Will You Be Good Ground
Key Passage: Luke 8
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn to Luke chapter 8 tonight.
How many dads got their favorite meal? Any dads get their favorite meal? Oh, come on. There you go. There you go. Anybody get their feet rubbed? I think so. I had to ask, though, you know?
Anybody get the rolling pin and just beat, you know, your husband? Okay, a couple of them are. I got a couple of those right there. Amen, amen, that is great. Good to see Joshua and Giselle here this morning and tonight. Sage better, Ms. Stoner better. And my brother Stoner in Sunday school and church this morning. That was awesome.
Nothing like spending the night in the ER where all the rooms were full and you got to stay in the bed in the hallway. Nothing quite like that. That is what they did on Thursday night. Back home, Ms. Linda was here this morning. So praise the Lord for that. Luke chapter 8 in God’s word. Praise the Lord for the men’s retreat, a great retreat this weekend.
I appreciate all those that made it happen. We appreciate it so very much. Brother Joel heading up the food, Brother Martin heading up the field day, and those making it happen. What a blessing. It was a good weekend, and praise the Lord for it. We are going to start in Luke chapter 8, verse number 12. This is the parable often called the parable of the sower.
Jesus is describing what it means. It is in other gospels also, but we are really going to try to focus on that good ground. In fact, the title tonight is, “Will You Be Good Ground?” We will briefly look at all four different grounds. We call it the parable of the sower, and the sower is a big deal. We preached on that several times over the years, but the ground—that is the key. It is actually not the sower that makes the difference; it is the ground. Of course, the Lord brings the increase, and our job is just to sow. We cannot always determine what the ground’s like, you know. You just put the seed out there. But let us briefly look at it, would you please? Luke chapter 8. We will start in verse number 11. Would you please stand as we bring God’s word together? Luke 8, verse number 11 of God’s Word tonight.
The Bible says, “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” Wow, that is a good thing. We all have our different techniques and whatnot, and there is nothing wrong with all that, but the key is the Word. The seed is the word of God. I like that. By the way, a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The seed is the word of God. Here is the first ground that it falls on, verse number 12: “Those by the wayside.” That is an interesting fault. I often think of some countries where the gospel is not told or preached much; their ground is kind of wayside. Could be a neighborhood never gets witnessed to. Could be a family never gets witnessed to.
But it is the wayside. It is not the main path of the sower, if you will. “Those by the wayside are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts.” By the way, that is key. We had a young man—here is a good young man, a good young man—but he went away to a conference for a bit. He came back and said, “Well, I’ve got to get into their head.” Well, that is nothing wrong, but the key is their heart. That is the heart. “And taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.” The devil is all about them not getting saved. The devil fights soul winning. He does not want people to get saved. He is all about taking the seed out of their heart so they do not believe and get saved. That is what the devil does. He wants to take more to hell with him. He is going to fight. He is going to fight your prayer time. He is going to fight soul winning. You are going to fight that. Very clear here. So the first ground, very clear: we know they did not get saved. That was working against that.
Verse number 13, here is the stony ground. “They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.” I would not argue a lot over this, but to me it is fairly clear here from this scripture: They got saved, but they did not grow to perfection. They did not mature. “Which for a while believe”—that is pretty clear to me. We mentioned this morning, Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Which for a while I believe. When a time of temptation, they fall away. You cannot fall away if you were not there in the beginning, you know? So they get saved, but they do not grow like the others. They do not get in church. They do not get baptized sometimes. They do not become all they ought to be for the Lord. That is very disappointing. That is part of it, one of the grounds, the stony ground.
Look at verse number 14. “And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring forth fruit… excuse me, bring no fruit to perfection.” It is going to go either way, and you can look at parallel scripture about it. I tend to think the fellow got saved, he just did not grow and bring forth fruit to perfection. It kind of makes you think he brought forth fruit but not to perfection when he said “bring no fruit to perfection.” I would not argue over it, but they heard it. Other scripture will confirm. They received it. They are excited about the first. But then just the cares, riches, pleasures of this life. That is interesting. One other passage says “the deceitfulness of riches.” Love of money—cannot serve two masters, you know. Love of money is the root of all evil. It falls in this category here. Just a stony ground, bringing no fruit to perfection. It is sad.
I think of a couple. I think of a couple, and I have to hurry along. I was not planning on taking much time on these other grounds. But a couple—I think they are both saved. They are both saved at a church and just miserable back in the very beginning days of the church. They got in church, got right with the Lord. He was one of our first ushers. He was kind of a…
He is in heaven now, so I can say a few things about him, but he was a touch of a grumpy kind of guy. You know what I am saying? And I did not smile a whole lot. He had worked at many different embassies across the world. Little guy, but probably knew about a thousand different ways to kill you. You know, one of those guys. If you work with embassies, security—I am talking about embassies—without knowing something, you know. He was in Russia way back with the head of the coup over there. I mean, he was working in the American embassy over there as a guard, whatnot, ex-military and all that. But anyways, a little bit of one of those guys just did not smile a whole lot, but I remember those days when he was on fire for the Lord, and he became an usher. And I remember him smiling. He was happy. It is just neat to see him happy. You could tell God was working his life, wonderful to see. And he bought another car, and he had to pay that off like tomorrow. He was not in a whole lot of great debt, but he just said, “I am going to get intense and pay everything off.” He got a second job, working, if I remember, Saturday and Sunday, 12-hour shifts, and he never came back to church.
I saw his wife in a grocery store a little while later on. She said, “Boy, I have been missing y’all.” And she started crying. She started talking about her husband. She said, “He is not happy.” I went to him. “So what is going on?” He said, “Well, money. You have to pay this thing off, you know, right away tomorrow.” Well, that is what I was talking about here: doing good for a while, but then just the pleasures of life and the riches and the deceitfulness of riches, the passage of those scriptures says that, and never bring forth fruit to perfection. That is a sad deal.
Then this last—this is the good ground. I do not know about you, but I would like to be the good ground here. I would like that. I am not there like I like to be. I am not always there, but I like to be there. Look what it says in verse number 15: “But that on the good ground… I like to be that… are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”
Now, for just a bit tonight, let us try to focus on that verse there, verse 15, and good ground. Would you whisper a prayer here at the beginning? “Lord, help me to be good ground.” I would like to let Him know that I want to be good ground for you. I like to grow to be what He wants me to be. Let us just pray that as a church family. Lord, let us ask Him to speak to our hearts about being good ground for Him. Father, we do come. Lord, again, we thank you for being the best Dad in all the world. We do not deserve you, and it is our privilege, Lord, to be your son and your child and your servant, Lord. And, Lord, we like to grow and be this good ground for you. I sure like to be there. Forgive me; so many times I am not there, Lord. Would you speak to our hearts tonight about what we need to do to be good ground for you? We are listening. We want to hear. Give us discernment to understand your voice speaking to us as individuals tonight. We thank you and praise you for what you do, and we ask for this, Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
It all begins—really, the key is that phrase right there: “But that on the good ground are they which in…” What is the next word? Help me out. Honest. Honest. If I am going to grow and become the good ground God wants me, if I am going to bring forth fruit to perfection and with patience, I am going to be there. It all starts with an honest heart.
I remember this: a man that had been saved for years, a good man, a good man. But he came to me one day, and he said, “Pastor, I think I have anger issues.” You know my comment, really? I was so sincere, and I said, “Man, this is awesome. I really believe you are setting yourself up to grow. You are becoming good ground because you are getting honest. I have an issue here.” It did not lower him at all in my eyesight; it really raised him up. This is a man that is going to be growing for the Lord because he is just being real honest about his issues. The first thing he says, if you are going to be good ground—he does not say you have to have everything worked out because none of us would be good ground—he said it all starts with an honest heart.
That is so key. If we do not—if I do not get this first thing here—I am not going to get the rest. I am not going to be the good ground where God can use me to have fruit in my life and use me in growth. It all starts with this thing about having an honest heart.
Have you ever been in a situation you lived, and maybe other people were there, and then you hear somebody else tell that story a little bit later on, and the angle they are telling it from, you are like, “Whoa, wait a second here.” I understand sometimes you see a different view of it, but like, there is no… those things there, they just collide. There is just somebody not being honest about this thing here. When you hear the same situation told again, you are like, “Whoa!” It must be painstakingly honest. It is so vital if I am going to grow in the Lord. It is interesting; sometimes you will talk with a husband or a wife, and sometimes there have been occasions I will ask the other to leave. Can I hear your side of it? Then I do the opposite, you know, and the other one is right outside the office there, and windows are all in there and all that stuff. But it is amazing sometimes. Now, wait a second, I hear this thing from the wife, and then I hear from the husband. I am like, somebody is not being honest right here because we are telling two different stories here. Something is going on. Something is not right here, you know. Just honesty—it is so, so vital. Can I say something here? We all battle it from time to time, amen? Just painstakingly dead honest about ourselves. That is why sometimes it is good for us to give those that are close to us, those that are not trying to belittle us or put us down—they are here for us on our side—sometimes it is a good thing to say, “Hey, you know, I am going to give you a little bit of liberty in my life. If you do not think I am being honest about a situation, I am going to let you come talk to me about it because I like to be honest.” And you just do not think I am being right and fair and honest in the situation. I do not mind if you come to me. Do not come, you know, force it down my throat, you know. I mean, just, but I am kind of being open with you, and I am going to give you the right to do that. But it all really starts with being honest.
Now, here is the thing. I am talking about this good ground, bringing forth fruit. Help me out, class. Who brings the increase? God does. I cannot make myself grow, no more than Elaine, who turns 11 years old tomorrow. She cannot say, “Well, I am going to grow next year by three feet.” She cannot control her growth. And really, as a child of God, saying, “I am going to grow for the Lord”—in some aspects, you cannot make yourself grow. God does that. And then just bringing forth fruit—I think it means so much, and it is just growth in your life and fruit in your life, it could be, or the ultimate, I should say, of fruit in a Christian’s life is another Christian. The ultimate fruit of an orange tree is another orange tree, another orange. But, you know, I cannot—I have never really truly made anybody get saved. You cannot do that. God does that. God brings the increase. Yes, Paul planted, Apollus watered, but God gave the increase. You really cannot even make yourself grow. God does that.
But we understand that God, the one that brings growth into Christians’ lives, hates dishonesty. You remember Proverbs 6, where He gives this hate list, God’s hate list, the seven abominations. Remember those six things? Remember the first one? What is it? A proud look. Remember the second one? What is it? A lying tongue. Yes, God hates that. God is not going to put that on my—the second thing on my hate list is a lying tongue. Look over, if you will, in Proverbs chapter 12.
This is a good verse, Proverbs chapter 12. We had a young man in our church years ago, and I think he was battling being honest about things, and he found this verse. I thought one of our teachers and his youth pastor at the time thought he had told him this verse. He told me years later. He said, “No, nobody told me that verse. I just found it and memorized it.” Wow, that is pretty awesome. It is a great verse on just being honest about things. Proverbs 12, look at it. Proverbs 12, verse number 22. What does the Bible say there? It says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.” Now, wait a second. If I am looking for the Lord to grow me, I do not think He is going to grow me real good when I have lying lips because that is an abomination to Him. What is the rest of that verse? “But they that deal truly are his delight.” When it gets to the part He delights in, it goes beyond just lying lips and honest lips. He says you deal truly. You are not manipulative, deceitful. You are not always giving your angle and trying to deceive and manipulate people to say and do and think what you want them to say or do a thing. You just deal truly. God says, “Hey, I delight when somebody just deals truly.” I like that, God says. If you like it, there is a good chance God is going to grow me because God brings the growth. I cannot make myself grow; God does that. Not only that, this first point is just so very, very important: an honest heart. Just think about that. He says “in an honest heart.”
If my heart is not honest, it is probably my tongue. I am not going to be honest, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. But I can have a—maybe even very slyly—I have said, “Well, I haven’t lied with my tongue.” You know how we are about that. Well, I technically did not lie. Of course, a half-truth is probably a half-lie, and a half-lie is a lie, you know. But even before that, if my heart has what gets a little bit tricky there because “the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things; who can know it?” And He said, “Now, wait a second, if I am going to be good ground, I have to have it.” It all really begins with an honest heart. It is amazing what we can justify in our heart, is it not? We think we are wonderful in our heart. We can blame everybody else in the world in our heart because nobody really knows what is going on in our heart besides us and the Lord. And we even get deceived about our heart. So it can be a little bit where we have got to really work at this thing about God giving us and God working for us to have an honest heart.
And David, when he was getting right with God in Psalm 51, verse number 6, he says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” God wants to be totally honest, painstakingly honest, in the inward parts. That is your heart. And David said, “I want to be honest in my heart.” That verse over in 1 John 1:8. We know 1 John 1:9. That is my last verse, amen. Come on now, you know what I am talking about. If we confess our sin, praise the Lord, I need to do that, man. It is amazing the verse before and after talk about if we say that we have no sin. Now, verse 3, it says if we say that we have no sin, you know what happens? We deceive ourselves. It is just amazing. We think, “Man, I’m right,” but really not. It is amazing how we pronounce words. I mean, I am not the one to talk about how to pronounce a word right. I am not the guy, you know that. You understand that for sure, you know. I mean, I am not even in the zero percentile; I am in the negative when it comes to pronunciation for sure. If you have been around here for longer than five minutes, you know that is true, amen, you know. But it is amazing just what part of the country you come from how this right to pronounce a word sometimes you do not know. How about humble? Is it not interesting you ever hearing somebody say “umble” instead of “humble”? You know anybody here pronounce it “umble”? A couple. My wife, of course—most of you know—do not hold it against us, amen, you know. But my wife is from New Jersey.
Please delete that off there; do not put it on the internet. But she is from New Jersey, and somebody—I think Liz, Sarah’s friend—was saying, “Now, how did… what did you just say there today?” And she had said a word, and Liz lives in Texas now, she lives in the Philippines, and I think she was born in Indiana and whatnot. But anyway, for Liz, she was like, “What did you say?” And sometimes I say that, it is all about how you grow up, especially if you are in a closed-circuit family where just, you know, nothing outside. Some families will not even let their kids go to church or Sunday school or anything because it is all closed-net, you know, and closed circuit. So you grow up in that closed circuit and you think that is right. Sometimes you get in life, you are like, “Man, that is dead wrong.” But for God to grow us beyond these things in our life, it is so key that we have an honest heart. That is just so important. It is so important that we do not sweep sin under the rug. I am not saying it is always right to bring it out in public in front of everybody, but friend, I am not at all for just sweeping sin underneath the rug and covered up so nobody… You need to deal with that sin. Sometimes I think if somebody has to go to somebody else and say, “I am sorry for what I said or what I did,” there is a better chance they will not do that again, you understand? There is some truth to this confession; it is good for the soul. But I must have an honest heart, and I need to—if there is some sin—I need to deal with that. I do not think, “Well, everything is wonderful. If I have no sin, life is good.” No, friend. If you are going to have an honest heart, you say, “I was wrong in what I did. I was awful in this thing here.”
And an honest heart—it all begins. If I am going to be good ground for the Lord where God can bring forth fruit, it all begins with an honest heart. That is so very, very important because our heart will get us manipulating, and our heart will get us mad, our heart will get us blaming things; it will lead us off in left field. But no, an honest heart is key. I will never forget that man coming in: “Pastor, I have issues.” I thought, “Praise the Lord. He is becoming good ground, if you will.” It is a great thing. It all begins there with an honest heart.
Let us keep going here. What does God say about it? Verse number 15 right there, Luke 8:15: “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and…” What is the next thing? Good heart. There is no doubt about our heart here. By the way, the only one that can make my heart or your heart good is the heart specialist, God. It begins at salvation. He regenerates us, and then we continually bring our heart to the Lord.
I always thought it was amazing about Saul when Samuel anointed him to be king before everybody knew about it. It was not the open coronation, but just that private anointing him to be king in the future. The Bible says this in 1 Samuel 10:9: “And when it was so, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart.” Wow. Now, I saw a backslider in the coming years go down here, but for Ohio, man, God—God really did a word. God gave him another heart. I just referenced that to show you, hey, God is the one that can change your heart. If I am going to have a good heart, it is not going to be me making my heart good because that is kind of like, you know, bad making something else good. We are sinners. But I take my heart and I give it to the Lord. It is day by day. It is over and over, time and again, giving my heart: “Lord, I want you to have my heart. Would you work with my heart? Would you change my heart? Would you tenderize my heart?” It is amazing to go through tough times how a heart gets hardened sometimes. I think of a man; he is not the most tender-hearted guy in the world typically, but he is going through a tough time. At one point he said, “I do not know what it is. I am just riding down the road and I start crying sometimes now.” I say, “God is tenderizing your heart.” God does that. God works in your heart and changes your heart and gives you a good heart. God does that. So, just daily, “Lord, here is my heart. I want you to have it. You will do a better job with my heart. Please take it. I want to be good ground. I want to have an honest heart and a good heart. I am giving you my heart, Lord.”
Then let me say this about having a good heart. The Word of God—the Word of God is key. You know that passage in Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” When you read His word daily, man, you get into the Word. And, Lord, would you take your Word and use it to change my heart? I mean, you go to that book in the morning, wherever it is for you in your devotion. Do not just say you read it; praise the Lord, you have to read it. It all begins there. I am not trying to criticize reading it, but that is where it starts. I say, “Lord, I want more than that. Would you do a work in my heart through the words I just read?” Some of you are much better about this than I am, but your journal—what did God speak to your heart from in His Word today? I do not journal like I should, but I will. “Lord, what was I supposed to learn from that? And what was I supposed to learn from this? Lord, my heart, man, it has been out of shape. It is here, there, and yonder, pulled in a thousand directions. Lord, I want my heart to be right. What am I supposed to get out of your Word today?” Amen. And just continually, Lord, I want to not just read it, but memorize Thy Word, hide it in my heart. Hide it in there. If it is a phrase, maybe that little phrase from the Word of God: “The light of the body is the eye.” Maybe it is that phrase you are hiding in your heart today and all day long, you just kind of quote that. You are letting His Word get into your heart, the very core of you. Preaching—He manifests His Word through preaching. Man, when you hear… Lord, I love David Gibbs. He says every time when he and his wife are together going into service, he says, “Honey, let us pray: Lord, would you speak to our hearts while we are in church hearing the preaching?” That is great. And you are continually asking, “Lord, I do not want to just hear it, but I want it to change my heart.”
I mentioned already, teaching goes from the head typically; preaching goes for the heart. America has a lot of teaching. You can find pretty good teaching on Christian radio a lot of times, but preaching is lacking. By the end times, people have itching ears: “What? That teacher, tickle my ear, give me what I want to hear.” But preaching goes after the heart. Lord, I want to hear the preaching of Your Word that will speak to me and change my heart. That is key. You are always asking God, “I would like to have a good heart. Would you do that?” Give your heart to the Lord daily. Get in His Word. Get His Word deep into your heart. Then let me say this: Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your heart to you.
Look over there in Psalm 139, if you would please. Psalm 139—this is David. God is using David here to pen these words. David, he had a heart after the Lord, a man after God’s own heart. He just sought the Lord. He said, in one place, “I have sought you.” As a heart painted out of the water broke, so my heart yearned after God. “My soul longeth for thee,” he said in one place, if I remember right. He is after the Lord. Look at this: How did he keep his heart right? Well, this is one of the ways. Psalm 139. Look at verse number 23. Those last two verses there. Psalm 139:23: “Search me, O God, and know my what? Heart.” Reveal to me. Show me what is going on in my heart. “Try me, and know my thoughts.” Yes, your head is important, but it starts in the heart. “And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 19—God used David to pen that one too. Psalm 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” You ask the Holy Spirit, “Hey, would you go through my heart? I want to have a right kind of heart.” Daily in your devotion time, there ought to be some time. The Lord’s Prayer, the model prayer over there—that is that time. “Forgive us as we forgive our debtors.” There is time when we go through, “Lord, would you go through my life if there are things not right, not just in what I am doing, but in my heart? Is there any iniquity separating me and you?” And you let the Holy Spirit speak to you daily about your heart. It is so very important.
How many of you have a garden this year? How many have a garden this year? Oh, good. We have a good number of people who have a garden this year. I have a garden this year, but I am not dead good with my garden. I mean, knee surgeries and vacations and just plain old laziness and all the rest of that. I tell you what, I have grass and weeds coming up in the garden. I mean, you know, I need to get out there and get rid of that. Those of you who probably have a beautiful garden, I promise you, you are probably out there daily or every other day pulling weeds. You have a hole in your hand. If you are going to have a beautiful garden, it takes daily tending to it. If you are going to have a heart, a good heart, it is daily. Bring it to the Lord, Holy Spirit. “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” And allow Him to say, “Hey, your heart is off here. You are getting bitterness. You are getting unforgiveness against your spouse here. You have these ill feelings here. You are getting envious here.” And you let Him just daily cleanse your heart. It is a work, letting God do that. If I am going to be good ground, it starts with an honest heart and a good heart.
Let us keep going very quickly here. What does this say? Want to be good ground. It is going to be good ground. Help me out, class. First thing He said, if I am going to be good ground, I have to have what kind of a heart? Honest heart, good. Then the next thing He says, what kind of a heart? Good. Honest and a good heart. Only God can give that good heart, but He can do it. He is very capable of doing it. Let us keep going. “But that on the good ground today, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it.”
You have to hear it, but it is not just hearing it; you are trying to keep it. Look over in James, if you would, really quickly. James chapter 1 tonight. James chapter 1, verse number 22. You are so good to be here on Father’s Day afternoon, Sunday night service, and I appreciate that. We are not going to be much longer because probably all the dads ate a lot more sugar than you should have today. You understand, you know. Brother Kevin said amen to that right there. I think several of us are guilty of that one there, and that sugar low comes, amen, you know. So we are going to hurry along here. Look in verse number 22. James 1, verse number 22. What does he say right there? “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.” And, interestingly, look at the last part of that verse. Look at that. It is amazing. If you just hear it, but you do not do it, what happens? You are deceiving your own selves. Boy, our heart—we can justify just about anything. “Well, I heard it, but, you know, I am good.” Well, you are deceiving yourself.
Let us keep going. “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.” That glass, you can maybe say a mirror. You know, they had makeshift mirrors back then. What happens if you look in the mirror and you say, “Oh, my hair is a mess? I need to shave,” whatever may be, you know, but you do not do anything about it? Well, you are going to forget how to fix your hair later on, you know? You have to do something about it right then. Verse number 24: “For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, the Word of God—you get a good glimpse of yourself with the Word of God—“and continueth therein daily,” man, you are just in the book. “Lord, work in my heart.” You are meditating on it. You are hiding it in your heart. “And continue therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work.” Notice that work; it is a work. “This man shall be blessed in his deed.” Can I paraphrase? He becomes good ground. God brings the increase.
So he is hearing it, and he is not just hearing it; he is trying. “Lord, I fall short. I cannot do everything. He just preached about everything. I cannot get it all right, but I am going to do my best to keep your Word.” Trying to keep your Word—that is what it is talking about. If I am going to be good ground, Lord, man, I read this morning, and that convicted me. I am going to try. I want to keep that. I need to make a change. I wonder if we could maybe have some kind of a graph. Have we grown, we young Christians, that we have not grown in a long time? Are we still continually growing? I understand that whenever we are going to get perfection, we get to heaven. So I ought to always be growing, you know? How am I going to get there? Honest and good heart, and you are trying to hear and keep the Word. Not perfect, but you are trying to keep it.
Now what does He say? Let us go back to this verse over here, Luke 8:15. “But that on the good ground are they which…” And what? What is the first thing? Honest. And then He says, “And a…” What? Good heart. And then He says, “Having heard the word,” what does he do? He keeps it. And then look at this thing here: “Bring it forth fruit with patience.”
I mentioned already, we cannot make ourselves grow; God does that. Sometimes, man, I want to make myself grow. You know, you have to do that in His time. Let me just mention, just a short minute, to focus on the Lord with patience. Can I say this? There is no way around it. I have looked for a lot of shortcuts trying to get there; I have not found one yet. Usually those shortcuts, you know what they do? They send you—sometimes if somebody just goes here and boom, they are bouncing all over the place all the time because they are looking for a shortcut—and there are no shortcuts. Bring it forth fruit with patience. It just takes time. God values patience. I do not necessarily like it; I will be honest with it. It is not the end product over there in James 1, but the end product is perfect, wanting nothing, but part of the formula is patience.
We gave a tour the other day for school, and a little girl was with her parents, and they said she asked good questions. They were riding to the school, and they were praying about it, and praise the Lord for it. The little girl said, “Well, how is God going to—how is He going to tell Mom and Dad whether this is the school or not?” They just said, “Well, He has a way. He will tell you. He will tell you. He will tell you.” I, of course, said amen to that. I told the little girl—I talked to her for a second—I said, “You know, my problem is, I want God to tell me right now. But He never tells me right when I want Him to.” I said, “That is what I have.” All the parents were like, “Yeah, that is the truth right there.” And I said, “That is what I have a hard time with—that time when I am asking, asking, asking, and God says, ‘In My time, I will tell you the answer.’” But that is part of the formula. Our instant generation—now, now, now, have it your way within 30 seconds or it is free. They do not do that anymore after COVID, you know that. Not enough workers, you know. Maybe within 30 minutes they might do it; I doubt that nowadays either, you know. We will not talk about any restaurant on the other side of the express, but they are getting a little better, you know, about being faster. But anyway, some of these restaurants are known for being slow right here, you know. But anyway, in our instant generation, we are wondering right now. God does not do that.
And bring it forth fruit with patience. It is not fun, but it is part of the formula. By the way, during that patience time, God is growing us. He knows typically we are not ready for it. You say, “I am praying for God to give me a breakthrough on my finances.” This guy can do that. That is no big deal for God. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. There is no problem for God. But God values more than just that money you need the answer to prayer. God values you growing in the process, and He knows what we need. He knows. A wonderful verse along this line—I am just reading it for reference: Lamentations 3:25 and 26. “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him; to the soul that seeketh him.” It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Amen. Is it not interesting, “quietly wait”? I am like, “Lord, God, you know.” You have a lot of faith to grow in. I am not quietly waiting. God is growing us. But if I am going to have this fruit, there is an aspect of patience. It is just part of it. We mentioned already, the ultimate fruit, I think, is another Christian. It is a good desire, but most people, when they are really getting serious, trying to win souls, they want fruit that remains—John 15, and all that. That is a great desire; I think it is from God, that desire.
It is funny what happens during that time. I have seen it over the years. “You know, I want fruit that remains, Lord.” So sometimes they try to change their witnessing presentation. I am not against you; everybody is going to kind of adapt and fit their personality. If you are really, really, really, really, really lost and they get saved, they are going to grow. Okay, show me that; we will do it that way, you know. But if they do not pick the fruit while it is green—wait, wait, wait—you know, it will just be, “Okay, show me how that works.” And they change this, that, the other, and I am not saying outside the realms of right, but they just… They want fruit that remains, which is a good thing. But can I say this, friend? It is those that over the years—they just try to be obedient. They stay in their Sunday school class. They stay working the bus ministry. They stay out knocking on doors. They stay witnessing to their neighbors. They stay praying. They pass out tracts. They are just over the years—I watched them over the years. Praise the Lord, they are not proud or anything like that, that is mine and all that, but those are just over the years trying to obey God. And out of faith—it is the key, by the way. See, the Christian life is all about faith. But out of faith, they have tried to witness and be a soul winner. God, in His time, He gives them fruit that remains. You cannot bypass it with patience.
Many of you know this story. You have heard me talk about it. Brother Patrick has preached for us before. I meant to mention Brother Patrick. If you have that picture of Brother Bud Martin, if you can pull it up real quick—if not, that is fine. My dad, my dad was a soul winner. That was a strong point. He witnessed everywhere he went. There have been times when us kids would say, “Come on, Dad, we have to go,” or “We are running late as it is.” He would stop to witness to the clerk, you know, whatever. Like, “Dad, come on.” There would be a line behind Dad at the grocery store, and Dad would stop, and we would start witnessing to the person. They are grumbling behind us, but he will keep witnessing to them, you know. That has just been Dad over the years, just witnessing everywhere. It was just a consistent—the most consistent personal soul winner I ever knew personally, just amazing, putting me to shame. Sometimes us kids would be like, “Well, you know, did they really get saved? Did they mean that?” You know, and all those things—we were just a little bit like that. “Well, Dad, you had a whole lot. How many of them are in church now?” We might not say it, but we have those thoughts. You are human, you know.
It is interesting. “Oh, they must have found it,” amen. I will turn these lights off, and many of you have seen this thing anyway. Whenever you get it, Brother Patrick, you just put it up whenever you are ready. I do not know how long ago—I will get the numbers mixed up—but maybe 15 years ago now, I do not know. Somebody called our church; the secretary, Ms. Tommy, answered and said, “Hey, was your pastor down in North Georgia 30-something years ago? Did he lead a guy to the Lord that was sitting down on his front porch in a rocking chair, a long-haired hippie? And has he ever talked about that?” The secretary said, “Well, if it is 30 years ago, the pastor would be mighty young at that time.” Hey, man, I like that “young” part anymore, you know. It was probably 15 years ago when they called our church, then 30—oh, 45 years ago, amen. I was not born at that time. I mean, well, okay. I am in church. You have to get honest here, you know. Honest heart, right? They said, “Well, probably it was not the pastor; probably it was his dad.”
They gave the number to my dad. The guy called my dad and said, “Hey, are you Mr. Chisgar?” He said, “Yeah.” He said, “Were you in North Georgia 30-something years ago and led this guy to the Lord on the front porch?” Dad at that point had cancer and everything. Dad said, “Well, that is kind of the timeline; we traveled a lot in North Georgia.” He said, “That man that you led to the Lord, 30-something years ago—we have not seen him in all these 30 years. That man has been my pastor for the last, I do not know, 16 years or so at that point.” He said, “He never could fully pronounce that last name right.” I understand that, amen, you know. He said, “He has been looking for you forever, but he just could not find it.” This was one of the younger men at the church, and he found my dad through the internet. He said, “Our pastor is turning—I think it was 50 years old this coming Sunday, about a month or two down the road. We went to his shed and we dug out that old rocking chair he was sitting in. We are going to bring that rocking chair out on the platform, and we want you to come down. After 30-something years, we are going to introduce you all. I want you to meet what that man, that you led to the Lord, is today. He is my pastor today.” That is Brother Martin today. In fact, he has preached for us; I preached my dad’s funeral. That is Brother Martin today. Do you have that picture? The before picture? We do not have it. I was wanting to show you that before picture. If you saw it, you would see—many of you have seen it—hair down about his hips, and he has a motorcycle out there.
To hear his side of the story and his wife’s: His wife told us that at that point she thought they were sold out; there was no hope for them. They just did so much with drugs, everything. There was just no hope for them. So she thought, “Well, if I let somebody come in and really maybe teach my children, maybe there is some hope for our kids.” So she was allowing the Jehovah’s Witness to come in and talk to her kids. Brother Martin had never been to church in his life, but he said, “I know they are not right.” They were fighting at nighttime. He said he had never prayed. He was lying under the bed, fussing and fighting. “I have to go to work early; I want to go to sleep.” So he said, “Well, if there is a God up there, we are going to pray and ask Him to show us the truth.” He said, “I do not even know if I closed my eyes or not. I did not know how to pray,” but he was sincere. John 7:17 says, if one is willing to do the truth, He will show him what the truth is, whether it be God or whether it be a man, basically. I am paraphrasing.
We get it? There is the before on the left, of course. That is them a couple of years later, right around when my dad went down there. But that is them on the left, what they were like when they got saved. By that night, they were in their bedroom just arguing. Brother Martin just said a quick prayer, “Thank you all.” He said, “If you are up there, you need to show us what the truth is.” Within 24 hours, if I remember right, my dad and my mom both came by their house and led them to the Lord.
Did we disciple them like we wanted to? No, they came to church before we left. We moved so much. I am not against these things, but I am just saying that over those years, someone faithfully, with an honest and a good heart, tried to hear and keep the Word, and God, in His time, with patience, brought forth the fruit to perfection. Friend, that patience is always part of it. It is just that one over the years, faithful by faith, being a witness to the Lord, and those are the ones when God says, “Hey, I will bring forth some fruit that remains through their life.”
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Would you spend some time during an invitation just saying, “Lord, I would like to be good ground”? Would you just tell Him that? I am not going to have you raise your hands tonight, but would you just tell Him, “Lord, I want to be good ground”? Would you tell Him, “Lord, is there something I need to change to be good ground? Show me what it is.” Lord, help me to have an honest heart. Let me have a good heart. Would You make my heart good? Let me be a doer, not just a hearer of the Word. And Lord, I have to have patience. I know you have been told many times, “Do not pray for that,” and I understand what they are saying there. But friend, the Bible does say, “Let patience have her perfect work.” A. J. Gordon said you should pray, “Lord, be thorough with me. I want to learn when I am supposed to learn while I am here. Keep me faithful so patience brings forth good fruit.” Would you please stand? We are going to have a word of prayer. Would you just come? “Lord, help me to be good ground.” Would you let Him know that? Father, thank you for Your Word. Help us, Lord, to have an honest and a good heart. Make our hearts good. We give them to You today. Convict us when we are not honest. Lord, help us not only to hear Your Word but to do Your Word. Father, keep us faithful during the patient time. Bless Your people, Lord, please. It is in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen. Would you come? Just give your heart to the Lord. Have it to be good ground. Would you let Him know that? Have it to be good ground. Would you do that? “My soul is sick. My heart is sore. Now I’m coming. My strength renew. My Lord, I’m coming.”
Amen. So glad you are in church tonight. You are here on Father’s Day Sunday night. I believe you have a desire to be good ground for the Lord. That is just awesome. Thrilled you are here. Praise the Lord, one of the young men, teenagers whose dad has been coming here recently, bringing his son and daughter—the son got saved this morning, a teenage young man. Pray for that. God is just working in lives. We are thankful for God working in that teenage young man, and just keep praying God to continue working in lives. It has been a good weekend, been a good weekend, but some of you are a little tired, amen. It has been good, but busy. Let us just stay faithful for the Lord. I appreciate you so much. Man, it is just awesome. Just awesome. Brother Joel, man, knocked it out of the park with that food this weekend—seafood on Friday night, and then all kinds of breakfast burritos Saturday morning. My goodness. We will have more go to the men’s retreat next year after this, you know. And then fried bologna—not this thin stuff, you know, this thick stuff, man, that is good stuff. I would tell you there is a little bit left over in the kitchen in the refrigerator, but I want to save it for tomorrow. It has been good. You did a great job. I appreciate everybody who made it happen. That was just awesome. I appreciate it so very much. Brother Joel, would you dismiss with a word of prayer, please, brother?
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Will You Be Good Ground - Sunday PM 06182023