Church Of The Harvest | Sermon Podcast | Cleveland, TN
[be[sciple Week 3 - Pastor Chris Goins
Good evening church of the harvest, how are you? - Good evening. - Hey, let's pray and let's dive in. Jesus, thank you for who you are. For burial, for resurrection, for ascension, for victory. We thank you that we know how this already ends. Jesus is victorious. And Father, whatever's going on in the life tonight, we pray that you meet people right where they are. And through this time together, you encourage and challenge us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And if you're comfortable saying aloud amen, say aloud amen, hey, take out the notes that are on the table. And we've got a ton of ground to cover. And I don't want to be eternal. And you guys make it so easy that I can do that. I mean it last week, it was boom. And we'd already went an hour. So hopefully I will not do that to you this evening. That's a long time to hold you. Matthew five, seven. Matthew five through seven. It contains what some people have come to call. Most of us in this room would call the sermon on the Mount. It is the greatest sermon ever given of the principles unpacked in three brief chapters. Give us insight into what it really means to follow Jesus. In three relatively short chapters, I mean, you can read the entire sermon in less than 15 minutes. Jesus gives us a macro, big picture view. And he also simultaneously somehow gives us the micro little picture view of how to walk out the kingdom of God in your life. Now the actual sermon begins in chapter five, but the action starts in chapter four. So look at verse 17. From that time on, Jesus began to preach. Everybody say the next word. It's a word people don't like in 2024. It's an essential word. So say it out loud. Repent, say it once more. Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Skip to verse 23. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues. Proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. And healing every disease and sickness among the people. Underline that last phrase. I mentioned this in an earlier lesson, but kingdom gets mentioned 126 times in the gospels. Sometimes it reads kingdom of God, sometimes kingdom of heaven. Here's what Jesus does in Matthew five through seven. He defines, redefines our understanding of what it means to be a citizen in his kingdom. Now citizenship is often thought of in terms of privilege, position, power. Right now there's a big, big debate going on in our country about between those who are citizens and those who are quote, illegals or not citizens. Citizenship usually refers to privilege, position, power. Jesus is gonna flip that on its head. Anybody remember the definition for kingdom of God I gave you when we first began this? We actually introduced this on a Sunday morning. I put it for you in your notes tonight so in case you didn't remember it. Sometimes I don't remember what I preached yesterday. So in case you're like me and didn't remember, you would remember. Here's the kingdom, Dallas Willard. The range of God's effective will where what God wants done is done. Here's my definition. The kingdom of God is what it looks like to live life in the presence of God and under the power, rule and reign of God. Track with me for a moment. Everybody has a kingdom, everybody. The word kingdom means fear, realm, place. Your kingdom is that little sphere, realm or place where what you say goes. If the kingdom of God is the range of God's effective will, then your kingdom is the range of your effective will. It's that sphere, realm or place where what you say goes. We tend to learn about kingdoms really early. Anybody been around a two year old recently? A three year old? What is a two year old's favorite word? You can say it out loud. No. Every two year old is learning that he or she has a kingdom. Second most favorite word of a two year old is what? Mine. In other words, I have a kingdom and in my kingdom, that toy belongs to me. Kids will even mark the boundaries of their kingdom. Back seat of a car, back seat of a minivan. Kids will draw an imaginary line as if to say that your kingdom over there, brother. This is my kingdom over here. You cross that boundary and it is war. If you've been around kids at this age, you know that eventually a war is gonna break out. It's inevitable in the back seat. And that war will eventually get the attention of the parents. Dad will often be driving the car or the minivan and whose kingdom does dad believe the car is? You better believe it. That car is his kingdom. So the dad, the dad asked a question, intended to exert kingdom dominance. Kids, do you want me to come back there? And the kids are unfazed because internally, they're thinking he can't come back here. He's driving 70 miles an hour. That is impossible. So they continue their little kingdom turf war. What does dad do? If that dad was like my dad, he takes hand and he reaches it into the back seat, just looking for any soft target. You will listen to me. You will adhere to my kingdom rules. I told you to quit fighting. What's dad doing? Dad's attempting to restore order to his kingdom. Get this, your kingdom, think about this. Your kingdom is that little sphere where what you say goes. Now with that in mind, go back to Matthew four, verse 17, verse 23. Jesus steps on the scene, the pimp, the kingdom of God is here. The range of God's effective will is in your presence. Hey, you haven't seen it like this before, but you're living in an era when what God wants done is about to get done. You're about to experience what God intended when he placed you on this planet. And then what does Jesus do? Remember, I asked you to underline that last phrase in verse 17. Jesus did what? He healed every disease and sickness among the people. Every disease and sickness. What was that a demonstration of? What the kingdom of God looks like? He's giving us a glimpse of the redemption of all things. When Jesus threw out the gospels, when Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, set captives free, when Jesus forgave people who were desperate. He was giving them a glimpse of the arrival of the kingdom of God. And by the way, I'm not the only guy that says this kind of stuff. That this isn't a new doctrinal insight. I mean, Presbyterians like Tim Keller said stuff like this. Let me read to you from Tim's book. The reason for God, the Bible tells us that God did not originally make the world to have, disease, hunger, and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that he has power, but also wonderful forties of what he is going to do with that power. Jesus' miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts that the world we all want is coming. Whew, how about this one from Philip Yancey? He writes about the miracles of Jesus and he writes death, decay, entropy, and destruction are the true suspension of God's laws. Miracles are the early glimpses of restoration. When Jesus walked on the scene, he basically announced the kingdom of God is here. Let me show you what it looks like. Look at verse 24, it gets even more intense. News about him spread as far as Syria and people soon began bringing to him, how many all who were sick, can you say that out loud? All who were sick, say it once more. All who were sick, and whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon-disessed or epileptic or paralyzed, he healed how many, he healed them. Oh, I love the way the message reads. People brought anybody with an ailment, with a mental, emotional, or physical. And Jesus healed them one and all. Or how about the Passion Translation? Everyone who was brought to Jesus was healed. I love that. Everyone who was brought to Jesus was healed. What was Jesus doing? He was demonstrating kingdom of God. Think about it with me just a little further on this concept of kingdom of God, okay? When the Roman Empire was in its prime, it was huge, it was getting larger. Whenever a new territory came under Roman control, the Romans would use force to try to make that new territory as much like Rome as possible. For instance, they would come there and they would build Roman temples to reflect the religious beliefs of Rome. They would build smaller Colosseums to reflect the architecture of Rome. They instituted Roman education, Roman arts, Roman culture. Why? Because this was in their mind. If a Caesar ever visits this region, we want the Caesar to feel right at home. They wanted the new territory to be like Rome. That's what the kingdom of God is. Kingdom of God is the range of God's effective will where whatever God wants done gets done. It's when everything in heaven is instituted on earth so that God's government, his teaching, worship, glory, power are seen on this earth. It's when earth starts to look more and more like heaven. It's when we see fulfilled among us, the prayer of Jesus that is yet to be answered, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The miracles of Jesus are a demonstration of the kingdom of God. This is why Paul would later say, first Corinthians chapter four verse 20, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of what, of power. Through every miracle Jesus was saying, you want to see? You want to see what the real rain power of God looks like? Let me show you. When God rules, poverty loses its power. When God rules, sickness and death don't rule the day. When God rules, heaven breaks into earth. When God rules, life regularly overcomes death. When God rules, love always overcomes hate. When God rules, wholeness completely overwhelms brokenness that's what the kingdom of God looks like. Anybody longing for the kingdom of God right now. So we get to Matthew five. Through Matthew seven, Jesus has introduced kingdom of God. Matthew five, he takes his climbing companions up a hill. And here's what he's going to do. I wrote this for you in your notes. Jesus is going to give them the most exhausted description of what life in the kingdom of God looks like and it's contained in the Sermon on the Mount. It's a high death pick of life lived in the kingdom of God. Jesus Sermon addresses our attitudes and our actions. It addresses motives and behavior. When you read the Sermon on the Mount, you know this is the way life should be. This is the way things ought to be on this earth. If you're reading the Sermon on the Mount, right, get this. You'll never walk away from reading the Sermon on the Mount and feel good about yourself. When you read the Sermon on the Mount, right, it will convict you and it will challenge you. In fact, Martin Luther said this Sermon on the Mount is so difficult we can only fall on the grace of God. In other words, Luther believed that the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are challenging and impossible so much so that without the grace of God, we are completely sunk but thanks be to God for the grace of God that meets us exactly where we are. Here's what happens, Matthew 5. Go back to that Sunday morning, we started together. A rabbi with Shmikha. Remember, a rabbi with authority. That's what it means, he steps forward to teach. Matthew 7 gives us a glimpse of how people responded to the Sermon on the Mount. Look at Matthew 7, verse 28. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching but he taught with real authority. They understood, we just heard something that has reset the bar for everything we thought about human potential. Everything we thought about what it means to become a disciple, he just totally reset the bar. See, they knew the principle of Luke 640, it's news to us but Jewish people in that era, they understood this about discipleship. A disciple is not above his teacher but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. So they had seen this played out with a variety of rabbis in their midst. First century, people took this stuff really seriously, for instance, by the time Jesus hit the scene, the religious system of Jesus' date, various rabbis and religious scholars had developed a complex system of rules. Those rules got summarized, they summarized the law into 613 rules, that's a real number, 613. 248 commands and 365 prohibitions. They even added to that list 1521 recommendations. For instance, get this, this is true, not making this stuff up. To avoid breaking the third commandment, you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, they refuse to even say the name of God. Hence, we now have what's called the unspeakable name of God. To avoid sexual temptation, this one will make you smile. They had a practice of lowering their heads, these rabbis did, when they walked by what might be an attractive woman, so they wouldn't even have to look at the woman. They were so known for this, that evidently some of them who had a problem with looking became known as the bleeding Pharisees because they regularly kept walking into walls and other obstacles in an attempt not to look. I am not making that up. To avoid working on the Sabbath, they had developed a list of 39 activities they viewed as work and they avoided all 39. Jesus came on the scene, he blew their minds, he took all of these little nitpicky rules that they had come up with adding to Scripture and he blew them up. I came up with a rule based on this, let me just give you my rule. I'm not a scholar, I don't know Greek, I don't know Hebrew, so just take this from what it's worth. If you're more spiritual than the Bible, you may be too spiritual. The Pharisees were more spiritual than the Bible. 613 laws, 1521 recommendations. So Jesus walks on the scene and in the Sermon on the Mount, in fact, in just chapter 5, he's going to say this six times. You've heard that it was said. You've heard that it said, notice this, Jesus didn't say it is written. Why? Because Jesus honored and elevated the law. He loved the law, he did not hate the law or abhor the law. What Jesus despised were man-made additions to the law. People who were more spiritual than the Bible. Jesus despised all of the addendums that they kept adding on. So he said, reflecting on that teaching, you've heard that it was said. And then he unpacks the Sermon on the Mount. And boy, I wrestle with this so much. I want to give you a quick flyover of the Sermon on the Mount. Okay? And let me just say, I've preached through the Sermon on the Mount once in my life, once. And it was one of the most challenging series I've ever done, challenging for me personally. It convicted me week in and week out. And it took me forever to get through it. So what I want to try to do is give you like a 10-minute flyover. I don't even know if that's possible. But let me try. And what makes it a little more approachable is in your notes. I gave you the bullets and I didn't ask you to fill in any blanks. But I hope you will follow along, okay? Say, here's what Jesus does in the Sermon on the Mount. He gives us a picture of the kind of life God blesses. This is summed up in what we call the beatitudes. Blessed are the pouring spirit. Jesus gives us a glimpse of our mission in this world. He announces to us, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Hey, you may not like this. It may offend you, but I can sum up Jesus teaching in two statements. Stay salty and get lit. Come on, you've got to have some fun with me tonight. Third, Jesus gives us a picture of the authority of God's Word as our standard for truth. Don't think I've come to abolish the law. I didn't. I came to fulfill it. Jesus gives us a picture of the way we should relate to and treat other people, especially as it relates to anger, name calling, harboring, unforgiveness, pursuing reconciliation, and settling our differences. Boy, I love the message translation of Matthew 7. Here's a simple rule of thumb, guide for behavior. Ask yourself what you want people to do for you. Then grab the initiative and do it for them. Isn't that good? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us God's standard when it comes to sexual purity and our commitment to marriage. He challenges us as it relates to integrity in the words we speak and the promises we make. I mean, he says, make it this simple. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Whatever is added to that is sin. Jesus radically changes the script for that Jewish audience who were living under the Roman thumb of their occupation. Jesus teaches us how we should respond to the opportunity for revenge and hostility and cruelty from our enemies. Jesus says, here's what I want you to do. Reset. Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Chapter 6, he gives us direction about caring for and loving the poor. Chapter 6, he gives us direction about how we should approach prayer and fasting. This then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. That's where he unpacks what we call the Lord's Prayer. Jesus gives us insight under what our attitude should be as they relate to money, possessions, our tendency to be overwhelmed by worry. Chapter 7, Jesus gives us straightforward instruction about our inclination to judge and criticize other people. He says it really, really bluntly. Do not judge or you too will be judged. He gives us an invitation to trust God with anything and everything. He says in Chapter 7, verse 7, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you'll find knock in the door will be open. He gives us warnings in Chapter 7 about the difficulties of following Jesus, about the nature of true and false prophets and the eventual reality check that every person who says one thing with their mouth but does another thing with their life will eventually face when they stand before God and judgment. He gives us motivation regarding our ultimate priorities in life. He says you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then all this gets added to you. And boy, he closes with a barn burner. He gives us direction on building our life on the solid foundation of his work. Hey, I've got a challenge for you. If you don't have a Bible reading plan, I don't want to interrupt your plan. If you've got one, stick with that. I know I'm going to stick with mine because I'm like 240 days in or something and I'm such a person with streaks that I'm not going to mess up the streak. But if you don't have a plan or you can add this to your plan without it being wait or worry because that's not of God. Read through the Sermon on the Mount the next seven days. Maybe read it daily, Matthew 5-7. And as you do, just ask God, Holy Spirit, what do you want to say to me? And here's the question that I want you to ask yourself regularly. As you read through that sermon or as you attend this series, and it's the question that nailed me when I wrote it in preparation for this lesson tonight. Am I living in the big kingdom of God or the little kingdom of me? Am I living in the big kingdom of God or the little kingdom of me? 10, 12 years ago, I read a book on marriage by Paul Tripp. And it's in my top five books on marriage I've ever read. And in that book, Tripp makes the statement, I wrote it down all those years ago. I still remember it today. We always live in the service of one of two kingdoms. We live in service of the small personal happiness agenda of the kingdom of self or we live in service of the huge origin to destiny agenda of the kingdom of God. Ask yourself, am I living in the big kingdom of God or the little kingdom of me? It can give God space to answer. And when he answers, ask him, okay, God, what are the course corrections? How do I move out of the kingdom of me into your big kingdom? What are next steps? See, here's what I want to do with the next moments we have together. I want to go to the end of Jesus' sermon on the Mount. It's the barn burner Jesus closes with. Verse 24, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the what. You can say it, the rock, but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash." You know, not every song we learned in children's church growing up was a great song or a memorable song. They were fun. If you're happy and you know it, and stomp your feet, do all three. Yeah, how about this one? "The wise man built his house upon the wise man built his house upon the rock and the rains came tumbling down, the rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the rock stood." What firm? That little children song, I tell you, a lot of those songs I learned back then, I'm amazed that they still come back now because sometimes I don't remember my middle name, but I can remember those songs. It's amazing. Now, I think that song sort of cheapens. The depth of what Jesus is saying, the decision he's actually calling us to make in Matthew 7, Jesus was basically letting us know that whenever there's a conflict between culture and Christ, between political correctness and God's word, between religious tradition and the way of Jesus, that culture, political correctness, conventional wisdom, man-made tradition, my personal preferences, my opinions, whatever feels right at the moment, all of that has to submit and surrender to the truth of God's word and I must choose to build my house on rock. Let me just say to you, one of the reasons America is at a tipping point right now, and we really are. We're at, perhaps, in my lifetime, which is 40 years, in my lifetime, it's the most significant tipping point we may have lived through. The decisions that we are making will affect generations. There will be generations should we make the wrong decisions that rise up and ask, why didn't we pursue the heart of God? And why didn't we pursue their protection? And I'm specifically speaking about life, the sanctity of life, and I'm speaking specifically about the mutilation of minors. These are two issues that I feel so passionate about speaking out on. It doesn't matter to me how popular a politician. It doesn't matter to me how likable a candidate. It doesn't matter how impressive their auditory. When any individual aligns themselves against the word of God, I'm going with the word of God and I'm not going with that particular personality. I'm leaving them in the dust. They'll not define what I choose to believe or do. And furthermore, not only that, should laws, and I believe we're on the precipice right now, there are some states where laws have already been passed. There are some states where individuals just are praying outside of an abortion clinic have been sentenced to multiple years in prison, just for silently praying outside of a clinic. And I want to say those kinds of people are our champions. I don't mean those who incite violence and riots and uproar and all of that, blah. But I mean those who humbly yet courageously stand for truth like Daniel and his three Hebrew friends in Daniel chapter 1, Daniel chapter 3, Daniel chapter 6. They looked at Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 6 and they said, "O king, O king, be it known to you." We will not bow to your image. We will not serve your idol. The God that we serve is able to deliver us. But even if he doesn't deliver us, we'll go down in flames before we bow to your image because our heart is set on God. And that's where the church has to come in these days, people who are defined by the Word of God. And let me just say, that doesn't always make us comfortable. Some of us change our beliefs because of connections, because it makes us so uncomfortable when it comes to family connections. Here's what I firmly believe with all of my heart. It is possible to radically, totally, completely, unconditionally love everyone in your world, yet also humbly. Underline that word, humbly, gently, courageously speak truth. In fact, I will say to you, it is not kindness to withhold truth if eternity in heaven or in hell are really a possibility. In fact, it is cruelty to withhold truth. I'm just going to have to clap my hands from my own preaching. That's a good word. So let's talk four observations in applications. Okay, number one, everybody builds their life on something. Everybody builds their life on something. Why is people build on a solid foundation? They build their life on God's Word. And it's interesting to me, verse 24, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mind and puts them into practice." Here's why that's interesting. It's an indication that wisdom comes from both hearing and doing. Some of us have mastered listening to 50 podcasts a week. We listen to Pastor Ronda. We listen to Perry Stone. We listen to Dr. Brian Cutshaw. We listen to reruns of Dr. T. Lowery. We listen to the greatest preachers on the planet. We've only got one problem. We've yet to put one thing into practice that any of those teachers have told us. Wisdom comes from hearing and doing. They hear these words of mind and they put them into practice. Why is people build on the solid foundation? Here's the second bullet. Foolish people build on sand. They build on the sand of their own opinions, attitudes, and preferences. One of my passions, it's one of the reasons I work with ISO. I'm passionate about equipping believers with this idea. I'm passionate about it. Every one of you are capable of reading God's word, meditating on God's word, memorizing God's word, and studying God's word for yourself. Has God placed pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles in the church? Absolutely. There is no question that your pastor has a place and your pastors have a place in the body. But what are those pastors to do to equip the saints for the work of the ministry? I don't know if you know this, but 500 years ago we came through something called the Great Reformation, which taught us this principle, the priesthood, of all believers. In other words, we don't have to go through another person to get to God. We as individuals have been bought by the blood. We as individuals have been filled with the Spirit. And we as individuals can open a Bible, and it's the only book on this planet that you open. And when you open it, the author of the book shows up and says, "Let me walk through it together with you." So while I love the Bible app, I use it every day. I really think they've made significant improvements, particularly over the last two years. Let me just say, when you go to the Bible app, they'll give you five million Bible plans to choose from. And most of them feature one verse out of the Bible in three pages of what somebody else said about that verse. I'm not against what that person said about that verse. I love commentaries. I read them preparing this. It's obvious I love to read. Here's what I'm a believer of. Before I listen to what somebody else tells me that verse says, "I want Holy Spirit to join me right in that room, and shine light on that text, and say, 'Here, son, is how it applies to you. Here's how you to work that out.'" And if you'll approach the Bible like that, you're going to be amazed at how God begins to speak to you. And by the way, we'll talk about this next week and the week after. Get the habit of journaling what the Spirit says, because He's talking. And when you create a journal of what He has said, you know, Paul writing to his son in the faith Timothy. He says, "Timothy, I don't want you to forget those prophecies that were spoken over you. For by them, you can wage warfare against the evil one." What's Paul challenging Timothy to do? He's saying, "Right those things down. When we were laying hands on you and somebody in the group had a word for you, don't just let it go one ear out the other." You write that word down, and what do you do? You take it out sometimes. Oh, that's it. August, August, what is today? August 21. What is today? I've really forgotten. 21st. I really had forgotten. August 21. God gave me August 21. How do you like that? I just seen my syllables. I'm a really talented man. August 21 at Church of the Harvest, God gave me this promise. I told you this last week, but I've got to tell you again, my wife's right there on the front. And boy, she went through this really dry season in terms of real estate, dry in terms of nothing was closing. She was working, working her self-crazy, but nothing was closing. You know, a deal would fall apart. You name it. So she's praying about this. We pray over our lives every day, morning and night. We pray. And she was praying, and the Lord gave her a word. So here's the power of writing it down. God said, "Oh, I'm going to show up in your business. And what I'm going to do, I'm going to do quickly." Now, I'm not going to go into everything, but right now my wife has more homes under contract heading to close than she's ever had in her whole career as a real estate agent. And I mean, it happened just like this. It just was like, boom, they're coming out of the woodwork. Some crazy stories you wouldn't even believe. I mean, she's had people actually show up at a place, a business to buy a house, but they had talked to her on the phone, but they were ready to buy the house then. Like, we're talking about buyers who were ready to buy right that mount. And the place of business called her up and said, "Hey, there's this couple here. They want to buy a home," but they said they had taught to you. So we wanted to call you. Do you want to come over here and be there real trauma steal? She's like, "Well, praise the Lord. I'll be there in an hour." Write it down. Write it down. Act on what God says. Oh, next week and the week after are going to be really, really practical lessons for us, because I want to give you some of my methodology for studying God's Word. I don't often get to teach this kind of stuff, because there's not, you know, if I go somewhere to guest speak on a Sunday morning, they don't want me to break down a methodology, but I'm going to give you an age-old form that was introduced by a group of people that were serious about discipleship about 60 years ago called the navigators. They're still in existence today, but I want to give you that method of study and what I do with that on a daily basis. It's transformed my life. Two, two. The goal of hearing God's Word isn't more information. It's revelation that leads to application for the purpose of transformation. I want to say that again. This is the big idea. You'll see it show up like two or more times in the rest of the notes. The goal of hearing God's Word isn't more information. It's revelation that leads to application for the purpose of transformation. If you've got it filled in, how about us saying that out loud? You ready? The goal of hearing God's Word isn't more information. It's revelation that leads to application for the purpose of transformation. Here's the message translation of Matthew 7, 24 through 27. This is so rich. These words, I've already read them out of the NIV. These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life. Homeowner improvements to your standard of living. Read the next sentence out loud. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you're like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down the river flooded, a tornado hit, but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to rock. Jesus is calling. People have just listened to the greatest sermon ever told. And Jesus is basically saying, all right, I'm calling it right here. Are you going to live what I just talked about or let it go in one ear and out the other? I'm calling you to make a decision. Oh, Jesus really challenged me when I came across this a few years ago, because I would often get up and teach and I would sit down without calling the people to decision. And I want to tell you, I heard the Holy Spirit speak me so quickly and clearly. And I put at the top of every fact in this outline, at the top of every outline, and at the bottom, there's this little thing where I basically say, teach for a decision. Teach for a decision. And that's what Jesus calls them to do, make a decision. Let me give you some guidance from Jesus on hearing God's word. Jesus said in Mark 424, pay close attention to what you hear. Here's the fill in the blank, what you hear relates to the content you take in. Pay close attention to what you hear. Luke 8, 18, Jesus said, pay close attention to how you hear. How you hear relates to your attitude. Some of us are living with constant anxiety in our life and that anxiety is self-induced because of what we're hearing and how we're hearing. What we're hearing is a doom scroll on social media or a 24/7 news cycle that never stops. And that's our constant feed. We turn that on before we open God's word. Listen, I don't want to open my phone. I don't want to look at a social media feed. I don't even want to look at a text in the morning from anyone before I open the Bible and hear what the Father says. I want the Father determining the agenda of my day, not somebody out there. So, parable of the sower. Let me give you these fill in the blanks and I know I'm rushing quickly but I didn't make a commitment that I would do better on time tonight. So, well, I made that commitment to myself, Pastor Rhonda, not you guys. I just, I felt bad for you because you were so good last week in just being kind to me and listening. Parable of the sower. Just right on the heels of Jesus saying, be careful how you hear. He gives the parable of the sower in Luke 8. He describes four kinds of soil indicating that we can approach the Word of God with one of four attitudes. See, in the parable of the sower, let me tell you, there are some unchangeable things. The sower, the sower is who? God, Jesus. They're always forever good. The seed is what? The Word of God. There's not good Word and bad Word. All of the Word is good. I mean even the begats are good. The only thing that's different is the soil. So, let's look at, let's look at the soil. First of all, there's a crushed or robbed soul. This is demonstrated, the seed that fell on the wayside or footpath only to be trampled, stepped on and eaten by birds. Let me just say, this is why the church needs to be so patient with people who have trouble hearing. We don't know their story. There are some people that before they got to the church, they didn't have the hell beat out of them. They had the heaven beat out of them. They have been so beaten down and bruised and trampled that it's going to take a while for that hard soil to be broken up so that the seed of God's Word can penetrate. Boy, thank you, Jesus. Two, a shallow or superficial soul. This is demonstrated by the seed that fell on rocky ground. It sprang up quickly. In other words, the people responded enthusiastically, but because the soil was rocky and shallow, the seed couldn't develop roots. Colossians 2, 6, 7 is a memory verse for Janet and I this year. It says, "Therefore, since you've received Christ, continue to walk in him, let your roots grow down into him. Let your life be built upon him. Then your faith will grow strong, and the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness." We've got to make sure that the soil of our heart is the kind of soil where the roots can grow deep. Three, a crowded or preoccupied soul. This is demonstrated by the seed that fell among the thorns or weeds and eventually got choked or crowded out by all kinds of distractions like the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. It's happening today. And four, there is a fruitful and flourishing soul. This is demonstrated by the seed that fell on good ground. I don't know about you, but I want to be good ground. Let me just say, I didn't have the privilege of knowing deeply. Pastor Hank, he and I performed the wedding of my brother together. Kelly, we exchanged pleasantries then, talked a bit then. So I didn't get to hear your pastor run to preach until she invited me here, and I thought, man, I'm going there to preach. I need to hear pastor run to preach, and I listened, and then I showed up and listened, and then I've listened again and again. I will never use words to patronize because they lose their impact if you do that. In other words, if you give out compliments, you don't mean that they just become insincere and everybody knows that they're insincere. That's why I wanted to be here and hear. I wanted to experience for myself. I wanted to listen to the truth that gets taught. You have an exceptionally gifted pastor exception, not a little bit gifted, exceptionally gifted. Here's what I love about her teaching, and this would get me if it wasn't this way. I'm big into exegesis. I may not show that, but I tear apart a scripture. I study it. I read everything I can on it. I look at the original meaning of the words. I want to know the historical context. I want to do all that work. Your pastor is skilled at that. She does the exegesis right. She's really diligent with getting that right, but here's the really cool thing about it. God has given her a creative gift that is just as strong so that she can do really sturdy, stout exegesis and then combine it with this really incredible creativity so that the word of God comes forth in power just like somebody I read about in some pages who would stand up and say, the kingdom of God is like a seed. Oh, the kingdom of God is like a tree. The kingdom of God is like a bird that builds it. That's the kind of teaching that takes place here, week in and week out. Amen. So let me give you a few thoughts about how to engage in Bible teaching like you're going to get this Sunday morning. This is going to be radical for some of you. Arrive early because you expect God to show up and speak. Some of you, it would be a miracle to battle all miracles if you got here early. But seriously, see how it changes your experience. Arrive early because you're expecting God to show up. You can't wait. I can't wait to get there. Plus you get to connect with other people. So when you get here after you get here your bill, I can't wait. Can you? I can't wait. Can you? I can't wait. Can you? Second bullet, prepare your heart by engaging in worship. Here's what I mean. Don't wait to worship until you get here to worship. Worship. There are sometimes I have worshiped myself tired before I actually got to church on a Sunday morning. I'm serious. I just worshiped myself tired because when I showed up, I wanted to be ready to meet with God. He said wherever two or three are gathered, I'll be there. I wanted to make certain this heart was prepared to meet with him. Pray for the person sharing the message. If it's Pastor Rhonda, Pastor Todd, Pastor Tim, Pastor Barbara, whomever it is, pray for whomever it is sharing. Be engaged physically. Hey, let me just tell you, while I want to be faithful to God regardless of how an audience responds, I want to tell you, when an audience is giving me energy, when they're like, "Oh my God, what did you bring today to share?" There are some audiences I think I could stand up and say Chick-fil-A and they'd fall out in the spirit. I'm serious. And there are others, I think I could quote the whole New Testament. They would stand there, looking. Be engaged physically, smile, laugh, nod, clap, say him in. Take notes. I love to see it when people are jotting down a revelation God gives them. I love it. John said this, "I have no greater joy than that my children walk in the truth." Always ask Holy Spirit, "What are you saying to me?" And then put it into practice. Okay, let me wrap it up now. Three storms coming. The only predictable thing about a storm is that they're inevitable. The rains came down. Storms are inevitable. The streams rose. Some storms are relentless. The water keeps rising and rising. The winds blew. Some storms even compound. Be ready for the storm. Four, let me wrap it up right here. The foundation you build on isn't just an option. It will determine the outcome of your life. I forgot an important fill in the blank before that fourth point. Let me give you that fill in because I wanted you to have it. It says an important takeaway. Do you see that blank that I gave you there? An important takeaway, when a storm strikes the decisions you made before the storm will determine what happens in your life during the storm. When a storm strikes, the decision you made before the storm will determine what happens in your life during the storm. Here's number four. The foundation you build on isn't just an option. It will ultimately determine the outcome of your life. It goes back to that big idea that I've already said before so you can just copy an earlier version of that. Here's what I want to do. I want to pray through those questions right at the bottom of your paper. Do you see them? I want us just to pray. So if you can put yourself in a posture of prayer and I love to ask Holy Spirit this question. Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me? If you feel comfortable holding your palms up that the Lord, that's sort of a position indicating I'm ready to receive, just pray that out loud and just sort of whisper it. Turn it into your own prayer. Just say, "Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?" If you need to ask Him that a few times just to help send to your mind, sometimes that's helpful for me just to ask a few times. Holy Spirit, what are you saying? Because we're in a teaching time. I just want to look across this audience. I want to ask, remember I told you how committed I am to helping people discover that they can hear from the Lord themselves. Did anybody hear something when you asked the Holy Spirit, what are you saying? Did anybody, if any of you hear something from the Lord and you wouldn't mind just sharing it in like a 30-second to one minute clip with people, anybody here hear something that you'd be courageous enough to share? Please up your hand. I'll wait back on that. Could you stand up and share that? Yeah. Wow. Get back on track. I like that last part. What is your name? Christian, get back on track with me. I want you to feel the weight of that promise. He's saying you're not doing it alone, Christian. You're doing it with me. What a good word, isn't that a good word? Somebody else hear something from the Lord that you would share. You just prayed that prayer and the Lord spoke. You don't have to make it up, but if you heard something, I'd love to hear it right there. What is your name? Lindsay? I love you. And who was saying that? Lindsay, I just want you to lean into that for a minute and realize the power of that. That the God who created the universe cared enough to show up in a room on Paul Health Parkway to say to Lindsay, I love you. Man, oh, that's so good. Is there anybody else? One more. These two were so good. I just, we could go home with those, couldn't we? Okay, let me give you two more questions. Do you see them in your notes? I'm not going to stop and ask there, but these are two questions. Janet taught me these two questions. She learned these in a Bible study and brought them home to me and said, hey, we need to start praying these questions. Holy Spirit, what do you want me to know? What do you want me to know? And what do you want me to do? And by the way, let me just say how practical this kind of stuff is. Part of the way all those contracts came is because she was asking that question in Holy Spirit. What do you want me to know? And the Lord led her. See, the Lord leads us practically too. He'll say very, very spiritual and meaningful and deep and profound things. I love you. Get back on track with me. And then he'll give you strategies even for being a business person or leading your business or being a parent or a spouse. It isn't Holy Spirit good. All right. Father, I want to thank you for our time together tonight. And I pray that you would take this word. I feel so strongly about it. Apply it to us. So God apply it to us. And Father, let us build our lives on the truth of Jesus teaching in his word. Let us be people who are framed in form of the word in Jesus name, amen. Your pastor is going to come next week. We get into those hands-on Bible methods of really getting you into the word of God. So be back next week.