Part 6 (1/2)

It basically just boils down to where your focus is. If you are focused on the Lord, and you're hungry and seeking after Him, you will be filled. (Matthew 5:6.) But if you're one of this first type of people depicted in this parable, the Word of G.o.d just doesn't mean anything to you. You can hear it and it's gone before you even think about it. You just can't seem to retain G.o.d's Word. It's not time for you to pray and ask G.o.d to speak louder. It's time for you to change your heart and start focusing on the things of the Lord.

PROGRESSIVE STEPS.

In Mark 4:16-17, Jesus talks about this second type of person that heard the Word of G.o.d.

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: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

Now, before we look specifically into this second type of person who heard the Word of G.o.d, let me make another statement: This parable also describes progressive steps toward fruitfulness. The Lord clearly describes four different types of people's hearts, and how the Word of G.o.d interacts with their heart to bring forth fruit (or not).

I believe He was also describing four different stages toward fruitfulness.

First, you go through a stage where you hear the Word of G.o.d but your heart isn't set on it. You aren't seeking after the things of G.o.d. The Word goes in one ear and out the other. That's the first type of person.

The second type of person gets excited about the Word, but they don't have root in themselves. The end result is they don't bear fruit either.

LIVING OFF OTHERS.

The third type of person gets excited about the Word, and it takes root. The Word of G.o.d begins to germinate and start producing life in them, but then they get distracted by the things of this world.

And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the l.u.s.ts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

Mark 4:19 The fourth type of person is the one who really nurtures and takes care of the Word of G.o.d. They focus on it and aren't distracted by the things of this world. So they produce a bountiful harvest.

And 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, and some an hundred.

Mark 4:20 Although I was genuinely born again as an eight year old, I was a typical kid. During church, I was focused on my friends in the church and what we were going to do after the service, so I didn't really meditate on the Word of G.o.d and let it come into my life. I read my Bible every single day, but somehow or another it just didn't penetrate. I suppose it did to a degree. I didn't get into a lot of the sin and other problems that many people do, so I'm not saying it had no effect. However, it didn't have the effect that it should have had on my life. It was like the Word was coming in one ear and going out the other, just like this first person described in the parable. I didn't understand the Word, and it wasn't impacting me.

Then I had this experience with the Lord on March 23,1968, and I became excited about the Word of G.o.d. I don't think you've ever seen anybody more excited about G.o.d and His Word than I was. But there was a period of time when that Word wasn't rooted on the inside of me. I was living off of other people's revelation-their teaching about the Word-and not my own personal relations.h.i.+p. Even though I was excited, and great things were happening on the inside, there still wasn't that much fruit coming through my life.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS.

I was in this second stage when the Lord used this parable to really speak into my life. It was right around the time when Jamie and I were married in October 1972. Prior to our wedding, and then afterwards, the Lord made this teaching on the sower a revelation in my life.

And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness.

Mark 4:16 Now, I specifically related to that. After I had this experience March 23,1968,I fell head over heels in love with the Lord. The Word of G.o.d became powerful in my life. I was so excited over it. I couldn't open up the Bible without hearing G.o.d talk directly to me through the scriptures. Although I was excited about it, I was frustrated too. I could see in my heart the potential and what G.o.d wanted to do in my life, but I wasn't seeing it on the outside. Since there was frustration and I wasn't really bearing fruit, I began to relate to this second type of person that the Lord describes in this parable.

This second type of person gets excited over the Word of G.o.d and receives it with gladness, but they're frustrated when they don't see it bring forth fruit.

Over time, I've observed a tendency among many people to be shallow. Some of these people may be very demonstrative outwardly, but everything in their life is outward. There isn't any depth in their personal life. I don't understand all the reasons for this, but I see this in my dealings with people. Some folks are just shallow. Everything is all about the external. They don't have very much depth on the inside.

I've seen many people in my meetings get so excited over the Word of G.o.d that it's easy to think, This is awesome. They're totally transformed! But I've come to realize that with some people it's all show and no go. It's all just smoke and mirrors. There isn't any real commitment in their heart.

So over the years, I've come to a place where I enjoy seeing people who are clearly being impacted by the Word. They take some time to really think about and deliberate on it. Of course, there are those who get so excited that they stand up, shout, and jump up and down in their chair while I'm preaching. That's okay, too, but I like to watch those who are being deliberate and thinking about the Word. It takes them a little bit of time before they really commit themselves. Sometimes these folks who are just so excited at first don't ever let the Word take root on the inside of them. There is a period of being rooted in the Word that's necessary for you to be able to produce fruit.

TWO TERRARIUMS.

My sixth grade teacher put dirt in two identical large gla.s.s jars called terrariums. Then, as a part of our cla.s.s project, he planted tomato seeds in both of them on the same exact day. He put them in the same place in our cla.s.sroom, so they received the same amount of light. He watered them exactly the same every day. The only difference was that one terrarium had about eight inches of soil, and the other had only one.

My teacher asked us questions like, ”Which seed do you think is going to grow? Which one do you think will produce fruit?” To my surprise, the tomato seed that was only in an inch of dirt sprang up first. It was probably a foot tall before the other tomato seed even began to start pus.h.i.+ng up above the ground. At a glance, you'd think that the plant in the small amount of dirt was doing better. But when you only have a small amount of dirt, that plant has to put all of its energy into growing above the ground because it didn't have any room for roots. There wasn't enough soil to put roots down so the life that was in that seed all went vertical above ground. It looked good at first. plant has to put all of its energy into growing above the ground because it didn't have any room for roots. There wasn't enough soil to put roots down so the life that was in that seed all went vertical above ground. It looked good at first.

For many people, it's all about appearances. They don't really care about long-term results. They're short-term thinkers. They hear one message on healing and get excited saying, ”I've got it! I'll never have another problem.”They think it's wonderful, and are very demonstrative with it. However, there really needs to be a period of time where you take those truths you've learned and, no matter how much they've excited you, let them take root on the inside of you.

The seed that only had an inch of dirt grew to be nearly a foot tall before the other one even started poking out of the ground. But within a very short period of time, because there wasn't enough root to sustain the growth, the plant in one inch of dirt began to turn pale and then white. It wound up falling over and shriveling up. It died because it didn't have a root system to sustain the growth. The tomato seed that started much slower above the ground- as far as what we could see-grew up into a full plant. We had to put a stake in there for support as it began to produce many tomatoes.

T-t-t-i-i-i-m-m-m-e-e-e Through that experiment, I learned a lesson: A seed must, first of all, grow underground. It has to start producing roots before it produces fruit.

In the spiritual realm, many people don't like the root stage. They don't like letting a truth from the Word of G.o.d take root on the inside of them and get established in their heart. They just want to skip all this and get right to the fruit as quickly as they can. Therefore, they don't have very much depth in their life. Their heart isn't totally committed to that truth they received. They may look like they're growing faster than somebody else, but in the end, they can't sustain their growth. They shrivel up and die at the first little hards.h.i.+p that comes along. The Word isn't going to produce fruit in their life.

If you want to be someone who really produces fruit and sees the Word of G.o.d work, it's not going to happen overnight. You can't microwave your miracle. It takes time. There is seed, time, and harvest. Actually, sometimes it is seed, t-t-t-i-i-i-m-m-m-e-e-e, and then harvest. It takes a period of time.

You have to let G.o.d's Word just stay rooted on the inside of you. You can't back off of it. You must keep digging and looking for greater revelation. Don't just take the surface revelation of what the Word of G.o.d says. Go back to those scriptures and ask, ”Lord, have I received everything out of this scripture that I need to know? Please show me more.” You must let that Word take root on the inside of you.

Failure to let the Word of G.o.d take root on the inside is probably the number one reason why people aren't seeing greater fruit manifest in their life. They just aren't giving it time.

Many people know a scripture like 1 Peter 2:24, which says that by His stripes we were healed. They spend five minutes thinking about that one little concept and conclude, ”I've got it. Now I ought to be healed!” No, you need to meditate on that scripture, and then meditate on that scripture some more. Spend days, weeks, months, and years focusing on that truth and applying it to your life until it gets so rooted and established on the inside of you that nothing can pull it up.

DEPTH OF ROOT.

When I was a kid, we lived in a neighborhood, but our yard was still a little over a half-acre in size. We had twenty-three pecan trees in our yard. Every year some of the pecans would fall, get stepped on, or otherwise find a way into the ground. Then they would germinate and start producing a plant. My job was to pull up these tiny little pecan trees that started to grow.

Like most kids, I didn't want to spend my time going around pulling up these little plants. We must have had hundreds of them all throughout that place. I'd see one, but I didn't want to stop playing to pull it up, so I'd wait until that thing got tall enough that my parents could see it from inside the house. When they did, they'd say, ”Andy, you need to go out there and pull up that pecan tree.” That's how long I'd wait.

However, I learned pretty quickly that if I let a pecan tree get a foot tall, there would be about three feet of roots underneath the ground. There was three times as much growth underneath the ground as there was above the ground. If I waited until the pecan tree was a foot tall to pull it, I'd have to get a shovel and dig it up. It would be so well rooted that I couldn't just pull it up. If I wanted to get those pecan trees out the easy way, I had to pull them when they were about an inch tall. Then I could just grab them and pull them out.

It's the same way with the seed of G.o.d's Word. Satan would love to get you to where you don't have any depth of root in your life. Then he can come against you and just steal the Word. He wants to pull it up before it ever gets rooted. However, if you grow a good root system, you'll be able to stand despite all the troubles, trials, and hards.h.i.+ps that come in life.

Many people are just like this second type of ground that the Lord described. They can't bring forth fruit. It's not because they aren't excited about the Word of G.o.d. It's not because they don't love it. They do love it. It's just that they haven't taken time to let the Word take root on the inside of them.

Chapter 14.

Persecution The parable Jesus gave in Mark 4 about the sower sowing the seed is one of the most foundational teachings of the Bible. In Mark 4:13, the Lord said that if you don't understand this parable, you cannot understand any of the others. This pa.s.sage is the key that unlocks the revelation of important foundational truths that you'll use every day for the rest of your Christian life. It's truly that important.

Jesus was using the ill.u.s.tration of a man sowing seed which fell on four different types of ground. The kingdom of G.o.d is likewise. G.o.d's Word is the seed that must be planted in our life to bear good fruit. The Word of G.o.d is what brings change.

G.o.d's Word is never the variable. It has the same potential in every single person's life. What makes the Word produce differently isn't the seed itself, but rather the type of soil on which it finds itself. This parable ill.u.s.trates four different types of hearts. The Word of G.o.d has the same potential to produce in every person's life, but the difference in fruitfulness is related to how we respond to the Word. This parable reveals that there's really only one type of response that will allow the seed of G.o.d's Word to fully produce its fruit.

NO SMALL STIR.

Let's continue looking at the second type of person who heard the Word: 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: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

Mark 4:16-17 When the Lord showed me this pa.s.sage of scripture and it really started having a major impact in my life, I was still in a denominational church that was against everything I was believing for. They acknowledged that there was such a thing as the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, but argued that it's the least of all the gifts and not really valid for us today. They didn't emphasize these truths, and they certainly didn't emphasize righteousness and grace. I was in a situation where the Word of G.o.d I was hearing was constantly being persecuted.