation in your life, listen carefully. And I ask this question all the time. In the beginning, there wasn't there was chaos on planet Earth, and God did not start dancing around like a fetish priest trying to figure out the situation, he simply said something, simply did something. Let it be light. And there was light or word is what creates situations in the kingdom, amen. And so let's have the foundation laid out. The word is a seed here, which you have access to right now, amen. Watch this, Matthew 13. Therefore, hear the parable of the sower. So he begins to now explain to them the parable of the sower. Verse 19. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, this is where the problem is, and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and snatches the word that was sown in your heart. Now I was looking at this this week, and I'm thinking many of us miss something very, very critical in this verse. So help me understand. What are you missing in this verse right now? The understanding of the word. The understanding of the word. He says, when you hear the word, the problem, the reason why Satan has access to the word today that is being shown that is not going to have any roots in you is because you didn't understand it. And because you don't understand it, immediately the enemy has access to it. He comes and takes it. And the only reason why the enemy has access to the seed, when you plant the seed and it falls on a stony ground, is because the beds of the air have access to it. It's not hidden. Let's say you are cultivating a farm and you're actually digging holes and planting seeds in there and covering them with the soil, it is difficult for the beds of the air to scatter the seed, isn't it? They can't kind of dig and figure out the seed and pull it out. But when I just throw seed on concrete and a bed is hungry, he's just going to zoop down and pick up the seed. And this is what Jesus is saying that when the word is sown, and because you don't understand it, this is the first group of people, the enemy have access to that seed straight away. This is he who receives seed by the wayside. Okay? Verse 20. But he who received the seed on a stony place, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Oh, hallelujah. Praise God, the word is good. Yet has no roots in himself, but endures only for a while, for when tribulation and persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Verse 22. Now he will receive the seed among the thorns, he is he who hears the word, and the curse of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. Verse 23, but he who receives seed on good ground, he is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. From what Jesus just explained, we can easily conclude that the seed, which is God's word, it's never the issue. The issue is always the soil. It's always a concrete soil that the seed bounces off. It's always the soil that received the word, go to church. That's what they do. They just go to church. The word is great. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. The moment you get home, tribulation and persecution arise. Your friends begin to accuse you of being not tolerant enough. They begin to, you know, Satan knows how to kind of manipulate your thoughts. The moment those things arise, and the reason why he's doing that is because he wants access to the word. You're not hearing me. Because let's establish this thing. The word produces harvest. If there's no word, there's no harvest. So if Satan knows that if you carry this word, you're gonna produce it 30 fold, then it's gonna create situations that you give him access to the word. And it comes from friends, it comes from social media, it comes from business connections, it comes from life situations, it comes from sickness. He will stir up anything he can for you to be able to give him access to the word. And the third person, Jesus said, We receive it. But what look at 22? Now, among the seeds, among those thones, thorns, thones, I can go thorns. I mean, I can I can go on for the next three days on thorns. But here's the key you gotta understand this. The key is this that these situations that are being created around you is quite simple. He wants access to the word. Okay, he wants access to the word. The situations that we face, the conditions that he creates for us, the things that are around us, is because he wants access to the word. Because if the world stays on good soil, there is going to be a harvest. It's almost as if guaranteed. Watch this now. So this you know, if you go to the CS Tower right now and you jump, one thing is guaranteed. It's guaranteed. There is no argument because the law of gravity kicks in. Let me give you another law. In the absence of God's word, something is guaranteed: fruitfulness. You cannot carry God's word through the cycles that God has determined it to be carried through, that you are not going to see the harvest at the end of it. It's impossible. The same way that when you jump from the same style now, you are going to have a big splash. The same way that if you make up your mind this morning, and it doesn't matter what the situation is, it doesn't matter what you're facing, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it could be the biggest sickness on the face of the earth. If you can carry that go word of God on a good soil through the cycle that God has determined in this what's it called, Ecclesiastes chapter 3. For everything that's a time and a season, a time to plant, a time to harvest. When you plant and you carry the seed through, at the end of the time that God has determined, your harvest is going to change. I don't care what it is. Someone's not listening to me. Listen to it carefully. The problem is never what God is saying. The problem is always how we receive what God is saying. Do you understand that? There are few people in this room. Today, every single person is going to leave the air receiving the word differently. How you receive it determines the harvest that comes from the word you received. So the issue is never the person carrying the word. The issue is never what God is saying. Never. And listen, gentlemen, are you if you're wondering if God is speaking, God is still speaking because the moment you open your Bible, God is speaking to you. So He is speaking still. So the issue is never what God is saying in your sickness. Never what God is saying about your job. Never what God is under your marriage. Never what God is saying about your relationship. It's never about that, it's how you're receiving what God is saying to you about that situation. Because how you receive it now determines the productivity that comes out of it. Does it make sense to anyone? So I was sharing the tears. Concrete, gravels. Imagine, you know, anyway, whatever. Imagine your backyard now, man. There are wheats everywhere. And you take seeds and you plant them on the seeds. Do you expect to harvest? It's not going to work. Every farmer here knows that before he plants a seed, he prepares the soil. Are you hearing me, Tony? Jesus identifies four heart conditions. He's using the soil as a similitude, as a type to explain your heart condition to you this morning. And he's saying your heart condition is what determines what you're carrying. In other words, stop blaming God for your situation that you find yourself in. Because you're praying with your lips, one side of your lip praying, another side is talking something else. You cannot blame God for your situations. What he's telling us this morning, what you told them 2,000 years ago, is what is happening to you, is as a result of the hatch of career. We'll talk a little bit about that. Psal number one, the hard path. It says seed fall of you know, when Jesus was showing this illustration, you don't want to talk about a way path. You know what it is. I don't know if people have it in this country, you know, you guys are all in America and everything else. But in Africa, we have something, man. Wayside. You know, there's a path that you put clay and then you harden the heart. You harden the path. That path was never meant to take soil, seed. It was just for a way path, right? So you take a concrete, let's say you go, you go see uh what's called uh green on the left, green on the right, and then this path is pathed out for a what path? So a sidewalk, a sidewalk. Oh good. Thanks. A sidewalk. That's the illustration here. So, and it's also actually interesting. It's not like the farmers these days have precision instruments that plant seeds. Literally, what they did, if I were giving an image, is literally taking make a maybe a bag sheet, right? And kind of turn the bag sheet around you and putting seed in the back sheet and just grabbing a handful of seeds and just throwing it. Okay? And so this is the imagery here. So this person is throwing, and unfortunately, the seed falls on the path sidewalk sidewalk. Americans, they have to call it sidewalk so that people will know that it's not the main walk. That's a good one. What you need to understand is this that sidewalk has no penetration at all. There is no way that that seed is ever going to penetrate and find soil to germinate. Okay, so if you study Matthew 13, verse 19, Jesus is telling us that a first group of, and the reason why Satan has access to those seeds so quickly is because it's up in the open. And so this morning, if you're receiving God's word, where is a word just on a sidewalk? Because if you don't understand what I'm teaching you, you might as well have stayed at home today. Because this word is not going to take roots in you today, the enemy is gonna take it, go pick it up and run away with it. The birds are gonna eat it, the birds are gonna eat it, man. Then he talks about rocky grounds, seed received uh the joyful welcome, but there is no debt. This is the problem with more Christians today. This is the problem with most Christians in churches today. There is no debt to the word we received. And the reason why there is no debt is because your ground wasn't plowed properly. Out of bitterness, out of disappointments, out of anger, out of frustration, out of life taking circles around you, you made up your mind that you're gonna harden your heart to God's word. So even though in the most part of the moment you receive a word and it's exciting, praise God, but you don't allow the roots of the word to penetrate your heart. And the only time that we usually say, Oh, certainly somebody this we're gonna tell them. Do you know how deliverance really comes? Look, more power to all those so-called prophets, more power to all these people who lay hands on somebody shake shake shake, more power to them. But deliverance doesn't come from somebody laying hands on you, you shaking. Oh, you're kidding me, man. What's the matter with you? Sorry? How does it come from you? CNN news flash, breaking news, live chat. I'm gonna about to break something. You listening? Deliverance, deliverance, true deliverance from demonic covenants, demonic curses, demonic thrills, family bloodline issues. A prophet can see and prophesy all he wants. You still go home, you shake for two minutes and go home with the demons today. Through deliverance only comes from God's word penetrating your heart. Let me tell you when you know you're delivered from a situation. When the first thing that comes to your mind is what God said about a situation, then you know that you have delivered from it. It's not an emotional field, and the pro what Jesus is teaching us here is that the reason why you have a rocky ground, your heart is so the rocks are so much out of issues in life that even though the word is the roots, the word is trying to penetrate the root, it's not going anywhere. And if it's not going anywhere, and you know what Satan uses? Jesus said, persecution, tribulation arise for the word's sake. This is how Satan gets you. Been church for 30 years, you still have negative confession, and you expect and you you complain why you wonder why your life is the way it is. Your heart is a problem. I didn't say it. Jesus said it. Funny ground, seeds enter, begin to grow, but the worries. This is also the two grounds that Satan gets us ground number two, ground number three. Warriors, the deceitfulness of riches, chokes in fruitfulness, not uh what's it called there? Fruitfulness just doesn't happen. Everybody here wants to leave the American dream. You're not hearing me. You're not hearing me. Deceitfulness of riches. People sell their souls because they want to be seen and heard. Somebody's not hearing me this morning. You you all come you all better off. Compromise everything to live a life for the moment. But you come to church on Sunday. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. There is no evidence. You know what I said this Friday night? Listen carefully. The Holy Ghost was given to you so that you live a supernatural life. I hope that penetrates the heart of yours. It was given to you so that you live a supernatural life about the circumstances that are around you. The apostles face the same situations, the same, the same, they face the same persecutions, same accusations, same threats. Every single thing you're facing today, they face it. What gave them the edge? They led supernatural lives in the Holy Ghost. Jesus faced the same situations, people. Many times they tried to stone him, they cursed him, they insulted him, they beat him up. What made the life of Jesus different? The Holy Ghost on his life, supernatural life. And there is no way that you can live a supernatural life, people, unless the word penetrates your soil. The foundation of everything God has comes back to this his word. So remember what we learned. Who can recite this from someone? Blessing a man. That's no walking the council of the you see. God is so smart. The very first verse, it tells you how to prosper. Go on, let's go. That's where you but people part. What about the meditation? By his what? His delight is in the law of the Lord, and his law he meditates. Why do you think God is asking to meditate in his word? Because he wants the word to be part of you. The same thing he told Joshua, listen, be careful to observe what I've told you. You want to prosper? Read the word, meditate on it, observe it, live it. Then you shall make your way successful and be prosperous. Everything comes from what you, how you have given yourself to receive God's word and to practice God's word. No prophet, no people go to church, pray for me, pray for me, pray for me. Keep asking for pray for me. So number four, seed grows deep. How do we get to good soil? It begins from number one, understanding the word and receiving the word and retaining the word. Understand it, receive it, retain it. Then you produce a harvest. So you come to church in the morning, you've been taught a word. It never said the Holy Ghost is going to do it. Did he say that? Or does it Jesus? It's a you, good soil. You first of all, you need to understand it. Then you need to receive it as fact. So you're sitting here today, you have a choice. You can say, Pastor is just saying a bunch of fula baba. I'm just saying a bunch of fula baba, I'm saying a bunch of nonsense. Somebody can perceive it that way. That's fine. Or you can decide that what I'm telling you is truth. And then you can decide that I'm gonna live here understanding that everything to do with my life goes back to how I relate to God's word. And I'm gonna I'll decide today that from today I'm gonna be a spiritual farmer. In other words, I'm not gonna expect any miracles to happen through prayer, but I'm gonna take the word and I'm gonna plant the word and I'm gonna cultivate the word and I'm gonna retain the word. And when the time of harvest is there, God will give me the harvest. Because guess what? Someone is about to around the corner to blur, I shouldn't preach that anymore. He's about to plant tomatoes again. What was the cycle of your tomatoes? How long did it take for you to harvest tomatoes?

unknown 36:22

Two months, two months.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

Two months. You have tomatoes. How many of you know that if you plant orange seeds, it's gonna take about five years? We dealt with this before. So the harvest of orange is different from the harvest of tomatoes. So, in other words, God's word, the maturity of God's word of what you're asking for, have different cycles in different seasons. But Paul says that you are never worrying doing good for in due time, knowing that the promise is as effective as the loss of gravity. I have the word, I cultivate the word, I will have a harvest in the season that God has determined, not my season. So watch this. Important question. Same preacher. I've been preaching in this church for how many years now? Some of you have been around me for years. Same preacher, man. I preach the same word. I'm very consistent with how I preach. Don't change. Same word, same Sunday. And you know what's interesting in this room tonight today? We have four different people. We walk out of here with four different spiritual realities. What is the difference? A preacher man's life, we see certain people sit under him, and he sees their life evolve. Because they understand their preacher man. Paul said something, he said, imitate me as I imitate God. Do you think God makes mistakes? On Friday night, tell you guys, you guys are my testimony. Look at the diversity in this room. Where I come from, you need to take transportation. The diversity in this room from even Nigeria. This is Uber. This is what? Who are you? We have Linda back there from Haiti, Britain, America. Look at the diversity. Ghana, look at the diversity in this room. Look, if you look at a congregation, you know, half of that come to church one Sunday, that I have don't show up. The diversity. It's gotta be one person who's responsible for this. No man. Because when I started it, when we started the church, it was myself, Gloria, Isaiah, Levet. You know nobody. And that's why I said, my testimony, you guys are my testimony because he knows that God is working in your lives. Okay? Same preacher, man, same consistency in preaching. I have if anybody for the manual of 10 years now, tell me, have I changed the way I preach? I can't change. But take a look at your lives and look at where you are, and look at the difference in other people's lives. What determines that change? It's not God. Listen, He's giving you, He's brought you, He's giving you a seat at the table. Listen carefully. And He's giving you the right to make certain decisions concerning how He deals with you. Okay, somebody will get it. Look at Matthew 13, verse 9. My time is nearly up. When anyone hears the word of God and he does not understand it, the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who receives seed by the wayside. The wayside in Jesus explained that what that means. And the traffic had a compartment that ground until nothing can break through it. So, how does a hut become a parking lot? How is your heart a parking lot? How is it that of all the hearts that Jesus explained, this particular heart, Satan had full access to the word? What got us there? We're gonna take a look at it. Number one, the traffic of business. A life running at maximum speed leaves no room for God's word to settle. Today you are here, tomorrow you are here. It's just the environment, the society, your life, you have become so overwhelmed with the things of this world that when the word of God is sown, you don't allow it to settle. Then they're that group of people who have accumulation of offenses, man. Yes, life has been bad. Life has treated you really, really bad. We get it. You're a broken vessel, we get it. Things are we get it. But you see, what do you one thing you gotta understand about God is that God is trying to fix you. You know, you're hearing me. You don't take an attitude that the word life has thrown you, you don't put it back on God, you don't you don't bite the finger that is feeding you. You know what I mean? God is trying to fix you, man. And so, yes, things have been bad, yes, offenses, every wound that goes unhealed adds another layer to the hardness. If you do not allow God, the balm of Gilead, to release that oil into that head and fix that head, if you allow it over time, something is gonna happen. It hardens your heart. Nobody just got up there, it's about things that have happened. Then when we talk about repeated exposure without response, hearing every Sunday, but never acting is the fastest way to develop the collapsed heart. You come to church every Sunday, every pastor has prayed for you. You've been cancelled for 30 years, but still, they say that is the fast track to develop it a heart. And then the last one, pride. Self-sufficiency. When we feel we have arrived, we have stopped receiving. This is very bad. So nobody just gets to a hardened heart just there. It is an environment, the conditions we're in, the things we've allowed to happen to us, not allowing God's word to penetrate, not releasing yourself and lifting up your hands to God for God to fix you and fix your life for you. I came across a personal illustration I want to share it. Watch this now. He said, This is a guy, he said, I'm gonna read it. He said, I remember standing at the graveside of a season in my life where the word meant nothing to me anymore. He said, I had heard it so many times without responding that the hearing itself had become a routine. We come to church, we hear the word constantly. It's a routine. Pastor, we scream and shout, you go home, come. And receive the same things. Religion without reception. Okay? I sat at church, sat at the right, uh, what's called, said the right things, left it the same. Is anybody relating to this? Then one ordinary Tuesday morning, God used a single verse, not a conference, not a big moment, just a verse at the kitchen table. James 1:21. Cracked through. Receive with meekness the implanted word. Meekness. I had not been meek. I had been proud, hate, defensive. Does anybody feel this way? God has abandoned me. You had everything around you has fallen apart. So it creates this thing that you are proud, you are hurt, you are defensive. The moment I dropped my God, he said, the word went in and it changed everything. This is not just my story. This is the story of every softened heart. James 1 21. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is about able to save your soul. Receive with meekness the implanted word, and you know what the word can do? The word can save your soul. So good soils do not just happen by accident. You don't walk in this morning and decide I'm going to be a good soul. It doesn't happen. It's over time. Every master gardener will tell you the harvest begins underground, long before planting season. The farmer prepares the soil before the seed ever drops. You just don't get up in the morning, Sunday morning, just put all some clothes together. Ground, ground, ground, ground, grow out to church. Sit down, wear the throne, get up, go back home. Doesn't happen. Four qualities mark good soil. We see we share this when we pray. And each one is a spiritual discipline. Number one, receive, humble, and teachable. Some of you, by the time, you know, American Christians, by the time the preacher's man says one, you open your mouth and say sentence, they'll complete the sentence for you. It's like a parrot reciting a word back. But that word is just on the lip, that word has not penetrated the heart. To cultivate a good soul, you gotta be able to be receptive to what God is teaching you. It comes with being humble and teachable. I don't know. There is nothing wrong by saying, I don't understand this, I don't comprehend this, I don't know. Teach me more. Nothing wrong by doing that. Actually, you got to be in a position that God allows God to teach you more. Amen. Not defensive when the word corrects you, not proud when truth convicts you. The surrendered heart is a fertile heart. Many mention ago, I used to I told Tony, never say I don't think. Because what do you what do you what do you think is irrelevant? It's what God has said about that word is relevant. And if you're not teachable to be able to receive it, I thought this way, but this is wrong, God can never fix you. How can you be a good sword? But remember, God is trying to fix you. Remember, you see, Jesus' goal for teaching this parable was just one getting his followers to produce fruit. And if we don't understand that and we object and resist what he's doing, you are never going to produce fruit. Number two, Claire, we've removed sinful confessions. So, number one, be receptive to God's word, allow corrections. Don't be defensive. When you get convicted, you know, there are people who will go home. I don't know about I don't know about uh my Igbo friends here, but for Ghanaians, if everybody was a Ghanaian, somebody goes home saying that complaining that I preach with them today. Uh-huh. Instead of saying that God loves me and God is trying to correct me, you are so important that the preacher might preach about you. From this whole big Bible, I have nothing to preach about but to preach about Tony. Instead of saying, Man, God had my number today, and God is talking to me, and God wants to fix me, so I receive the word in humility because the word is convicted me. Number two, clear the weeds. That's someone say clear the weeds. Competition with God eliminated. If you read Colossians 3:2, it says, set your mind in the things above. Clear the ground always produces a crop. How do we clear the ground? Simple confessions. There are things that in our lives you can't cover them and move on. God wants you to deal with them, God wants you to openly talk to him about them. That means that you are ready. You are ready to produce. You're not hearing me. Number three, nutrition. Enriched through spiritual discipline. Prayer waters it, worship. Oh man, fellowship. There are three important things. Okay? When you want to make sure that your soil is fatal to receive God's word. Number one begins with prayer. I don't know why God has tied everything to prayer. I don't know. I can't explain to you why. I don't know. But he said everything with prayer. He didn't say some. The good, the bad, the ugly. Daniel, prayer. I'm happy, pray. I'm sad. Pray. I'm disappointed. Pray. I'm dunny. Pray. Everything we pray in supplication with thanksgiving. And so when we pray often, and when we worship when we come to church, and when we fellowship with one another, we are fertilizing our soil for productivity. Practical soul preparation. What to do this week? We're closing. Okay? Number one. Let's all begin to confess. Deal with sins that are hard, that hardens us. You cannot receive what you are secretly resisting. That's number one. One John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What it's in your heart that needs to be dealt with. Number two, repentance. Confession, repentance. Turn from the thorns that choke. Listen, man. Look, listen. I wish I can preach. Look, God has given you an opportunity, people, to fix your life.

unknown 51:34

Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 51:36

So far as we get up every morning and we have breath and strength to walk, it's a new day to fix it. So yesterday was really, really bad. But today is a brand new day. Tell somebody to say, fix it. Remove those stones, name them. Warriors. Well pursuit places that crown, that crowd out God. One pond pool today prevents a field of weed tomorrow. Do you know that when the dandelion roots begin to shoot from your background, your backyard, and you you you you you you you spray the wheat killers on there? You know, it kills everything. But if you allow that one, I'll give you two weeks, your whole field. Whatever the situation is today, pull out one, it stops it. Are you listening to me? Number three, meditation. Money gave a testament about meditating God's word. Meditation goes deeper than reading. You gotta meditate. What if God says he's delight in the love of the Lord in the law? He meditates day and night. You cannot read God's word and expect it to penetrate your heart. What penetrates God's word, it's meditation. Sitting aside, taking that word, meditating the word, let the word have roots in you. Again, some 1 verse 2. But he delights in the love of the Lord, in the Lord, he meditates day and night. And number four, application. Work the word in your life. So I've been screaming for the last hour. You're gonna be leaving and going home today. You're gonna leave these handouts I just given you on the shelf. How many of you just even read last week's handouts? You're gonna just leave it on the shelf and come back next week and yeah, Pastor is gonna sleep three, four hours tonight. That's my sister-in-law. She's never she never sleeps. I'm always up in my office. Actually, I'm gonna spend my whole night preparing a handout for you so that you're just gonna throw it on the shelf. And you expect to be fruitful. Who like you? You put in your work to be fruitful. Testimony's application. Work the word in your life. Are you hearing me? 1 James 22 says, But the do of the be doers, but be doers of the word, not hearers, deceiving yourself. You don't get up and stand in one day, come to church, check the box or come to church. That's it. You sat in church for 40 years and we just don't see any application in your life. Is that what God wants for you? Application is the act of tilling the soil after the seed falls. Now listen to this: the farmer's secret. An experienced farmer never waits for planting season to prepare. In autumn, when the harvest is finished, he is ready, already uh tilted. He turns the hard ground, he removes the stones, he pulls the weeds at the root, he adds compost and lets the winter rain saturate what he has broken up. By the time spring comes and he sees seed drops, the soil is hungry for it. This is the believer who prepares their heart before Sunday morning. This is a Christian who does not show up empty and rushes out full. They come already filled, already expectant, already receiving. When you were coming today, did you thought that your life was going to change? Were you in a state of expectancy? You just got up from bed because your clothes changed and just rushed to work, church late. Oh, what a life. Before we go to pray, I want to give you one final imagery. The honest assessment. Matthew 13, 23. But he will receive the seed on good ground, is he who hears the word, understands it, and who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. Notice what Jesus promises to a good soil. You are not just going to survive, not just going to maintain, but a hundredfold harvest. It said 30, 60, 100fold. God is not looking for a modest return on the word today, people. He speaks into your life. He is after an abundant harvest. You think Jesus, we're about to celebrate Easter. And every year we remind ourselves of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. By the way, we have a three-day conference coming up Good Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Three systematic days of teaching on the cross. You don't want to miss it. This is a life-changer. This conference is going to be life-changing. I'm going to systematically take you before the cross, that gap between when Jesus died on the cross and resurrection and the resurrection, and how it profoundly touches your life and why God did what he did. It's going to be a life-changing experience. And I invite you to be here, invite somebody to be at church. But Jesus did not just go on the cross and die. We just don't sign our names that we're just Christians. God did not go through all this just for you to live a mediocre life. Actually, what God wants from every single person in this room is that when he sees you, he sees Jesus, man. Because that's how he sees you now. He sees you as Jesus. But then let me ask you, honestly, man. How really be honest, man? I won't go there. Honest or suspect. Which soul are you? Are you the hard path? You have been hearing, but nothing is getting in. There is, is there an offense? What is your offense? Is it business? Is it pride? Is this is pride blocking your reception? What is the problem? Why are you a hard soul today? Are you a rocky ground? You receive with excitement on Sunday, but it's gone by Wednesday? The word has no roots in your daily life? Are you a thorny ground? Are you genuinely saved but worries of your finances, Tony? The pressures of relationship. I don't want to mention that, but I'm with Tony all the time. The pressure of relationship, entertainment have divided your heart and choked the fruitfulness. I wish I had word time to explain. Which one is it, man? What is happening to us? Or your good soul, are you receiving, applying, and producing? If you are saying amen to that. But if you are receiving, applying, and producing, do no codes, God, good soil still needs constant tendering. So your one action this week. Choose one soil, preparation, practice, and do this daily this week. Confess one hardness, pull one thorn, meditate on one verse, apply one truth, just one soils change slowly, but it changes. So leave here today, making up your mind that you are going to do something. Remember the application. The only time that you are going to grow, the only time that we're going to grow in the things of God, it's when we take what God is teaching us and when we apply. And here's a promise. If you walk out of this building carrying this, look at Galatians 6 7, and we go home. I know some of you are looking at your time. Do not be deceived. Oh Masu Yandiba. God is not marked. For whatever a man sow, that he shall reach. That is a guaranteed promise. You sow good, you receive good. So the law of harvest is as dependable as the law of gravity. Good soil plus God's word equals harvest, you cannot contain. So this month is not just a month, it is a moment of preparation. Are you prepared to pray?