WHAT EFFECT DID THE WORD OF GOD HAVE ON YOU?

Proclamation:

"Then He told them many things in parables, saying: ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop, a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." Matthew 13:3-8 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, as He spoke from a boat to a large crowd which had gathered on the shore.  In this parable of the sower, The Word of God is the seed and the people that hear it are the ground upon which it fell.

Application:

What did you do with The Word of God when you heard it?  Some heard The Word and rejected it, some liked it but it did not change their life, and some let their friends and the world have more influence over them than The Word.  What kind of "ground" are you?  The best way to answer this question is to look at the "fruit" that it has produced in your life.  When the seed, The Word, fell on good ground, it produced good fruit.  The fruit that we produce is the evidence of God in our lives.  The fruit of The Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)  We need to cultivate within our lives a greater receptivity to The Word of God in order for it to grow within us, to produce good fruit, and produce a changed life which will give God glory.

Don't Let Past Sins Stand In Your Way

"At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is The Son of God.  All those who heard him were astonished and asked, 'Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name?  And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?"  Acts 9:21-22 (NIV)

When he received his sight, after being struck down and blinded on the road to Damascus, Saul, who would later be known as the Apostle Paul, changed from persecutor of Christians to preacher for Christ.  He never denied his past actions, in fact he began one of his letters to the believers reminding them of his past sins. (Galatians 1:13)  He even claimed to be the chief among the sinners. (1 Timothy 1:15)   Then he told them that God changed him. (Galatians 1:15-16)

The Lord God turned life of the Apostle Paul completely around and took him from being a well known persecutor, to being a prolific preacher, writer of the biblical epistles, and founder of churches.  He did not let his past sins stand in the way of being used by The Lord.  Some people think that they are too bad for God to want them, or to use them.  Jesus came into this world for the purpose of saving lost sinners. (Romans 5:8)  We all have a past life of sin (Romans 3:23), but thanks be to God, believers have a future gift of eternal life. (Romans 6:23)  Don't let your past sins stand in your way, or hold you back.  God loves you. (John 3:16)  God has plans for you. (Jeremiah 29:11-12)  People will remind you of you past sins when they cannot handle you present situation, and when your future is brighter than theirs.

A Man's Heart Reflects The Man

"As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man."  Proverbs 27:19 (NIV)

King Solomon provides this profound saying, just like still water shows the reflection of a man's face, so his heart reflects who the man really is.

That which is within us will eventually come out.  Just as that which is within us will show forth in the fruit that we produce. (Matthew 7:17-18)  Just as the words that we speak reflect the issues that are within our hearts. (Matthew 12:34 and Luke 6:45)  For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7)  It may be possible to put on an academy award winning performance and fool some of the people some of the time, but it is not possible to fool all of the people all of the time, and it is impossible to fool God any time.  God knows our thoughts. (Psalms 94:11, 1 Corinthians 2:11, and 1 Corinthians 3:20)  We may hide our feelings, thoughts, and intentions from others, but God sees the heart and He knows who we really are. (1 Samuel 16:7)  We need to transform our reflection and renew our mind and heart. (Romans 12:1-2)  We need to pray that God will create in us a clean pure heart and a right spirit. (Psalms 24:4-5 and 51:10)  We want our reflection and our heart t be Christ-like.

Enemies Can Be A Blessing

"In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill The Word of The LORD spoken by Jeremiah, The LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: 'This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The LORD, The God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.  Anyone of His people among you, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of The LORD, The God of Israel, The God who is in Jerusalem.' "  Ezra 1:1-3 (NIV)

The prophet Ezra records that The Lord God moved on the heart of Cyrus, the king of Persia, and he released the people of Judah from captivity and allow them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.  The ten northern tribes of Israel were conquered and enslaved by the Assyrians. The two southern tribes of Judah were conquered and enslaved by the Babylonians, who were subsequently overthrown by the Persians.

God changed the heart of an enemy of His people and used him to help His people.  God can make our enemy a footstool to help take us up a little higher.  (Psalms 110:1, Luke 20:43, Acts 2:35, Hebrews 1:13, & Hebrews 10:13)  God can take the bad that people do to us and turn into a good thing.  (Genesis 50:20)  All things work together for good for them who love The Lord.  (Romans 8:28)

Get Your Heart Right

" 'Even now,' declares The Lord, 'return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.' Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to The Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing ..." Joel 2:12-14 (NIV)

In the midst of a description of the destruction of the land and the suffering of the people, Joel tells them to return to The Lord. He says that if they would demonstrate genuine repentance, that God would forgive them and bless them. Tearing their outer garments, a Jewish way of showing grief, was meaningless the heart is broken in repentance and contrition.

When things are going all wrong for us, there is an opportunity for us to turn or return to God. There are those of us who believe that some times, God allows bad things to happen to us in order to get our attention. Only after making a mess of things, trying to handle it ourselves, do we realize that we need God's help. We must learn the error of our ways, confess and repent, and follow His way.