The Kingdom, Week 1

Tim Rivers | September 17, 2023

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Transcription

What's up everybody? Come on. Somebody give Jesus some praise in this place. Anybody excited to be in God's house? Let me ask you this, have you thanked the Lord today? Sometimes you can look around and go, man, life is not great. But one thing is for sure, God is always great. Yes. And I think it's a good habit to just take time every day to stop and just say thank you. Thank you, Lord for my family. Thank you for my friends, thank you for my children. Thank you for my job. Thank you for my health. We've got a lot to be thankful for. So one more time, just thank the Lord for his goodness in your life.

I am so excited because we're kicking off a new series today that we are calling the Kingdom, and I'm very excited, uh, because we're gonna go pretty deep, I think, into the word of God, and we're gonna look at what the Bible has to say about the kingdom. But before I get there, I want to say how delighted I am that you are here. If you are a guest with us, we wanna say thank you so much for being here. Be sure to stop by our guest central, which is just right outside the doors, and then hanging the right, go all the way down. You'll see it, it's like a room with a big yellow wall. And we want you to go get some cookies. Lemonade, a free gift. You know how many first time guests I've seen there multiple times,  just for the cookies and lemonade . But we're so delighted that you're here. Please, please make yourself at home. And those that are joining us online, thank you so much for being with us. I believe that God's got a word for us today. So grab your Bibles. How many Bibles do we have in the house? Hard paperback, Bibles, phone Bibles.

How many love your Bible? I love you Bible. I love the Bible. All right, Matthew chapter 13, I've got a lot of ground to cover and I'm gonna try to do it in as much time as I have. Alright, Matthew chapter 13, verse number one says that same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea and great crowds gathered about him 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 a rocky ground where they did not have much soil. And immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain. Some a hundred fold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears let him hear. Then the disciples came and said to him, now why do you speak to them in parables? Jesus, he answered them to you. It has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given for to the one who has more will be given.

And he who, and, and he will have abundance, but from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see and hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand indeed in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled. That says, you will indeed hear but never understand and you will indeed see, but never perceive for this, people's heart has grown dull and with their ears they can barely hear and their eyes, they have closed less. They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart. And turn and eye would heal them. But blessed are your eyes for they see in your ears, for they hear and everybody say Amen. Amen. We're going to for the next several, uh, weeks, I don't even know how long we're gonna go, but we are going to get into this series on the kingdom.

And what you're gonna find in the next few weeks as we discuss the kingdom, is we're gonna talk about the secrets of the kingdom. But in order to understand the secrets of the kingdom, we have to understand the kingdom. So today I want to kick off our series with this title. Understand the kingdom. Understand the kingdom. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your goodness and mercy. I pray that as we dig into your word, that you would give us ears to hear, heart to receive, and a mind to understand. Help us to have the right heart to understand the secrets of the kingdom. Do what only you can do. Move is only you can move. In Jesus' name we pray and everybody say amen. One more time. Give Jesus some praise. In the building

The kingdom, I wanna talk about concepts. Concepts are abstract ideas or thoughts that we have inherently. And concepts also can be, um, phrased as understanding and are concepts or our understanding are those things that determine your thoughts, principles and beliefs and what you think about something, what you understand about something, what your concept is of something will determine how you interact with that something. And your concepts or your understanding is largely informed by your environment. It's informed by, uh, your friends, your family, your socioeconomic environment, your geographical location. But all of us have concepts and uh, ideas. And sometimes we have misconceptions about things and sometimes we have misunderstandings about things. But whatever your concept or your understanding or your conception is, when you interact with something, it will determine how you interact with it. In other words, if you have a, an, a misunderstanding about somebody based on something that you learned, isn't it funny how you treat somebody some kind of way based on your misunderstanding?

Has anybody ever had that happen to you where somebody treats you some kind of way and you're trying to figure out why in the world are you treating me this way? This is the first time we met. It's 'cause they have a concept about you based on something that they heard about you. This is also true of God and his word, our concepts or under our understanding of God. And his word affects and determines how we interact with God and his word based on whether it's a good concept or a, a bad concept. Whether you have a misconception or a misunderstanding or the right conception or understanding, whatever your concept is, whatever your understanding is of God and his word, when you interact with him, that's how you treat him. And this is especially true of the kingdom of God. And there's a lot of misconception about the kingdom of God. And, and, and one of the, I think most detrimental things within the church is our misconception about the kingdom because most people approach the kingdom of God with a democratic concept. They approach the kingdom of God with a democratic understanding or a democratic mindset. The problem is a democratic concept. When when you think about a democratic way about the kingdom of God, you'll start believing that you have a vote

In the authority of God and his rules. The problem with a democratic concept is that if you don't like what God is saying, you think that you can change it by legislation. The the problem is if you approach the kingdom of God with a democratic concept, you'll think that you can rebel against God and his word without consequences.

And the reason why most people approach the kingdom of God with a democratic concept is because most of us live in a democracy, a, a, a democratic political environment. And so what ends up happening is if you don't like your government, you feel like if we all get together, we can just vote them out. The problem is when you bring that mindset into the kingdom of God and you start thinking about the kingdom of God from a democratic view, which is like, if, if I don't like what God has to say, that if enough of us get together, we can rewrite our own laws.

And so what ends up happening is people who have a democratic mindset will gravitate toward people that agree with their concepts.

The ancient Greeks were the first ones that created a democracy. And so the Greek word or the Greek word for democracy is really two Greek words. One is demas, which means people, and kratos, which means rule. So when you think about a democracy, a democracy is people rule. And and the problem with that mindset is that all government and legislation and the democracy is in the power of the people. And and the reason why this is very detrimental to your relationship with God is if you have a democratic concept or mindset or a misunderstanding about the kingdom of God, whenever you don't like something that God does, you will think that you have the option to do something else.

Miles Monroe, which is a, he's a phenomenal teacher on the kingdom of God, go check out any of his stuff on the kingdom. This is what he says. If your concepts are wrong, your conclusions are wrong. And if your conclusions are wrong, your theology is wrong. You know how many churches are filled with people that have mis concepts, misinformation, misunderstandings about the kingdom and their whole relationship with God is misinformed because they don't understand the kingdom. Can I tell you that God and his kingdom is not a democracy? God is not asking us for our opinions on whether or not he should rule and reign. The Bible has been written, God is not like, Hey, so you didn't like that part? So if you get enough people, I'll erase it. But how many people will ignore the rule book of the kingdom because it doesn't agree with their concept of what they think their life should be like? Oh my Lord.

Did you know the kingdom concept was invented by God? God the Bible says is king of kings. He's lord of lords. So, so let me explain real quickly the kingdom of God. Uh, in, in very short term, the kingdom of God has to do with the rule and reign of God over all things. In other words, there is nothing that is in existence that doesn't, uh, exist under the sovereignty and the supremacy of God. God in heaven at some point decided, I'm going to create a domain called Earth and I'm gonna set it here. In space, earth is the domain of the kingdom of God. So then God creates Adam and Eve in his image and likeness, image bearers in my old day. And God says, I'm gonna take these image bearers and put them in earth to be kings and queens in my domain.

This is if you've ever watched a movie with a monarchy, you know this is how it works. When you have a king who rules over everything, he establishes demi kingdoms and he puts kings there and they all are subject to him and his authority, right? So this is exactly what happens with Adam and Eve. They're created in the image and likeness of God to be fruitful, to multiply, to replenish the earth, subdue it, and have dominion. This is a kingdom term. God says, I want Adam and Eve to have dominion on my behalf in earth. But we know what happens. Satan rebelled against the kingdom of God. And when he did, he thought he had a democratic mindset. He thought, I don't like what God has to say, so I'm gonna create my own kingdom. And God said

He kicked him out of heaven. Satan comes down to earth. Now he's having a conversation with Eve who is supposed to be the queen representing the kingdom of God. And he convinces her to rebel against the king of kings. And when she does, she commits treason along with Adam. And when they committed treason against God, God wasn't like, oh, okay, never let, let's change this. Let's make this more of a, a voting a democracy. If y'all don't like these rules, I'll change it for y'all and we can coexist. God, I will not compete with any other kingdoms. And when they committed treason, God says, you outta my garden.

And since that time, earth has been under the rule and dominion of darkness. This is why the Bible calls Satan, the prince of the power of the heir also calls 'em the God of this world, also calls 'em the prince of darkness. So earth has fallen then in rebellion against the kingdom of God and yet God still interacts with those who are willing to come back to the true king. So God starts selecting those throughout the earth. That's where the children of Israel were. God takes the people out of, out of this rebellious earth, God takes the people and says, Hey, I want you to be the agency by which I will redeem earth back to me.

But they keep rebelling against God and God doesn't do well with rebellion. So, so then they finally fall into exile. The monarchy of the Jews, the representation of the kingdom of God has fallen into the hands of others. And for years, for several hundred years, the prophets begin to prophesy that there's coming a time when there will be a messiah, there will be a king, there will be a coming king who will redeem us back to the kingdom. This is where Jesus steps in. Because when Jesus comes, this is what, this is the message that John begins to preach as Jesus is getting ready to rival. He says, repent for the kingdom,

For the kingdom of heaven is that hand. And everybody's like, alright, finally. Because remember all the Jews are familiar with the prophecies and they're expecting some, some person to ride in on a white horse with armor. They, they expect that this person is going to overthrow the Roman empire and crush the Greeks. They expect that the jewelers are gonna be elevated back to their glory days of when David was king. They expect this king to come and, and, and, and and present this physical kingdom. And then Jesus comes and they're thrown off because he's not coming on a white horse. He comes wrapped in swaddling clothes, laying in a manger.

His parents running for their lives to save him. And yet we see Jesus then going into the wilderness. This is after he was baptized. He goes into the wilderness, he comes out of the wilderness. And this is what Jesus says. He echoes the same message that John does. He says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So now everybody begins to pay attention to Jesus because maybe he is the one that is about to redeem. The word redeem or reclaim means to bring back to. So when Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is at hand, the Jews begin to think He about to reclaim, re uh, uh, redeem us back into the kingdom of God. And yet they're wondering how he's gonna do it.

Can I just teach?

109 times in the New Testament, you will find the phrase the kingdom 39 of those times are in the book of Matthew because Matthew begins to show us what the kingdom is all about. So everybody is wondering, how is Jesus about to usher in the kingdom And you can work, use the word the kingdom of God or the phrase the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven interchangeably. But they're all wondering how is he gonna do it? And Matthew starts writing about it. And this is what Matthew does. In Matthew chapter four, verse 23, he's about to tell us how God's gonna bring the kingdom. He says, and he went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. Jesus brought about the kingdom through the medium of seeing and hearing.

He didn't have a sword, he didn't have a shield, he didn't have a spear. The way that Jesus brought in the kingdom is through the eyes and through the ears. This is why when you look at the three year ministry of Jesus, what did he do most he taught so people could hear and he worked miracles so people could see. Did you know that the reason that you are a believer is because something happened in your world where you either saw something that was otherworldly or you heard something that was otherworldly? How many of you have you, you heard a word from God, you didn't really understand the word you, the discernment didn't really make sense. You don't remember the passage, but something about what you heard motivated you to get outta your seat and make your way down to the alt alter. How many know that you saw a lot of things, but when you saw Jesus work, you knew that it was other worldly. You saw the bad report, you saw the x-ray, you saw where they were living, you saw what type of lifestyle they had. And when you saw their life change, you knew that it had nothing to do with this earth. You knew that there was something greater going on beyond the veil.

And so it motivated you to change.

We respond to the gospel based on what we hear and see, if you think about your life and your conversion experience, it happened because of either something you heard or what you saw. How many can testify to that? There was something about that message. How, how many have you, you got saved but you don't even remember the message, right? You responded to the gospel and you don't even know why you repetitive of your sins. And you didn't even know what repent means, Right?

But how many know just because you see something and hear something, it doesn't mean that you understand it. You can hear something without understanding it. You can see something without understanding it. You can, when you see if this whole section were to run outta these doors, you best believe I don't have to understand I'm with y'all. Hey, in a in a fight or flight, I'm gonna fight. But if this whole crew is running, y'all better follow me. Right? Because you don't have to understand to respond. When you hear something and you see something that is otherworldly, you tend to respond without understanding. But at some point, if you don't get understanding on what you hear and see, you will fall away.

Seeing and hearing about the kingdom may convince you to repent. But understanding the kingdom will convince you to remain. Lemme say it again. Seeing and hearing about the kingdom may convince you to repent. But understanding the kingdom will convince you to remain. You know how many people have just simply responded to the gospel because of something they heard or they saw? And that is the motivation of the gospel is to get you to respond. And the way, the reason why you respond is 'cause you know that there is something behind what you hear. There's something behind what you see. You may not not know or understand what it is, but you respond to it. But at some point in your Christian walk with God, you have to understand what you see and hear. Because if you don't understand what you see and hear, you will drift away.

This is what Matthew begins to highlight in Matthew chapter 13. The whole chapter is really about understanding the kingdom of God.

And so, so Jesus, he begins to start talking in this, in this chapter. And he tells us the story about the sower. And this is called a parable. Now, a parable, it literally just means to come alongside. It's, it's, it's a Greek word. It means to come alongside. So it's, it's a parable. It pairs with, it goes alongside something. A parable is a, an analogy, it is an allegory. It's teaching you something deeper by telling you a story you can relate to. So Jesus begins to tell this parable about a sower that went out. Now this is the very first parable that Jesus teaches, right? And he teaches it. And he says, A sower went out to sow and a sower spread seed and some fell upon hard path, some on stony ground, some on thorns and thistles and some on good ground. He that has ears let him hear. Now the disciples who have just started following Jesus are hearing a parable for the very first time. And they're like, what? Like we get the miracles, we get the great teaching that that, that you are the rabbi. But what does this have to do with anything? Have you ever heard somebody talk about something and you're, you're intently listening and then you realize like halfway through, I have no clue

What you, this happened to me the other day. There was a person talking to me, and about midway through I went into la la land. 'cause I had no idea what bro was talking about. And I didn't have the heart to stop him and be like, fam, you lost me, Don. But this is what the disciples were doing. They were sitting there listening to Jesus and Jesus was talking about all this stuff. And they're like, yeah, yeah. And then he gets to this part and they're like, what? So they pulled him aside. He's in the middle of a sermon . You know, you always got that one student, Mr. Choir, , excuse me, what are you talking about? This is what thing the disciples gather. They said, why are you teaching them in parables? Just make it plain. And Jesus says they have ears, but they don't hear. They have eyes, but they can't see. I'm about to divulge the secrets of the kingdom. That's what Jesus says. I'm giving them the secrets of the kingdom, but, but they don't get it because they have no understanding. So in order to get the secrets of the kingdom, you first have to grow in understanding because if you don't under, if you don't address understanding, you'll miss the secrets of the kingdom. And your life as a Christian will be shallow because you don't understand the secrets.

So Jesus says, remember, I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk about the kingdom because the way that the kingdom is promulgated is through seeing and hearing, but seeing and hearing isn't enough. You have to grow in understanding. So, so the disciples are like, all right, well, are you gonna offer some clarity? So this is what Jesus, this is what Jesus does. Jesus then begins to explain to us what the parable of the sower actually means. And there are, there are three things, three ingredients in this parable. Number one is the sower. The sower is God, or really anyone who is sharing the word of God or the words of the kingdom. So you have the sower. The second is the seed. The seed is the word of the word of God, or the words of the kingdom. Now I want you to notice something real quickly. Did you know that the word of God comes to us in seed form? The word of God does not come to you as a fruit. It comes to you as a potential for fruit. What determines the fruit is not the word of God. It's the soil.

That means you can hear the word of God and walk away fruitless because the soil wasn't in the condition to receive the seed. Let the seed germinate sprout and bring forth fruit. The word of God comes to us in seed form, meaning that it only comes to you with the potential for fruitfulness, not as a whole Fruit. The word of God will do nothing for you unless it is planet watered and cultivated. This is why there are people who can read the word of God and their life never change because it's just a seed. This is why people can hear the word of God and it does nothing for them. Why? Because to them it's just a seed. The word of God will produce fruit in your life if the soil is in the right condition. So the word of God, the words of the kingdom come in seed form with the potential for harvest, but not as a full harvest. It is up to us to take the seed, cultivate the seed so that we may produce fruit. So Jesus begins to talk about the, the, the, the ground, the soil and the soil represents the heart.

So the sower is God or anyone who is, who is sharing the words of the kingdom, of the word of God. The seed is the word of God or the words of the kingdom. And the soil is the heart of those who interact with the seed. And let's define heart real quick because the heart is a person's thoughts will emotions and conscience. The heart in the Bible is not your physical heart that's pumping blood. It's the heart, it's the, it's the mind will, it's the deepest part of you. It's the mind will, emotions and the conscience of a person. And, and Jesus begins to talk about it. He says, listen, I wanna divulge the secrets of the kingdom, but I can't talk about the secrets of the kingdom unless I'll talk about your heart first,

Because the seeds are sown, not planted. Those are two different words. To be planted means to be dug up, to be buried, and to be covered. To sow means to put on top. So you have to understand how farmers used to sow in ancient times with Jesus. The way you would sow as a farmer would take a a, he would have a bag full of seeds and a and a farmer would grab a handful of seeds and he would just throw it. He would just throw it on the ground. He would just throw wherever it landed, that's where it landed. But he would just scatter seed. He would sow the seed indiscriminately. He would just sow it, sow it, sow it. And then the farmer would go back and get his plow. And then he would plow the field that he sewn. And the seeds that fell on good ground would germinate and produce fruit. But the seeds that fell on hard ground that couldn't be plowed up, they would just, the seeds would be taken away. So when you hear the word of God, it's just being sewn. It's just sitting on top until you start plowing it into your own life.

You know how many people want immediate gratification? And Jesus says the seed ain't even planted when you hear the preaching of God's word. It's just sitting on top until you plow it into yourself. Woo. That's a revelation right there. This means, this is why it's important to take notes and pray over the word that you hear and go back and listen to it again and read the past scripture that we are reading. Why? Because, because if not, it's just gonna be topsoil.

You gotta plow it in. So Jesus says, all right, I'm gonna talk to you about four different types of hearts, four different types of hearts that hear the words of the kingdom. That if, if the condition of the heart isn't right, they're not gonna receive the secrets of the kingdom. So, so we're gonna do a heart check. Okay? So, uh, several years ago, I think it was like 30, maybe 31, uh, I was feeling great, you know, I felt like I was super healthy, uh, everything was right. I decided, Hey, I'm gonna do my annual physical this time. I need y'all to draw some blood, get my whole, you know, my whole uh, panel. Read to me, see if there's anything else that I don't know about. Got the report back. And in my report, when I went to go see the doctor, the doctor said, you have high cholesterol. I said, that must be a hereditary thing. Anybody blame your family when you ? No, I know I'm healthy. I mean, I always eat my burgers Lean , I fry my stuff in olive oil, , I go with avocado oil. I mean, it's not that bad.

When I got the report, you can ask these. I was bothered. I mean, it, uh, this is the first time I ever got a report health report that said that there's something I need to work on. And so, you know what I did? I said, I ain't gonna die from cholesterol. I started running, exercising because when I saw that I had high cholesterol, I went to Dr. Google , anybody, Dr. Google WebMD is the worst thing that could have happened to any one of us. High cholesterol. It said like, you about to have a heart attack tomorrow. I'm like, wait a minute, let me get on this elliptical. But the reality is, if I didn't check it, my cholesterol would've built up. And if my cholesterol would've built up, it would've blocked my arteries. And then the blood that was supposed to flow through to to to help my body would've clogged up. And the very thing that was supposed to gimme life would actually kill me if I didn't do a heart check. You know how many people get offended at the word of God? What's supposed to give you life is now clotting you up because you haven't done a heart check. So we're gonna do a hard check. So Jesus says there's four different types of heart. The first one is the type of soil he says is hard path.

And this is what we would call the hard heart. Let's look at what Jesus said in Matthew 13, verse 18. Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. The first type of heart that God that Jesus addresses is the hard heart. This is the person that rep, this person represents. The one that when they hear the word of God, it literally just bounces off. The word of God cannot penetrate because their heart, their heart is hardened. In other words, it looks like this. Their, their heart has no place for the kingdom or the seeds of the word of God because their heart, the heart is hardened. That means it can't even permeate. And here's what happens. When you have a hard heart, the enemy flies around seeking to snatch away the seeds of the kingdom. Did you know that? Because we're in the kingdom, we're always at war with the kingdom of darkness, meaning that Satan is always going to oppose you from furthering the kingdom of God. He is hovering around like a bird, waiting to see who can he snatch words from? Wow. Janese and I, when we were in Sri Lanka, uh, working as missionaries, we, we, of course we had family there, so we ate a lot of srilanka food. I'm talking wheat, curry, rice, fish, curry, rice, fish, curry, rice, fish. We ate a lot of swanka food. But every now and then we would treat ourselves because there was a McDonald's. Anybody a McDonald's fan? Hey, it's a hundred percent beef spelled with three E's . But we would treat ourselves to go to McDonald's and we would go in there, and I remember this one time we went in there, I got a double cheese, a big Mac, some fries, a McFlurry. We only did it every now and then. So it was like this was the taste of America again. So we went in there and we ate and we were happy. You know, because McDonald's makes you smile, puts a smile on your face, . So, so we're walking out and I had in my hand a little carton of fries left. And man, we were chit chatting and talking and I was sitting there eating my fries with the right amount of salt.

And out of nowhere I felt something go slap me on the side of my face. I looked down, yeah, it wasn't Janese snatched my, my fries. And I looked down and had no fries. And when I looked up, there was a dead gum, Raven, who had snatched my fries from me. And I was so angry I was about to go after. But then he took off, he'd snatched from my hands. The very thing that was bringing me joy. This is what Satan does to you. Satan is waiting for somebody to walk out of here with exposed seed so he can snatch it from me before it can germinate in your heart. This is why you gotta check your heart and make sure that it's not hardened. Remember, Pharaoh's heart was hard and when it was hard, he saw a miracle. Most of us, we'll be easily convinced. If we look down and see a river turn into blood fan, take them , frogs, lotus hail, hail. No. Take these people and get 'em right? But when your heart is hardened, even the demonstrations and the miracles and the signs and the wonders of God won't convince you of the kingdom. This is what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 13, verse 15, describing to the disciples, giving them more clarity. He says, for this, people's heart has grown dull

And with their ears they can barely hear and their eyes, they have closed less. They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn. And I would heal them. In other words, Jesus says, I've got healing for them. But because they're walking around, somebody cover your ears real quick. I'm just messing with y'all. Some of y'all was like, I need to go get my ears checked. But when you have your ears blocked, what you hear is muffled. And when what you hear is muffled, you can't understand. And if you have blinders on, if I take these glasses off, there's some blurriness. I can't make out a lot of stuff. And Jesus describes people with hard hearts as those who have their ears muffled and their eyes covered. The second type of heart that Jesus talks about type of ground, he says, it's the stony ground and this is the shallow heart. Matthew chapter 13, verse number 20. This is what Jesus says. For as for what was sewn on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. You hear Elgin singing

And you bucket, you immediately receive the joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a little while. And then when tribulation and persecution arises on a account of the word, immediately he falls away. So immediately you receive joy, but immediately you fall away. Everybody's met this person, come to church, hear the word, get excited, run to aisles, huck a buck shout, mess yourself up, hurt your back 'cause you're shouting so hard. Walk outta here, face the trial. And immediately as quick as you had joy,

You're down in the pits as quick as you, you were shouting, you're now laying outta church because the ground is shallow. Why is the ground shallow? Because there are rocks in it. There are things in your life that are robbing you of depth.

So you can hear the word and receive it with gladness, but then walk away because of trials and tribulations. Now. Now lemme say this is probably the hardest type of heart for a pastor to watch because I have seen people who get so excited and so full of joy and they're, they're you feel like, man, they're about to change the world because of just how glad they are with the word. But then when a trial comes, when they lose a job or they lose, their car breaks down or, or they sin. 'cause sometimes it's not trials and tribulations, sometimes it's their own besetting sin. Then guilt and shame walks in and then they're all of a sudden gone. And I feel so bad because I want them to have those stones removed. But God says, Jesus says, listen, when you hear the word of God and the soil isn't deep, you will then a trial comes. You want me to tell you how you get rid of trials? You don’t.

If I could figure that out, I'd be banking right now just off of that. You can't get rid of trials and tribulations. Peter says, they're coming thinking about strange. The fiery trials, which are to try is those some strange things that happen. They're coming. The question is, what condition is your soil? Because the wind is gonna blow and the storm is coming, but the condition of your heart will determine whether or not the word of God has placed in your life. Here's the third type of soil, and this is the thorny soil, the thorny ground, which can be called the crowded heart. Matthew 1322. As for what was sow among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful. These are people who slowly and surely not because of sin, not because of trials and tribulations, but they just fade away. They use excuses in their life that replaces the supremacy of the kingdom. They cannot have the secrets of the kingdom because they get caught up in what they think are the cures of life and what they think are the seek of riches. And so I, I'll get back to the word of God when I close this deal,

I, I'll get back to church when my kids sporting events start slowing down, oh, I just got personal. And so people will fall away. De seeds will not take root. Why? Because they're deceived by the caress of life and the deceitfulness of riches. When I close this next deal, that's when I'll start doing things for God. When I find the right friends, that's when I'll, I, I know that I've missed, I've missed it. I missed going to church for for X amount of days. But when my schedule clears up and you are falling away from the kingdom because you're being deceived by the cares of life, lemme tell you, no amount of money is worth more than the secrets of the kingdom. No kind of sports is worth more than the seeds and the secrets of the kingdom. The Bible says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Then he says this, therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the day in its own trouble. You know the reason why most people walk away is because they're anxious about tomorrow. But if you give you tomorrow too, the kingdom

God will take care of you tomorrow. And then Jesus says there's one type of ground on that. When they hear the word, it takes root and this is the good ground and this can be called the fruitful heart. Matthew chapter 13, verse number 23. As for what was sewn on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands. Mark says, accepts it. He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred fold and another 60 and another 30. Did you know in in that time, fruitfulness was determined by tenfold. In other words, whatever you plant, if you get tenfold harvest, that was considered successful. But in the kingdom of God, if you let the word of God germinate in your life, Jesus says that you will yield forth 60, 130 fold. In other words, you will harvest more through the kingdom than you ever will on your own trying to make it in this world without the kingdom. But you gotta have good soil, you gotta have the right heart. Your heart has to be in the right condition to receive the seeds so the seeds can be planted deep in your heart so that you can have a fruitful life. The reason why most people who don't have a fruitful life

Don't have a fruitful life is they haven't checked the condition of their heart. When they hear the word of God and we're about to do, we're doing this series and we're gonna talk about the secrets of the kingdom, but I wouldn't be a great pastor if I just dived into the secrets and didn't cause you to stop, pause and check your heart to make sure that the soil of your heart is ready to receive the seeds of the kingdom. So what are the characteristics of good soil or a good heart? Number one, good soil is soft.

It's soft. When your heart is hard, the word of God cannot permeate you. You have to have a soft heart. You have to rid your heart of the distractions and the deceitfulness of riches. You gotta get the stones out. You gotta get the the thorns out. You gotta allow your heart to be dug into how do you, how do you soften your heart? Humility, submission. I'm my own boss. I'm a serial entrepreneur. A lot of times that's cloaking that you have a submission issue. We all are gonna listen to somebody. The question is, do you recognize it or not? Because here's the, here's the reality. You gotta have a soft heart in order for the word of God to do its work. How do you get a soft heart? It has to be dug into, it has to be plowed. It has to go through uncomfortability in order to be soft. You will be the most fruitful person, if you will allow your heart to be softened through humility, through love, through the word of God, through prayer, through doing stuff for others, not expecting anything in return. Second characteristic of good soil is good. Soil is deep.

A soil that can handle a harvest is deep. Here's the tricky part about deep soil. When something is sewn into deep soil, it goes way down deep where you can't see it before it ever comes up. Fruitfulness in the kingdom of God takes time. In other words, you gotta be hidden before you can be seen. You gotta go through isolation before you're, you are in prominence. You gotta go in the basement before you can get on stage. You gotta go deep If God's gonna allow fruit, there's a difference between a bush and fruit. You can be a bush with, with with roots that don't go very deep, but you're not fruitful. You're not doing anything for anybody, but be in decoration.

But a fruit tree produces more seed and fruits for other people, but a fruit tree needs deep roots, and so the ground of your heart has to go deep. I wanna have a deep heart. I wanna have a deep relationship with God. I don't wanna have a surface relationship. I don't wanna be a surface Christian. I don't wanna go through the motions of every Sunday just coming to church and walking away the same way that I walked in. I wanna have a deep relationship with God. I want my prayers to be so deep that I start praying in the spirit words that I don't even understand. I wanna have a deep relationship with God so that I can go through trials and tribulations and still say that God is good. I wanna go deeper. The word, I don't wanna just read my proverb and my Psalm. I want the rma of the word. You gimme revelation. I want God to start speaking to me. Give me words of, of encouragement and, and knowledge and wisdom and insight. I want depth to myself. You gotta, but you gotta cultivate a deep heart. How do you keep a deep heart? It has to be

Dug into when was the last time your heart was dug into? Here's the third thing. Good soil is pure.

Good soil is rid of contaminants that would destroy the seeds. Sexual immorality, deceitfulness of riches, pride, arrogance, gluttony, vanity, self-promotion, gossip, frivolous lifestyle, uninhibited spending. I could go on, but those are contaminants in your soil. The reason why some people who are great people can't produce fruit is because there are contaminants in their soil. You gotta get that out so that you can understand the secrets of the kingdom. It is Satan's job to try to contaminate your soil with stuff that you don't even realize. Chokes out the nutrients of the word of God.

And we come up with excuses for contaminants and you know what I'm saying? I don't. I'm not trying to gossip. I just, I pray specifically, so I just need to know specifically what's going on. , stop playing. Get rid of that contaminant.

Self-promotion pride. Isn't our culture full of that right now? Yes. Oh my Lord. It's a contaminant to the kingdom of God. 'cause God will not compete with you. Lemme rephrase that. You are no competition to God. You can build your own kingdom, but one day every knee will bow, every tongue, confess that Jesus is Lord, you can do it now or you can do it later. I'd rather be in his kingdom. Here's the fourth part about good soil. Good soil is fertilized. Anybody know what's in fertilizer? Dodoo poop. Good soil. A good heart knows how to take the dodoo that comes your way and turn it into something that fertilizes your faith. Good soul knows how to go through a trial and use it as motivation to give God glory. Good soul knows how to go through some crud in your life and turn it into the thing that fuels your faith. The question I'm asking you today to ask yourself is what condition is your heart in? Is it good? Is it crowded? Is it hard? Is it shallow? Because the secrets of the kingdom can't permeate anything other than good soil, and the only one that controls the soil of your heart is you.

I control the soul of my heart. The word of God is going to be when you walk in on Sunday. Seeds are going out. Seeds of the kingdom, secrets of the kingdom are going out, but the fruitfulness of the kingdom, the secrets of the kingdom are dependent on the condition of the soil of your heart.

Condition your heart for the words of the kingdom.

Dear Jesus, all, we thank you so much for the words of life from your book. We thank you for the words of the kingdom. We thank you that you want to divulge to us the secrets of the kingdom, and now help us to condition our hearts. Help us to soften it. Help us to deepen it. Help us to condition it. Help us to fertilize our hearts through prayer, through your word, through fellowship, through love, through the attributes of the spirit, so that we are in the right condition to let the seeds of your word be planted in our hearts so that we may bear fruit of it. I thank you, God, for every person that hears this word, I pray that they would not be those that hear but do not understand or see, but are blinded. But I pray that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened, so that we may know that we may understand the kingdom We give your name, all the praise, all the glory, all the honor, because you are worthy of it. In Jesus' name, Jesus, and everybody say amen. Amen.