Transcription

Chris
So, Jeff, I want you to know that, uh, the Jesus talks about four soils today, and he’s teaching about four soils. And, uh, for the longest time, I would consider myself a person having the opposite of a green thumb. You grew up on a farm? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but my my hobby is killing things.

Jeff
Killing things, killing things, plants.

Chris
I try, I try, yeah, I try to plant things. They just usually die.

Jeff
You just can’t make it happen. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I’m not great at it either. That’s why I don’t live on a farm anymore. So he’s Chris, and I’m Jeff, and we’re the Bible guys. Yeah. And just for clarity’s sake, I grew up more on a homestead than a farm. Like, we didn’t have a bunch of farm animals. We had chickens. But yeah, okay, okay. It was more of a homestead, you know, we had a little orchard and a big garden. I grew up.

Chris
In the homestead.

Jeff
Little vineyard and all that. Michigan. Yeah, yeah. Lapeer. Lapeer. Yeah.

Chris
So, uh. Hey. So, uh, so Desiree says in light of our one year anniversary, one.

Jeff
Year anniversary.

Chris
One year anniversary. This is the anniversary week. The Bible guys. Man. Uh, she wants our segment to be to tell a story about either an anniversary or a birthday. Birthday that has happened in our own lives. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we didn’t even look at this, did we? Know? So. So I’m going to give you a second to think about yours, okay? And I’ll.

Jeff
Tell mine you already have.

Chris
A story. I do because.

Jeff
Because you always already have a story.

Chris
Well, I got in a car wreck, uh, and totaled my entire car on my anniversary, on my way to our getaway.

Jeff
Oh, wow.

Chris
Yeah, it was terrible. So it was. It was, uh, my wife and I were driving. Thank. Thank the Lord. Uh, it was a big, huge, um. Uh, it wasn’t a suburban. What’s the one? Tahoe. Right? It was a Tahoe. And my my father in law for a time in our early marriage, uh, uh, my father in law would get done with his cars and his company, and he would sort of pass them on, and we just used them on their last leg. And so we would get a couple of different times in a row. And, uh, this Tahoe was, uh, green and silver, uh, two tone. And I remember, uh, running a red light. And this was one of the only, uh, times, uh, where I just remember. Stop. I stopped thinking this way, you know, it goes yellow. You’re like, I can make it right after this wreck. I’ve never thought that before again. Right. But, you know. Oh, yeah, I can make it. And sure enough, the light was way quicker than I thought. I was not as close as I thought. And there was somebody in the thing right waiting to turn left. He turns in front of us. I smashed this poor little, uh, you know, uh, little tiny, teeny car with a spoiler on it, and it just flies. And I remember my wife hurt her foot. Um, anyway.

Jeff
Happy anniversary.

Chris
Happy anniversary, honey. And we’re heading to the to the bed and breakfast. Oh, wow. And we were in Atlanta, Georgia. I remember running out, going over, and this kid was literally changing a CD. So not only was he turning left in an intersection, he was not looking up because he was changing a CD. Oh, and I ran a red light. It was a horrible situation and so our car was totaled. Wow. Happy anniversary, by the way. Ten year anniversary. Not just not just any.

Jeff
It was a big one.

Chris
It was a big one. It was a big one. Yeah, it was terrible.

Jeff
Wow. Yeah. That’s terrible. Uh, well, so. So you did an anniversary. I’ll do a birthday.

Chris
Okay. Well, she didn’t say. Good story.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, she.

Chris
Just said story.

Jeff
So I, uh. Now now that I look back, I’m 52 now. I peaked on my fifth birthday. Nice. Yeah. It peaked.

Chris
Um, everybody else knew that, by the way. Yeah.

Jeff
On my fifth birthday. So we didn’t have a lot of money. Yeah. Uh, but my mom decided to kind of splurge for my birthday, and so there was a ice cream place in Flint, Michigan called Farrell’s. And, man, they’d have big party. It was a huge party. Huge. The way they put on the party, the food was good. Everything was fun. Kids like to go. They give you way too much for your banana split, all that kind of stuff. It was a lot of fun and, uh, clowns, the whole nine yards. And so, um, my mom said I can invite, like, six kids to go with me, and I invited all girls. It was me and six girls. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I had a whole bunch of.

Chris
You’re right. You did peak on your fifth anniversary or fifth birthday.

Jeff
I had a bunch of guy friends, but I’m like, dude, I can take six girls with me to ice cream. How cool is that? Yeah, a total I had so much game when I was five years old. Right?

Chris
Right. And then where did it all go? Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Well, that was it. That’s what I’m saying. I peaked after that. Yeah.

Chris
That’s so funny.

Jeff
So that was my, uh, my big birthday.

Chris
That’s great.

Jeff
So this was our birthday yesterday. Yesterday was our one one year birthday.

Chris
Uh, well, anniversary, I would say anniversary. Actually, it is both, isn’t it? It is.

Jeff
That’s what I’m saying. Yeah, that’s why I told the birthday story.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, it’s a, it’s a birthday and anniversary. Yeah, yeah. That’s cool. Okay. Well good.

Jeff
Hey, we’re going to give you a mission. Project to do. Would you like us? Follow us on Facebook. And would you then share us on Facebook with all of your friends and family? Because we know Facebook needs Jesus. Facebook needs a little bit of the Bible guys, so make sure you do that today.

Chris
Well, today we are actually looking at, um, the four soils and it’s found in Matthew 13, Mark four and Luke eight. They’re slightly different, but we’ve got some we’ve got some ground to cover here.

Jeff
Yeah, there’s a lot. Now the the Matthew passage is the longest one, but let’s just get right at it because it’s really an important I think idea. Oh for sure. Um, for what it means to share the gospel. Uh, how ministry works just in general. This is a fundamental, uh, passage for Jesus. So here’s what it says in Matthew chapter 13, verse one. It says later that same day, Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore, and he told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one. Listen. A farmer went out to plant some seeds as he scattered them across his field. Some seeds fell on a footpath and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on the shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow, but the plants soon wilted under the sun, and since they did not have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was 30, 60, even 100 times as much as had been planted. Anyone with the ears to hear should listen and understand. His disciples came and asked him, why do you use parables when you talk to the people? He replied, you are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But those for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have, will be taken away from them. Jeff
That is why I use these parables. For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear but they don’t really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, when you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened in their ears, cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes, so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them. But blessed are your eyes because you because they see, and your ears because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see, but they didn’t see it and they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it. Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long, and they fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s Word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s Word. But all too quickly, the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth. So no fruit is produced. The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s Word, produce a harvest of 30, 60, or even 100 times as much as had been planted. Jeff
That’s interesting. Luke says it this way. He says once again, Jesus began teaching by the lakeshore. A very large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat in the boat while all the people remained on the shore. And he taught them by telling many stories in the forms of parables such as this one. Listen. A farmer went out to plant some seed as he scattered it across the field. Some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock, and the seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow, but the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants, so they produced no grain. Still others fell on. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they sprouted, grew and produced a crop that was 30, 60, even 100 times as much as had been planted. Then he said, anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Later, when Jesus was alone with the 12 disciples and the others who were gathered around, they asked him what the parables meant, and he replied, you are permitted to understand the secret of the kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders, so the scriptures might be fulfilled. When they see what I do, they’ll learn nothing. When they hear what I say, they’ll not understand. Otherwise they will turn to me and be forgiven. Then Jesus said to them, if you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables? The farmer plants seed by taking God’s Word to others. Jeff
The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long and they fall away as soon as they have problems or persecuted for believing God’s Word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s Word. But all too quickly, the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things. So no fruit is produced, and the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s Word and produce a harvest 30, 60, or even 100 times as much as had been planted. And then lastly Luke says.

Chris
Yeah, here we go again.

Jeff
One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him. A farmer went out to plant a seed, and as he scattered across the field, some seed fell on a footpath where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. Still, other seed fell on fertile soil, and this seed grew and produced a crop that was 100 times as much as it been planted. When he had said this, he called out, anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. And his disciples asked him what this parable meant, and he replied, you are permitted to understand the things, the secrets of the kingdom of God. But I used parables to teach others so that the scriptures might be fulfilled. When they look, they won’t really see. When they hear, they won’t understand. This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is God’s word. The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing in being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while. Then they fall away when they face temptation. The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly, the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and so they never grow into maturity. Jeff
And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent good, honest, good hearted people who hear God’s Word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

Chris
Well, there it is. It was recorded in three of the four Gospels. Yeah, each one of them have slightly different detail. Uh, one. One used the word moisture, uh, which. And as opposed to deep roots. Yeah. Uh, one talked about, uh, maturity. Maturity. And it doesn’t produce grain, which the other ones did not. Um, and sometimes he quoted the book of Isaiah and he quoted the whole thing, uh, in this particular passage in Luke. Uh, he only quoted the first part of Isaiah. Yep. So it’s just that the different authors, God used the different authors to record the same event, and all of them are just they were all there for all the details, but they only recorded, uh, slight variances of some of the details. And, uh, and so the harmony of the Gospels is a wonderful thing because we piece them together. But this one’s pretty consistent. There’s not too much else to learn there. Um, but I love how Jesus is, uh, you know, this is one of the few times where he lays out the the meaning, right? Right. Because a lot of times he’ll he’ll he’ll say something and you’re like, wow, that’s that’s pretty deep, you know? Right, right. And you’re left to sort of, you know, attach the application and the comparisons and, and what that really means. But here he is clearly saying this is exactly what I meant. And so over the years, you know, you and I have both taught this how many times. Oh yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And uh, in fact, the last time you taught it, I wrote I wrote the message, and I remember writing an object lesson and, uh, and you’re like, do I do? I got to do this. Chris
And I was like, yeah. I said, we’ll have the wheelbarrow, remember? Yeah, yeah. I said, we’ll have the wheelbarrow. And we stacked it full of like. Soil and plants and everything like this. And I even had written on there, if you can wear the work gloves and, and to your credit, man, you put them on and you came right out because you’re not an object lesson guy. I am I’m.

Jeff
Not an object lesson guy. I’m a storyteller, but not an object lesson.

Chris
Yeah, but and you played it. You played it and it was awesome. It was awesome.

Jeff
It was my my delivery.

Chris
Was.

Jeff
Masterful.

Chris
It was, it was, it was, it was it was captivating. And it was a good idea.

Jeff
It really was a good idea.

Chris
I appreciate it, but but it was captivating. And you came out and taught this and and really there’s there’s a lot of the Bible headings, you know, there’s a heading for the, for the, for the passage. Uh, I think, I think I want, uh, I think I went in and I looked at all the versions and you know, that the majority of all the versions, uh, say they call this the sower and the seed, where they call this the parable of the seed. Uh, one of them says the farmer scattering seed. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And and all of them, like 20 of them. And then this one that we just read calls it the parable of the Four Soils, which is really.

Jeff
What it’s about.

Chris
It’s really about the four soils. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So obviously the, the, the, you know, the importance of God being the farmer is pretty important. Yeah. Yeah. The seed being God’s word is essential right. Yeah. But the point of the story is the condition of the heart in which it falls on. Yeah. Right. That’s right.

Jeff
How people respond. Yes.

Chris
Which is the soil. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think I think for me, um, I’ve always thought of, um, names. When I hear that, it says, you know, for some, you know, it falls upon the, the rocky soil. Bob Johnson. Yeah. Right. But I really have like, like, I think of, like, all my friends in high school. So we had this top five contest, uh, you know, where the people who brought the most visitors get gets a reward. So I brought a ton of visitors every year. And all the way through my freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year of going to church, I probably bought 100 guests each year. And, um, and I remember, um, watching our youth group explode. And I remember seeing some people, uh, like, literally become Christians. And all of a sudden they become like an integral part of our youth group, you know, and all of a sudden it’s like, wow, who would have thought? And then some people are like, yeah, I’m out. You know, they hear.

Jeff
The same message, the same. Yes, Holy Spirit shows up in the room and they just yes, the seed lands on rocky soil. It doesn’t take any root at all. Right, right, right.

Chris
And then and then, of course, just like my, my good neighbor. Uh, so I had a childhood neighbor, uh, who lived right across the street from me, who was my best friend. And, uh, and I invited him one time, and we moved, and I still kept in touch. And he came, and he was the he was the soil who, uh, he received it with joy at first because. But then he didn’t have very much deep roots and and then all of a sudden, you know, it went away. Yeah. And then he stopped coming to church, and he was excited for a couple minutes there, you know, and, uh, and I remember he still sort of reaches out to me from time to time over the decades, you know, just really appreciating that tiny season in his life. Yeah. I seem to be connected to the source of his, uh, you know, faith. Yeah.

Jeff
And then you get the people that. You know, the gospel makes sense. They the the seed grows for a little while, but then all these other weeds grow up in their life and they get totally choked out. They get choked out by the worries and the struggles and the just the everyday grind of life. Um, or some of the passages just talk about the pursuit of wealth or whatever. Right?

Chris
Pleasure. We all know people like that.

Jeff
Oh, yeah. Well, I think that’s. Billy Graham used to say that he. He thought that only half the people sitting in church were actually saved. So he thought half the people, it was just rocky ground. And then he said of the other three groups sitting in there, he felt like half were that group. The weeds grow up and they just never really grow to maturity. Using the Book of Luke, they’re sitting there. They have some roots, there’s some benefit, but they’re never really producing the fruit God wants in them because they’re getting choked out by all the other things in life. They’re distracted by everything else. Yeah. And not um, so the goal is and I think it’s interesting. So his goal is the good ground, the good soil where they grow up and then produce a 30, 60 or 100 fold return. God’s an investor and he expects a return back, right? That’s what he wants.

Chris
I always wanted to say 90. Yeah, yeah. 30, 60, 90.

Jeff
Instead of yeah, yeah for the numbers. But he.

Chris
Jumps. Yeah, yeah 30 6100.

Jeff
Yeah yeah yeah. So 33, 6600.

Chris
It’s like playing tennis.

Jeff
Would that help you.

Chris
It’s like playing tennis. Yeah.

Jeff
Who put together the scoring system for tennis is crazy.

Chris
You’re here Brian Regan talk about it. Yeah yeah yeah it’s really funny so. Yeah so and I do I do love uh, you know, watching a person, you know, who has good soil where, where the word of God makes sense and you see a light bulb come on. And then all of a sudden they just take off. And, uh, and what’s so interesting about this is when I first started coming to church, my wife, uh, I only came back to church because I was trying to get a date. Right. So I was invited to this church. It was fun. Uh, it was. It was this contest that, you know, I was a part of that contest, so I just came for that reason. Uh, but anyway, the point is, my wife saw me go from this person who was only there for the wrong reasons. And all of a sudden, she said, I remember when it just it took in your life, she says, and you just took off as a Christian. And then all of a sudden I started, you know, I think, I think this is true. I think I was blazing the trail, man. I was I was leading the way. I just took off in my faith. And, uh, and she and she saw that she was on the sidelines watching that, you know, and we were dating, you know, off and on during that time. Right, right. And so the person she ended up marrying was radically different than the person who first tried to get a date with her, right? Who was he? He was the old me, the BC me before Christ.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. So there’s another element here too, as, uh, people who, for the listeners in the online that are, are thinking about their own life and the fact that, you know, God’s called you to plant seed to we’re all supposed to be planting God’s word in other people, right? Uh, but only 25% of the seed that the farmer who he says is God. Jesus said this, the farmer is God. The seed is the Word of God. Only 25% of it actually takes root. So there’s, uh, either you can take that as a discouraging thing. 75% of the seed that you sow isn’t going to produce, or you can take it as a challenge, which is what I do. I take it as a challenge. Well, then if I know 25% is going to produce, I need to put out way more, right, right, right. Just keep going at it. The other thing that, you know, as a as a kid that grew up with a lot of, um, planting our garden, uh, the, our table garden was a little over an acre in size. Right. That’s a big garden. Oh. And, um, we would. Our soil. When my mom and dad bought the homestead that we lived on, it wasn’t great and it didn’t produce great. But over the years my dad worked it. I can remember every spring we’d get out with the plow and we would turn over the ground, and then we would walk around. We’d pick up all the rocks that are out there because we turn up new rocks, you know, because rocks are moving in the soil all the time, up and down they move. And so we’d plow through. We’d kick up some rocks, we’d haul them out. Jeff
We had a big rock pile, which every farm has. A big rock pile, by the way. Uh, but we had a big rock pile that we would keep all the rocks on. And then my dad would do tests on the soil, and sometimes we needed more, uh, you know, pH or whatever, and we would go and get the thing. We’d add lime to our soil sometimes, or the other way, we’d go get manure, and we’d bring a bunch of manure from one of the farms down the road. And then we would, we would plow that and.

Chris
And disc it in and.

Jeff
Yeah, and and it would add the nutrients necessary so you can cultivate bad soil and turn it into good soil. The Holy Spirit does that in us. But I think you can do that in the lives of the people around you. So keep cultivating, hey, if it needs to be plowed, plow it. If it needs to have the rocks removed, begin doing some of that. Do it with grace and truth. Do it with gentleness and respect, as as Peter says. But I think you can cultivate over a long period of time, keep coming back to that same field and working that field and what wouldn’t produce before might produce now. Yeah, yeah. So it’s worth keeping doing the work.

Chris
Well, I remember going to Lowe’s or Home Depot or whatever and buying a bag of, of, of soil, you know, and uh, and somebody would say, well, geez, why would you buy a bag of soil? And I remember turning it over and reading it, and it actually said, you know, it was bragging on the company, right? It was bragging on themselves. And they were saying, buy our product because this soil is perfectly conditioned for seeds and maximum growth. Right, right. And exactly what you’re talking about. Right. And so if you buy it, they’ll do the work for you. Right?

Jeff
Yeah. It’s the manure has already been. Yeah. The manure and the lime has already been put in it.

Chris
Hey, uh, I know oftentimes we don’t necessarily cross reference, but I wanted to cross reference, uh, first Corinthians three where Paul is talking about like, um, uh, planting and and and watering and he says, uh, some people say I’m a follower of Paul and others say I follow Apollos. He said he said, after all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? He said, we are only God’s servant through whom you believed the good news. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts. Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow, right? It’s not important who does the planting or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow, right? The one who plants and the one who waters works together for the same purpose. Both will be rewarded for their hard work. Uh, so, you know, it reminds me of is, um, I remember one time going to Israel or going to Africa and, uh, this whole this, this missionary guy was on the ground. And for years and years he was praying for the village. And they asked me to preach one time. And I got up and the whole village came to Christ. And they were like, Chris, wasn’t that an amazing experience? I’m like, yeah, I’m standing on the shoulders of Pastor Solomon. Yeah, right.

Jeff
The ground had already been plowed, the seeds already been planted. You did come in and take the harvest.

Chris
I just can’t take the heart. I felt guilty is what I did, right? But, hey, listen, I, I’m noticing that that we’re at our time, so.

Jeff
So keep planting seeds. Keep cultivating the ground. Yeah. And trust that God will bring the harvest. That’s awesome. So don’t don’t give up on the people that you’re sharing the gospel with.

Chris
That’s awesome. That’s a great place to end. We’ll see you next time on The Bible Guys.