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Part 19 of 44Journey Through Matthew
Wisdom & Wonder, Season 2, Episode 2 - The Parable of the Sower
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Part 19 of 44Journey Through Matthew
Wisdom & Wonder, Season 2, Episode 2 - The Parable of the Sower
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
I want to tag a title to this message. This is a heavy text, man. This is a heavy text. Even as I'm staring at my Bible, I just feel the weight of trying to handle this text as a human being. It's serious. It's weighty. I feel a fresh anointing to preach this to you.
We're going to call this message Where's Your Heart? Where is it right now as I'm talking to you? Where is your heart?
I took my wife away recently to what we call a station here in downtown Atlanta. We live out in the suburbs. A station is what you do when you either don't have the money or don't have the time to get to an island—you slide off to someplace in your city and you spend some time with the person you love. That's a note for husbands and wives: you still have to get away and be together. You have to keep investing in the most important relationships of your life.
Lena and I slipped away for a station, and we were in a hotel right here in downtown Atlanta. I asked them to put us on one of the top floors because I wanted to be able to get a view of the city. On that first night, after Lena fell asleep, I walked over to the window and looked out at the city, and I just burst into tears. I began to pray over the city. I could feel the brokenness of Jesus for the city of Atlanta. This city is steeped in perversion and it's masked in religion. This city has a lot of religion, but behind that is a lot of perversion. I could feel how God's heart was broken over the city.
The next morning, as I was driving through the city, I was looking at all the people in the streets—hundreds of them, thousands of them everywhere. The Lord said about all of us, "Look at them. They're like sheep scattered without a shepherd." As I considered this city and everybody walking through it, I thought about you in this room. I thought about our digital disciples. I thought about everybody in Atlanta. My heart was broken as I thought about the tragedy of the depravity of human beings—men and women who are separated from God.
How many people right now are dealing with all manner of thoughts in their mind, disconnected from the filter of God's word? How many of us are dealing with a myriad of emotions, disconnected from the filter of God's word? How many of us right now are making all kinds of life decisions—important decisions about who you're going to marry, who you're dating, what house to buy, what job to take, what city to move to—and we're making all these decisions disconnected from the wisdom of God's word?
I'm about thinking about how many of us sitting in this room right now, watching me right now, are building whole lives on everything other than the wisdom of God's word. If there's ever been a time for us to lean into the words of Christ, that time is now, in this moment, in this hour.
Last week, I laid a foundation for you. Right now, we are involved in a very real spiritual warfare. There is warfare happening right now all around you in the unseen realm. At the center of that warfare are two kingdoms that are at war.
First, there is the kingdom of darkness, which is run and powered by Satan himself—that dragon and serpent of old from the garden, from the time he first deceived Adam and Eve. The sin nature of human beings, all of the suffering, wars, death, famine, sickness, suicide, depression, fights and schisms against one another, divorce, and all the pain of human suffering—all of that is being powered by Satan under the kingdom of darkness.
At the same time, there is another kingdom: the Kingdom of Light, the kingdom of God Almighty, that is at war against the kingdom of darkness. Scripture tells us in the book of Revelation that at one point in time, this kingdom will overthrow the kingdom of darkness. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God, and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. In the end, there will only be one kingdom, one king, one government, one rule, and the enemy will be defeated.
It was in the first century AD with the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ's Incarnation that He brought into the earth the promise of the Old Testament—that Kingdom of Heaven that had been spoken of for thousands of years. Christ came preaching, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." In Christ, we see the inauguration on earth of the Kingdom of Heaven coming in full force.
Right now, as I'm talking to you, from the days of John the Baptist through the preaching ministry of Jesus, and right now as Philip Anthony Mitchell is talking to you, the kingdom of God is expanding in every direction. The hearts of men all across this city, all across this nation, all across this world—what started with a group of people in the upper room of John Mark's mother's house has turned into two billion people around the world and millions throughout history, praising and worshiping and celebrating Jesus's kingdom.
Jesus, in the first century AD, in response to those who rejected Him and rejected His teaching and rejected the gospel, changed His ministry from speaking plain theology to now speaking in parables. Jesus left for us an archive of encrypted teachings called parables. In those encrypted teachings are the secrets, the mysteries—the mysterion in Greek—of the kingdom of God: the functionality of the kingdom and the operation of the kingdom that believers are living in right now.
Matthew tells us in chapter 13, verse 1: "That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 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."
Jesus says, "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 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 the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked them out. And other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain—some 100-fold, some 60-fold, some 30-fold. And then Jesus says to everybody, 'He who has ears to hear, let them hear.'"
The disciples came to Jesus and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He answered them and said: "To you, the followers, it has been given to know the secrets, the mysterion, of the Kingdom of Heaven. But to them, it has not been given."
We understand that the parables served two purposes: to reveal and to conceal. They reveal truths of the Kingdom of Heaven to the disciples and conceal truth from those who have rejected Him. The parables were a form of judgment against those who rejected God. The parables were not given to make things clear; the parable was given as a form of judgment against those who trampled over the truth of Jesus.
Because He was rejected, He changed His language. When you are rejected, sometimes you have to change your language. Sometimes it may be silence. Sometimes it may be "God bless you." But sometimes you have to talk differently to people who don't respect what you have to say.
He says: "For to the one that has been given, he will have an 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, and they do not understand."
Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: "You will indeed hear but never understand. You will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and with their eyes they have been closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their heart and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them."
The fact that the Lord said "if only people would listen to what I'm saying, if only they would see what I'm saying, if only they would understand what I'm saying, they might have a chance. They might turn to me even now in this moment, and they might be healed." The fact that the Lord said they might be healed shows there's a presupposition in the text that humanity is sick with sin and in need of a savior.
But He said to His followers: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see. And your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see. Many longed to hear what you hear, but they did not."
The purpose of the parables was for revelation and for repudiation. This parable of the sower is the key that unlocks the understanding of all the other parables. This is a foundational parable. Most of the other parables start with "The Kingdom of Heaven is like," but this parable does not start with those words because this parable tells us the entrance into the Kingdom. So this parable is the doorway, the foundational parable. To understand all the parables, you must understand this parable.
Now, what Jesus is about to do is become what I call a good preacher. He's about to unpack the parable for them in an expository fashion, which means Jesus is going to walk through the parable line by line, verse by verse. He's not going to preach opinions or old crazy doctrine. He's going to walk through the parable line by line, verse by verse.
He gave them a word. Now he's about to exposit the word. That is good biblical preaching: not taking a verse and forcing it to say what you want it to say, not lifting a verse out of context and making it say something that you wanted to say. Instead, taking the Bible and making it preach what it says.
Some of you say, "I don't like 2019. It's boring. They just walk through books of the Bible line by line, verse by verse." We got that from somewhere. Some of the stuff I'm telling you, society has got you high on craziness. Some of the stuff you think is whack is all the things that you should love about the Lord.
You're too drugged up on man-made doctrine. When you get real food, man, you don't even know what it tastes like. Your palate is only good for candy. You only want to hear eight steps to your blessing and four steps to your new house. All you care about is your vision board. So when truth comes, you don't want any part of that.
I'm done with sermons that try to make me feel fluffy. I don't want to feel fluffy. I don't want you telling me every week that I'm awesome and I'm floating on clouds and what I'm about to get. I don't want you telling me about how blessed I am every week. I want to know the word. Teach me the word. I want to know God's word.
The Lord did not exalt a preacher above His name. He exalted the word above His own name. He did not say "the words of a preacher will be forever settled in heaven." He said this word will be forever settled in heaven. The scripture says it cannot be broken.
You love the entertainment of men, but we don't love the preaching of God's word. After twenty years in, I don't want any more cotton candy. It will rot out your teeth and your soul. We want the sincere milk of the word.
So what Jesus is about to do, like a good teacher, is walk them through the parable of the sower line by line, verse by verse.
He starts out in verse 18: "Hear then the parable of the sower."
Stop. I want to draw your attention to two things in this first verse. The words "Hear then." You know what that is? Pay attention. What He's trying to tell them is: I'm about to reveal to you the mysteries of the Kingdom. So now that the word is about to be proclaimed, sit up and pay attention.
He's trying to train His disciples how to respond to gospel proclamation. When the word is being proclaimed, you should lean forward to hear it. You should lean in with your heart, lean in with your mind, lean in with your spirit. Something in you should be like, "Lord, I want to know the word."
A mature believer hungers for the word. A mature Christian hungers for the word. They come to church praying like, "Lord, make me ready to hear the word."
Now, I want to draw your attention to the article in front of "sower." The "the sower" here has an identification, and the identity of the sower is Christ Himself. He's teaching them a parable about His own ministry. Some of us have been taught this wrong, but we learn from what He has done in His own ministry. So He is the sower, and sowing is a metaphor for the spreading of the gospel. We can sow individually, one to one, or we can sow corporately, church to nation.
Verse 19: "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 has been sown on the path."
Everybody, pay attention. What Jesus is doing right now is saying: For everybody who proclaims the word, for everybody who's a preacher, every time the word is preached, every time the gospel is proclaimed—on podcast, on platforms, in nations of the world—whenever the word is proclaimed, it will always be met by four different types of responses.
Anytime the word is preached, anytime the seed is thrown out, it will always be met by four different types of responses and four different types of people. All four of those people are in this room right now. All four of those people are watching me live right now. The only question we need to ask of the text is: Which person are you?
First, he identifies the seed from the parable as the word of God. So the seed is the word. Why would he call the word a seed? Something dry, something that seems dead—but yet inside a seed is the power to bring forth life and transformation. You can drop a seed in soil and it can transform that entire soil. It can fall into something and rearrange atmospheres, rearrange homes, rearrange the soil. Inside of a seed is the unlimited potential to transform anything that it hits.
So he calls the word a seed. This is very powerful because not every seed is the word of God. There's some seed that's no seed at all. You have some seed that is fake seed—fake preaching. You have some seed that's processed seed—compromised preaching. You have some seed that's unhealthy seed—toxic preaching. Not all preaching is the seed of the word of the kingdom. But Jesus said: "The seed is the word of the kingdom, not the word of men, not the word of Google, not the word of articles."
Then he identifies the location of the seed. It is sown into the heart. Notice: the seed is not sown into the mind. The seed is not coming for intellect. The seed is sown into the interior of the human being—into the heart, the place that brings transformation.
The scripture says: "From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. From the heart, all of the issues of life flows." So the seed targets the heart. It targets the thing that needs to be transformed most about you.
You say, "Oh, I got a good heart." No, you don't. The Bible says your heart is wicked. That's what the scripture says. The scripture says, "Your heart is wicked above all things. Who can know it?"
So the seed targets the evil and darkness of the heart. It doesn't target the intellect. That's why people can know scriptures with your mind and not be transformed in your heart.
Come on! How many people do you know? You can quote Psalm 23, but you don't understand what it means in your heart. You know the Lord's Prayer by memory, but you don't know what it means in your heart. You've got all kind of people in society always posting scriptures like they're some kind of sage. But the same scripture you post has not transformed you in your heart. So you post it about things that has not transformed you. You know it intellectually, but you don't know it in your heart.
The word targets the heart and bypasses the conscious. It's a sword that cuts through all of that stuff to get to the real part of you.
Here, he gives us the first kind of ground. He said it is sown on the path. When it falls on the path, in the parable, the birds of the air come and snatch the word of God.
So here we see the first kind of response to the preaching of the gospel: the path.
I've been to Israel. Israel farmers would walk in between their fields and throw grain on both sides of their field. The pathway they were walking on would be a dirt pathway. From the constant traffic on that pathway, the dirt would get packed down, packed down, packed down until the dirt was hardened. The dirt was so hard that if any seed from the farmer landed on that path, it would just sit on top of the path, exposed to the elements, because the ground was so hard it could not penetrate.
So this first type of response is what I call the hardened heart. This is the person: when they hear the gospel, man, they block it out automatically. They don't want nothing to do with the gospel, nothing to do with Jesus, nothing to do with the kingdom, nothing to do with ministry. This is the atheist, the agnostic, the Muslim. This is the person at your job, the person you try to witness to. This is the person you try to talk to about Jesus, and they are angry that you talked to them about the Lord. They want nothing to do with the Lord.
This is the family member that rebukes you for trying to tell them about Jesus. "Who do you think you are?" These are the people that when they hear the word of God, immediately they block it out. It goes in one ear and out the other ear. They want nothing to do with the word of God at all.
Now, I want you to notice what Jesus said about these people. He said: soon as the word is sown into a person with a hard heart, pay attention, he says, immediately Satan comes and he snatches that seed from the person.
So Jesus is giving us insight into an unseen realm that is so powerful! When the word of God lands on a person who has a hard heart, in the natural, you see resistance. In the spiritual, the devil came and snatched that word from that person. He took it so fast they didn't even have time to think about it.
They heard the gospel, and then an hour later they're at a restaurant and the gospel has already leaked out of them. It's already leaked out of him. It's like the birds of the air that come and snatch the gospel.
I thought about this when I was reading. My wife and I, a couple of years ago, were in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and we came to the center of San Juan and there was this park. When we came to the park, man, there were thousands of pigeons in that park. I'm from New York, so we know about pigeons, right? You don't play with them. They're nasty. Got stuff under their wings.
I had some food in my hand, listen. I took that food because I'm a New Yorker—we like to play with pigeons. I threw that food in the middle of all those pigeons. As soon as that food landed on the ground, it sat there on the concrete, and then immediately hundreds of pigeons just swooped in and they just gobbled up all of that seed. They just took it, and they were violent when they ate up all that seed. By the time they cleared out, there's no seed left. There's nothing left to penetrate the ground.
He says: This is what happens when the word of God is sown into a heart that's hardened. As soon as they hear the word, in the unseen realm, the devil runs towards that person before they even have time to think about it, and he snatches the word from that person.
This is why I encourage our church: when the gospel is being preached, watch and pray, yeah. Watch. Because Jesus has shown us right here that around the preaching of God's word is spiritual warfare.
Wake up! Would y'all wake up? When the gospel is going across social media, going across cameras, going into nations of the world, the devil is seeing the word landing on hard stone, and he snatches it.
This is why we should be praying when the gospel is being preached, man. You see me preaching the gospel, sharing the invitation for Christ, and you're sitting there staring at me like this is a show. Wow. When we are on the front line of warfare! When we are trying to rescue people from being damned to eternal fire!
This is why, man, when I'm in places and I hear somebody giving the gospel, I bow my head and I just start praying: "Lord, open the eyes of every believer. Open the hearts of every unbeliever. Open the eyes of the unbeliever. God, minister to their hearts." I'm crying out that somewhere, somehow, that ground would get broken up really quick—just enough time for one seed to get into their hearts.
Now, while I'm talking about the unbeliever, some of y'all Christians are no different than the unbeliever with a hardened heart. Because there's some of y'all here—you act the same way in some areas of your life. There's some areas of your life, man, you love Jesus. He is your savior. Anything about blessing you, you love. Anything that makes you feel good, you love. Anything that's blowing up your stuff, you love.
But you've got a hardened heart towards areas that make you feel convicted. You don't want Him to be Lord over areas that you don't like. Areas that you God, in the flesh, He can't tell you what to do with your body, right? Your heart is hardened in that area. He can't tell you about sexual immorality, right? Your heart is hardened in that area.
It's the one dude—don't want to put no ring on it. Why does he got to do that when he's digging around in the cookie jar? You don't want to hear that you should stop having sex before marriage. You've got a hardened heart in that area.
You're the one here: "You should be generous with your money." It's my money. You've got a hardened heart in that area.
You're the one to hear: "You should love." No, I don't want to love them. You've got a hardened heart in that area.
See, and right now, as I'm talking to you, some of you are squirming. You feel uncomfortable. Why? Because the place that convicts you the most is the place you need to listen the most.
Yeah. You don't want to clap for that, right? You don't want to clap for that. The place that convicts you the most is the place you should listen the most.
Some of us, man, you love Jesus as Savior, but He's not ruling over your life. He only rules an area that's convenient for you. But any area that rubs you wrong or pulls you out of your comfort zone or offends your opinion, you're not submitted to Him in that area. You've got hardened areas of your own heart.
I'm talking to you. You read something in the scripture that convicts you, and you turn the page. He can't talk to you about your identity. He can't talk to you about sexuality. He can't talk to you about who to vote for. He can't talk to you about what to stand for. He can't talk to you about marriage. He can't talk to you about the sanctity of human life, because you're black and you don't want to stand up for children in a womb. So you're offended by that.
Never mind He told Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you." But because you're black, you don't like that. It's too Republican for you. It's too white for you. No. Your heart is hardened in the area that the word can't penetrate.
I'm talking to you. I don't care. We need to be honest: for all of your loving Jesus, there are areas you won't let Him have authority over. "No, He can't have authority there. Like, so I could bless you, but I can't talk to you about who to marry. I can't talk to you about who to date. I can't tell you what to do with your money, although I gave you the strength to have that job. I can't talk to you about your friends. I can't talk to you about what to walk away from. I can't tell you to put that down, stop this, turn. I can't tell you none of that. So I'm only good enough for you as long as I don't offend you."
No. You're not married to me. I'm your mistress. You're not married to Jesus. He's not the groom of your church. He's your mistress. He's just a side piece. He's only good for a one night stand. Come see me on Friday night and get out of here till the next week.
I'm talking to y'all. I don't care. I said, "Oh, how could you talk like that?" Because I love you. How could you talk like that? They may not come back next week. I don't care about that. I don't care about that. We preach the truth whether it fills up a room or it cleanses it out.
When you mature, you don't want to be cuddled. When you mature, you want to be convicted. Somebody praise God for conviction.
I was having a conversation yesterday with two dudes at the barber shop, and one dude was talking about how he fell one time and he made a mistake and how God convicted him of his life and brought him back. He was telling it like it was a sad story, and I said, "Hold on, brother. Did you hear what you just said? You said the Lord convicted you and brought you back."
I said, "Brother, don't you know Hebrews 12? Those He loved, He disciplined. If the Lord convicted you, that means His hand is still up. His hand is still on you. His conviction is His love. What are you talking about? His conviction is His love. His discipline is His love."
I said, "Bro, you should be happy. You better be happy." Hebrews 12. But you don't want Romans 1. You don't want Romans 1. The worst place to be is not feeling convicted. The worst place to be is when you feel nothing.
In Romans 1, Paul wrote for people that love their sin, and you don't want to repent. Because of your heart, the Lord will just turn you over to what you want. The worst place to be is when He just turns you over. You want that so bad you can't have that. And me? You want it so bad, you can have it. But you can't have me.
The worst place to be is when you can sin and sleep. This is love talking. Squirm in your seat. This is love talking.
So some of us ain't no different. You love Him, but your heart is hardened in some areas where He is Savior in some areas and Lord in only a few. So He's Savior over all of you, but Lord over some of you.
Verse 20: "As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away."
So now God tells us about another ground. He called it rocky ground.
In Israel—Israel is a rocky nation. There are areas of Israel where you see dirt on the floor, and you think, "Man, that's a good place to sow." But underneath that dirt—maybe a foot to two feet down—is what we call limestone. So if you planted something on that kind of soil, it would go down in there really quick. But as the roots were going down, they would hit the limestone and not go any further. And then on top, the plant would spring up.
But then as soon as the sun came up—the sun is a metaphor for heat, persecution—as soon as people don't like you because you're a Christian, as soon as they don't like what you have to post, as soon as they don't like your preaching, like your YouTube, as soon as you feel haters on your social media, man, you think to yourself, "Man, I want to be a people pleaser." So the heat burns up that plant, and it falls away.
That's what I call a shallow heart. Wow, wow.
Watch. This is the person: they hear the gospel and they so... oh, let's ask Jesus into your heart. They invite Jesus into their heart (which is nowhere in the Bible, but they invite Jesus into their heart). And then they run with Jesus. And then they're going to church three weeks out of the month. And then they join a team. And then they're in a squad. And then they're trying to give a quarter every now and then in the offering. And then they're hanging out with you. And then they're in your row. And they're going to all the church functions. They're cool for a while—two months, maybe even three or four years. They're hanging out for a while, and they look to be a believer.
We think they're a Christian, and we're calling them our sister and we're calling them our brother. We don't wait to see the evidence of grace.
Watch. And then they came to Jesus because some prophet—some false prophet—said to them, "Come to Christ. He'll make your life perfect. He'll make everything good. He'll make you wealthy. You have an easy trip." So they come to Christ for the promise of things.
And then they get the promise of Jesus. In this world, you will have tribulation. And then when tribulation comes because of Christianity, now they've got to make a decision: either keep Christianity and feel the pressure of conviction, or abandon Christianity to feel the freedom of compromise.
Because what trouble does, trouble confirms real believers and exposes fake believers. Yeah. Storms show us who is for real and who is not.
I'm going go deeper. Storms even show you in your life who's with you and who is not. Some of you be crying over a storm, you need to be looking at who's texting you during that storm, who's standing with you during that storm, who's praying for you during that storm.
How is it you go through a storm, come out on the other side, and best friends are gone? People you thought were ritual were gone. You weren't really down for the right reason to begin with.
And then the scripture says: when the heat comes from persecution, they fall away.
In the Greek, the words "fall away" here mean they get offended. Watch. They get offended at the requirements for Christianity. "I love Jesus until the word came to bear on my soul. I love Jesus so long as everybody liked me. I love Jesus so long as nobody was offended by my life. So long as it was easy and comfortable, I loved Him." And then they get offended.
These are the people who say stuff like, "I tried Jesus and it didn't work." But you've got Christians in here who believe this. Who? Y'all behave the same way too. There are areas of your life that are mad shallow.
Now, I'm serious about this. You've got areas of your life that you have no word for. There's no root system that anchors you in God's word. So when you go through trouble, every time you go through trouble, man, you get rocked so bad, nobody can't find you for two years. You don't know how to suffer well. You don't know how to pray. You don't know how to wage war in the spirit. You don't know how to lean on the strength of brothers and sisters. You don't have no roots.
All you have is sermons, but you don't have no word in you. You don't read this word for yourself. You keep listening to all these false prophets. You've got all these shallow whack sermons, but you don't have no mashed potatoes and steak in you. You've got a hot dog Christianity and not a robust Christianity. You ain't got nothing solid. You're still sucking on titties. You're still sucking on breasts. You're still drinking milk.
That's what the Bible says. You're still hanging on to the breast milk when by now you should have moved on from these elementary things.
Any area in your life you realize is shallow, man, sink yourself into God's word in that area. You're dealing with stewardship issues? What does the scripture say about stewardship? You're dealing with lust issues? What does the scripture say about lust? You're dealing with relationship issues? What does the scripture say about relationships? You're having problems in your marriage? What does the scripture say about a real husband? You're dominating your wife—is that loving her like Christ loves the church? You're emasculating your husband—is that being submitted like you're supposed to be submitted?
So in all these areas that you know you're shallow, you know you get tossed all over the place—why don't you bury yourself in God's word in that area? Some of y'all need to start seeing God's word not like a book, see it like a medicine chest.
"What is going on in my heart? Let me see what the word has to say about it."
Some of you need to stop reading for information and start reading for revelation. Like, you've got your little Bible plan, and you get through a chapter, but you didn't learn nothing. Watch, watch, watch, watch, watch. Let talk about the secrets of the kingdom.
I know a dude who's a racist who got saved. And then we're going to do what we always do: "Oh, go start where should I read? Oh, go start in John." Why? That's what culture says. You're racist? Go start in Ephesians. Let you read that there's no more Jew and Gentile. There's no more dividing line. There's no more Greek. There's no more—we're all made one man in Christ. Why wouldn't I send him to where his need is?
Verse 22: "As for that which was sown among the 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."
I've offended a lot, a lot of people today.
So now in Israel, there are areas where you see soil, and the soil is not rocky. It actually looks healthy. Watch. In that soil, there are weeds. In that soil, everybody watch. If you put grain in that soil and then you water that soil, your grain will come up, weeds will come up. And then because the weeds are aggressive, they wrap themselves around the grain. And then they will cut off the life supply of the grain until the grain withers away from the top and it falls down.
So this is about a preoccupied heart. This is the person: they hear the gospel, they start going to church, they're involved in church, and they go a little bit further than the person who was shallow. Man, they're on teams. They might even slip onto the worship team. They might even slip into leadership. They're in squads. They've got friends. They're building a Christian ministry online.
As they're building their things, man, they start to look around at the world. And then two things begin to affect them. It's right here. The first thing is the cares of this world. That is, they start worrying about all these things in life. They start getting entangled with the weeds of life. They're always worried. Always in anxiety. Always worried about "What am I going to do next? What is my purpose? What am I supposed to do?" Always worried, worried, worried, worried, worried.
That worrying creates busyness. Watch. And then they get so busy, they don't have time for the gathering. "I got to... I'm building my business. I don't got time for the gathering. I'm building my ministry. I don't got time for the gathering."
This is so deceitful. "I don't got time for the gathering. I'm too busy. I got too many phone calls, too many Zoom calls. I don't got time to pray. I don't got time to read."
If you're too busy for God, you're too busy.
So the cares of this life, over a period of time, choke out scripture time, choke out prayer time, choke out the gathering. They were here every week. Now they're here three weeks. Now they're here two weeks. Now they pop up once a month. Now they're only here on Christmas and Easter. They've got too much going on with their business. They don't got time for God.
Never mind what He said in Hebrews: that we should not forsake the assembly of the gathering, and we should do this all the more as we see the day of Christ approaching. But no, they're too busy for that. So the cares of this world begin to choke out the life of the word in them.
But something else bothers them, man: the deceitfulness of riches.
Pay attention. The Lord didn't say "riches." He said "the deceitfulness of riches." Watch. Because God is not against blessing you. Abraham was wealthy. David was wealthy. Solomon was wealthy.
But in the end, Solomon got choked out—at the end, messing with crazy women, right? Read.
Watch. This is why many believers are mad at God—that He won't make you wealthy. "So why am I just grinding? Paying my bills?" Because you know, I need to keep you there for a little while. Your character is not strong enough to handle financial blessing. Because some of you, if God gave you what you're asking for, it would choke the life out of you. You'd put a noose around your own neck.
No. Work that 9 to 5. Struggle to pay that bill, yeah. And be in the gathering and be in your prayer closet when the pain of life puts you on your knees, right? Because the Lord didn't say anything wrong with riches. He said there is deceitfulness of riches.
That means He gives us a warning about wealth: that wealth has the power to trick you in your mind. And what wealth does to some people—it deceives you to think that once you have it, your assurance is now in the wealth instead of the person who gave it to you. So now you think because you have wealth, you've got security. "Oh, my God, you think because you got wealth, you're safe?" Like you can't lose it all in a day?
Like the Lord ain't tell another parable about a man who stacked up all his wealth? He said, "You fool! Tonight, your soul is going to be required of you. Now, what are you going to do with all that money?"
The wealth has a way of tricking you to make you think you put your confidence in it, you put your assurance in it, you put your security in it—not knowing it can deceive you. Not knowing anything you buy will still leave you empty in the end.
That it, listen to me—it really takes a mature believer, a grounded believer to have wealth and the wealth not have you. That you have wealth, but Christ is still your priority.
So people who have preoccupied hearts, they last for a while. But after a while, they fall away too.
Now, everybody, pay attention to me. Everybody, look at me.
Who did I say was the original sower? Who? And what was he sewing?
Now, pay attention. There are only four types of responses, and three of them proved to be false converts.
Where am I going with this?
Jesus was the most perfect, most righteous, most skilled preacher the world has ever known. And yet, for all of his preaching, the majority of people who heard his message rejected it.
Watch. So there was nothing wrong with the sower. And there was nothing wrong with the seed. The issue was with the soil.
You are the problem. Not the Lord. Not the word. You. We. The world is the problem.
This should encourage those of us who are proclaimers of truth. When people don't like you because of what you've got to say—and I know what it is—when I was a younger believer, I was preaching and being hurt when I learned that people did not receive what I had to say. I was dealing with two things: a misconception about sowing and brokenness from rejection, which was feeding approval addiction. So I wanted everyone to like me and like my preaching and like my ministry. And if somebody did not like me, I felt personally offended.
But my offense was rooted in my brokenness, being driven by rejection.
But in 2018, when I got healed from that, I found the freedom to preach without your amen, without your approval. That I could stand and say the truth whether people like it or not. So you can't manipulate me with an amen. You can't manipulate me with a platform. You can't manipulate me with money. Because my reward is going to be the crown I lay down at the feet of my Savior—not your amen, not your approval, not what you've got to say about me.
And so we find encouragement in the last response, which I'm praying everybody in this room would have.
Verse 23: "As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case 100-fold, in another 60, and in another 30."
Gosh. This is the one who hears the word with your heart. You're listening with your heart. You're leaning in with your heart. You want to be taught the scriptures. You want to be convicted. You want to be offended by truth. You want to be confronted in the areas of your life. You want to be healed. You don't want to keep sitting on a mountain of brokenness. You don't want to keep having wrong thoughts in your mind. You want the word to keep dealing with your mind and your heart. You want to be transformed.
This is the one who hears the word, God, man, and he understands it. You know what that is? In his mind, he takes it and he receives it. He meditates. He says, "That hurt, but I'm going to do something with it."
And because he hears, and because he understands, indeed he bears fruit. And he yields—in one case, 100-fold; in another case, 60; and in another, 30.
So this last ground is the person who has a receptive heart. The person says, "I want the word of God. I want the teaching of God. I want the truth of God. I want to be convicted. I want to be changed. I want to be confronted. I want to know truth. I don't want to know lies. I want to be told that I'm wrong. I want to be coached into righteousness. I want to be coached into holiness. Man, I want the word to come to bear on all of my thoughts, all of my emotions, all of my feelings, all of my decisions. I want the word to come to bear on all of me."
That the real question is right now: Which soil are you? Which ground are you? How do you respond to the preaching of the word?
Watch what we see right here, man, is the absolute power of the word. This word has power to transform. It can transform minds. It can transform hearts. It can transform marriages. It can transform bloodlines. It can transform families. It can transform cities. It can transform nations. It's transforming the world right now.
That what we want is to sow the word, man. We want the word of God. Hallelujah!
We want to sow it into our marriages. Sow it into our relationships. Sow it into our children. Sow it into our homes. Sow it into our relationships. We want to come together to keep sowing the word every place. We want the word to be sown. Hallelujah!
We want the power of the word, the truth of the word, the conviction of the word, the righteousness of the word, the holiness of the word, the power of the word, the transforming seed of the word. We want to sow it on social media, sow it on podcasts, sow it from pulpits, sow it into our children, sow it in our conversations, man. We want to keep scattering seed everywhere.
I wish I had a church that's what they used to say. We want to sow it into our own minds. We want to sow it into our own hearts, with the hopes that you'll be receptive soil. That word, man, would get in there and it won't bounce back because it's hardened. And it won't wither away because the soil was thorns. But we want that word to land on good ground. And we want it to be a harvest in our lives—some 30, some 60, some 100-fold.
And that those who are 30 don't need to be jealous of the 100. And the 100 don't have to look down upon the 60. That the purpose of the three years—which are all exponential—is to see that God accepts all harvests as long as it's coming from the righteousness of the word.
Come on, man. Look at me, man. You're talking to a former knucklehead from Queens—a drug dealer and womanizer who heard the word being sown into my heart at home, and it would break off because I had a hardened heart. I would hear from my family and it would bounce over because I had a hardened heart. And I do—in my job, named Larry McCain—he would always come up to me and try to sow the word, and it would bounce off because I had a hardened heart.
But there was a season when I was suicidal, and my heart became receptive. And then the word came to me again. And as the word came to me again in that season, this time it fell into a heart that was receptive. Watch. And it began to bear fruit in my life.
As I began to read it and meditate and submit myself to it, it began to bear fruit in my life—some 30, some 60, some 100-fold. Now, look where I am today. Look what I'm doing today. Look who I'm talking to today. Look where I'm standing today.
I'm standing here today—the man that once blocked out that word—now sowing that word into the lives of other people.
Look what the word has done in my life. Look what the word is doing right now in your life. Look what the word has done right now in us.
Look how it transformed you and you and you and you. Look how it brought you out of difficult times. Look how it kept your mind when you were going through tough times. Look how it anchored you in the dark night of the soul. Look how it gave you comfort when your loved one died. Look how it gave you warmth when people turned their back on you. Look how it reminded you that you were loved when you were betrayed by people in the earth.
Look how it caught your tears. Look how it transformed your heart. Look how it transformed your marriage. Look what it did to your husband. Look what it did to my wife. Look at the fruit it's producing in my children. Look at the fruit it's producing right now in this room.
That from all across the country, we keep getting testimonies: "2819 changed my life. 2819 changed my life. The YouTube changed my life." They ain't bragging on me. What they're really bragging on is the proclamation of the word.
I wish I had 500 people that would agree. I wish I had 800 people that would agree. I wish I had a thousand of you that would agree that we have been transformed by the proclamation of God's word.
Somebody give God praise for His word!
Come on! I can't hear you. Give Him praise for His word!
Look what the word has done in me. Look what the word has done in you. That's all you got? That's all you got for what God has done in your life with the word? That's all the adoration you've got for how the Lord has transformed you with the word?
And my prayer for you—my prayer is that this mathematics don't have to be worked out in our church. It don't got to be 75% of us that don't hear, don't move. Amen. My prayer is that this church will overflow with receptive hearts.
That every week, as we're scattering the proclamation of the words of Jesus from this platform in this room and across this nation—hallelujah, I feel that in my heart—across this nation, that right here from 2819, a revival will be born. It will sweep through Atlanta. It will sweep through the East. It will bleed into the Midwest until it hits all the way in California and sweep past the Pacific Ocean and will go around the whole world.
The spread of the gospel. The proclamation of the word of God. Hallelujah!
That is my prayer for you—that you would have a receptive heart that keeps receiving, sharing, understanding, and being transformed by the word of God.
I feel the spirit of God working right now. Just stay still. Feel the spirit just working right now.
Come here, Lena. Come on, come keep me company. Let's pray over our brothers and sisters together.
I feel the spirit of God working. This is so important. The word transformed my marriage. It transformed my parenting. I was a rough and hardened man.
Man, just for a moment, sit still. Think about what the word has done in your life. Let's stop taking it for granted. Let's be thankful. Anytime we hear true gospel preaching...
Look at what the word has done in your life.
Thank you, man.
Father, I pray over every heart under the sound of my voice. I pray for every hardened heart, yes. I pray for every rocky heart, every shallow heart, yes. I pray for every preoccupied heart, yes. That some way, somehow, you would transform them from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. That you would give them hearts that are receptive to the seed—the incorruptible seed of the word of God.
And Father God, I pray that through the proclamation of the word falling on the brothers and sisters of 2819, local and abroad and across the country, that what would rise up, God, from the ground in these last days is a harvest of healthy disciples making disciples who are serious about the spread of the gospel and standing up for truth. Hallelujah.
And we will sow the seed every opportunity we get—from platforms, from social media, from podcasts, from posts, from conversations with our spouses and our children. Every opportunity in the gym, we will whisper. We will shout. We will sow the seed of the word of God.
Now, with every head bowed, every eye closed, don't move. Listen to me carefully.
There are men and women in this room, people watching me right now. You are part of that first company of people. You already know who you are. Hardened heart. Shallow heart. Preoccupied heart. But as the word was going forth, you felt the tug of the Holy Spirit, wooing you to Christ, wooing you to the Father.
Before the foundation of the world, the Lord knew you would be here in this moment, hearing this gospel proclamation. The scripture says: "In the day you hear the word, don't harden your heart, for today is the day of salvation."
You and I are sinners. You've broken God's laws. Jesus.
The scripture says: "If anyone—anyone, rich or famous, poor or unknown—dies in their sin, my brother, my sister, you're going to be separated from God for all eternity. My God, you're going to be in a conscious state of torment. You're going to burn."
You said, "Well, I don't believe that. Just die and find out. But it'll be too late."
He said, "Depart from me. I never knew you."
But God, in His love, not wanting you to perish, wooed He. He sent His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the earth. He died a sacrificial death for you. But on the cross, He exchanged—He changed—your unrighteousness for His righteousness.
And He says: "If anyone will put your faith in Him—not in church, not in religion, in God, in Christ, and Christ alone—you can be saved, rescued from damnation."
Today could be the beginning of the rest of your life. You can live out a life of purpose and meaning inside the Kingdom of Light, man.
Come out of the kingdom of darkness, my God. I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you right now.
Come out of the kingdom of darkness.
If that's you, you said, "Preacher, that's me. I feel something happen on the inside. I'm running from the kingdom of darkness. Something has happened to me on the inside. I feel light. I feel something. I feel something welling up."
If that's you, you said, "Pray for me, preacher. If something has happened to me, I feel it on the inside..."
On the count of three, I want you to throw your hands up. I want to see who I'm talking to.
One... The Lord is calling you.
Two... You're being saved right now.
Three... Throw your hands in the air.
Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
Everybody with your hand up, I want to pray for you, right here. Tell the person next to you, "Get out of my way. I want you all to run to me right now. This is your moment. This is your moment."
Run to me right now. Come on.
Tell them, "Get out the way. Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run to me right now."
Come on.
Run. Run, run, run, run, run. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close.
Why y'all watching? Somebody celebrate what God is doing.
Come on. Celebrate what God is doing. Come on.
Celebrate.
[Music continues]
I will build my life on upon your come on. Run, celebrate.
I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken.
Woo, man. God is catching these tears. He's catching these tears. That's called repentance. God is doing something in your heart.
Oh, my God. I need a prayer warrior. Somebody get to her right here. This woman that's brokenness—He's catching those tears. My sister, God is catching those tears. My brother, don't look at me. I'm not important. God is catching those tears. My sister, don't look at me. I'm not important. God is catching those tears. My sister, God is catching those tears. My sister.
He sees your repentance. He sees. He knows. He knows. That's okay. Cry. Let it out. Let it out. This is your moment.
That's okay. Cry. He knew you'd be right here at this altar. That's all right. Let it out. Let it out. Let it out. Let it out. He's catching these tears.
Let it out.
Yes. I see these tears right here. This is real. Let it out. Let it out. Let it out.
Every person at this altar, don't look at me. Don't look at me.
Wow. This is brokenness. It's okay. It's all right. It's all right. It's all right. That's called repentance. That's okay.
Somebody touch this woman. Stay with her. She's—stay with her. Somebody stay with this one right here. It's all right.
Don't look at my face. Just listen to my voice right here. Your own mouth, your own heart—just right now, just confess your sin. Tell the Lord you're sorry. Just—just—just leave it all right here.
Just tell them you're sorry. Tell enough is enough. Tell them you surrender.
Hallelujah. Tell them you surrender.
No—no magic, no formula, just your heart and His supernatural power.
Somebody stay with this woman right here. Right here.
Rhonda, somebody get to this woman. This is something—is going on in her heart. This is real. Stay with her. Put your arms around her shoulders. These arms you're feeling—that's the arms of Jesus holding you.
Everybody's at the altar.
Father, I pray: Don't look at me. For everyone at this altar, only You know what's happening in these hearts. I don't. There are tears falling everywhere. People weeping on the floor.
Father, these—only You know.
Father, I pray. God, in the name of Jesus, for those who have truly transformed, who have truly passed from death to life, I thank you, God, that You have sealed them with the Holy Spirit, according to Ephesians 1:13. I pray, God, that You have opened their eyes. I pray, according to Colossians, God, You're making them right now to see the preeminence of Christ, according to Corinthians. They're being transformed into a brand new creature, yes, Lord.
So Father, I just pray right now. God, what—I want to pray that You would burn them in their hearts. Hallelujah. You would fill them with Your perfect love, yes, Lord. You would give them an unquenchable desire. Hallelujah. For Your presence, for Your word, for the gathering of the saints in these last times when time is running out.
We thank you, God.
Lord, for a harvest of new souls.
Father, You said when one sinner repents, all of heaven rejoices. So Father, right now we rejoice. We rejoice.
Somebody rejoice right now.
Rejoice. Bow.
I want to tag a title to this message. This is a heavy text, man. This is a heavy text. Even as I'm staring at my Bible, I just feel the weight of trying to handle this text as a human being. It's serious. It's weighty. I feel a fresh anointing to preach this to you.
We're going to call this message Where's Your Heart? Where is it right now as I'm talking to you? Where is your heart?
I took my wife away recently to what we call a station here in downtown Atlanta. We live out in the suburbs. A station is what you do when you either don't have the money or don't have the time to get to an island—you slide off to someplace in your city and you spend some time with the person you love. That's a note for husbands and wives: you still have to get away and be together. You have to keep investing in the most important relationships of your life.
Lena and I slipped away for a station, and we were in a hotel right here in downtown Atlanta. I asked them to put us on one of the top floors because I wanted to be able to get a view of the city. On that first night, after Lena fell asleep, I walked over to the window and looked out at the city, and I just burst into tears. I began to pray over the city. I could feel the brokenness of Jesus for the city of Atlanta. This city is steeped in perversion and it's masked in religion. This city has a lot of religion, but behind that is a lot of perversion. I could feel how God's heart was broken over the city.
The next morning, as I was driving through the city, I was looking at all the people in the streets—hundreds of them, thousands of them everywhere. The Lord said about all of us, "Look at them. They're like sheep scattered without a shepherd." As I considered this city and everybody walking through it, I thought about you in this room. I thought about our digital disciples. I thought about everybody in Atlanta. My heart was broken as I thought about the tragedy of the depravity of human beings—men and women who are separated from God.
How many people right now are dealing with all manner of thoughts in their mind, disconnected from the filter of God's word? How many of us are dealing with a myriad of emotions, disconnected from the filter of God's word? How many of us right now are making all kinds of life decisions—important decisions about who you're going to marry, who you're dating, what house to buy, what job to take, what city to move to—and we're making all these decisions disconnected from the wisdom of God's word?
I'm about thinking about how many of us sitting in this room right now, watching me right now, are building whole lives on everything other than the wisdom of God's word. If there's ever been a time for us to lean into the words of Christ, that time is now, in this moment, in this hour.
Last week, I laid a foundation for you. Right now, we are involved in a very real spiritual warfare. There is warfare happening right now all around you in the unseen realm. At the center of that warfare are two kingdoms that are at war.
First, there is the kingdom of darkness, which is run and powered by Satan himself—that dragon and serpent of old from the garden, from the time he first deceived Adam and Eve. The sin nature of human beings, all of the suffering, wars, death, famine, sickness, suicide, depression, fights and schisms against one another, divorce, and all the pain of human suffering—all of that is being powered by Satan under the kingdom of darkness.
At the same time, there is another kingdom: the Kingdom of Light, the kingdom of God Almighty, that is at war against the kingdom of darkness. Scripture tells us in the book of Revelation that at one point in time, this kingdom will overthrow the kingdom of darkness. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God, and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. In the end, there will only be one kingdom, one king, one government, one rule, and the enemy will be defeated.
It was in the first century AD with the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ's Incarnation that He brought into the earth the promise of the Old Testament—that Kingdom of Heaven that had been spoken of for thousands of years. Christ came preaching, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." In Christ, we see the inauguration on earth of the Kingdom of Heaven coming in full force.
Right now, as I'm talking to you, from the days of John the Baptist through the preaching ministry of Jesus, and right now as Philip Anthony Mitchell is talking to you, the kingdom of God is expanding in every direction. The hearts of men all across this city, all across this nation, all across this world—what started with a group of people in the upper room of John Mark's mother's house has turned into two billion people around the world and millions throughout history, praising and worshiping and celebrating Jesus's kingdom.
Jesus, in the first century AD, in response to those who rejected Him and rejected His teaching and rejected the gospel, changed His ministry from speaking plain theology to now speaking in parables. Jesus left for us an archive of encrypted teachings called parables. In those encrypted teachings are the secrets, the mysteries—the mysterion in Greek—of the kingdom of God: the functionality of the kingdom and the operation of the kingdom that believers are living in right now.
Matthew tells us in chapter 13, verse 1: "That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 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."
Jesus says, "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 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 the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked them out. And other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain—some 100-fold, some 60-fold, some 30-fold. And then Jesus says to everybody, 'He who has ears to hear, let them hear.'"
The disciples came to Jesus and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He answered them and said: "To you, the followers, it has been given to know the secrets, the mysterion, of the Kingdom of Heaven. But to them, it has not been given."
We understand that the parables served two purposes: to reveal and to conceal. They reveal truths of the Kingdom of Heaven to the disciples and conceal truth from those who have rejected Him. The parables were a form of judgment against those who rejected God. The parables were not given to make things clear; the parable was given as a form of judgment against those who trampled over the truth of Jesus.
Because He was rejected, He changed His language. When you are rejected, sometimes you have to change your language. Sometimes it may be silence. Sometimes it may be "God bless you." But sometimes you have to talk differently to people who don't respect what you have to say.
He says: "For to the one that has been given, he will have an 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, and they do not understand."
Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: "You will indeed hear but never understand. You will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and with their eyes they have been closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their heart and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them."
The fact that the Lord said "if only people would listen to what I'm saying, if only they would see what I'm saying, if only they would understand what I'm saying, they might have a chance. They might turn to me even now in this moment, and they might be healed." The fact that the Lord said they might be healed shows there's a presupposition in the text that humanity is sick with sin and in need of a savior.
But He said to His followers: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see. And your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see. Many longed to hear what you hear, but they did not."
The purpose of the parables was for revelation and for repudiation. This parable of the sower is the key that unlocks the understanding of all the other parables. This is a foundational parable. Most of the other parables start with "The Kingdom of Heaven is like," but this parable does not start with those words because this parable tells us the entrance into the Kingdom. So this parable is the doorway, the foundational parable. To understand all the parables, you must understand this parable.
Now, what Jesus is about to do is become what I call a good preacher. He's about to unpack the parable for them in an expository fashion, which means Jesus is going to walk through the parable line by line, verse by verse. He's not going to preach opinions or old crazy doctrine. He's going to walk through the parable line by line, verse by verse.
He gave them a word. Now he's about to exposit the word. That is good biblical preaching: not taking a verse and forcing it to say what you want it to say, not lifting a verse out of context and making it say something that you wanted to say. Instead, taking the Bible and making it preach what it says.
Some of you say, "I don't like 2019. It's boring. They just walk through books of the Bible line by line, verse by verse." We got that from somewhere. Some of the stuff I'm telling you, society has got you high on craziness. Some of the stuff you think is whack is all the things that you should love about the Lord.
You're too drugged up on man-made doctrine. When you get real food, man, you don't even know what it tastes like. Your palate is only good for candy. You only want to hear eight steps to your blessing and four steps to your new house. All you care about is your vision board. So when truth comes, you don't want any part of that.
I'm done with sermons that try to make me feel fluffy. I don't want to feel fluffy. I don't want you telling me every week that I'm awesome and I'm floating on clouds and what I'm about to get. I don't want you telling me about how blessed I am every week. I want to know the word. Teach me the word. I want to know God's word.
The Lord did not exalt a preacher above His name. He exalted the word above His own name. He did not say "the words of a preacher will be forever settled in heaven." He said this word will be forever settled in heaven. The scripture says it cannot be broken.
You love the entertainment of men, but we don't love the preaching of God's word. After twenty years in, I don't want any more cotton candy. It will rot out your teeth and your soul. We want the sincere milk of the word.
So what Jesus is about to do, like a good teacher, is walk them through the parable of the sower line by line, verse by verse.
He starts out in verse 18: "Hear then the parable of the sower."
Stop. I want to draw your attention to two things in this first verse. The words "Hear then." You know what that is? Pay attention. What He's trying to tell them is: I'm about to reveal to you the mysteries of the Kingdom. So now that the word is about to be proclaimed, sit up and pay attention.
He's trying to train His disciples how to respond to gospel proclamation. When the word is being proclaimed, you should lean forward to hear it. You should lean in with your heart, lean in with your mind, lean in with your spirit. Something in you should be like, "Lord, I want to know the word."
A mature believer hungers for the word. A mature Christian hungers for the word. They come to church praying like, "Lord, make me ready to hear the word."
Now, I want to draw your attention to the article in front of "sower." The "the sower" here has an identification, and the identity of the sower is Christ Himself. He's teaching them a parable about His own ministry. Some of us have been taught this wrong, but we learn from what He has done in His own ministry. So He is the sower, and sowing is a metaphor for the spreading of the gospel. We can sow individually, one to one, or we can sow corporately, church to nation.
Verse 19: "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 has been sown on the path."
Everybody, pay attention. What Jesus is doing right now is saying: For everybody who proclaims the word, for everybody who's a preacher, every time the word is preached, every time the gospel is proclaimed—on podcast, on platforms, in nations of the world—whenever the word is proclaimed, it will always be met by four different types of responses.
Anytime the word is preached, anytime the seed is thrown out, it will always be met by four different types of responses and four different types of people. All four of those people are in this room right now. All four of those people are watching me live right now. The only question we need to ask of the text is: Which person are you?
First, he identifies the seed from the parable as the word of God. So the seed is the word. Why would he call the word a seed? Something dry, something that seems dead—but yet inside a seed is the power to bring forth life and transformation. You can drop a seed in soil and it can transform that entire soil. It can fall into something and rearrange atmospheres, rearrange homes, rearrange the soil. Inside of a seed is the unlimited potential to transform anything that it hits.
So he calls the word a seed. This is very powerful because not every seed is the word of God. There's some seed that's no seed at all. You have some seed that is fake seed—fake preaching. You have some seed that's processed seed—compromised preaching. You have some seed that's unhealthy seed—toxic preaching. Not all preaching is the seed of the word of the kingdom. But Jesus said: "The seed is the word of the kingdom, not the word of men, not the word of Google, not the word of articles."
Then he identifies the location of the seed. It is sown into the heart. Notice: the seed is not sown into the mind. The seed is not coming for intellect. The seed is sown into the interior of the human being—into the heart, the place that brings transformation.
The scripture says: "From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. From the heart, all of the issues of life flows." So the seed targets the heart. It targets the thing that needs to be transformed most about you.
You say, "Oh, I got a good heart." No, you don't. The Bible says your heart is wicked. That's what the scripture says. The scripture says, "Your heart is wicked above all things. Who can know it?"
So the seed targets the evil and darkness of the heart. It doesn't target the intellect. That's why people can know scriptures with your mind and not be transformed in your heart.
Come on! How many people do you know? You can quote Psalm 23, but you don't understand what it means in your heart. You know the Lord's Prayer by memory, but you don't know what it means in your heart. You've got all kind of people in society always posting scriptures like they're some kind of sage. But the same scripture you post has not transformed you in your heart. So you post it about things that has not transformed you. You know it intellectually, but you don't know it in your heart.
The word targets the heart and bypasses the conscious. It's a sword that cuts through all of that stuff to get to the real part of you.
Here, he gives us the first kind of ground. He said it is sown on the path. When it falls on the path, in the parable, the birds of the air come and snatch the word of God.
So here we see the first kind of response to the preaching of the gospel: the path.
I've been to Israel. Israel farmers would walk in between their fields and throw grain on both sides of their field. The pathway they were walking on would be a dirt pathway. From the constant traffic on that pathway, the dirt would get packed down, packed down, packed down until the dirt was hardened. The dirt was so hard that if any seed from the farmer landed on that path, it would just sit on top of the path, exposed to the elements, because the ground was so hard it could not penetrate.
So this first type of response is what I call the hardened heart. This is the person: when they hear the gospel, man, they block it out automatically. They don't want nothing to do with the gospel, nothing to do with Jesus, nothing to do with the kingdom, nothing to do with ministry. This is the atheist, the agnostic, the Muslim. This is the person at your job, the person you try to witness to. This is the person you try to talk to about Jesus, and they are angry that you talked to them about the Lord. They want nothing to do with the Lord.
This is the family member that rebukes you for trying to tell them about Jesus. "Who do you think you are?" These are the people that when they hear the word of God, immediately they block it out. It goes in one ear and out the other ear. They want nothing to do with the word of God at all.
Now, I want you to notice what Jesus said about these people. He said: soon as the word is sown into a person with a hard heart, pay attention, he says, immediately Satan comes and he snatches that seed from the person.
So Jesus is giving us insight into an unseen realm that is so powerful! When the word of God lands on a person who has a hard heart, in the natural, you see resistance. In the spiritual, the devil came and snatched that word from that person. He took it so fast they didn't even have time to think about it.
They heard the gospel, and then an hour later they're at a restaurant and the gospel has already leaked out of them. It's already leaked out of him. It's like the birds of the air that come and snatch the gospel.
I thought about this when I was reading. My wife and I, a couple of years ago, were in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and we came to the center of San Juan and there was this park. When we came to the park, man, there were thousands of pigeons in that park. I'm from New York, so we know about pigeons, right? You don't play with them. They're nasty. Got stuff under their wings.
I had some food in my hand, listen. I took that food because I'm a New Yorker—we like to play with pigeons. I threw that food in the middle of all those pigeons. As soon as that food landed on the ground, it sat there on the concrete, and then immediately hundreds of pigeons just swooped in and they just gobbled up all of that seed. They just took it, and they were violent when they ate up all that seed. By the time they cleared out, there's no seed left. There's nothing left to penetrate the ground.
He says: This is what happens when the word of God is sown into a heart that's hardened. As soon as they hear the word, in the unseen realm, the devil runs towards that person before they even have time to think about it, and he snatches the word from that person.
This is why I encourage our church: when the gospel is being preached, watch and pray, yeah. Watch. Because Jesus has shown us right here that around the preaching of God's word is spiritual warfare.
Wake up! Would y'all wake up? When the gospel is going across social media, going across cameras, going into nations of the world, the devil is seeing the word landing on hard stone, and he snatches it.
This is why we should be praying when the gospel is being preached, man. You see me preaching the gospel, sharing the invitation for Christ, and you're sitting there staring at me like this is a show. Wow. When we are on the front line of warfare! When we are trying to rescue people from being damned to eternal fire!
This is why, man, when I'm in places and I hear somebody giving the gospel, I bow my head and I just start praying: "Lord, open the eyes of every believer. Open the hearts of every unbeliever. Open the eyes of the unbeliever. God, minister to their hearts." I'm crying out that somewhere, somehow, that ground would get broken up really quick—just enough time for one seed to get into their hearts.
Now, while I'm talking about the unbeliever, some of y'all Christians are no different than the unbeliever with a hardened heart. Because there's some of y'all here—you act the same way in some areas of your life. There's some areas of your life, man, you love Jesus. He is your savior. Anything about blessing you, you love. Anything that makes you feel good, you love. Anything that's blowing up your stuff, you love.
But you've got a hardened heart towards areas that make you feel convicted. You don't want Him to be Lord over areas that you don't like. Areas that you God, in the flesh, He can't tell you what to do with your body, right? Your heart is hardened in that area. He can't tell you about sexual immorality, right? Your heart is hardened in that area.
It's the one dude—don't want to put no ring on it. Why does he got to do that when he's digging around in the cookie jar? You don't want to hear that you should stop having sex before marriage. You've got a hardened heart in that area.
You're the one here: "You should be generous with your money." It's my money. You've got a hardened heart in that area.
You're the one to hear: "You should love." No, I don't want to love them. You've got a hardened heart in that area.
See, and right now, as I'm talking to you, some of you are squirming. You feel uncomfortable. Why? Because the place that convicts you the most is the place you need to listen the most.
Yeah. You don't want to clap for that, right? You don't want to clap for that. The place that convicts you the most is the place you should listen the most.
Some of us, man, you love Jesus as Savior, but He's not ruling over your life. He only rules an area that's convenient for you. But any area that rubs you wrong or pulls you out of your comfort zone or offends your opinion, you're not submitted to Him in that area. You've got hardened areas of your own heart.
I'm talking to you. You read something in the scripture that convicts you, and you turn the page. He can't talk to you about your identity. He can't talk to you about sexuality. He can't talk to you about who to vote for. He can't talk to you about what to stand for. He can't talk to you about marriage. He can't talk to you about the sanctity of human life, because you're black and you don't want to stand up for children in a womb. So you're offended by that.
Never mind He told Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you." But because you're black, you don't like that. It's too Republican for you. It's too white for you. No. Your heart is hardened in the area that the word can't penetrate.
I'm talking to you. I don't care. We need to be honest: for all of your loving Jesus, there are areas you won't let Him have authority over. "No, He can't have authority there. Like, so I could bless you, but I can't talk to you about who to marry. I can't talk to you about who to date. I can't tell you what to do with your money, although I gave you the strength to have that job. I can't talk to you about your friends. I can't talk to you about what to walk away from. I can't tell you to put that down, stop this, turn. I can't tell you none of that. So I'm only good enough for you as long as I don't offend you."
No. You're not married to me. I'm your mistress. You're not married to Jesus. He's not the groom of your church. He's your mistress. He's just a side piece. He's only good for a one night stand. Come see me on Friday night and get out of here till the next week.
I'm talking to y'all. I don't care. I said, "Oh, how could you talk like that?" Because I love you. How could you talk like that? They may not come back next week. I don't care about that. I don't care about that. We preach the truth whether it fills up a room or it cleanses it out.
When you mature, you don't want to be cuddled. When you mature, you want to be convicted. Somebody praise God for conviction.
I was having a conversation yesterday with two dudes at the barber shop, and one dude was talking about how he fell one time and he made a mistake and how God convicted him of his life and brought him back. He was telling it like it was a sad story, and I said, "Hold on, brother. Did you hear what you just said? You said the Lord convicted you and brought you back."
I said, "Brother, don't you know Hebrews 12? Those He loved, He disciplined. If the Lord convicted you, that means His hand is still up. His hand is still on you. His conviction is His love. What are you talking about? His conviction is His love. His discipline is His love."
I said, "Bro, you should be happy. You better be happy." Hebrews 12. But you don't want Romans 1. You don't want Romans 1. The worst place to be is not feeling convicted. The worst place to be is when you feel nothing.
In Romans 1, Paul wrote for people that love their sin, and you don't want to repent. Because of your heart, the Lord will just turn you over to what you want. The worst place to be is when He just turns you over. You want that so bad you can't have that. And me? You want it so bad, you can have it. But you can't have me.
The worst place to be is when you can sin and sleep. This is love talking. Squirm in your seat. This is love talking.
So some of us ain't no different. You love Him, but your heart is hardened in some areas where He is Savior in some areas and Lord in only a few. So He's Savior over all of you, but Lord over some of you.
Verse 20: "As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away."
So now God tells us about another ground. He called it rocky ground.
In Israel—Israel is a rocky nation. There are areas of Israel where you see dirt on the floor, and you think, "Man, that's a good place to sow." But underneath that dirt—maybe a foot to two feet down—is what we call limestone. So if you planted something on that kind of soil, it would go down in there really quick. But as the roots were going down, they would hit the limestone and not go any further. And then on top, the plant would spring up.
But then as soon as the sun came up—the sun is a metaphor for heat, persecution—as soon as people don't like you because you're a Christian, as soon as they don't like what you have to post, as soon as they don't like your preaching, like your YouTube, as soon as you feel haters on your social media, man, you think to yourself, "Man, I want to be a people pleaser." So the heat burns up that plant, and it falls away.
That's what I call a shallow heart. Wow, wow.
Watch. This is the person: they hear the gospel and they so... oh, let's ask Jesus into your heart. They invite Jesus into their heart (which is nowhere in the Bible, but they invite Jesus into their heart). And then they run with Jesus. And then they're going to church three weeks out of the month. And then they join a team. And then they're in a squad. And then they're trying to give a quarter every now and then in the offering. And then they're hanging out with you. And then they're in your row. And they're going to all the church functions. They're cool for a while—two months, maybe even three or four years. They're hanging out for a while, and they look to be a believer.
We think they're a Christian, and we're calling them our sister and we're calling them our brother. We don't wait to see the evidence of grace.
Watch. And then they came to Jesus because some prophet—some false prophet—said to them, "Come to Christ. He'll make your life perfect. He'll make everything good. He'll make you wealthy. You have an easy trip." So they come to Christ for the promise of things.
And then they get the promise of Jesus. In this world, you will have tribulation. And then when tribulation comes because of Christianity, now they've got to make a decision: either keep Christianity and feel the pressure of conviction, or abandon Christianity to feel the freedom of compromise.
Because what trouble does, trouble confirms real believers and exposes fake believers. Yeah. Storms show us who is for real and who is not.
I'm going go deeper. Storms even show you in your life who's with you and who is not. Some of you be crying over a storm, you need to be looking at who's texting you during that storm, who's standing with you during that storm, who's praying for you during that storm.
How is it you go through a storm, come out on the other side, and best friends are gone? People you thought were ritual were gone. You weren't really down for the right reason to begin with.
And then the scripture says: when the heat comes from persecution, they fall away.
In the Greek, the words "fall away" here mean they get offended. Watch. They get offended at the requirements for Christianity. "I love Jesus until the word came to bear on my soul. I love Jesus so long as everybody liked me. I love Jesus so long as nobody was offended by my life. So long as it was easy and comfortable, I loved Him." And then they get offended.
These are the people who say stuff like, "I tried Jesus and it didn't work." But you've got Christians in here who believe this. Who? Y'all behave the same way too. There are areas of your life that are mad shallow.
Now, I'm serious about this. You've got areas of your life that you have no word for. There's no root system that anchors you in God's word. So when you go through trouble, every time you go through trouble, man, you get rocked so bad, nobody can't find you for two years. You don't know how to suffer well. You don't know how to pray. You don't know how to wage war in the spirit. You don't know how to lean on the strength of brothers and sisters. You don't have no roots.
All you have is sermons, but you don't have no word in you. You don't read this word for yourself. You keep listening to all these false prophets. You've got all these shallow whack sermons, but you don't have no mashed potatoes and steak in you. You've got a hot dog Christianity and not a robust Christianity. You ain't got nothing solid. You're still sucking on titties. You're still sucking on breasts. You're still drinking milk.
That's what the Bible says. You're still hanging on to the breast milk when by now you should have moved on from these elementary things.
Any area in your life you realize is shallow, man, sink yourself into God's word in that area. You're dealing with stewardship issues? What does the scripture say about stewardship? You're dealing with lust issues? What does the scripture say about lust? You're dealing with relationship issues? What does the scripture say about relationships? You're having problems in your marriage? What does the scripture say about a real husband? You're dominating your wife—is that loving her like Christ loves the church? You're emasculating your husband—is that being submitted like you're supposed to be submitted?
So in all these areas that you know you're shallow, you know you get tossed all over the place—why don't you bury yourself in God's word in that area? Some of y'all need to start seeing God's word not like a book, see it like a medicine chest.
"What is going on in my heart? Let me see what the word has to say about it."
Some of you need to stop reading for information and start reading for revelation. Like, you've got your little Bible plan, and you get through a chapter, but you didn't learn nothing. Watch, watch, watch, watch, watch. Let talk about the secrets of the kingdom.
I know a dude who's a racist who got saved. And then we're going to do what we always do: "Oh, go start where should I read? Oh, go start in John." Why? That's what culture says. You're racist? Go start in Ephesians. Let you read that there's no more Jew and Gentile. There's no more dividing line. There's no more Greek. There's no more—we're all made one man in Christ. Why wouldn't I send him to where his need is?
Verse 22: "As for that which was sown among the 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."
I've offended a lot, a lot of people today.
So now in Israel, there are areas where you see soil, and the soil is not rocky. It actually looks healthy. Watch. In that soil, there are weeds. In that soil, everybody watch. If you put grain in that soil and then you water that soil, your grain will come up, weeds will come up. And then because the weeds are aggressive, they wrap themselves around the grain. And then they will cut off the life supply of the grain until the grain withers away from the top and it falls down.
So this is about a preoccupied heart. This is the person: they hear the gospel, they start going to church, they're involved in church, and they go a little bit further than the person who was shallow. Man, they're on teams. They might even slip onto the worship team. They might even slip into leadership. They're in squads. They've got friends. They're building a Christian ministry online.
As they're building their things, man, they start to look around at the world. And then two things begin to affect them. It's right here. The first thing is the cares of this world. That is, they start worrying about all these things in life. They start getting entangled with the weeds of life. They're always worried. Always in anxiety. Always worried about "What am I going to do next? What is my purpose? What am I supposed to do?" Always worried, worried, worried, worried, worried.
That worrying creates busyness. Watch. And then they get so busy, they don't have time for the gathering. "I got to... I'm building my business. I don't got time for the gathering. I'm building my ministry. I don't got time for the gathering."
This is so deceitful. "I don't got time for the gathering. I'm too busy. I got too many phone calls, too many Zoom calls. I don't got time to pray. I don't got time to read."
If you're too busy for God, you're too busy.
So the cares of this life, over a period of time, choke out scripture time, choke out prayer time, choke out the gathering. They were here every week. Now they're here three weeks. Now they're here two weeks. Now they pop up once a month. Now they're only here on Christmas and Easter. They've got too much going on with their business. They don't got time for God.
Never mind what He said in Hebrews: that we should not forsake the assembly of the gathering, and we should do this all the more as we see the day of Christ approaching. But no, they're too busy for that. So the cares of this world begin to choke out the life of the word in them.
But something else bothers them, man: the deceitfulness of riches.
Pay attention. The Lord didn't say "riches." He said "the deceitfulness of riches." Watch. Because God is not against blessing you. Abraham was wealthy. David was wealthy. Solomon was wealthy.
But in the end, Solomon got choked out—at the end, messing with crazy women, right? Read.
Watch. This is why many believers are mad at God—that He won't make you wealthy. "So why am I just grinding? Paying my bills?" Because you know, I need to keep you there for a little while. Your character is not strong enough to handle financial blessing. Because some of you, if God gave you what you're asking for, it would choke the life out of you. You'd put a noose around your own neck.
No. Work that 9 to 5. Struggle to pay that bill, yeah. And be in the gathering and be in your prayer closet when the pain of life puts you on your knees, right? Because the Lord didn't say anything wrong with riches. He said there is deceitfulness of riches.
That means He gives us a warning about wealth: that wealth has the power to trick you in your mind. And what wealth does to some people—it deceives you to think that once you have it, your assurance is now in the wealth instead of the person who gave it to you. So now you think because you have wealth, you've got security. "Oh, my God, you think because you got wealth, you're safe?" Like you can't lose it all in a day?
Like the Lord ain't tell another parable about a man who stacked up all his wealth? He said, "You fool! Tonight, your soul is going to be required of you. Now, what are you going to do with all that money?"
The wealth has a way of tricking you to make you think you put your confidence in it, you put your assurance in it, you put your security in it—not knowing it can deceive you. Not knowing anything you buy will still leave you empty in the end.
That it, listen to me—it really takes a mature believer, a grounded believer to have wealth and the wealth not have you. That you have wealth, but Christ is still your priority.
So people who have preoccupied hearts, they last for a while. But after a while, they fall away too.
Now, everybody, pay attention to me. Everybody, look at me.
Who did I say was the original sower? Who? And what was he sewing?
Now, pay attention. There are only four types of responses, and three of them proved to be false converts.
Where am I going with this?
Jesus was the most perfect, most righteous, most skilled preacher the world has ever known. And yet, for all of his preaching, the majority of people who heard his message rejected it.
Watch. So there was nothing wrong with the sower. And there was nothing wrong with the seed. The issue was with the soil.
You are the problem. Not the Lord. Not the word. You. We. The world is the problem.
This should encourage those of us who are proclaimers of truth. When people don't like you because of what you've got to say—and I know what it is—when I was a younger believer, I was preaching and being hurt when I learned that people did not receive what I had to say. I was dealing with two things: a misconception about sowing and brokenness from rejection, which was feeding approval addiction. So I wanted everyone to like me and like my preaching and like my ministry. And if somebody did not like me, I felt personally offended.
But my offense was rooted in my brokenness, being driven by rejection.
But in 2018, when I got healed from that, I found the freedom to preach without your amen, without your approval. That I could stand and say the truth whether people like it or not. So you can't manipulate me with an amen. You can't manipulate me with a platform. You can't manipulate me with money. Because my reward is going to be the crown I lay down at the feet of my Savior—not your amen, not your approval, not what you've got to say about me.
And so we find encouragement in the last response, which I'm praying everybody in this room would have.
Verse 23: "As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case 100-fold, in another 60, and in another 30."
Gosh. This is the one who hears the word with your heart. You're listening with your heart. You're leaning in with your heart. You want to be taught the scriptures. You want to be convicted. You want to be offended by truth. You want to be confronted in the areas of your life. You want to be healed. You don't want to keep sitting on a mountain of brokenness. You don't want to keep having wrong thoughts in your mind. You want the word to keep dealing with your mind and your heart. You want to be transformed.
This is the one who hears the word, God, man, and he understands it. You know what that is? In his mind, he takes it and he receives it. He meditates. He says, "That hurt, but I'm going to do something with it."
And because he hears, and because he understands, indeed he bears fruit. And he yields—in one case, 100-fold; in another case, 60; and in another, 30.
So this last ground is the person who has a receptive heart. The person says, "I want the word of God. I want the teaching of God. I want the truth of God. I want to be convicted. I want to be changed. I want to be confronted. I want to know truth. I don't want to know lies. I want to be told that I'm wrong. I want to be coached into righteousness. I want to be coached into holiness. Man, I want the word to come to bear on all of my thoughts, all of my emotions, all of my feelings, all of my decisions. I want the word to come to bear on all of me."
That the real question is right now: Which soil are you? Which ground are you? How do you respond to the preaching of the word?
Watch what we see right here, man, is the absolute power of the word. This word has power to transform. It can transform minds. It can transform hearts. It can transform marriages. It can transform bloodlines. It can transform families. It can transform cities. It can transform nations. It's transforming the world right now.
That what we want is to sow the word, man. We want the word of God. Hallelujah!
We want to sow it into our marriages. Sow it into our relationships. Sow it into our children. Sow it into our homes. Sow it into our relationships. We want to come together to keep sowing the word every place. We want the word to be sown. Hallelujah!
We want the power of the word, the truth of the word, the conviction of the word, the righteousness of the word, the holiness of the word, the power of the word, the transforming seed of the word. We want to sow it on social media, sow it on podcasts, sow it from pulpits, sow it into our children, sow it in our conversations, man. We want to keep scattering seed everywhere.
I wish I had a church that's what they used to say. We want to sow it into our own minds. We want to sow it into our own hearts, with the hopes that you'll be receptive soil. That word, man, would get in there and it won't bounce back because it's hardened. And it won't wither away because the soil was thorns. But we want that word to land on good ground. And we want it to be a harvest in our lives—some 30, some 60, some 100-fold.
And that those who are 30 don't need to be jealous of the 100. And the 100 don't have to look down upon the 60. That the purpose of the three years—which are all exponential—is to see that God accepts all harvests as long as it's coming from the righteousness of the word.
Come on, man. Look at me, man. You're talking to a former knucklehead from Queens—a drug dealer and womanizer who heard the word being sown into my heart at home, and it would break off because I had a hardened heart. I would hear from my family and it would bounce over because I had a hardened heart. And I do—in my job, named Larry McCain—he would always come up to me and try to sow the word, and it would bounce off because I had a hardened heart.
But there was a season when I was suicidal, and my heart became receptive. And then the word came to me again. And as the word came to me again in that season, this time it fell into a heart that was receptive. Watch. And it began to bear fruit in my life.
As I began to read it and meditate and submit myself to it, it began to bear fruit in my life—some 30, some 60, some 100-fold. Now, look where I am today. Look what I'm doing today. Look who I'm talking to today. Look where I'm standing today.
I'm standing here today—the man that once blocked out that word—now sowing that word into the lives of other people.
Look what the word has done in my life. Look what the word is doing right now in your life. Look what the word has done right now in us.
Look how it transformed you and you and you and you. Look how it brought you out of difficult times. Look how it kept your mind when you were going through tough times. Look how it anchored you in the dark night of the soul. Look how it gave you comfort when your loved one died. Look how it gave you warmth when people turned their back on you. Look how it reminded you that you were loved when you were betrayed by people in the earth.
Look how it caught your tears. Look how it transformed your heart. Look how it transformed your marriage. Look what it did to your husband. Look what it did to my wife. Look at the fruit it's producing in my children. Look at the fruit it's producing right now in this room.
That from all across the country, we keep getting testimonies: "2819 changed my life. 2819 changed my life. The YouTube changed my life." They ain't bragging on me. What they're really bragging on is the proclamation of the word.
I wish I had 500 people that would agree. I wish I had 800 people that would agree. I wish I had a thousand of you that would agree that we have been transformed by the proclamation of God's word.
Somebody give God praise for His word!
Come on! I can't hear you. Give Him praise for His word!
Look what the word has done in me. Look what the word has done in you. That's all you got? That's all you got for what God has done in your life with the word? That's all the adoration you've got for how the Lord has transformed you with the word?
And my prayer for you—my prayer is that this mathematics don't have to be worked out in our church. It don't got to be 75% of us that don't hear, don't move. Amen. My prayer is that this church will overflow with receptive hearts.
That every week, as we're scattering the proclamation of the words of Jesus from this platform in this room and across this nation—hallelujah, I feel that in my heart—across this nation, that right here from 2819, a revival will be born. It will sweep through Atlanta. It will sweep through the East. It will bleed into the Midwest until it hits all the way in California and sweep past the Pacific Ocean and will go around the whole world.
The spread of the gospel. The proclamation of the word of God. Hallelujah!
That is my prayer for you—that you would have a receptive heart that keeps receiving, sharing, understanding, and being transformed by the word of God.
I feel the spirit of God working right now. Just stay still. Feel the spirit just working right now.
Come here, Lena. Come on, come keep me company. Let's pray over our brothers and sisters together.
I feel the spirit of God working. This is so important. The word transformed my marriage. It transformed my parenting. I was a rough and hardened man.
Man, just for a moment, sit still. Think about what the word has done in your life. Let's stop taking it for granted. Let's be thankful. Anytime we hear true gospel preaching...
Look at what the word has done in your life.
Thank you, man.
Father, I pray over every heart under the sound of my voice. I pray for every hardened heart, yes. I pray for every rocky heart, every shallow heart, yes. I pray for every preoccupied heart, yes. That some way, somehow, you would transform them from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. That you would give them hearts that are receptive to the seed—the incorruptible seed of the word of God.
And Father God, I pray that through the proclamation of the word falling on the brothers and sisters of 2819, local and abroad and across the country, that what would rise up, God, from the ground in these last days is a harvest of healthy disciples making disciples who are serious about the spread of the gospel and standing up for truth. Hallelujah.
And we will sow the seed every opportunity we get—from platforms, from social media, from podcasts, from posts, from conversations with our spouses and our children. Every opportunity in the gym, we will whisper. We will shout. We will sow the seed of the word of God.
Now, with every head bowed, every eye closed, don't move. Listen to me carefully.
There are men and women in this room, people watching me right now. You are part of that first company of people. You already know who you are. Hardened heart. Shallow heart. Preoccupied heart. But as the word was going forth, you felt the tug of the Holy Spirit, wooing you to Christ, wooing you to the Father.
Before the foundation of the world, the Lord knew you would be here in this moment, hearing this gospel proclamation. The scripture says: "In the day you hear the word, don't harden your heart, for today is the day of salvation."
You and I are sinners. You've broken God's laws. Jesus.
The scripture says: "If anyone—anyone, rich or famous, poor or unknown—dies in their sin, my brother, my sister, you're going to be separated from God for all eternity. My God, you're going to be in a conscious state of torment. You're going to burn."
You said, "Well, I don't believe that. Just die and find out. But it'll be too late."
He said, "Depart from me. I never knew you."
But God, in His love, not wanting you to perish, wooed He. He sent His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the earth. He died a sacrificial death for you. But on the cross, He exchanged—He changed—your unrighteousness for His righteousness.
And He says: "If anyone will put your faith in Him—not in church, not in religion, in God, in Christ, and Christ alone—you can be saved, rescued from damnation."
Today could be the beginning of the rest of your life. You can live out a life of purpose and meaning inside the Kingdom of Light, man.
Come out of the kingdom of darkness, my God. I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you right now.
Come out of the kingdom of darkness.
If that's you, you said, "Preacher, that's me. I feel something happen on the inside. I'm running from the kingdom of darkness. Something has happened to me on the inside. I feel light. I feel something. I feel something welling up."
If that's you, you said, "Pray for me, preacher. If something has happened to me, I feel it on the inside..."
On the count of three, I want you to throw your hands up. I want to see who I'm talking to.
One... The Lord is calling you.
Two... You're being saved right now.
Three... Throw your hands in the air.
Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?
Everybody with your hand up, I want to pray for you, right here. Tell the person next to you, "Get out of my way. I want you all to run to me right now. This is your moment. This is your moment."
Run to me right now. Come on.
Tell them, "Get out the way. Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run to me right now."
Come on.
Run. Run, run, run, run, run. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close. Get close.
Why y'all watching? Somebody celebrate what God is doing.
Come on. Celebrate what God is doing. Come on.
Celebrate.
[Music continues]
I will build my life on upon your come on. Run, celebrate.
I will put my trust in you alone and I will not be shaken.
Woo, man. God is catching these tears. He's catching these tears. That's called repentance. God is doing something in your heart.
Oh, my God. I need a prayer warrior. Somebody get to her right here. This woman that's brokenness—He's catching those tears. My sister, God is catching those tears. My brother, don't look at me. I'm not important. God is catching those tears. My sister, don't look at me. I'm not important. God is catching those tears. My sister, God is catching those tears. My sister.
He sees your repentance. He sees. He knows. He knows. That's okay. Cry. Let it out. Let it out. This is your moment.
That's okay. Cry. He knew you'd be right here at this altar. That's all right. Let it out. Let it out. Let it out. Let it out. He's catching these tears.
Let it out.
Yes. I see these tears right here. This is real. Let it out. Let it out. Let it out.
Every person at this altar, don't look at me. Don't look at me.
Wow. This is brokenness. It's okay. It's all right. It's all right. It's all right. That's called repentance. That's okay.
Somebody touch this woman. Stay with her. She's—stay with her. Somebody stay with this one right here. It's all right.
Don't look at my face. Just listen to my voice right here. Your own mouth, your own heart—just right now, just confess your sin. Tell the Lord you're sorry. Just—just—just leave it all right here.
Just tell them you're sorry. Tell enough is enough. Tell them you surrender.
Hallelujah. Tell them you surrender.
No—no magic, no formula, just your heart and His supernatural power.
Somebody stay with this woman right here. Right here.
Rhonda, somebody get to this woman. This is something—is going on in her heart. This is real. Stay with her. Put your arms around her shoulders. These arms you're feeling—that's the arms of Jesus holding you.
Everybody's at the altar.
Father, I pray: Don't look at me. For everyone at this altar, only You know what's happening in these hearts. I don't. There are tears falling everywhere. People weeping on the floor.
Father, these—only You know.
Father, I pray. God, in the name of Jesus, for those who have truly transformed, who have truly passed from death to life, I thank you, God, that You have sealed them with the Holy Spirit, according to Ephesians 1:13. I pray, God, that You have opened their eyes. I pray, according to Colossians, God, You're making them right now to see the preeminence of Christ, according to Corinthians. They're being transformed into a brand new creature, yes, Lord.
So Father, I just pray right now. God, what—I want to pray that You would burn them in their hearts. Hallelujah. You would fill them with Your perfect love, yes, Lord. You would give them an unquenchable desire. Hallelujah. For Your presence, for Your word, for the gathering of the saints in these last times when time is running out.
We thank you, God.
Lord, for a harvest of new souls.
Father, You said when one sinner repents, all of heaven rejoices. So Father, right now we rejoice. We rejoice.
Somebody rejoice right now.
Rejoice. Bow.
