The Final Harvest Matthew 13:1-9

Eureka Baptist Church iconEureka Baptist Church

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Every year fall comes and we celebrate the harvest season
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We are celebrating The area that we live in and when we celebrate the area that we live in we're really celebrating the one who created the area
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Where we live Throughout the world there are numerous different cultures
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Numerous different places where people put down their roots and embrace the place where they live
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Acts 17 verses 25 and 26 says that he made from one man Every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth
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Have you determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place? That they should see
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God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him One of the many ways that we can honor
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God is by celebrating the place we call home We live in the north country 60 miles northeast of the
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Twin Cities One of the largest metropolitan areas in the Midwest We live in Wisconsin an area that became a state in 1848 and became the 30th state of the
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Union We live in northwestern Wisconsin right next to the St.
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Croix River, which flows into the Mississippi River, which is the most well -known River in America Finally we live in an area known as Eureka The English word means
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I found it The Danish immigrants who came here first 150 years ago
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We're looking for a good place to live and what they said is we found it and we would agree with that.
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I Love describing to people this area because it is a beautiful place It's a special place and when
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I tell people outside of our areas that we have a little bit of everything We have hills forests lakes ponds creeks rivers and farmland
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We have lots of wildlife deer coyotes bears and a large population of wood and deer ticks
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Not everything is so heavenly, right? That's what reminds us of the fall right every time we see ticks
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We have geese swans and eagles Yes geese
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And we live in an area that's both a big hunting and fishing hotbed right with I know we have a couple guys
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Sean and Maya and John a different hunting trips, right but but they were on a hunting trip and But you don't have to go far right?
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It's They can just go on their property because this is such a hotbed for hunting While we live our lives here in this area that we love and enjoy
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God's beautiful creation We notice the big fields around us where the farmers do their work
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Now, I don't know much about farming and very little about farming. So I'm not going to pretend to But what
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I do know is that once the ground softens after the cold leaves This is when farmers plant their seeds in the field
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What farmers are doing is using what God has made seeds to produce food
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When seeds get enough water and Sun they grow and once the fall comes
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This is when the harvest comes the time when healthy crops reach their full growth and are ready to be plucked
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The only way there will be a harvest of healthy crops is if the seeds are planted properly
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It's a combination of a farmer doing his part and God doing his Now it's hard to find a farmer who is an atheist very hard Farmers rely on God to make things grow
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But the farmer must do his part in planting the seeds at the right time and in the right place for the seeds to have any chance
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Now this morning as we find ourselves in the harvest season and we take notice of it We are given the opportunity to apply what we see every year in this area that we live in to important spiritual truths
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Jesus lived in an agricultural world much more than our world that we live in and he often used agricultural images to convey spiritual truths
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During his ministry. He described each person as one who has the potential to grow and reach
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Harvest the final harvest as a healthy crop But the Bible also warns of the potential not to arrive at the harvest in a good place
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So on this harvest service morning We are going to revisit the parable of the sower in Matthew chapter 13 verses 1 through 9
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So at this time I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me There and if you see one of those red Bibles, it's on page 972
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And the sermon is titled the final harvest and I'm gonna begin by reading these verses
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That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea and great crowds gathered about him
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So that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd stood on the beach and he told them many things in parables saying a sower went out to sow and As he sowed some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them other seeds fell on rocky ground
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Where they did not have much soil and immediately if they sprang up since they had no depth of soil
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But when the Sun rose they were scorched and since they had no roots they withered away other seeds
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Fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain some a hundredfold some 60 some 30
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He who has ears to hear let him hear Here's our big idea.
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And this is the sad reality of life Few make it safely to the final harvest
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Few make it safely to the final harvest and we'll see four reasons why in this text and the first reason why is
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This Satan prevents penetration on the hard hearts Let's begin by looking at the first response when the seed the seed is the
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Word of God when the seed hits this first soil in verse in verse 4
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He says here that some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them so this
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Field that Jesus is describing Has a path next to the field
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The soil next to the path would have been hard since this is where the people walked over it And when you walk over dirt a lot or mudded a lot it turns into a firm hard soil
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This hardness prevents the seed from taking root So the seed stays visible on the ground near the path
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And as the seed remains visible the birds see it as easy food The seed that was planted to produce a crop is instead snatched away
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By those pesky birds this seed that landed on hard soil was unsuccessful
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It did not accomplish what the farmer had planned for this seed to do which was to take root and to grow
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Now What is helpful about this parable is that Jesus tells tells exactly what each seed and each soil?
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Represents this is what he says in verses 18 and 19 about this seed in this soil When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it the evil one
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Comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart This is what was sown along the path
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What we learn in these verses is that the seed represents the Word of God and the soil represents the human heart
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Baby what is the human heart? Let me let me explain that real quickly here. The heart is our desires
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The heart determines what one's life will look like because that's the deepest part of who we are.
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What do you want? You do what you do because you want what you want.
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That's the quote that I use a lot Jesus explains that the rocky
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Hard soil next to the path represents the rocky hard heart of the one who hears the
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Word of God The Word of God that Jesus mentioned in verse 19 is the Word of the kingdom
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Now the Word of the kingdom we've already seen this in Matthew in Matthew 3 to John the
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Baptist preached the Word of the kingdom When he said to the Jewish people repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
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The Word of the kingdom is the gospel the good news of Jesus Christ that he's the Messiah that he's the
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God man That he's gonna die on the cross That he was raised from the dead And John what
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John is John is a precursor to Jesus and he's telling everybody you repent the only way you're gonna enter this kingdom in the future is if you repent as This message hits the hard heart
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Satan has no problem snatching it away Satan represents the birds in this parable as the word hits the heart it stops and before the word can make any penetration
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Satan snatches it away When some people hear the message of the cross they want nothing to do with it
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They do not see themselves as sinners in need of a Savior They do not see Jesus as the most glorious being in the universe
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They do not see how glorious it will be to dwell with God in the age to come Their minds are focused on the things of this life
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They are selfish. They are prideful and the gospel is of no interest
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When they hear the gospel their eyes glaze over their hearts Harden because they don't want it now who might this first seed and first soil describe
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It can be a lot of different people It can be the rabid atheist. Yes It can be the one who wears sin on his or her sleeves like the drunkard or Even the professing
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Christian who is outwardly righteous Who thinks they are a good person feels no sorrow for their sin and is a
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Christian in name only Their trust is not in Christ, but in their own self -righteousness
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So it can be lots of different people but all these people have one thing in common their heart is Incredibly hard and when the
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Word of God hits that heart it does not penetrate You do not want to be the first seed in the first soil
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Few make it safely to the final harvest and the first reason why is that Satan prevents penetration on the hard heart?
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The second reason why if you make it to the final heart at harvest safely is that the word is only received superficially
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And we see this in verses 5 and 6 with the second seed in the second soil Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil and immediately they sprang up Since they had no depth of soil
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And what we just saw is that the first seed fell on hard soil and Satan had no problem snatching that seed away
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Now in these verses what Jesus says is that the second seed lands on soil that appears to be soft
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This appears to be good soil But there's a problem Right under the soft soil there is hard ground
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Which makes it hard for this seed to take root deep into the ground and The crop even appears to grow faster than the others as it springs up immediately
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But with this seed and soil there is once again the problem here right it doesn't take root
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So who does Jesus describe here? Who does he describe in these verses? Verse 20 and 21 as what was sown on rocky ground
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This is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy
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Yet he has no root in himself But endures for a while and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word
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Immediately he falls away Now this describes a person where many may be fooled by him or her you know what?
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We can fool people right because we don't know People's hearts we know a little bit, but we don't know the depths of someone's heart like God does
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It's interesting when Jesus Preached in John chapter 2 it says that some people followed him, but then the text says
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But Jesus did not give himself to them because he knew that they had not given himself to him
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They he knew that they did not truly believe in him, so this is superficiality
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The person maybe prayed the sinner's prayer maybe walked an aisle maybe signed a card it was it was baptized on the spot
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Now some people who do that are truly saved right but others not so much What we must understand is my old pastor used to say not everyone who professes faith in Christ possesses faith in Christ The test of time proves the authenticity of one's faith
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The Apostle John writes this in 1st John 2 19 they went out from us, but they were not of us
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For if they had been of us they would have continued with us, but they went out That it might become plain that they all are not of us
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Some people start off good, and then veer off into complete mediocrity Where there's no life in Christ no power of the
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Spirit working Showing no fruit that a true conversion took place, but they still hold to the
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Christian name People ask them are you a Christian yes? What about your life?
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There's others who reach a point where they don't even do that They don't even call themselves
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Christians anymore, but why do these people leave the faith?
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Jesus tells us why I love all the Bible people will give all kinds of reasons Why they leave the faith the
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Bible tells us the real reason why people leave the faith In verse 22.
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This is what Jesus says it as for it was sewn Sorry verse 21 when tribulation or Persecution arises on account of the word
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Immediately He falls away this does not mean
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That the difficulties of life got to the person because we all have difficulties in life.
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It's specifically referring referring to the difficulties Related to the life of faith the difficulties related to being a
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Christian difficulties that are unique to Christians that other Unbelievers do not experience because they're not
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Christians in many places. It's not fashionable to be a
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Christian The person who once appeared to be a Christian will not continue in places where it's not fashionable
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You see this with students who grew up in the church and go off to a secular college They go to a secular school where it's not popular to be a
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Christian and the Christian faith They once identified with they no longer do people want to fit in But if you truly love
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Christ following him is much more important than fitting in with the in crowd In America right now, it's becoming less and less popular to be a
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Christian and if you are a Bible -believing Christian, okay, and they'll call you a fundamentalist
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Christian If you are that oh boy, look out People are abandoning the faith left and right
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There's been a high volume of D conversion stories. You can find them on YouTube Right your testimonies people come to faith the
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Christ. You also hear testimonies of people leaving Christ When a country turns hard against biblical
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Christianity, this is a great revealer of people Right a hundred years ago
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It was everybody was a Christian right and it was it was fashionable to be a Christian not so in 2021
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When Christianity is popular people will ride the bandwagon, right? It's like a sports team that's doing well
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Where did all these fans come from? But true
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Christians walk with Christ even when it's hard, but but those who are flaky will not people
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Show their true allegiance when there is hostility towards Christianity there They abandon because they live in a country that lies about Christians right name call.
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No one wants to be called names These lies are the biblical
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Christianity is anti love They are the mean ones in the world, right? The bad guy is always the conservative
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Christian But everything is the opposite truly Christians are the ones that love but they are not painted that way by society
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Sadly many people fall for these lies They begin to think that Christians are the problem and you can see how persecution comes, right?
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Satan puts these lies in people's minds people believe them and people actually think
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The most valuable people in society Christians are the most valuable valuable people in society because they're following God, right?
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But they start thinking that the most valuable people in society the most moral people in society
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The best neighbors that you could ever have are actually the problem.
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That's how persecution comes And then people are put to death why because they're
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Christians that's the crime And you won't hear that in the public paper, right it'll be something else but that is the real reason and When superficial
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Christians see these insults hurled at biblical Christians. They don't want to be identified with these
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These bigots right these mean people So, what do they do? Because of their desire to be approved by secular society.
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They no longer follow Christ instead of being fools with Christ they are they desire to be applauded and Loved by the world, but how fleeting that is the early joy that appeared to be a conversion to Christ was an illusion and The test of time shows it
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Overtime the cost was just too great and The love of the world is too strong And it is the latter that wins out in this person's heart
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You don't want to be the second seed in the second soil Few make it safely to the final harvest and the second reason why is that the word?
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For some is only received as superficially The third reason why if you make it to safely to the final harvest is that the word is lost
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Through the distractions of life Everybody on planet
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Earth is being described here. Okay. Now we're seeing the third group verse 7 Jesus says other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them
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What we read is that the farmer places the seeds down and they gather among thorns You see these in your garden for those who garden
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These unwelcome guests and you want them gone so that your plants and your crops will grow
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This like the first two seeds in the first two soils describes it someone a group here and Jesus tells us
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Who is described in verse 22 as for the one who is sown among thorns? this is the one who hears the word but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves on Fruitful.
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Okay. Now this one this person here is similar to the one we just saw The soil with hard ground under it describes the one who appears to be a believer
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But over time is shown to not be the third soil also feels appears to be a believer, but there are too many distractions in life
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To be fully committed to Christ and the person shows where his or her true allegiances
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Now this plant or crop That is choked by the distractions of life may be best described as American Christianity Over the last 50 years since World War two
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America has been the wealthiest country in the history of the world We live like kings and queens and we don't even realize it if you're a middle -class
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American think of the luxuries that you live with The King Solomon would be jealous of think about that We read about King Solomon that must have been a great experience having all this power and all this wealth and all these treasures
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We have more than him and we're middle -class Americans a lot of us Think about that now
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Let me be very careful having money in possessions is not a bad thing. It's not sinful to have money in possessions
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It's God's blessing. In fact, it's his gifts and we should enjoy those gifts and we we should be good stewards of those gifts
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But there's also a danger There's a temptation to be strapped distracted away from God And this should hit home for us because we see this in America people buy nice cars
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Nice boats nice home Nice homes nice lots of property lots of entertainment
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Right. I hadn't you have a nice boat that still works, but you know what? I'm gonna get a nicer one just because I can Most of the world doesn't live that way
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Again, money is not evil possessions are not evil. It is the love of these things.
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That is evil It is loving these things more than God that is evil
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The Apostle Paul warns us of the dangers of wealth in 1st Timothy chapter 6 verses 9 and 10
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Those who desire to be rich fallen into temptation into a snare into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction
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For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs
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We are not to hold our money and our stuff into high a place it's interesting that Jesus he talks to the rich young ruler and The rich young ruler asked him.
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How might I inherit eternal life? And we think well, he's gonna give him the
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Romans road, right? Which he's gonna share the gospel with him. You know, he tells him sell all that you have and Then you will have eternal life
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Why did he say that? because that was his idol he needed to give that up and Follow him to truly belong to him
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Because that was his God. He needed to leave his God to follow Jesus and what the text says is that he was sad
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He went away sad because he was in love with his money
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The highest place for our desires belongs to God alone
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind Matthew 22 37
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To love money or possessions more than him is dangerous to have money in possessions is A huge problem among unbelievers, of course who are enslaved by those things
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But this is also a trap that people in the Christian community can fall into The one who lives for this world is not truly following Christ Now Christians can struggle with worldliness, right?
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We struggle with all kinds of sins But the Chris the person who bears the name of Christ and yet is in love with the world in Love with the things of this life the distractions of this life.
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The treasures of life is not a true Christian Because their money and their stuff and their distractions it could be hobbies
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This is where their true allegiance is You talk to people sometimes like why don't you come to Sunday worship?
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There's always something right? There's always something
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Why don't you read your Bible? There's always something.
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Why don't you pray? There's always something Why don't you go help that person who you who you know, you should be helping there's always something
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Right. That's the Christian life is doing those things right living those things. Why don't you give up this idol because There's an excuse.
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Well, I need to buy this. I need to do this. I need to do that It's a life full of excuses and God is left out
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Think of the one who spends their time focused on the affairs of life and enjoying entertainment, right?
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Or enjoying their stuff enjoying their hobbies But only does the
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Christian thing when it's convenient Their so -called faith is on the backburner while their focus is on the things of this world the professing
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Christian who is seduced by the cares and riches of this world does not bear any fruit as Jesus says at the end of verse 22
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He doesn't bear fruit for this reason. The Spirit of God is not in him or her
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The only way you can bear food is if the Spirit is working in your life this person's eyes are fixed on the world and not on Christ and the lack of fruit shows this and This proves this person is not a believer, but one who appeared to be but was overtaken by the thorns and thistles of life
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Jesus gives us this preview right in the final judgment many will say to me Lord Lord Did we not do all these things in your name?
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Did I not identify as a Christian? Did I not think highly of churches even though I never went
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Did I not have a Bible on my shelf? Did I not give to the church every once in a while? Did I not do this or that?
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The Jesus will say to that person. I never knew you depart from me you worker of lawlessness because God was never their treasure
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Something else was their trip. If you make it safely to the final harvest the third reason why?
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Is that the word is lost through the distractions Here's the fourth and final reason and this is this one is much more positive
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This is who we want to be The fourth reason why if you make it safely to the final harvest is that a minority?
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Receives the word producing godly fruits Okay, let's see
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Jesus say this again in verses 8 and 9 Other seeds fell on the good soil and produced grain some a hundredfold some 60 some 30
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In Palestine the region where Jesus ministered 7 out of 8 seeds planted would produce
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But what Jesus says in the second verse 8 is that these seeds that land and really good soil are going to produce much more than that Not 7 out of 8 times the normal amount but some will produce a hundredfold some 60 some 30
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You can see where this is going as Jesus explains who this for seed and for soil is right? This is the genuine believer.
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Let's read this verse 23 as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and Understands it he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold another 16 another 30
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So genuine believers are described here one thing that all genuine believers have in common is that they will bear fruit
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To bear fruit is to think talk and act like Jesus no
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Christian bears fruit perfectly All of us have a long ways to go
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Perfection will not be achieved until Christ returns or you die as the Christian, but There is growth
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Here's some helpful quotes that I've learned over the years from people It's not the perfection of your life, but the direction of your life.
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It's not that you are sinless, but you do sin less Once you become a
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Christian You have the ability through the Holy Spirit to bear good fruit to the glory of God and for your joy
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Jesus tells us in John 15 to that every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away and every branch that does bear fruit.
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He prunes that it may bear more fruit Interesting and by the way that verse what that tells us is that God uses the trials in our life
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To prune us the Lord disciplines the one he loves right so if you're facing hardships in your life, and you're following Christ Exactly that's what the
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Bible says your life will be like and be encouraged by that as God grows you through that All true believers will bear fruit
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Just as the seed that lands a good soil and receives the proper Sun and rain will grow So does a genuine
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Christian who has the Holy Spirit? And he tells us how we grow
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It's this book that makes us grow the Word of God as it hits our soft heart as believers and Changes us that's how growth happens.
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We receive the word when it's taught or read The fourth seed and first soil is different from the first three seeds and first three soils who don't really receive it
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Remember the first seed in the first soil Doesn't even come close to receiving it and then the other two look like they do but they really don't
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The people who are described as the fourth seed in the fourth soil don't object to the things that the Bible says, right?
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We don't make excuses for what the Bible says it says what it says and we stand on it
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They don't select the things they like and leave out what they don't They don't see the Bible as a book that has little to no relevance
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For their life. I think about all these churches that are Really more milk in that solid food
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And what they say is that we are a relevant church, but what could be more relevant than the
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Word of God? The more Bible you get in a sermon the more relevant the sermon is
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The less Bible the less relevance Okay, we need to understand that the four seed in the first soil fourth soil
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Don't see the Bible as a book that is best kept on a shelf that collects dust They don't see the preaching of the word on Sunday is having little importance for their life
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Right, and I'm not just coming up there just to do a religious service right to satisfy our religious needs for the for the day and the week
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This is war We need the Word of God And we don't just need to read it.
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We need it. It needs to be heralded. It needs to be preached Right. I this is really humbling right?
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I'm standing here on behalf of Jesus Christ Telling you what he said this is important and It's and it's in it's a humbling right because I know how flawed
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I am But someone's got to do it right he calls certain people to do it We are still preachers stand in the place of Christ telling us what the
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Word of God says and We need the Word of God true believers hunger for the
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Word of God true believers love the Word of God And once again believers do sin and when we sin we're not living out the word
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But the Spirit is working in a true believers life and that will show over time The Spirit through the word is what transforms a person as the word hits the soft soil of the believing heart the believer will bear fruit over time
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Do you do you look like one of these crops that grows throughout the summer and Reaches full growth in the fall.
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There should be this growth. That's there. I might wonder
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Why some Christians are more mature than others? What's helpful is that Jesus tells us that that there's going to be different degrees of growth
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He says a hot one will grow a hundredfold another sixty another thirty Not every believer grows as much as the other
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We will be rewarded differently in heaven for how we grow but any growth that a believer experiences shows the genuineness of one's faith
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Believers are not like the first seed in first soil that are disinterested in the Word of God They're not like the second seed in second soil that appears to grow for a little while but withers
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They're not like the third seed in third soil that gets choked out by the distractions of life
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No, the fourth seed and the fourth soil are those who grow steadily over time
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And I grew up in the Christian community. I tell you what More than half those people are not walking with the
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Lord today This is 20 years later And my prayers that everyone in this room 20 years from now if Christ returned
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Terry's which he might be back before then but but if 20 years passes May we still be walking with Christ that will show that you are the fourth seed in the fourth soil and God promises to do this in believers who keeps you as a
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Christian Let me tell you the answer to that. It's not you God does he keeps you in the faith right and you respond
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To his work in your life But he is the primary one that causes you to persevere
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Jesus said that right John 10 27 and 28 my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me
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I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand
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Jesus keeps the believer. Isn't that amazing the way that we have assurance of salvation is seen
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Fruit in our lives and it is encouraging when other believers point out that fruit as well as The fruit is shown
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Be very encouraged that this shows the spirits work in your life as you receive the word and are changed by it
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This shows that you are the fourth seed in the fourth So and we should point out that in each other's lives, you know, I'm seeing this in your life be encouraged
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God is working in your life. I see that you are the fourth seed in the fourth soil We should be encouraging one another in that way
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But if you don't see fruit in your life and you have only been a Christian in name only here's a word for you a
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Number of years ago in seminary. I remember having a conversation with a student who recently became a
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Christian And he wanted to learn about his new Christian faith. So he took classes there And what he told me is that for many years he thought he was a
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Christian until he read the Bible What the
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Bible showed him is that he was not really a Christian but as he read and listened to the word the Spirit changed this man to become the fourth seed in the fourth soil and He was now truly following Christ Now if that is you today
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Listen to the word in a way you never have before and become a true follower of Christ Understand that you are a sinner and Jesus went to the cross and he rose from the dead
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For you in order that you might be brought into a right relationship with God and The Bible promises that the one who trusts in Jesus for salvation will have eternal
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This is the hope that we have Christ and Christ alone Few make it safely to the final harvest as we've seen
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We've seen four reasons. All right. The first one is that Satan prevents Penetration on the hard heart.
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The second is that the word is only received superficially and the third is that the word is lost
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Through the distractions of life and the fourth and last one a minority receives the word producing godly fruit everyone on planet
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Earth is described in one of these four categories whether it's The most powerful people in the world or people in the middle or people at the bottom
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The poorest of the poor the richest of the rich the nobody's the famous Everybody is in one of these four categories and It is our goal, right that We ourselves walk in that force is that forcing that for soil and that we get as many people as we can
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To join that group is the one who does Will be a healthy crop at the final harvest and that person will hear you know, they won't hear
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I never knew you They will say they will hear you. Oh, I know you I know about you Well done good and faithful servant and you will dwell joyfully in his glorious presence forever
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Now next Sunday We'll continue with Matthew, but we'll jump back to where we are right now, which is in chapter 16
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Jesus will have a confrontation with the Jewish leaders once again And this this conversation is is a very interesting because it's with people who are smart
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But Jesus always says the right thing right at the right time to the to the audience He's speaking to and so we're gonna hear what he says next week
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Lord willing, but this time let's bow our heads in prayer father in heaven
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Thank you for saving people Lord you love to save people Every day you are saving people
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Angels rejoice in heaven over one sinner who repents So Lord, thank you for the promises of Scripture.
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Thank you for the hope that we have in Christ and my prayer Lord is that this church would be full of people who are the fourth seed in the fourth soil and That we would be with each other
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Lord encouraging one another over the long haul and that you would