Sermon Tone Analysis

You are not an accident.

Each one of you was created by God for a special purpose.

Your life in Christ begins with a spiritual rebirth.

What that means is that everything you’ve ever done wrong is erased… forgiven and forgotten by God.

It’s like restarting your phone.

God is saying, let’s get a new start.

But after you are born spiritually, you need to grow.

Today we will discuss Spiritual Growth and get some clear thinking on it.

Jesus told a story which illustrates three common barriers that keep you from growing spiritually.

He also tells us from the same story, three keys to growing to your full potential.

He tells the story of a farmer who goes out to scatter seed in his field.

In those days, you did it by hand.

When the farmer threw the seed, it would fall on four different types of soil.

The different types of soil represent four different types of responses to God.

Later on, Jesus interprets the story.

He says the farmer in the story represents God and the seed represents the Word of God.

The soil represents your attitude, your heart, your responsiveness to what God wants to do in your life.

If we will learn the lessons from this story, we can grow spiritually.

What does it take to grow spiritually?

Farmer = God Seed = Word of God = Soil = Life

1.

If I want to grow spiritually, I must be receptive to God

You have to realize that you have to grow.

The reason so many people don’t grow is that they are not receptive.

When you came to church today, you showed some level of receptivity, but there are thousands within a few miles of this place that are not receptive so they are at home and not worshipping today.

Jesus said this is like the first soil.

Then he explains it.

On a farm there are footpaths where the farmer walks through his crops.

Because he walks on them, the soil gets packed down.

It becomes hard and it’s narrow.

A lot of people’s minds are like that.

They are hard… closed off.

Don’t confuse me with the truth.

They are closed minded.

Jesus says that sometimes we are like this.

We never give God a chance in our lives.

We don’t give him an opportunity to work… to answer a prayer (because we don’t pray)… to do a miracle (we don’t believe in miracles) … a chance to grow spiritually … because we may not be sure we believe in God in the first place.

These people are closed minds.

Jesus is saying that the first kind of soil… the hardened path..

The hardened path = A closed mind

The question becomes What causes people to become closed off to God?

Why is it when you bring up Jesus, people get all squirrelly on you?

You can see their minds shutting down… click the switch went off and they are not listening.

What causes that?

Three things cause us to have a closed mind

The first reason we close our minds to God is fear

If you are afraid of god, you won’t want to be close to him.

Some people are afraid that if they follow God, he will make them do something they don’t want to do…

Others are afraid they will become a wacko like some on TV…

If you are afraid of God, you will have a closed mind.

The second reason we close our minds to God is bitterness

This is when you hold onto resentment from past hurts.

Some of you have lost a loved one… spouse, parent, child… You ask why did God allow this to happen?

Some of you may have been abused… physically… sexually… It hurts and still hurts.

You ask, why did God allow that to happen?

Some of you have had a spouse walk out and leave… commit adultery… Your heart was ripped out by the rejection.

You ask why did God allow this to happen?

Some of you have been burned in another church… maybe by some self righteous judgemental people trying to hold you to a standard that they can’t even keep.

You ask why did God allow that to happen?

When you hold onto resentment, there is no way that you will grow.

I can’t tell you why these things happened, but I can tell you this.

Heaven is a perfect place and earth is not.

I know that God has given us freedom to make choices and when we have freedom to choose, we often choose wrong and that hurts people.

God could take away that freedom, but then we would not be created in his image.

I know that God hates sin.

He hates sin because when people sin, it hurts other people.

If you’ve been hurting, I am aorry that you are hurting.

God is hurting with you.

You are not alone.

But don’t turn away from god, turn to him for comfort and care.

Never allow pain or someone who tries to harm you to et between you and God.

Resentment will keep you from growing spiritually.

When you hold onto hurt, your heart becomes hardened.

The third reason we close our minds is pride

Sometimes we simply think that we don’t need God.

We say, “I can handle it… I can figure it out… I caused it and I’ll fix it...”

A closed mind leads to a barren lifestyle.

Nothing can grow there.

Jesus said that the seed that’s thrown there doesn’t even sprout.

It’s a waste.

If you have been unreceptive to God,

Drop your defenses and let God love you… and let His word grow in your life.

2. If I want to grow spiritually, I must be resolved to grow Luke 8:6

That means that you have to make the decision… to take responsibility for your growth.

Listen to me, Spiritual Growth is a choice.

You are as close to God as you want to be.

It’s not someone else's fault… it’s not god’s fault… it’s all up to YOU.

You cannot blame anyone else.

Make the decision… make it today.

Without commitment, you will never grow spiritually.

If you don’t, it will lead to a shallow lifestyle.

Jesus said the 2nd kind of soil …

In Israel, most of the nation is covered by a thin layer of topsoil on top of a solid bedrock of limestone.

It’s not like the good soil goes real deep there.

When it talks in the Bible about rocky soil it’s not talking about a bunch of rocks in the ground.

It’s talking about a very thin layer of topsoil on the bedrock of hard stone, usually limestone.

As a result, when you plant things there they will grow to a certain depth but if they don't have any roots they can’t dig down deep because the bedrock prevents them from getting deep roots and when the desert winds come and the heat’s on and the summertime comes, all those plants are going to wilt unless they are continually watered and irrigated.

Jesus says a lot of people are like this…

Jesus is saying that…

The Shallow soil = A superficial commitment

Notice they welcomed the Word with Joy… We do this all the time.