Praise the Lord. You know, Christ often taught with stories that we call parables. And today we're going to look at one of these parables, these stories. And this is the one that he called the parable of the sower. Now, I've heard other pastors call it other things, but that's what he called it. He said, listen to or hear the parable of the sower. As he was speaking of the sower, and all of that which is related to what the sower does. If we want to treat the text honestly, we can't overlook our Lord's perspective on the matter. It was about the sower, but not just the sower. It was about the seeds and the soils, because there are different soils as well. The Word of God is the everlasting seed, or the everlasting seeds that germinate, grow, and blossom, and bear fruit, and eventually it lasts forever. It's everlasting fruit. In Luke chapter 4 and verse 4, it's written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. You see, the Word of God is the everlasting Word. In Romans chapter 10 and verse 17, it's written, so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Faith comes by the Word of God. and not by anything else if we follow Scripture. It comes by the Word of God. In Hebrews 4 and verse 12, it's written that the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and of marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word of God is the everlasting Word. It is the everlasting Word that brings faith. It is the everlasting Word that grows within us and, if necessary, without us. The Word of God It's written in Isaiah chapter 55 and 11, so shall my word, this is God speaking, be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. In the beginning, God said. God created everything with His Word. and all that we need, everything that we need in this life can be found in His Word. For if we live by it, we will not die forever. We will live forever. Before we go on, I'd like us to pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I yield to you for your use. Please give me unction to speak what we all need to hear. Speak through me, Lord. I surrender to you for your use exclusively at this time. Put aside everything that is me, except that which glorifies you. I ask, Lord, that you would open our eyes and our ears. Use your Holy Spirit to purge us of anything that would get in the way of your word rooting within us. Help us to give you the glory due to your name. Help us worship you alone, Lord, in the beauty of holiness, as it's written in Psalm 29 too. I pray all this in Christ's name and all of God's people said, Now we're going to open God's Word to the 13th chapter of Matthew. We'll have it up on the screen there, but if you prefer to read it in a Bible and you don't have yours with you, there's some in the seats there. Matthew chapter 13, you'll find that on page 1510. Matthew chapter 13. This is one of three places where this parable is recorded. It is the longest recording of it. And I chose it for that reason. I was going to use from Luke chapter 8, but I decided that we need to hear all of what our Lord said. Luke was a physician. He picked up the memos from other people. He picked up the things that he wrote of from others who were there. He wasn't there. Matthew was there. So beginning on page 1510 in chapter 13, verse one, this is what is written there. On the same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea and a great multitudes, great multitudes were gathered together to him so that he got into a boat and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Can you imagine? Crowds of people surrounded him, so many so that he backed up. He went out into the water on a boat so that he could speak to all of them. Crowds of people. And then he spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth. And at that time in that region, there were areas that there may have been a half inch or an inch of soil over top of bedrock. And so it was known that seeds planted in soil like that would sprout up, but then they'd wither because of the hot sun. And this is what he uses as an example. He says, they did not have much earth and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among the thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And there's something there that we find even in the book of Revelation. Hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And the disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables? He answered and said to them, because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has to him, more will be given and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away from him. That doesn't sound fair, does it? Does that sound like that nice Jesus that everybody talks about? Jesus' love, He would never do that, brother. Therefore I speak to them in parables. Because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, seeing you will see and not perceive, for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes have closed. They have closed. They have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears lest they should understand with their heart and turn so that I should heal them They chose Not to receive the truth. And so he spoke to them in a way that it wouldn't matter Maybe some of them would be Their interest would be peaked and they'd think well, what is he talking about here? And maybe they would do some investigation. Maybe they would listen more intently But blessed are your eyes, he says, for they see, and your ears for they hear. For assuredly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it, and hear what you hear and did not hear it. Therefore, hear the parable of the sower." See, that's what he calls it. He didn't call it the parable of the soils or the parable of the seeds. He called it the parable of the sower. hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. And yet, has no root in himself, but endures only for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word, and he becomes unfruitful. And the he's here are those, whomever. It doesn't just refer to men, it's men and women. But those who received seed on good ground are those who hear the word and understand it and indeed bear fruit and produce some a hundredfold, some 60 and some 30. And then he goes into another parable who talks about sowing good seed and an enemy came along and sowed false seed, tares. We'll have to look at that another time, but it's relevant. Those of you who were here a few weeks ago will remember that I covered the idea of a parable and what it was. I'm going to re-cover it a little bit. It's a fictitious narrative. And some would say, well, it's fictitious. It's false. It's fantasy. No. Even though parables are fictitious, they do not contain any fantasy. There's no impossibilities. When our Lord tells a parable, He's not saying that they got up and they flew away of their own accord, for example. These parables agree with the laws and usages of human life. They line right up. It's the same thing as real life, but it's a story to illustrate a particular point or a number of points. They figuratively portray either the duties of men or the things of God, particularly the nature and history of God's kingdom. And parables are earthly stories that have heavenly meanings. Our Lord used these stories that were similar to real life to illustrate important ideas and concepts and spiritual truths, even though those who were listening might not have got what He was saying, so to speak. And we repeat these things for the same reasons. We want to illustrate those ideas, those concepts, and those spiritual truths. And this particular parable in Matthew's gospel record was first written in the language of that day and that time in that region which was Aramaic, which was at that time a more modern form of English. Excuse me, Hebrew, just like our English today is a modern form of what we find in the King James Version of the Bible. They were speaking in Aramaic, and Matthew wrote in Aramaic. We have some very small fragments of the historical record of Matthew's gospel that shows that to us. The oldest records were in Aramaic. His parables are also found in Mark and Luke's gospel record. Luke, as I said, was a physician. He gathered everything he could from everyone he could, and he recorded it in the two works that we know that he wrote, the book of Luke, or the gospel according to Luke, and what some have called Luke 2, which we all call the book of the Acts, or the Acts of the Apostles. And these accounts differ a bit in the telling of the teaching. All three of them differ just a bit. But I'm going to draw from all three of them, mainly from Matthew, because that's where we started, but I'm going to bring in the other two where they differ a little bit, just to give some understanding maybe, points of clarification. All three accounts relate the fact that huge numbers of people gathered around Him, and they remained on shore as He got in the boat. That's what Matthew and Mark tell us. Luke says this was a diverse group of people who had come to him from every city. They came from everywhere. They weren't just from that particular area. All three of them tell us that he began by telling of a sower who planted seed. This was the farmer. The farmer was planting the seed. Matthew and Mark say that he spoke or taught many things by parables. And this parable was only one of them. But it's highlighted because of its importance. And as we go, I believe you'll understand why. The farmer is scattering the seed. He's throwing the seed. He hasn't tilled rows. like we see in the springtime when we see farmers tilling their fields. He was casting the seed out. He was throwing it out everywhere it would go. And this is a picture of our Lord sharing the good news of God's kingdom come to this earth. He wasn't discriminative. He didn't discriminate against anybody. He gave everybody the word. It didn't matter who they were, where they were, where they were from, what their background was, what sin they were in, He gave them the Word. And as we read along in the parable, we learn that some of them would receive it and some of them would not. Luke alone says that that first A bunch of seeds fell by the wayside and was trampled. See, all three say it fell by the wayside, but Luke alone says it was trampled. There's an image there of it being crushed or stopped. It was outside of the area that was intended for sowing. As he cast the seed, some of it went beyond. where it would necessarily be able to grow in. But still, he cast it there, and the birds came and devoured the seeds. He fed the birds, but it didn't grow. In Matthew 13, verse 5, and Mark 4, verse 5, we learn that some seed fell on stony, shallow ground, and it sprouted up. The seeds sprang up immediately because of that shallow ground, but they had no root. Matthew and Mark both relate the idea when the sun came up, the plants were scorched because they had no root. They withered away. But Luke tells us it was because they didn't have moisture. The next comparison is of the seeds falling among the thorn bushes. In Matthew, we read, some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. In Mark, we read, some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. And there's an important detail there. And in Luke, it's written that some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But it bore no fruit. It didn't grow to maturity. It didn't do what the plant was intended to do. But when we move on to Matthew 13, 8, we hear the good news. You see, it's not all bad news. And that's the thing about Scripture. It's not all good news either. There is good news. But what good is good news if you don't know what the bad news is? Just like Charlie said earlier, we have a risen Savior. Not His exact words, but that's the truth of the matter. That's the good news. Because of His resurrection, we too one day will rise. We shall not live on this earth forever, and we shall not be in the ground forever. We will rise. That's everlasting life. And we can thank God and praise God for that. The good news, some fell on good ground and it yielded a crop, some 100 times more than the seed that was planted, some 60 times more than the seed that was planted, some 30 times more than the seed that was planted. It grew and it matured and it bore fruit. Luke is the only one that has the seeds that fell on good ground produced a hundred times more than what was planted. That's all he says a hundred times. He doesn't say 60, he doesn't say 30. The other two tell us that there's a variety of ways that we're going to see the seed blossom and grow. There's a variety of ways that the fruit is going to be produced. And some would say, well, if you're not producing 100 times more than what was planted in you, then you're not in God's kingdom. Well, the other two tell us that some bore 60, some bore 30. And then all three gospel writers relay that Christ's message to all was, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. In other words, pay attention! Pay attention! And this is part of the problem, I believe, that he was facing right there with that multitude of people. There was a lot going on, okay? The people weren't just standing there looking at him and listening to him. There were people that were tending to children, no doubt. They didn't have a special cry room to take the kids to, okay? They were right there hearing our Lord's words. And some of those seeds that He was scattering were going into those children, and those children undoubtedly benefited from that. Can you imagine if you had an opportunity to bring your children to sit at the feet of our Lord and hear Him teach, would you or would you run them off to someplace else? Think about it. What would you do? Well, there are many today who take their children and run them off to some other place because they don't want them to be disturbing what's going on in their space. And that infuriates me, folks. I think it's one of the worst things that's ever happened in the body of Christ is that we're shooing the kids away instead of letting them stay with us. I don't like calling them kids either. Kids are children of goats. We are sheep, according to God. So I don't know what we'd call ourselves, but I don't like calling them kids. I like to call them children. I've grown up with that phrase, and I speak it because it comes out of my mouth when I'm not thinking clearly. The children were sitting there with their parents, and they were hearing our Lord speak. They were receiving those everlasting seeds. And he says, pay attention. Pay attention. If there was an alarm clock, if I had a way, I'd put an alarm clock up there, and I'd have it ringing right now. Pay attention. The clock is ticking. We are all in that place where God said we would be. And as we move forward, we're going to see why I believe that. The next section of Matthew's record is that the disciples ask him why he was teaching in parables. It's in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 10. But in Mark we hear, but when he was alone, those around him and the 12 asked him about the parable. So it wasn't just the 12. There were others who said, what do you mean by this? They came to him. They wanted to know. They were seeking that truth. They wanted those seeds to grow within them, even if they didn't comprehend that that's what he meant. They were hungry for it. I know when I first came to the Lord, I had a zeal and a hunger for His Word. I just had to devour it. I needed to get into His Word. I needed to have it. I needed to feed upon it. I wanted His Word. I wanted His Word always, all the time, continuously. I had to have my Bible with me. I had to have it for any spare moment when I might be able to open it up and read it. I had to. I had a hunger for His Word. And I hope that we can instill that in each and every one of us, and we can encourage one another to get to that place where we hunger for His Word. It's everlasting seeds that will grow into maturity within us and take us where He wants us to go, to bear fruit for His kingdom. These people who followed Him closely wondered why He was not giving it to the others plainly. Why the confusion, they might have been thinking. Why not just give it to them straight? And he answered and said, because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. And you know, one of the mysteries that's spoken of in Scripture, and I don't have the reference here. I was trying to keep my notes brief enough so that we weren't here too much beyond what we normally are. in his word tells us that one of the mysteries of the kingdom is that we, the non-Jews, get to come in, grafted us in. That's one of the mysteries. How did that happen? How did we become children of Abraham, quote-unquote? By his work. As Charlie pointed out earlier, it's not our work, it's God's work. Charlie and I didn't collaborate on this, by the way. I had no idea he was going to speak anything today. It's written in Matthew chapter 13 in verse 35 that he taught in parables that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet saying, I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world. He was quoting Isaiah six, nine and Psalm 78 verse two. And we're going to look at those real quick. Isaiah six, nine is where it's written. He said, go and tell this people keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old is what's written in Psalm 78 too. For whoever has, it's written in Matthew chapter 13 in verse 12, to him more will be given and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. You see the people he was speaking to, many of them already knew God's word. Undoubtedly, there were religious leaders there. They wanted to know who this guy was. They were plotting to kill him for a long time, and they were looking for something they could use to bring charges against him. And so he said, those who have, he's going to be taken away. See, there's an illusion there, or an allusion, not illusion, where he's saying, okay, you've got religion, and you've got all these people. They're paying you for that religion. He's saying he's going to be taken away. He was giving them a heads up. Kind of slip that in there. They knew God's word, they were raised in it, but they refused. They refused to stand under it. They refused to understand. They chose to sin against God. They were willfully disobeying their Creator, and He was pointing it out to them in this parable and many others that He delivered. In Matthew 13, verse 13, it's written, Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. They didn't want to. And you know, there are a lot of people in religion today who do not want to comprehend what it is that the Word of God says and what the God of the universe wants for them to have. They don't want it. They refuse it. You know, I posted a link on a group, a Facebook group that I belong to. I belong to a lot of groups because I advertise the food that we give away. And on one of these groups, some atheists came out and they started to attack me. And they said that God's a fairy tale and all the same things that I've always heard from atheists. And I prayed for them. I said, I pray that Almighty God, your creator, will bring you to himself before you go to meet him. There are no unbelievers in hell, folks. Oh, they go there not believing. They believe after they get there. I don't want anybody to go there. Everyone, he says, excuse me, Mark and Luke tell us that he told his followers they had been given the ability to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but everyone else received parables. They received this message that was not absolutely crystal clear. So there's a work of God that comes upon the mind of a woman or a man where God opens your mind and says, aha, that's it. I get it. I get it. I don't want to be without Him, most especially not for eternity. Everyone else had hard hearts. Because of that, He wasn't making it plain to them. And in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 14, we hear our Lord said, and in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, hearing you will hear and not understand, seeing you will see and not perceive. See, the Scriptures foretold that He was going to come and He was going to speak in parables. He was going to speak in these similitudes, but they weren't going to get it. And in Matthew 13, 15, it's written, "'For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed.'" They, they have closed. They don't want to see. They're turning a blind eye to what God's Word says. "'Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.'" What's He going to heal? Is He going to heal their eyes or their ears? Well, most certainly our Lord did. But He was going to heal their souls, the very core of their being. Christ our Lord knew that they were unwilling to live by the truth. In fact, I believe each group of people represented by the different soils there were present as He taught. I think he was speaking specifically to those different groups of people, those by the wayside. He knew the seed was going to be trampled on and the birds were going to eat it. In other words, the enemy is going to come in and steal it. And he goes into that. Our Lord blesses obedience. Blessed are your eyes, for they see and your ears, for they hear." And this is the passage that I use to motivate me to pray for everyone who is within the sound of my voice, that God would open our ears to hear, that He would open our eyes to see, that we would not be like so many, turning a blind eye to the Word of God. And I pray that, because He blesses obedience. In Matthew 13, 17, it's written for us shortly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. They were witnessing the unfolding of God's promises to humankind at that time. They were watching it. It was unfolding right before them, and they didn't recognize it. And let me tell you something, folks. I believe right now, right here, we, like them, are seeing what was foretold. We are watching right before our own eyes what was told was going to happen, and we need to have our eyes open. We need to have our eyes open. We may not be those who are walking along blindly ignoring the signs of the times that we live in. We're seeing the unfolding of our Creator's promises right now. You know, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 it's written, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all, all shall be made alive in Christ. You see, that's the qualifier. Being in Christ, you are made alive. You're no longer dead in sin. Just as the prophets before Christ walked this earth and foretold His first coming, our Lord and those who were inspired by the Holy Spirit at that time foretold His second coming. And they said, this is what it's going to look like leading up to that. Here's what we're going to see. And like anything else, when you see one thing starting, it doesn't necessarily end before another thing starts. Sometimes there's overlaps. Sometimes there's a space of time, or maybe multiple things that are leading up to the coming of Christ are all happening at the same time, and we might be tricked into believing that this isn't that time. But even now, we simply need to hear His trumpet that's about to sound. Many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see. They foretold it. They described it in the best terms that they possibly could, given the fact that a lot of the things that exist now didn't exist then, and they were seeing things that they had no way to comprehend. They had no way to describe them other than with the language that they had and the ideas that they could conceptualize, given all the things that were around them at that time. They all looked forward to the time that we live in right now. As we move on, and I do want to move on as quickly as possible, we find the explanation of the parable in Matthew 13. Our Lord called it the parable of the sower, as began explaining it. He said, therefore, hear the parable of the sower. He didn't call it anything but the parable of the sower, because the focus is on the word going out, not on the soil that receives it. He said to them, do you not understand this parable? That's found in Mark chapter 4 and verse 13. How then will you understand all the parables? If you don't get this one, how are you going to get anything else? He's saying everything hinges on this. You've got to understand God's Word is primary. God's Word is to be number one. It is what we are to receive and allow grow within us and to take us into maturity, to grow us into fruit bearers. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart, and this is he who received seed by the wayside." You don't understand it. You say, well, it's not my fault I didn't understand it. Well, when you look at the word, understand, the root word there, sun��m�� , sun��m�� to send, to put together mentally, to comprehend by implication, to act piously, in other words, obediently to the Word of God, consider, understand, and be wise. Those who understand obediently follow what the Word of God teaches. You stand under His Word, not over it. You see, Satan stands over God's Word. He wants to crush it. He wants to trample it underfoot. But Almighty God says, not so. His Word has never been stopped. In all the time that every human being has tried to stop His Word, Almighty God has upheld His Word, kept it strong, and moved it forward, all the way till this point in time that we live in right now. We have something that's a compilation of all of the works that we have found to be consistent within the message of the gospel, and we call it the Bible, the Holy Bible. And many who had greater faith than us did not have that book. They had parts of it, pieces of it, some of it, but not all of it. after somebody commented about his mother and his brothers, he said, my mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. In other words, he calls us his family. We are his mother and his brothers. We are in one passage of scripture says in his sisters, we who hear the word of God and obey it, keep it. After somebody commented about his mother being blessed, our Lord said, more than that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. He is elevating the obedient above the woman that gave birth to him. And we don't often hear that in a body of believers like this because it doesn't fit with some theology that's been brought down for hundreds of years. But that's what He said. You can read it for yourself. You've got it on the screen there. Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Luke chapter 11 and verse 28. Take a note of that if you'd like and you can read it for yourself. We move on. We learn that He said those who receive the seeds on stony places are those who hear the Word and immediately receive it with joy, yet they have no root in themselves, but endure only for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately they stumble. And do you know that we're coming into a time when there will be great persecution, there will be great tribulation, above and beyond anything we can even imagine, and if we are not prepared, we will stumble? This is one of the biggest concerns that I have for the body of Christ today. We see people shutting the church doors and saying, oh no, this isn't about religion. We see people locking down their doors because of a disease. And I say, well, let's be safe. I'm not saying not to be safe. I'm not saying it's not a real disease. What I'm saying is, let's not lock our doors. And some smacked me in the face and said, you're killing people. They stumble. But the ones, it's written in Luke 8.13, the ones on the rock are those who when they hear, receive the word with joy. These have no root because they believe for a while, and in time of temptation they fall away. See, we're tempted to fall away, folks. Tribulation and trials tempt us to fall away from Christ, because after all, for a moment it might be easier. It might be easier to take that mark on your hand or your forehead. It might be easier at that moment. And that time will come when they say, you can't buy or sell without whatever it is that they're pushing. And some of the things that they're pushing now, they're already saying, well, you know, you're not going to get medical service if you don't do this. You're not going to get this. There's places, there's none of this, and then you don't get to come in and buy anything. It's just a precursor, but it's coming. It's coming when they say, you don't have this mark on your forehead, you don't have this mark on your hand, or in your forehead, or in your hand. Don't let that slip past you. You won't buy or sell anything, nothing. And you've got to be prepared, you've got to be strengthened, and the only thing that's going to strengthen you is right here, the Word of Almighty God. If you don't have a copy and you can't afford to buy one, come and see me, I'll make sure you get one. I will make sure you get one. It's the only way you're going to be strengthened. You know, I was tempted to fall away once because of persecution. Not tribulation, it was persecution. I got choked by a priest, the head priest of the church that I belonged to at that time. I was preaching on the sidesteps of the church. It was an evening. I was walking by. Some kids called to me, hey, preacher boy, what's it say in that Bible about sex? So I went over and I sat down and I started reading to them from the words of Christ, what he said. Somebody called the rectory and the priest came out. He wanted to know what we were doing over there. And some of the kids, they knew him, they were talking with him, and he turned to me and he said, "'You, you're the one that,' and he accused me of throwing something on the church doors, butter or pudding or something, and I don't remember what it was, because right after that I said, "'No, it wasn't me. I didn't do that. I would never do that.' And he grabbed me by my throat, lifted me up off my feet, and he shook me, and in my words, like a dog shakes a rat, he tried to kill me. And I could smell the alcohol coming off his breath. He really wanted me dead." These profanities that were coming out of his mouth indicated to me that that was a fact. Who do you think you are?" He's choking me. And only by the grace of God, I broke free. But I will not make an excuse for my running from God. But at that moment, that was the turning point. That is when I changed my direction. I was no longer going to preach God's Word because I thought if that's who His people are, I don't want anything to do with Him. I was a child, teenager. But you will see in that example, that little piece of my testimony, a whole lot more follows that. But in that little piece, I tell you so that you understand, I know. Whenever I say, don't run from God, I know. It is not the thing to do, because I did it. God treated me with great kindness. Yes, I stumbled. Yes, I fell away. Yes, I got myself in danger, grave danger, and I almost died a number of times, and I won't get into all of that. It's not part of the sermon. I'm going to keep moving here, get to the end. The fact that I was a teenager doesn't change the fact that I stumbled and fell away. There's no excuse for it. God continued to use His power in me and He kept working His power in me and holding on to me until I agreed to spread the good news. And I say praise be to Him because I turned back to Him and I've stayed with Him ever since. In Matthew chapter 13 and verse 22, it's written, "'Now he who receives seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.'" In Luke chapter 8 and verse 14, it states that they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life. I've seen this. I have personally seen every one of these groups of people. I have watched those who have joyfully received the Word, and because they had no root in themselves, they have withered and died. I have watched it. I have seen people who have received the Word, and the birds came, the enemy came and snatched it away. I have seen people that the Word was rooted in, and still it did not mature. because of worldly cares, riches, and pleasures. They gave it up. They walked away. And sometimes the enemy brings that into our lives. I've seen it happen in this congregation right here. Not this congregation, but the people that met in this building. I have watched people come, and I've watched Satan tempt them with the worldly riches, with cares of this life. And off they go, sometimes not to be seen again. Other times they come back limping after God gets a hold of them and snaps a leg. In the last verse in Matthew's gospel that we read, but he who receives seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty. These are the children of God. And you, perhaps all of you, are the children of God, who hear the Word, who receive the Word, who stand under the Word, not over the Word, who allow God's Word to work within you to do what it does, bring you to maturity, that you would bear fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty, lots of fruit. For what is that fruit? It's souls that are brought into the kingdom of God and preserved forever. Those that are brought in and receive that everlasting life that only Almighty God can provide. And that fruit is holiness unto everlasting life. You see, because obedience begets holiness, because we resist the devil and he flees. We don't give in to the temptation anymore. We walk away from the temptation, whatever that temptation is. You know, Rich and I were speaking earlier this morning as the music was playing, and we were discussing this very topic. Rich didn't know what my message was about. None of us is without sin. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Each and every one of us need our Savior. And it's only by His power that we can come to Him and live by Him in His will, His way, doing what He wants for each and every one of us, that we would grow into maturity and bear fruit into the kingdom of God, because that's what He wants for all of us. It's not just for the preacher. See, this is like the barn, and you all are the equipment that go out into the field and bring in the harvest. You come in here for a tuna. lube you up a little bit, make some adjustments using the Word of God, of course, because that's the tools that I have to help you all mature into the believers that He wants you to be, that you would follow where He leads and do what He wants. And that's all that I want for all of you, that you would be those who receive the seed on good soil and bear fruit. some 100, some 60, and some 30 times more than what you receive. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank You. Your will be done here today. I believe You've poured out Your Spirit through Your Word, and that each one here has received it with joy. But Lord, let us not be shallow in our receipt of Your Word. Let it root within us. that it would grow, that it would mature, that it would withstand those things that come against it as we grow and mature, that we would be your people doing your will, bearing fruit into your kingdom. And all of God's people said, Amen.