A preacher, just like everybody else, likes to see results. We like to see progress in people; we like to see them growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord; we like to see them make right decisions and learn how to successfully deal with temptations. As fathers and pastors, we have a biblical mandate to watch over the souls of our people according to Hebrews 13:17. We love to see our people prospering as their souls prosper. A prosperous soul is a healthy soul; a soul with stable emotions, a soul that even in their struggles strives to do God’s will and a soul with a sound mind and the ability to make good decisions. But just like everybody else; we get hurt when we don’t see fruit manifesting in the people we are called to preach and teach. Is in moments like this that I like to take a deeper look at the heart condition of folks.

     The condition of your heart today will determine if what I am about to teach will or will not be effective in your life. In my life in general I am called to stay pray up and with God’s grace, pursue His will and watch my testimony. My job today and every time I preach and teach is to preach and teach his Word. When I do that is no longer my message, but His; when I do that, is no longer me, but I become a vessel of clay use by God to communicate HIS message. But the rest is on you! You decide what you want to do with this information according to the condition of your heart. In Luke 8:4-15 Jesus tells us,

4 And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
9 Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?” 10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’
11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. (NKJV)

     First, Jesus is speaking to a multitude and he chose to speak in parables (That means that he uses stories, allegories, etc. to communicate his message.) He does not speak the message openly; the message can only be understood by divine revelation. This message is not designed for everybody to understand; is designed for those who God call to be able to understand. If you, right now, understand what I am saying, you are blessed; but for a lost person, they will have a hard time listening to this message. Second, he is no longer with the crown, but now he is with the disciples and this is the time when he exclusively teaches them. There is a place where all of us must go to Jesus in our secret places to allow Him to teach us His Word.

Today, I want you to take your eyes off of me and focus in what the Lord is trying to tell you; however, the condition of your heart will determine your level of understanding or lack of understanding. Going back to Luke 8:11-15 Jesus clearly explain this parable. He explained that the seed on this parable is the Word of God. This is what I am giving you guys today, God’s Word; there is no other seed that is able to change your life. Here Jesus gives us 4 Different Heart Conditions:

1. The wayside (V 12)

     This is a hard heart! Nothing gets through this heart. You can talk to these folks until you are blue to your face and NOTHING, absolutely nothing will happen. They don’t change a thing. This is a heart that has been trample on over and over and nothing grows. Notice those places where people or animals constantly walk through; nothings grow there. That is the exact description of this heart! They allow everything and everybody into their lives. If it feels good; they do it. No conviction of sin, no morals and no pursue of holiness.

     When you speak to this group of folks, you will get frustrated if you are not careful. They are in our churches; they are in our local congregations. It may be a husband that goes to church, just because his wife makes him do it. It may be a wife that goes to church just because her husband pushes the issue. It may be teenagers and young adults still living with their parents, who feel force to go. Some have gotten use to, some even serve in ministries; some know how to sing well, some memorize a few Scripture; some even preach; but they have absolutely no fruit. They don’t Study Scripture, they don’t pray, they don’t worship God, they don’t even think about Him and, believe me when I tell you, you never hear God in their conversations. There is absolutely no sign of life; no fruit; they are dead; they are lost! These folks need to get saved.

2. A heart with temporary excitement (Verse 13)

     The heart of these folks is a little softer than the first group; the seed actually grows some here, but is never able to develop strong roots. These are folks that either received a water down message and got exited about that or, received the actual Gospel, but were never disciple. We have a mandate to make disciples, but in a study it shows that here in the United States the great majority of pastors and leaders believe that people can be disciple on their own. Never mind that Jesus tells us to “make disciples.” We have a mandate to teach these folks the ways of the Lord; to equip them, to prepare them for life; but they are weak and have no roots. As soon as the first temptation comes they fall headfirst.

     These are folks that want to immediately testify in the church; they want to preach, do this and do that; but move away from God very easily. That is why we have to be careful; because this group look and sound like Christians, but if we do not give them time to go through the discipleship process and for them to bear fruit, they become a stumbling block for new believers. People want to give testimony without going through any test; this group is unable to overcome any test because they are still not rooted in Christ; many are still playing games.

     When you go back and study church history you will find out that back in the days of the church fathers; the folks that came after the original disciples, they established as a rule to wait six months before baptizing anybody. The reason they did that was because there was so much foolishness going on that they wanted to wait and see if those conversions were real. They figured people can fake, but for so long!

     It is amazing that when you take a look at the First Great Awakening in America, the fruit was everywhere. This is a time when America was indeed great; that is because the First Great Awakening gave America conviction of sin. America started looking at their own mess such as slavery. That conviction started in the church buildings; they were in the “church” but were lost. Everything started with Jonathan Edwards famous sermon: Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God. The Second Awakening was all about emotionalism; thousands of people gather to listen to revivalist; but the soon they came, the soon they left; no fruit. They were hearts with temporary excitement; eager to look for the next new thing.

3. A heart who refuses to let go of the world (V14)

     This group is very similar to the second group; neither is able to bear fruit. We need to understand that Jesus stated that we shall know them by their fruit. As the second group falls with the first temptation; this group is a little more complex; they fall over three things specifically: 1) the cares, 2) the riches, and 3) pleasures of life. These are folks in the church who worry all the time (They have no faith). How can you please God if you have no faith? These are folks who put riches and the pleasures of this world above God. They call themselves Christians, but they look more like secular folks. They talk and walk just like the world. These folks have been apparently walking with Jesus, but are never able to mature; that is because they insist in mixing their faith with the things of this world.

     The Bible is clear that we can’t serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24) Notice that you can only go so far before you start either hating God or the world; but you can’t ever love both. God does not want half of you; God wants your entire heart. I believe that our churches are full of these folks; perhaps this is the largest group and the one that is doing more damage. Perhaps this is the group that Jesus refers to in Revelation 18:4 when he states, “…Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins…” These are the folks that water down the Gospel. In church history, this mixing has been taking place since the very beginning. Mixing the gospel with reason and knowledge, with philosophy and then Constantine really took it to another level as he mixed the church with government. As a matter of fact, he placed the church under the government; that is why you have preachers that in the name of fame, power and money compromise God’s Word all the time. There is nothing new under the sun!

4. A Good and Noble heart (V 15)

     This is a heart with morals. This is a heart with Godly conviction. This is not a perfect heart, but it is a heart that is allowing God to change him or her. The fruit here visible. This is a heart that endures the tribulations of life with patience; they don’t allow temptations, the cares or the pleasures of this world to move them away from their faith in God. Oh I wish everybody I minister to already have this heart; but that is not reality!

Conclusion

     So as preachers we must take a good look at our people and at our own families. Don’t assume that because they grew up in the church they have good and humble hearts towards the Lord. We need to minister to them where they are at. The first three groups are not save; they will split hell wide open. Sometimes we confuse talent with salvation. We think that because somebody can sing or preach or play an instrument somehow someway they have a free ticket to heaven. I have news for you; every human being has gifts and talents; but only through Christ are we are saved. If we don’t repent of our sins, if we don’t call Christ in our hearts and receive Him not only as Savior, but as Lord, we are lost.

     Every day of your life God gives you mercy; giving you time to repent, but that time will run out; death will come and after death is judgment. There are no second changes after you are dead; you have a chance now that you are alive. There will be a time that God will not be found. Oh I know many of us will weep in heaven when we find out that many of our friends and love ones did not make it to the New Jerusalem. I can’t only imagine the pain we will feel in our hearts. But God will wipeout our tears and in his immense power will make our hearts right to fully enjoy heaven in spite of eternally lost love ones. What is the condition of your heart?

     As preachers, is important that we know where people are at so that we can pray accordantly and also deliver the correct message. Can’t speak to people about deep theological truths when they are not even saved. Can’t be surprise when your folks keep falling over and over if their hearts are not right. Some folks need the Gospel and that is all you need to give them; they need to get saved, they are not ready for anything else. And, there are folks that are ready for meat; they will be bored to death if you keep giving them the same message over and over; they are ready to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord; they are hungry for righteousness.

     Out of these four groups only the last one is saved, because it is the only one that is able to bear fruit. Where is your fruit? It is God’s will for all of us to have a good heart; but are you willing to surrender? Would you allow God to do the work in you or, are you in love with the world and the things of this world?

Lets face it, some families are dysfunctional; that means that they are essentially not functioning properly; that means that they accept as truth the opposite of what a family should be. Nevertheless, even good parents are not exempt from messing up; every “good” parent will do and say the wrong thing soon or later. It should not surprise anybody, we as humans are spirit, soul and flesh; that flesh in particular does not go away just because you are now a parent. You can read all the books you want and take all the classes you want, you will still do and say the wrong thing every now and then.

         In the complexity of parenthood, part of the problem is that, to start, many of us do not know our biblical role as parents. That reality becomes a foundational problem that will indeed mess-up everything else. I am glad that the Bible is not silent about this topic; the Bible has much to say about parenthood.

         Now, this doing and saying the wrong thing will cause pain and only two things will help us overcome such pain, 1) love, knowing in your heart that your parents loves you and knowing that you love them and, 2) when you yourself become a parent and you, just like your old folks, attempt to be a “good” parent; then you realize that it is not easy!

         Love should be at the center of families. Outside of crazy folks, people love their families; they want the best for their kids and they look out for them in their own way. But lets go a little further on this topic.

         Let me start the heart of this article by stating that what I am about to say may sound weird, but biblically speaking, marriage is overrated, but family is not. If you don’t believe me when I say that marriage is overrated, take a moment and read First Corinthians 7 where the apostle Paul give us the reality of marriage over and over. Now, he is not advocating fornication and extramarital sexual activities and so on. Again, he is just presenting a real perspective of what marriage really is and what we will be facing.

         In First Corinthians 7:28 the Apostle Paul goes as far as saying: “But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.” (NKJV) Nothing will make your flesh rise more than marriage! If you have been marry for more than a week, you know exactly what I am talking about.

         In the Old Testament marriage had a few purposes, 1) for the multiplication of God’s people. God told both, Adam and later Noah, to multiply. 2) Marriage was important to preserve the children of Israel from the moral contamination of the world. That is why they were not supposed to marry outside of their own people. It was not a racist thing; it was with the purpose of keeping them holy and 3) It was very important to protect the genealogy of Jesus. Is it amazing that the genealogy of Christ is recorded all the way from Adam?

         The worldly romantic ideas of marriage are not found in the Bible. As a matter of fact, parents were the ones determining whom their children were to marry. However, when it comes down to family, from the Old to the New Testament, family plays a vital role for our formation as Godly people.

         Let me make a biblical point concerning the New Testament. Not caring for our families is consider worst than being a lost person according to First Timothy 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (NKJV) This verse alone should get our attention, but my focus is going to be on a portion of Scripture in the Old Testament. Abraham was chosen to be the father of the nation of Israel and the father of our faith because his commitment to family. Genesis 18:17-19 tells us,

And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. (KJV)

         God knew that Abraham was committed to teach the way of the Lord to his family. Can He say the same about you? Can He say the same about me? The way of the Lord is about teaching our kids justice and judgment according to God, not according to our opinion, our culture, the way we grew up, etc. Now lets look at three words on verse 19 in order to get a better understanding of what our responsibilities as fathers are:

• Command: From the Hebrew word, ṣāwāh: “A verb meaning to order, to direct, to appoint, to command, to charge, to be ordered, to be commanded.”^[1] This is so different from many liberal parents today who seem to let the children be in charge.
• Justice: Is the Hebrew word ṣ^eḏāqāh that speaks of “righteousness (What God accept as right), speaks of blameless conduct, and integrity; right actions, and right attitudes, as expected from both God and people when they judge.”^[2] This is a very practical definition because it deals with teaching our kids to act like they have some Godly sense.
• Judgment: From the Hebrew word mišpāṭ meaning, “A judgment, a legal decision, a legal case, a claim, proper, rectitude. The word connotes several variations in meanings depending on the context. It is used to describe a legal decision or judgment rendered: it describes a legal decision given by God to be followed by the people.”^[3] This could sound complicated, but it is not. This is about parents teaching their children proper decision-making based on God’s Word and not base on their own.

         So, in the mix of our humanity, in the mix of dealing with our flesh through our marriages and in the mix of our mistakes and shortcomings, as fathers these are our vital responsibilities: “to command our children to act like they have Godly sense and to obey HIM.” Wow! This is a personal revelation even as I write these words!

         For those who still don’t get it or don’t know how to start, God did not leave us without a system to follow. Deuteronomy 11:18-21 tells us exactly what to do and the promise attached to doing this,

18 “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth. (NKJV)

         We should have family devotionals; we should gather as brothers and sisters with other believers, but as parents, in our daily lives and daily routine we should be parenting. These parents that are always running, running and running and act like their kids soccer team, basketball practice, track competition or whatever else may be, is more important than God’s Word, are going to reap what they are sowing right now.

         Families that never have time for meaningful conversations are lost in their own busyness; the devil have you in his hands by keeping you so busy that you don’t have time to teach anything of value to your kids. You don’t have time to command them and teach them to act like they have Godly sense and to obey God.

         When you sit in your house, your children and you are on your phones; not even in the same room. We are all rushing in the morning, so no time to teach anything there. No time to take a walk and speak about the issues of the heart because you get off late from work and the children are involved in a million extracurricular activities. No time to teach when we lie down, because then we are so exhausted that all we want is to be entertained, watch TV, be on the phone, Facebook, etc. until we just fall asleep. The next day we will do it all over again until one day we realize that we never prioritized what was really important, “to command our children to act like they have Godly sense and to obey God.”

         Whatever else we did, follow our career, even ministry, focus on whatever else, while failing to do what God tells us to do as fathers, will come back to hurt us and our children.

         Now, understand that I am with you on this struggle. I have been working so hard to build a nice barbecue/garden area for us, as a family, to enjoy good food as we gather around the grill and engage in these conversations, but I have to tell you that I have totally fail in that aspect. Kids come grab their burgers, hot dogs, chicken wings or whatever else I have on the grill and inside the house they go, back to their phones and back to their worlds. I have had to force the issue and define the word “cookout”. It is frustrating to me as much as it may be for you, but I still press on, even as, at times, I feel like giving up. It does not happen to me too often, just 7 days out of the week and 365 days out of the year!

         But I finish with these words and in them I find hope, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV) My job as a dad is to train my kids; train them in what? In the justice and judgment of God! If you have been a coach on any sport you know that they don’t get it right away, it takes time, but what a great feeling when you see things coming together on that athlete. I find hope in knowing that if I don’t quit, one day I will see things coming together in my own children and if you don’t quit, you will be able to see it coming together in yours to.

 

 

^[1] Warren Baker and Eugene E. Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), 942.

^[2] Warren Baker and Eugene E. Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), 939.

^[3] Warren Baker and Eugene E. Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), 687.

The Apostle Paul, in perhaps the greatest expression of transparency seen in Scripture, states,

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:14-25 (NKJV)

         Nothing that I have found in Scripture better describe the war that is taking place in the inside of us. It is almost a bipolar condition for every believer. Our innermost (Our spirit) desires to serve the law of God. Our minds, the center of our soul, also desires to follow God, but stands in need of restoration (Psalm 23:6).

         We are called to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18), but what gets on the way of that growth? The answer is an unrestored soul and, in a deeper way, our flesh, which desires to serve the law of sin. Was Paul not delivered? Was Paul in need of deliverance? How can a man who was called an apostle, a man who was given divine authority to write more than half of the New Testament be struggling in such way? That is because, even the great Apostle Paul had a flesh, just like you and just like me.

         The mistake of some in the Body of Christ is that they use this reality as an excuse to surrender to a lifestyle of sin. They preach and teach a Gospel with no responsibility and no accountability, a gospel that takes away consequences. What we need to understand is our condition and also God’s provision.

To be continued…