FBC Sunday Evening Service

Alright, good evening. Hope you had a good afternoon. Got some liquid sunshine today, that was a wonderful thing.

It's amazing how quickly a little bit of rain can cause all that brown stuff to show some signs of life again.

Late this afternoon, I was out on the patio out back and after the rain had come through and looked out in the backyard and I said, you know,

I'm going to have to mow the lawn again this week sometime, so, well, thank the

Lord. We get to mow the lawn again this week. Rejoice in all things. Alright, 293, let's start this evening with song

Break Thou the Bread of Life. Focus tonight is on the

Word of God and our response to it. We look at this passage in Mark 4 on the seeds and the soil.

So we'll be singing some songs about that. So let's stand as we sing Break Thou the Bread of Life. Break thou the bread of life dear

Lord to me as thou didst break beside the sea beyond the sacred page

I seek thee Lord my spirit pants for thee

O living Word bless thou the truth dear

Lord to me to me thou didst bless the bread by Galilee then shall all bondage cease all fetters fall and I shall find my peace my all in all thou art the bread of life

O Lord to me thy holy word the truth that saveth me give me to eat and live with thee above teach me to love thy truth for thou art love

O send thy spirit Lord now unto me that he may touch mine eyes and make me see show me the truth concealed within thy word and in thy book revealed

I pray thee Lord pray together

Tom Knapp would you please lead us in prayer thank you

Tom you may be seated so let's look at Mark chapter 4 read our text for tonight and then the message will follow in a little bit

Mark chapter 4 so I want to read the parable and then the interpretation of the parable as the

Lord gives it and he also offers sandwiched in between a little commentary on why he's speaking in parables so Mark 4 beginning in the first verse says and again he

Jesus began to teach by the sea so there's that line in the song we just sang break the bread of life as you broke it by the sea by Galilee says in a great multitude was gathered to him so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea then he taught the many things by parables and said to them in his teaching listen behold a sower went out to sow and it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and devoured it some fell on the stony ground where it did not have much earth and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth but when the sun was up it was scorched and because it had no root it withered away and some seed fell among thorns the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no crop but other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up increased and produced some 30 fold some 60 and some 100 and he said to them he who has ears to hear let him hear but when he was alone those around him with the 12 asked him about the parable and he said to them to you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God but to those who are outside all things come in parables so that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand lest they should turn and their sins be forgiven them and he said to them do you not understand this parable how then will you understand all the parables the sower sows the word and these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown when they hear

Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts these likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who when they hear the word immediately receive it with gladness and they have no root in themselves and so endure only for a time afterward when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake immediately they stumble now these are the ones sown among thorns they are the ones who hear the word and the cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful but these are the ones sown on good ground those who hear the word accept it and bear fruit some 30 fold some 60 and some 100

Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word and then let's pray a hymn number 401 is a hymn open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth you have for me give an opportunity after we sing to share some testimonies this past week or so open my eyes that I may see open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free silently now

I wait for thee ready my God thy will to see open my eyes illumine me spirit divine open my ears that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear and while the scriptures fall on my ear everything false will disappear silently now

I wait for thee ready my God thy will to see open my eyes illumine me spirit divine open my mouth and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere open my heart and let me prepare love with thy children thus to share silently now

I wait for thee ready my God thy will to see open my eyes illumine me spirit divine so by word of testimony sometimes when you learn a new song it makes such an impression on you that you never forget it the first time

I ever heard that song we just sang, I think I was maybe in third grade and the reason

I remember it is because I was at camp, summer camp for the first time in my life this was a camp in Ohio up on Lake Erie called

Camp Patmos, the camps in Ohio different pastors work as like the camp director for the week and my dad was the director there for that week and there were three guys that sang that song as a trio in a chapel service

I guess, I don't remember anything else that happened that week but these three guys and I remembered

I suppose because one of the three was Freddie Greetham and Freddie was from our church and he and two other guys sang this song and I just remembered how boy that's a pretty song thinking that as a third grader and never forgotten every time

I sing that song I think of Freddie Greetham Camp Patmos, third grade, summer camp and stuck with me ever since alright, word of testimony, what do you have to share with us tonight what's going on in the last week or so anybody, yes

Vicky helps in children's church yeah, so we appreciate your helping out in that so that Lynn could skip in and play at the end of the service today, appreciate that much good, somebody else

I thought it was a blessing while we were gone to be able to tune in and watch the services here on live stream that's a real blessing and I know others appreciate that as well,

I know Bob and Jody tune in very faithfully and what a blessing it is to be able to have that opportunity for them and yet last

Sunday and again today they sent a text, did they send a text last week?

maybe a couple weeks ago, anyway they did again today, sent a text in the middle of church says the live stream isn't working on YouTube we're not getting it on YouTube, not on the computer, we have to watch it on the phone so I was able to do some investigating and find out why that was the case, got that fixed so from here on out but the fact is here they are, they're really kind of shut in pretty much,

Bob's caring for her faithfully and yet this opportunity of ministry through that bringing the church to them when they can't get here so grateful for that, somebody else

I have to tell you one of the hardest things one of the hardest things in the ministry is when you go away like we did and then someone, there's an emergency or something happens in the church, like Sue Cherry passed away it's like oh man, we're, how far were we 750 miles away and locked into this situation down there want to come here, want to be here, want to be here for that and having had

Doc Cherry's funeral and of course Al's, Dean's funeral and so forth,

I definitely wanted to be here for that and yet it just wasn't reasonable for that to happen and so it just was a real source of angst or I don't know exactly how to describe it, it's just a very unsettled feeling so I was just so grateful that Jerry Dean was able to do that service and did a wonderful job with it and it was a meaningful service and family was well pleased with that, that just that was a great relief on my part, that it was well handled and honorably so in a way that Sue was of which

Sue was worthy, so I just thank the Lord for that and appreciate it so much, then also appreciated the opportunity to have the graveside service the other day and really kind of bring some closure to all of that, so gonna miss

Sue. Alright, nothing else, let's take our supplement book, number 57 it's another prayer asking the

Lord to speak to us as we come to Him to receive the food of His Holy Word let's stand again as we sing shall we?

Speak O Lord Speak O Lord as we come to you to receive the food of your

Holy Word take your truth planted deep in us shape and fashion us in your likeness that the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith speak

O Lord and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory teach us

Lord full obedience true humility test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity cause our faith to rise cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority words of power that can never fail let their truth prevail over unbelief speak

O Lord and renew our minds help us grasp the heights of your plans for us truths unchanged from the dawn of time through eternity and by grace we'll stand on your promises and by faith we'll walk as you walk with us speak

O Lord till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory

I think you may be seated that song really is a prayer for the seed to produce abundance of fruit when you get right down to it you know what we looked at tonight in Mark chapter 4 a parable is simply a comparison it's a comparison between something very commonplace and something something else that is yet unknown or not clear and so that's what's going on in this parable in Mark chapter 4 and it's very clear it's very simple it's very straightforward the

Lord Jesus draws a comparison between the receptiveness of the soil to the seed and the receptiveness of the human heart to the word of God now many have gone to great effort to try to decide you know which of these four soils which of these four persons represented by the soils is really converted is it just one of them is it two of the four you know how many of them are really saved really converted but I don't think that's the main point

I think the primary point that Christ is making here is that anytime a person is confronted with the word of God there are four possible responses as that word is preached or taught or even read

I mean you know there's some people who read the Bible for example in a purely academic format they're taking a

Bible a class that has the Bible in a public school setting and the teacher is not a believer he's just teaching it as literature well how is a person going to respond to that as the word is even read in that kind of a context so with that in mind whether a person is saved or unsaved he could reflect any one of these four types of soil in a given situation so the question is that we have to confront ourselves with is you know what kind of soil am

I today what kind of soil am I as I am engaging with God's word at this time is my soil is the soil of my heart like the first second third or fourth which is it and so there are four different responses to the word and I want to express them in a very like I'm responding to it so the word is preached and the first response that Jesus brings out is the response where the person says it's not for me it's not for me see this in verse 4 where in the parable itself it says it happened he sowed some seed fell by the wayside the birds of the air came and devoured it and as Jesus explains that or interprets it in verse 15 he says these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown when they hear

Satan comes immediately takes away the word that was sown in their hearts now the reason for this response where a person says it's not for me is not because the seed isn't sown or because there's some kind of a problem with the seed or the sower is negligent or indifferent or inadequate to the task of sowing the seed the problem is not with the sower the problem is not with the seed the problem of course is with the soil and there are three reasons that I want to share for why a person might respond in this way one reason is that the heart is simply unprepared this can happen on a

Sunday morning you've gone through a busy week it's been a stressful week maybe there's been some conflict and some problems some struggles trouble whatever and all of that's on your mind even

Sunday morning when you get up you don't even want to come to church because you've got all this problem stuff you need to and so you go and you're totally out of sync with Sunday morning going to church and having the

Bible open and so even as you sit in the service and you go through the song service and you open the

Bible and yeah you're seeing the words on the page but your mind is on your problems and then when the word is preached you're kind of hearing it but your eyes are sort of glazed over because your mind is working on the problems or whatever else you're thinking about your heart is just totally unprepared another reason that this response might come forth from a person who says it's not for me is that his assumptions are incorrect you can assume that there's no application of this passage for me like this morning in Judges chapter 11 we read about Jephthah read those first 11 verses about Jephthah and you're like well

I don't know what in the world this has to do with me I mean I'm not like Jephthah I'm not like Jephthah's dad

I'm not like Jephthah's mom I don't know what this has to do with me I'm sure there's not going to be anything in here for me today just having that kind of an assumption that there's no application of the scriptures to me personally or assuming that I don't have any needs

I don't need to be challenged by God's word I don't need any encouragement from God's word

I don't need anything well if I don't think I need something then I'm not going to see it when it's presented to me a third reason why this response might come out is that the person's mind is just strictly closed his mind to the word and again it may be that a person's mind is closed because of a specific passage that is being addressed such as the passage be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers and so here's a guy in the congregation he hears that passage and he says oh

I know what's coming he's going to talk about not dating some unsaved girl and he's dating an unsaved girl so he says

I don't want to hear this or he says I don't think that means what he says it means

I've actually heard people use that line on that specific verse applying in that particular way where a guy is dating an unsaved girl and he's challenged by it and he just says well that's your interpretation and he goes on and continues dating the unsaved girl so you know the mind is closed because that individual has warped the meaning of scripture or the mind is closed because the person has simply tuned out the preacher altogether and he just doesn't want to hear it it may be because of the preacher maybe because of the guy's mannerisms or his style or whatever and he just doesn't want to hear anything from that preacher you're not going to get anything out of the word as it's opened responding that way when the mind is closed so what are the results?

what are the results of this kind of response? well one result is that the seed is let me put this in quotation marks it's wasted the seed is wasted it's sown on this hard soil but it doesn't penetrate and it's just quickly forgotten the birds come and eat the seed and snatch it away it's wasted another result of this response is that the person's heart most likely will be harder have you experienced this in your own heart?

at some point in your Christian life where somebody challenged you with God's word about an area in your life that was out of sync with God's word and instead of submitting instead of a spirit of humility and saying yeah you're right you bristle and you say that's just your interpretation or whatever and you shun it and then your heart is harder to that the next time and then a third possible response is that the attitude becomes more bitter and it may become more bitter toward the sower or the seed

I remember years ago when I was a youth pastor this was in South Bend so 30 years ago

I was a young lady in a youth group and we were working on a project together and there were several of us sitting at the table and I can't remember what prompted this but somebody said something and her response was well

I sure hope they don't bring up that whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap again and I've heard that way too many times in chapel this was in a

Christian school and she'd heard enough the exhortation be careful what you sow because what you sow is what you're going to reap

I don't want to hear any more of that and then of course another result is that the fruit is just simply forsaken seed doesn't penetrate the ground there's not going to be any growth there's not going to be any productivity from the seed as it's sown in that particular instance this was

Israel's problem look with me back in the last book of the

Old Testament the book of Malachi and look at how Israel responds to the different ways that the word is presented to them in Malachi chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 the

Lord speaks through the prophet to his people and he says a son honors his father and a servant his master if then

I am the father where is my honor and if I am a master where is my reverence says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise my name yet you say in what way have we despised your name what has happened to that seed as it's been sown on the soil it's been wasted it's been wasted verse 7 you offer defiled food on my altar but you say in what way have we defiled you by saying the table of the

Lord is contemptible in what way have we defiled you here's the confrontation God's word you have defiled me how have we defiled you what way have we defiled you argumentation what's happening to the seed as it's sown on the soil the birds are just snatching it up look at chapter 2 verse 17 chapter 2 verse 17 you have wearied the

Lord with your words yet you say in what way have we wearied him in that you say everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the

Lord and he delights in them or where is the God of justice you have wearied him how have we wearied him and a couple more occasions chapter 3 verse 8 will a man rob

God yet you say yet you have robbed me but you say in what way have we robbed you here's the seed it's sown it's a seed of conviction it's a seed of confrontation it's

God's word confronting God's erring people and what's happening to that seed the birds are snatching it away and verses 13 and 14 your words have been harsh against me says the

Lord yet you say what have we spoken against you you have said it is useless to serve

God what prophet is it that we have kept his ordinance that's what but again in each case here in each occasion as the seed is sown it's falling on hard soil and there is no growth there is no fruit there is no productivity that's one response another response back in our text in Mark 4 verses 5 and 6 and then explained in verses 16 and 17 is a response that says

I can't take it I can't take it so look at verses 5 and 6 again some fell on stony ground where it did not have much earth immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth but when the sun was up it was scorched because it had no root it withered away

Jesus interprets that in verses 16 and 17 where he says these likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who when they hear the word immediately they receive it with gladness and when they have no root and they have no root in themselves and so they endure only for a time afterward when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake immediately they stumble

I can't take it and the problems in a person's life that causes him to respond this way can again be manifold it may be that the individual simply has a lack of character a lack of character where the principle of scripture the seed that needs to be accepted and needs to change the life it is secondary to pragmatism in other words as long as this doesn't cost me too much as long as it doesn't hurt too much and the person is evidencing a lack of courage a lack of backbone a lack of willingness to deal with adversity it may also be because of a lack of depth lack of depth where an individual who hears the word initially receives it enjoys hearing what he hears but he is superficially he is spiritually superficial

I think this is one of the difficulties a lot of young people have in the school years the junior high and high school years where there is such a tug going on inside of them to be accepted by their peers and they look around and they don't see any peers that are spiritually minded they have any interest in serving the

Lord and so it is so easy so easy to just go with the flow go along with the crowd

I can remember occasions in my early high school years when

I'd go to church I always had to go to church and I'd go to church and I'd hear something in youth group that confronted me and convicted me and I felt like I needed to change in that area and I really kind of wanted to but then

I went back to school the next day and I'm a lone duck in this big pond full of ducks and they're all swimming in this direction and I'm not about to go swimming in the opposite direction that's how

I was at that particular time and I think that's a common problem and it doesn't have to just be young people so there can be a spiritual superficiality and then there can also be a superficial zeal where something is heard it's grasped it's appreciated and there's an initial response of zealously pursuing it zealously doing it but the zeal is superficial and soon the fire wears out it burns out and whatever they were pursuing is gone and I think about this like the change of the years a lot of times at the beginning of the year people make new year's goals resolutions or whatever and one of them that's a common thing for Christians who have any spiritual sensitivity at all is that I want to be more faithful in having devotions and reading the bible so I'm going to get on a bible reading plan and it may be something very aggressive

I'm going to read through the bible the whole bible this year I'm going to get on a bible reading read through the whole bible this year and I got a great deal of zeal about doing so and typically the pastor at the end of the year encourages getting into something like that so that you can be scheduled and faithful and so forth but you know long about the second or third week of January you skip you miss a day for whatever reason alarm doesn't go off etc.

and then it's easy to skip the next day and then before you know it you're totally off the schedule and then the zeal wanes lack of depth it can also be a lack of balance where the cost is not counted the lord told us to count the cost of following him and we can hear the word and what we're called upon to do but we don't count the cost and so when it becomes tough the tough get going or the weak leave a lack of balance and then another problem is a lack of nourishment let me show you what

I mean in Luke's account of this parable Luke chapter 8 verse 6 he points out another little detail that Jesus brought out in the parable

Luke 8 and verse 6 so here you know

Luke records that Jesus said some fell on a rock and as soon as it sprang up it withered away because it lacked moisture it lacked moisture which is as we very well know these last couple of months is critical for the nourishment that a plant needs to grow and to be a healthy plant

I don't know what your garden looks like but mine sure suffered as a result of the lack of rain in these last couple of months so a lack of nourishment what are the results well initially again in verse 16 back in our text initially the individual receives the truth accepts the truth but in verse 17 ultimately rejects the truth because it's hard because some difficulty makes it hard to carry out the challenge that the word has brought upon me of course the point is that you know today's decision because I've been challenged by God's word is essentially irrelevant if it's not lived out on Monday right?

third response verse 7 and then explained in verses 18 and 19 some seed fell among the thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no crop and in verses 18 and 19

Jesus explains these are the ones sown among the thorns they are the ones who hear the word and the cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches and the desires of other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful person here hears the word and responds but you know what

I like this too I like this over here too so the root problem as Jesus explains it in verse 19 is that the person hearing the word in this case is out of control he's not controlled by the spirit and the word applied the spirit applied word he's instead controlled by anxiety the cares of this world and there are plenty of them and it doesn't matter how old you are in the faith doesn't matter how long you've been a

Christian you know that this is true there are plenty of cares there always will be cares some you know when we're young in the faith we can naively think that well if I'm just a little more spiritual

I won't have some of the problems I won't have some of the anxieties I won't have some of the concerns and the older we get in the

Lord the longer we walk with him the longer the more we realize that you know what this is the nature of life in the fallen world there are cares in this world and the problem with this kind of response is those cares of the world can end up choking out the word as it's planted in the heart another thing that controls this individual can control the individual is the power of wealth the deceitfulness of riches believing that wealth or money has the answer to my basic needs money is the answer to my basic needs or money is the source of true happiness

I've just got to have it and so if I have to choose between doing what's right according to the word as it's been sown or you know pursuing more of this well

I've got to go after this because this is really the source of true happiness deceitfulness of riches or what we might call materialism a person may be controlled by materialism the desire for other things the desire for other things even good things even okay things can end up choking out the word

I remember a bible doctrines teacher I had in college you know he was talking at the time about on the one hand those who want to say it's sinful for you to have a television in your home television is a sinful box and he said it's a box he said it's a box it in itself is an amoral object it is neither sinful nor holy what determines its holiness is how it's used by the possessor of that box and what often happens with the possessor of that box is that the box and what he uses the box for it it ends up choking out good stuff that's been sown and it's not that it's not that what's watched or observed on the box is bad but it just ends up displacing it ends up choking out the good stuff that's been sown by God's word and then the overall problem here with this individual is a problem of double mindedness of double mindedness where you can desire the benefits of spiritual growth but you're not desiring to make the sacrifices necessary to acquire that growth and again what's the result no fruit no fruit the last part of verse 19 it becomes unfruitful which means no changed life so I think this could be one of the reasons why a lot of Christians don't experience the fruit of the spirit love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness self control these aspects of the fruit of the spirit they come through growth through the taking in of the seed and letting the seed do its work and growing in our lives to develop these things so if I'm allowing myself to be constantly distracted by and have the seed choked by these other things the fruit doesn't come

I like this too and then of course the last response in verse 8 and then verse 20 explained in verse 20 is the response that says give me more the other seed fell on good ground verse 8 says and yielded a crop that sprang up increased and produced some 30 fold some 60 and some 100 fold different attitudes behind this response aren't there an attitude that says where the person says

I know that I'm needy I know I'm needy and even though he may not know what the need is how many times have you gone to church gone to a service you opened up the text you heard the text read and followed along and you're wondering what's this got to do with me what's this got to do with me years ago there was a guy in our church he was going to leave the church and he said the reason he was leaving is because I wouldn't preach

I wouldn't preach topical messages I wouldn't preach like Spurgeon well hello who can preach like Spurgeon the way

Spurgeon preached was he went through the whole week and Saturday evening he sits down to figure out what he's going to preach the next morning the guy can do that he's a genius you don't preach topical messages

I need you to preach the sin that I'm struggling with in a particular week of course

I'm like how in the world am I supposed to know what that is his response is well the

Holy Spirit will tell you what that is but what about the person sitting next to you what sin is he struggling with is he struggling with the same sin you're struggling with this week what am

I supposed to do about that person's sin you can't live like that I can't preach like that so what do you do so you're sitting here and you're going through this passage what's in Judges 11 for me

I don't get this this is going to be an interesting thing and then it's like all of a sudden in the middle of the service you're like oh

I needed that I needed that and how did you get that how did you get what you needed because you had this underlying assumption when you came into church

I'm a needy person I don't even know what the need is but I know I'm a needy person even as Paul said oh wretched man that I am

I know I know I'm a needy person and the Lord knows you're a needy person too and so he takes his word and he applies his word to a particular need in your life another thing

I think is true about the person who's going to take in the seed and bear fruit is that the person is seeking the problem areas in his life he knows he's a needy person but he's also not content to not know what those needs are there's a seeking after growth in the problem areas of life if a person knows

I've got an anger problem I've got a short fuse well he knows that so he wants to seek answers to that particular problem area of his life in other words he wants what

God's best is for him he wants for himself what God wants for him he wants to know what is

God like what does God like and I want to change accordingly this is the attitude the underlying attitude of the person where the seed brings forth fruit and the results spoken of in verse 20 as Jesus explains he says this person hears the word he accepts it and it bears fruit a variety of fruit some 30 fold some 60 some 100 so he hears what

God has for him in this particular day and why does he hear because he knows he's need he knows he needs he needs he's a needy person why does he hear because he's seeking he's seeking the truth he's seeking to find out what is

God like what does God like he hears what God has for him and when he hears what

God has for him he accepts it he doesn't say oh well wait a minute here that's my sin that you're picking on that's my problem that you're picking on I don't want to hear that no that's not what he says he says hey that's my problem that's a sin

I struggle with okay what do I need to do about it what is the counsel of scripture for me in this particular thing and he ends up with fruit being produced in the life his life is somehow some way changed and sometimes sometimes that fruit of change is something relatively insignificant you're sitting in a service and all of a sudden the

Lord uses his word to strike your conscience about this bad attitude that you've had towards somebody else you haven't really thought about it much but you know it's there every time you see that person you know you have this kind of thing about them it hasn't caused any friction you haven't done anything about it but there's this attitude in your heart toward that person and the

Lord uses his word to smite you and convict you about that and you hear that and you haven't again you haven't done anything to anybody there's nothing outward here but you hear the conviction and you bow the knee of your heart and you say yes

Lord you're right I've sinned here in my attitude toward so and so please forgive me please forgive me that's fruit that's fruit especially fruitful when the attitude changes and you start working on that attitude because of how the spirit of God is convicted now that's something that's relatively insignificant because it's something going on only inside of you and nobody else even knows about it that's 30 fold sometimes it's 60 fold that person whom you had a bad attitude toward you've expressed that attitude you've snipped at them you've been you've expressed some pretty nasty stuff toward that person so the 60 fold fruit is after the service you go to that person you say you know the

Lord really convicted me about my attitude toward you and some of the things I've said about you and toward you and I am just really sorry for what

I've said and how I've treated you would you please forgive me 60 fold and some 100 fold yes

I am a sinner in need of a savior would you please

Lord Jesus save this sinner most magnificent fruit of all the fruit of having been dead now alive having been lost and now saved but the point is the heart that is prepared the soil that is prepared say give me more give me more and it bears much fruit so think about this in terms of your own heart your own life what is the state of the soil what's the state of the soil and I think it's safe to say that every one of us should long to have the kind of soil that is ready and prepared for the seed to be sown to produce good fruit our father and our

God I pray tonight that your word even this evening would find lodging in our heart the seed that's sown

I pray our hearts are prepared to receive it and may it bring forth some measure of fruit in this we pray in Jesus name amen alright let's take our hymnals we close tonight and turn to number 429 429 it's the song take time to be holy speak oft with the

Lord let's stand together as we sing shall we 429 take time to be holy speak oft with thy

Lord abide in him always and feed on his word make friends of God's children help those who are weak forgetting in nothing blessing to see take time to be holy the world rushes on spend much time in secret with Jesus alone by looking to Jesus like him thou shalt be thy friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see and take time to be holy let him be thy guide and run not before him whatever be tied in joy or in sorrow still follow thy

Lord and looking to Jesus still trust in his word

I hope the Lord will give you a good week as you endeavor to walk with him and may his word guide your steps our

Father and our God dismiss us now with your blessing and I pray that you would give us a week of fruitfulness help us to be faithful help us to be focused help us to be fruitful in what you called us to do in the various fields of life you've called us to serve we pray in Jesus name