[0:00] I greet you in the name of Jesus this morning.! It is good to be here.! Good to see you all. This morning you can turn to Mark chapter 4.
[0:17] This has been with me for a little while now.
[0:37] We had the weekend meetings and we heard a lot. Have we allowed God's Word to work in our hearts?
[0:53] Are we hungry? You know, Jesus said if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, we will be filled.
[1:05] And as I was looking at this, it just stood out to me how often that Jesus said, if any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
[1:19] It's scattered throughout the Gospels and in Revelation we read it, if any have ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
[1:37] And today I believe that this is one of the most important things for us, for all people, that do we hear the Word of God?
[1:54] When we read the Word of God, do we allow it to speak to us? Do we receive it? Or do we just push it off?
[2:06] Here in Mark 4, verse 24, and we'll come again to this later, he says, Take heed what ye hear, with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you, and to you that hear shall more be given.
[2:29] And each one of these, you know, we will be reading out of Mark, but we'll be looking probably some at Luke and in Matthew.
[2:40] But Jesus warned, over and over, take heed how ye hear. Are you hearing the Word of God?
[2:57] Let's start reading here in Mark 4, verse 1. And he began again to teach by the seaside, and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into his ship, and sat in the sea, and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
[3:17] And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, He hearken, behold, there went out a sower to sow.
[3:28] And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth.
[3:41] 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.
[3:54] And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up, and increased, and brought forth some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundredfold.
[4:14] And maybe before we go on, I will just bring in here, you know, that I believe in Luke, it says that, in one of these verses previous, to the good ground, it says that, it brought no fruit to perfection.
[4:34] You know, it's not that, the other ground does not at all, grow, and it does, but, and it might even start, bringing fruit, but it brought no fruit, to perfection.
[4:51] Verse 9, And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was alone, they that were about him, with the twelve, asked of him the parable.
[5:05] And he said unto them, unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables, that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
[5:33] And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? And how then will ye know all parables? The sower soweth the word.
[5:45] And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown. But when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise, which are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, and have no root in themselves, and so endure, but for a time.
[6:13] Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word.
[6:26] And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
[6:38] These are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, some an hundred.
[6:51] And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested.
[7:05] Neither was anything kept secret, but that which is come abroad, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
[7:16] And we read the other two verses here. So, you know, just looking at this, and then, you know, how do we, how do we, how can we be, how can our life be good ground?
[7:34] You know, I, after we were here this morning, I wrote down a few things that, either I heard someone say, or, or, just, but one, one thing is, have we prepared our hearts to worship?
[7:59] You know, have we prepared our hearts before we came here today? Have we prepared our hearts, or, or are we still flooded with yesterday, and the day before, the week before this?
[8:16] You know, I, how is our heart? Have we prepared it to worship the Lord? One thing that, I think Brother Dan mentioned was, prepared and conditioned.
[8:35] Is our heart prepared and conditioned? You know, it's very hard to go out and find a field that is totally good ground.
[8:48] No, no rocks, no, no weeds, no thorns, and briars. But when we want to plant a garden, what do we do?
[9:00] We go and we prepare the soil. We till it. We till it. We, we, we, we take out the rocks. We, we take out those things that don't belong there.
[9:13] We take out the thorns and the weeds and those things. We take them out. And I believe that that is what we need to do in our life is to take out those things that hinder, take out those things that, that block the word of God.
[9:32] Take away those things that, that, that, that belong to, to this world. The things that belong, that, that, the things that the enemy can use to block the word of God.
[9:47] we have ears to hear. Do we hear? Do we hear?
[9:59] Revelation, Jesus said, after every letter to every church, he said, he that has ears to hear, let him hear.
[10:11] Let him hear. You know, we can read through the word. We can, you know, they could read those letters. We can read those letters and, and just go on.
[10:26] But are we hearing what the spirit is saying? There's so many distractions in our day. There's so many things that want to dull the word of God.
[10:38] There's so many things that, that want to steal away the word of God that it cannot take root in our hearts. In Deuteronomy 8.3, the verse that Jesus quoted when he, when he, when he faced the devil, he said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
[11:10] The voice of God, do we hear that voice? Do we read this book and realize that it is the voice of God? It is the word of God.
[11:22] Do we allow this word to, to come into our heart and to take preeminence, to have preeminence in our heart?
[11:36] The seed by the wayside, you know, that, that, that, to me, that talks about a soil that was not prepared. It was too close to the trail and, and the plow didn't come through there and, and, you know, there was rocks there and they were not removed.
[12:00] It's a shallow soil. It was unprepared. Whatever seed fell on that, it did not, did not do well. But the tilled soil, the good soil, is a soil that has the rocks removed.
[12:17] You know, those, those things in, in our heart that hinder the word of God, those things that, that, that block faith, those things that, those things that, they steal away from the word of God.
[12:42] You know, Jeremiah, he was prophesying to the children of Israel. and he said, break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns.
[13:01] Sow not among thorns. Break up the fallow ground. Go and break it up and, and, and, and work it up and remove the, the thorns, remove the things that are going to choke out the, the plants that we are planting.
[13:22] Are we diligent to remove the thorns? Deuteronomy, the verse that Jesus quoted, man shall not live by bread alone, but then it goes on, it goes on and he says, circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked.
[13:56] He was telling them, you know, you are circumcised, but your heart is not circumcised. You need to deal with that thing that always argues against the word of God.
[14:09] The thing that, that, that refuses to bow to the Lord Jesus. The Lord, your God, he goes on and he says, the Lord, your God is God of gods, Lord of lords.
[14:26] He is mighty and terrible and he regardeth not persons. He, he's not a respecter of persons. But this God that we serve, he is above all and he wants to be number one in your heart.
[14:53] In verse, in Mark 4, verse 19, let's look at this again. And the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entering in.
[15:08] Choke the word and it becometh unfree. I have a few things here that I got out of the Amplified.
[15:20] The Amplified says, it mentions distractions of the age. And, you know, every age throughout humanity has had its distractions.
[15:35] And I believe that we have some that are unique to our generation. But those distractions, the devil uses them to choke out the word of God.
[15:49] words. He uses them. You know, something comes to my mind.
[16:04] As a man, I don't remember who he was, but I was surprised when I heard it. I believe he was a Baptist preacher. He said, if you spend more time on Facebook than you do in the book, there's something wrong.
[16:18] That was many years ago already now. Those distractions that steal away the seed, the word of God, they choke it out.
[16:33] Is Jesus first in our heart? Or do other things choke out the word? What other things are there? You know, the list is endless, but we will look at a few.
[16:46] We will mention a few. But he says here, carers of this world. You know, we all have cares. We all have responsibilities. You know, we, Brother Dan mentioned payments and our obligations and so on.
[17:02] And we have those. We have our obligations. We have the things that we are responsible for. But we must seek first the kingdom of God, like he read to us.
[17:15] we must seek first the kingdom of God and then all these things will be added unto us. But here he says the deceitfulness of riches.
[17:29] You know, the deceitfulness of riches. How do they do? They come and they're so glittery and shiny and so attractive. And, you know, if we just had a little more, if we just had, you know, whatever it might be.
[17:46] The lusts of other things, the lusts and the pleasures of this life, the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life, the deceitfulness of riches.
[18:02] Jesus said, that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. You know, let us be careful what we follow after.
[18:14] Let us be careful in what we make our priorities in life. Peer pressure.
[18:27] Peer pressure can choke out the Word of God. It can help us to make the wrong decision. Yes, the distractions of the age.
[18:41] One of those that I believe that is very prevalent in our day is this thing of just personal freedom and nothing matters.
[18:56] The Word doesn't matter. You know, I'm a Christian anyway, and I can whatever, I can go and do whatever I decide. We see that so much in our day.
[19:12] What is popular in our day? Most likely, it's an abomination in the sight of God. Truth doesn't matter.
[19:23] We just explain it away. Okay. the stony ground, the thorns and the thistles.
[19:40] verse 16. They heard the Word and they received it with gladness, but they have no root in themselves.
[19:57] You know, they're on stony ground, and so they have the roots do the best they can, but they can't get down deep. You know, we need a deep, we need our roots deep.
[20:10] deeply rooted in the Word of God. But they have no deep root because of the thorns and the thistles and the rocks. And so it says they endure for a time, but then when affliction or persecution comes, they are offended and they fall away.
[20:35] No depth of consecration. You know, if we will consecrate our heart and life to Him, above all else we give ourselves to Him, and we lay down our life, we lay our life on the altar, and in complete, 100% consecration, that is what He desires, and that is what it will take for us to make it in this wicked and terrible world that we live in.
[21:13] No depth of consecration, not laying the whole life on the altar, not willing to remove the stones and the things that hinder.
[21:30] James 1.21 says, receive with meekness the word of truth. The Amplified says, which rooted and implanted in your heart, it contains the power to save your soul.
[21:48] This word, this word that we're talking about, the word of God, received with meekness into our heart.
[22:05] If it is rooted and implanted in our heart, it contains the power to save our soul. You know, a garden, it requires maintenance.
[22:19] It requires going out there and pulling the weeds. You know, we have vehicles and they require maintenance. maintenance. Our Christian life also requires maintenance.
[22:33] Yes, our life, our walk with Him, it requires maintenance. We need to continually pull the weeds, remove the stones, break up the fallow ground.
[22:50] Yes, you know, Jesus, Jesus, He repeated over and over and over, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
[23:07] Why? Because we have a tendency of becoming dull of hearing, I believe. I'm going to read a few verses in Proverbs chapter 4.
[23:32] Proverbs chapter 4 verse 20 to 23. 23. 23. 23. 23. 23. 24.
[23:43] It says, My son, attend to my words, incline thine ear unto my sayings, let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the midst of thine heart, for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
[24:05] Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. verse 20. He says, attend to my words.
[24:18] You know, give attention to my words. You know, incline your ear to hear. You know, I believe that if we will hear the word of God the way Jesus is saying, it won't happen unless we incline our ear to hear it.
[24:40] You know, Jesus, you know, and maybe we'll look, let's go to Matthew from here then, and look at a few of those verses.
[24:52] He says, attend to my words, incline your ear. In other words, hear, hear on purpose, you know, determine to hear what I am saying.
[25:05] don't let my word depart from your eyes. Keep it in the midst of your heart. David said, thy word have I hidden my heart that I might not sin against thee.
[25:21] This word, it is life to those that find them. It is life to us if we will latch a hold of it and allow it to do its work in us.
[25:34] it is life and it is health to all our flesh. Yes. I want to look at this account in Matthew.
[25:50] You know, I, at times reading through this, I felt that, you know, why did Jesus, why was he so harsh with these people?
[26:04] But I believe it's because their heart was not after truth. Their heart was not after him. Their heart had other priorities, whatever it was, whatever it was in their age.
[26:22] Was it the religion of the Pharisees, or was it having a good name, or was it riches, whatever it was? God said, but notice, you know, the disciples asked Jesus, why do you speak in parables?
[26:46] And in verse 13, he says, because they seeing, they see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand.
[26:59] in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive.
[27:14] For this people's heart is wax gross, their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and they should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
[27:37] You know, I believe, you know, he wasn't saying that he did not want to heal them, he was not saying that he did not want them to be healed, but their heart was not after him.
[27:52] If our heart is after him, he will fill it. If we hunger and thirst after righteousness, he will fill us, he will bless us.
[28:08] He says the next verse here, verse 16, but blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. How is it with us today?
[28:36] Are we hearing the word of God? Or are we refusing the word of God?
[28:48] Now let's look at the last couple verses here. So in Mark 4, verse 20, he says, he talks about the good ground, and they bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.
[29:11] And then he goes on, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a candlestick?
[29:22] You know, and my side column says, secret discipleship. You know, if we, if we will follow Christ, then it will be known.
[29:34] It will, the light of the gospel will shine forth through our life to those round about us. You know, we, the light of the gospel will not be hid.
[29:49] And I believe that, you know, yes, there were, there were people in his day, you know, we, it's mentioned in other places how some of the, even of the consul, the Pharisees, they believed in Jesus, but they were afraid to openly confess him and acknowledge that they believed.
[30:16] He said, if we believe, and if we, if we allow this seed to, to grow in us and to bring forth fruit, it will be shown forth.
[30:30] It will be shown forth. For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested, neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad.
[30:46] You know, and that is both ways. It is when the seed of Christ brings forth fruit in our heart, and it is also when we endeavor to hide the evil that is in our life, the darkness, it will also manifest itself.
[31:08] And again, he repeats himself, if any man have ears to hear, let him hear. Take heed how you hear. You know, it seems like Jesus could just not say it often enough, is how it seems like to me.
[31:27] Take heed what ye hear. Take heed how you hear. Be sure that you hear. hear. Yes.
[31:39] I want to read just a couple verses yet in Matthew. And in Matthew chapter 7, verse 24, before this, he's talking about false prophets and then a tree is known by his fruit.
[32:11] A evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. A good tree will bring good fruit. And then in verse 21, he says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
[32:34] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works.
[32:48] Then will I profess unto them I never knew you, depart from me, that work iniquity. And then he says, therefore, because of these things, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock.
[33:14] And the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.
[33:28] The man who hears the word of God and allows it to take root, to take root, and to bring fruit, like we, like that says in James, the word of truth, if it is rooted and implanted in our heart, it contains the power to save our soul.
[33:57] But the man, everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, he will be likened to a foolish man. And the rains came, and the winds blew, and his house fell, and great was the fall of it.
[34:14] So let us, let us hear the word of the Lord. You know, and last Sunday we were reflecting back on the weekend before and the things that we have heard and so on, and let us, let us not only hold on to the word that we heard two weeks ago, but let us hold on to the word that we have in our hand, and let's have it in our heart, not only in our hand, and let us allow it to do its work.
[34:55] Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, he is a wise man, and we're building our house on the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[35:10] May the Lord bless.