The Golden Key to Spiritual Growth: The Choice Is Yours

Hey, everybody. You're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at gregg.harvest.org. Again, it's gregg.harvest.org.

You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. People that do not succeed in the spiritual life end up that way because of choices over the course of their lifetime to not do the right thing. Listen, it comes down to this. If you want to grow spiritually, you will. If you don't want to grow spiritually, you won't.

It's really up to you. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again, you hear all the angels are singing.

This is the day, the day where life begins. So much of life is a study of cause and effect. We wonder why we get so many speeding tickets. Hmm, could it be that we drive too fast? We wonder why it's so hard to get up in the morning.

Maybe it's linked to how easy it is to stay up late the night before. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us study cause and effect as it relates to success in the Christian life. Jesus paid the price for our salvation, but we'll see maturity and spiritual growth are up to us. Let me begin with a question. Why do some succeed while others fail in the Christian life? We all know people who have walked with the Lord for many years and God has used them powerfully, and then we know other people who basically crash and burn.

Here's the answer. The people that do not succeed in the spiritual life end up that way because of choices they make. Not one choice necessarily, but hundreds, even thousands of choices over the course of their lifetime to not do the right thing and by default end up doing the wrong thing. Listen, it comes down to this. If you want to grow spiritually, you will. If you don't want to grow spiritually, you won't.

It's really up to you. In fact, God gives us a choice in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19. The Lord says, So the Lord is saying, it's up to you. You want to bless life?

You want to curse life? That's your choice, but I give you the choice, and I love how he tells us the right choice. He goes, choose life. Make the right choice.

Do the right thing. God has given you everything you need to know in the Bible about him, and he's given you all the spiritual power to grow spiritually. We're told over in 1 Peter 1-3, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. We're going to look at one of my favorite stories in the Bible. It's a parable. Now you know what a parable is.

A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Just think of it as a story. We all love stories. We all love to watch movies. We love to read novels. We love to read fiction.

We love a good story, and even better if it's a true story. Jesus told lots of stories. In fact, he told so many stories. The Bible says the common people or the regular folk heard him gladly. He didn't speak over people's heads. He didn't try to impress them with theological words. He broke everything down in an understandable way so they could get it.

We're going to look at the parable of the sower, which is a parable that reveals to us the golden key to spiritual growth. Not long ago I was invited to the White House and a group of pastors were invited into the Oval Office at the request of the president to pray for him and give him some advice. Now some people are critical of that.

Why would you go and do that? Well excuse me. Any time a president or a governor or an elected official would say, Would you come into my office and pray for me and give me some advice?

I don't think I would say no to that. We have biblical precedent of course. We look at Daniel advising the kings of Babylon.

We see Joseph advising the Pharaoh and so forth. So of course we said yes and the president was very receptive to what we had to say. And then when it came time to pray he was very happy to pray and ask for God's help in his life. And then he gave to all of us an unexpected gift. There was a stack of these boxes on his desk and we were each given one. And this box has a key in it. This is a commemorative key on the box that says the president of the United States. And then inside is this golden key. And the president said now this key opens some lock somewhere here at the White House. I don't really know what. But we understand it's a commemorative key. We're not expecting to go down to the White House next week and just start trying to put it in key holes and see where we can go.

No. It's a commemorative key. It's a golden key. But I have a golden key for you today. And this one is not going to open up any locks at the White House.

But it can open up some locks if you will in your own life. It's the golden key to spiritual growth. Now before we read from Mark chapter 4 let's get the backdrop. Jesus had had a long and emotional day. His mother and brother showed up to where he was speaking and they wanted to take him home because in their words they thought he had lost his mind. And then after that he was accused by the scribes of being inspired by Satan. Not a good day.

A lot of drama. So it's interesting as we come to Mark chapter 4 we read that Jesus has gone to the beach effectively. Now it's the Sea of Galilee which is actually a massive freshwater lake. So he went to the water. And I don't know about you but I love to be near water. I love to walk on the beach. It's a place where you contemplate things and you're surrounded by God's creation.

And it's just a great place to sort of unwind and reflect. And I think Jesus loved to spend time in the water. We see a lot of his great teachings and activities right there near the Sea of Galilee. So with that in mind we come to Mark chapter 4 and we read these words.

Once again. By the way I am reading from the New Living Translation. Mark chapter 4 verse 1. Once again Jesus began teaching by the lake shore. A very large crowd soon gathered around him and he got into a boat. And he sat on the boat where the people remained on the shore and he taught them by telling many stories in the form of parables such as this one.

Listen says Jesus. A farmer went out to plant some seed and he scattered it across the field. Some fell in a footpath and the birds came and ate it.

Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. I am sure the Lord was probably gesturing as he was teaching. In the Sermon on the Mount he says look at the birds. They don't worry. Why are you worrying? Look at the flowers.

How beautiful they are. Maybe he gestured and there was a farmer in the distance throwing seed out left and right. So he talks about this seed that goes in a footpath and the birds come and eat it. And other seed falls on shallow soil with underlying rock and it sprouted up quickly. But it withered under the hot sun.

He continues on. Other seed fell among thorns or weeds that grew up and choked out the tender plants and it produced no fruit. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil and they sprouted, grew, and produced a crop that was 30, 60, even 100 times more than had been planted. Now listen to this. Then he said, he who has ears to hear let him listen. Ok. That's the parable of the sower.

Say well that's nice. What does it mean? That's exactly what the disciples said.

Well what does this mean? And now Jesus explains or interprets this story here in Mark chapter 4 verse 13. Then Jesus said to them, if you can't understand the meaning of this parable how will you understand all the other parables?

Here it is. The farmer plants seed by taking God's word to others. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message but Satan comes at once.

You might underline that phrase. Satan comes at once and takes it away. Now the seed that fell on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy.

But they don't have deep roots and they don't last long and they fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word. Verse 18 of Mark chapter 4. But the seed that fell among the thorns of the weeds represents those who hear the word of God but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things and no fruit is produced.

Now the final category. And the seed that fell on the good soil represents those who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest of 30, 60, or even 100 times as much as has been planted. Alright. So what does this mean to us today? Answer.

I have no idea. God bless you. No seriously. I have a few thoughts about this. I'm a preacher. Of course I do. I actually have a whole message about these things. These are four reactions to God's word. And you fit into one of these four categories.

And I want you to note that only one category was really legitimate or what we might call people who were actually converted. Back in biblical times the objective of the sower was to just take the seed and throw it out. Throw it out and let the wind pick it up. It's not like they planted the little crops ahead of time and carefully put the seed in and had modern farming equipment to work with.

No. It was pretty primitive. He just walked out, had his seed in his big bag, reached in, threw it. The wind would pick it up and the seed would go here, there, and everywhere. And so the objective was you did the plowing later to see where the seed went. And that's our job. Our job is to go into all the world and preach the gospel or sow the seed. You know it's interesting that the word broadcast actually comes from the root word of sowing seed. And we hear such amazing stories from people who have come to the Lord watching Harvest at Home or listening to our radio program or through one of our live events that we do that we call Harvest Crusades and so forth.

But we just throw the seed out to as many people as we can. And time will tell who the real converts are. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. It's so encouraging when we hear that listeners are growing by hearing these studies. Dear Pastor Greg, I found Christ in the mid-1970s and I'm very thankful for my Christian life. I first heard you preach and learned about evangelism at your first Harvest Crusade at Anaheim Stadium where my friend Bill was saved.

Over my life, Jesus has protected me time and time again, including healing me from cancer. I've lived on the East Coast now for over 25 years and recently reconnected with you through your podcast where I found each podcast is a real Bible study for me. And I'm learning so much and it's causing me to study God's Word more intently. At nearly 79 years old, I'm enthused and excited about my faith like I was those many years ago. Thank you for helping me rekindle my fire of love for Jesus in my old years.

Life is wonderful. What a great story of how Pastor Greg's teachings from God's Word have made an impact on this man's life. And if you'd like to listen to Pastor Greg's podcasts, you can do that through Google, Apple or Spotify. Or just go to Harvest.org.

That's Harvest.org. Well, today we're considering the parable of the sower as Pastor Greg helps us check our own spiritual health. The only way to tell if someone is really a Christian is through the test of time.

I'll say that again. The only way to tell if someone is really a Christian is through the test of time. Because sometimes people come on strong in the beginning and then they walk away never to return.

Other times people have sort of a weak start but then they get stronger with the passing of time. So we just have to wait to see who the real believers are. Sometimes a person will make a profession of faith. They'll fall away. But then they'll return. That's a prodigal. Here's how you know the difference between a prodigal and a person who's not really converted. If a person isn't really converted and walks away and never comes back then we would just say they're like the seed sown on the roadside that was picked up by the birds. But a prodigal will always come home. You know, as I said earlier, sometimes you can have a weak beginning but a strong finish.

Take Nicodemus. Remember him? In John chapter 3 we read that he came to Jesus by night. In fact that's mentioned multiple times. He came to Jesus at night.

Why is that important? Because Nicodemus was a celebrity. He was a well-known Pharisee.

Sort of the teacher's teacher if you will. So for a man of his stature to go to this rabbi named Jesus and ask questions. Well you know there was a risk to that because he was the guy who was supposed to have all the answers. But he didn't of course. So he went to Jesus at night.

You remember the conversation. He opened with some compliments and Jesus just cut to the chase and said, Nicodemus you must be born again. So that really impacted Nicodemus. But we don't read there in John 3 and that conversation of Nicodemus believing. But it appears that he did become a believer. Because later on in the story after Jesus was crucified and they were laying his body in the tomb. We read that a man named Joseph of Arimathea came to take the body and he was joined by Nicodemus. And a little detail is added.

Who came to Jesus by night. So here's my point. Sometimes people look like they're really strong and others look like they're really weak.

Example. Judas Iscariot was an apostle in good standing while Nicodemus was still groping his way in. But in the end Judas revealed himself to be a full blown hypocrite and not a believer at all. And Nicodemus he came over that finish line with flying colors. So you may have a weak beginning. But a strong finish. What matters is how you finish. So if you started off following the Lord and you've stumbled and you've fallen and you're saying, it's too late for me.

No it isn't. It's all about how you finish. Because some have a great start and they never get up again. So if you've fallen. If you've messed up. Get up again.

There's still time to walk with the Lord and finish this spiritual race well. Ok. Let's look at the different categories together. Category number one. I'm going to call them highway hearers. Highway hearers and it's in verse 15 of Mark 4. The seed that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message only to have Satan come at once and take it away. I want you to notice something here. Satan comes at once Jesus says. He comes at once.

Know this. When you share the gospel with someone the devil is going to aggressively oppose it. And when someone makes a profession of faith to follow Christ you need to be there to help them get grounded spiritually. You know when I was a brand new believer the Christian said to me, now Greg be careful you're going to be tempted by the devil. I'd never heard of such a thing. Tempted by the devil.

I'm thinking of some guy with pointed ears and red skin with a pitchfork. Oh yeah no. You'll be tempted by the devil. Now I never really thought about temptation before because I think as a young kid I just sort of did what I wanted. Maybe I saw it more as opportunity than temptation.

Oh okay. I'll be tempted by the devil. Then I said how will I know when I'm being tempted.

They said you'll know. So I'm still in high school. I'm in a class and there was a very attractive girl in that class.

So I'm a brand new believer in Jesus Christ. And I've never talked to this girl before. I'd noticed her but I hadn't talked to her. So after class is over this girl who never gave me the time of day.

She didn't even acknowledge my existence up to that point. Walks up to me and says hi. What's your name? And I looked into her beautiful blue eyes and I momentarily forgot my name. I said Greg.

Oh hey Greg. You're really cute. I'm like what?

I mean actually that never happened to me. I know I'm cute but I didn't really have girls come up to me and say you're cute right. You're really cute. I'm thinking what is this girl saying. I have this little button with a little image of Jesus on it. I'm a brand new Christian.

You're really cute. I'm thinking what is going on here. And she says how would you like to spend the weekend with me up at a cabin that our family owns. And I'm thinking this is temptation for sure. You know why.

That kind of thing never happened to me before. And out of nowhere this attractive girl comes up with this enticing offer. And it was of course enticing.

Well I said no. Thank God. But I knew ok I think that was my first official temptation. That's what happens when you're a follower of Jesus. The devil is going to come and attack. So that's category one.

So these are the people that you know they hear the word of God but it doesn't really penetrate their hard hearts. Jesus says the birds come and eat it. You know you've been at McDonald's or some other place and the birds are hanging out because that's free food man. That food hits the ground. Boom. They swoop down and get it. Right.

So that's what happened. These are people that hear the word of God but it doesn't really penetrate their hardened heart. Category number two. I'm going to call them rocky road hearers.

Rocky road hearers. Verse 16. The seed that won on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately.

Notice the word immediately. Immediately they receive it with joy. But since they don't have deep roots they don't last long. They fall away and as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word. So they start. They take hold of it.

But then it doesn't take root in their life. Now the stony ground Jesus is speaking of is just speaking of the terrain of Israel. I remember years ago I was on a tour of Israel and I had my granddaughter Stella. She was very little at that point. Afterwards I said Stella what do you remember most about your trip to Israel?

I thought you would remember some biblical site we went to. She said rocks. What? Rocks. There were rocks everywhere and that's true. There's a lot of rocks in the soil. See the idea here is that the seed goes into the ground and there's a shelf of rock underneath.

So it shoots up but because it can't get root it withers in the blazing sun. So this is a description of a person who hears the word of God and boom they respond. I mean they respond so quickly. You know you talk to some people in conversations going for weeks.

Sometimes months even years. You feel like you're making a little progress. Other people the first time you tell them they say I want Jesus in my life. Really?

Yeah I want him in my life. So you say let's pray and they pray. And immediately they're like mega convert.

Right? They're like they go to them by a Bible. Not just any Bible. They get a giant Bible they start carrying around. And they're at church every day of the week and they're quoting verses. And when worship is happening they're lifting their hands higher than anybody else.

They're singing louder. And they're even critical of others who aren't growing as quickly as they're growing. And you say to people that is the most dramatic conversion. I have ever seen.

It was like literally night and day. So maybe a month passes by and they're gone. You don't see them at church anymore. They don't respond to your phone calls or your texts.

What's going on? They just walked away. They fell away. This is the category we're looking at here. So we wonder what happened to these people. Well obviously they're having an emotional experience but it didn't take root. See this is actually not a true conversion.

Though it looks like one. And sometimes people in this category. Rocky Road Hearers will say something along the lines of oh well I tried the whole Christianity thing. And it didn't work for me. Oh yeah I was a Christian. Oh yeah I went to church. I read the Bible. I did all that stuff. But yeah it didn't work for me. Well no actually you never were converted.

I'm sorry to tell you that. You had an emotional experience. Maybe you had some sense of who Jesus was. But if it was a real conversion you would still be walking with the Lord. Look Christianity isn't like a product that works for some and doesn't work for others. Christianity.

Simplified. It's a relationship with Christ Himself. It was G.K. Chesterton who said and I quote, Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It's been found difficult and not tried end quote.

Good quote. So the problem with this person is their heart is shallow soil. Pastor Greg Laurie is providing insight on the four types of soil we read about in the parable of the sower. Or the parable of the soils.

We've talked about highway hearers and rocky road hearers. There's more to come as this message continues here on The New Beginning. Hopefully you heard all of the insight Pastor Greg presented in today's program. But if you missed any part you can fill in the gaps by listening online at harvest.org. Just look for the message called The Golden Key to Spiritual Growth. Now to amplify what we've learned today we're making available an important new book called The Women of the Bible Speak. It's written by Shannon Bream, anchor of Fox News at Night on the Fox News Channel.

She's also the chief legal correspondent for the network. And Pastor Greg and his wife Kathy are speaking with Shannon. You know in one of your chapters you wrote in Hannah and Miriam and you said quote, My most painful valleys have made me more empathetic. Better able to share in others' sufferings and better equipped to give them words of encouragement. So the question is how can we allow suffering and pain to make us more sympathetic and not bitter?

That is a really tough one and I do think that we have a couple of paths that we can take. And of course I think there are moments that we're all frustrated or cry out to God. Why is this happening? Why is this person suffering?

Why am I suffering? And I think it's okay to ask questions. I think God knows we are human beings. We are fallible.

We have moments of weakness. But I think in asking those questions we get closer to Him and we can find our answers in Him. I talked to my first book about just being very vulnerable and honest about living with chronic pain for years. And I think people who have been there will know we've all probably touched on something in our lives that has been a physical struggle. And it just it levels you and it really makes you humble. And I think it makes you look at other people and think, well, what are the pains they're living through right now, emotional or physical, financial, whatever they're struggling with? We know everybody goes through things. And it's true for me, the darkest, worst moments where I had nothing to do, but literally couldn't even form a prayer.

But God, please help me. Not some big, fancy, deeply theological, drawn out prayer, but just the words knowing that the Holy Spirit would intercede for me, that God Christ was there interceding for me. I just think the things that humble us the most make us vulnerable and make us able to care for other people and for whatever suffering they may have as well. I love the scripture that talks about that we comfort with the comfort that we've been comforted with. And I know in my own life, the hardest thing that I've ever been through, Greg has ever been through, is the death of our son.

And although that devastated us, it leveled us, it was absolutely one of the most unimaginable things that could ever happen. What came out of that as a result was I sought out other women who had been through what I had been through, who had walked that path and had survived it. And it gave me hope, just being in their presence.

They didn't have to tell me a one, two, three solution. I just wanted to look at them and say, they made it, they got through this. And I found the women of scripture were also my companions in that journey. I love how you've chosen Sarah and Hagar and Rachel and Leah, Tamar and Ruth. I was just fascinated by your selection of the women that you put in your book.

These are some of my favorites, too. And I wondered, you know, how you came up with this list. Well, I think there are stories that are well known, even for people who are not people of faith, but may have heard some of the stories like Queen Esther. People know Mary, the mother of Jesus. I mean, there were ones that we thought, they're our base, we'll include them. But I fought for other people to be included that I thought would be important, like Tamar, who really, really takes some inappropriate wrong turns and is not the easiest Sunday school lesson to teach.

But I thought there's so much about her story. I wanted to include Rahab, who was a prostitute, who was critical in helping Israel achieve a victory. And so I thought it's so important, I think, to include people who are flawed because every single one of us and every single one of the women in this book are flawed.

But I wanted people to know that, hey, if you feel like you've made some bad decisions, you've gotten off track, God can still work through all of that. And we see that through these women. They're in the lineage of Christ. They are people who step up to save Israel.

I mean, these people are important and come from all different backgrounds. So we wanted to pick women that we thought people would probably know, but show them another layer to their story, but also some people that you may not know. I think the average person probably doesn't know about Tamar or Rahab, but we thought, let's include them so people will know that God uses every circumstance and every person who is willing to be used in his service. You know, I think it's interesting how many women made it into the Messianic line of Jesus Christ who had questionable reputations. And to me, it's like the very genealogy of Christ is a story of redemption. It is. You think considering the fact that Bathsheba made it in there and others. And it's like it just says that God gives second chances no matter what you've done.

And, you know, he's the God of second and third and fourth chances and pretty much as high as you can count. Thank goodness. Yes. Well, this book is full of good news like that. It's an inspiring look at the lives of more than a dozen women in Scripture and the examples they set for us.

In fact, Shannon's subtitle is The Wisdom of Sixteen Women and Their Lessons for Today. And we'd like to send you this new book called The Women of the Bible Speak by Shannon Bream of Fox News. It's our thank you gift for those who gain benefit from these studies each day and can help them continue with a generous investment right now.

You choose the amount, but thanks for your generosity. Just write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime around the clock. Again, dial 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well, Pastor Greg, you've been teaching the Bible here on radio for many years now. In fact, almost 40 years. But you have some exciting news about television. Yeah, Dave, I'm very excited to share this news with our listeners and supporters.

Listen, everybody. We're launching a new television program called Harvest with Greg Laurie to major TV networks across the United States. This show will air on Sunday mornings on some networks you might be familiar with, like the Lifetime Network, Fox Business Network, Newsmax, Daystar, TBN.

And KCAL here in Los Angeles. Combined, these air times will reach, listen to this, drum roll please, over 60 million viewers annually. That is exciting. And some of these are secular TV networks, so we're reaching more people who need to hear the gospel. So I'm really excited about this, and I'm also grateful for our Harvest partners and donors who have helped us launch this new TV program. Join us Sunday mornings.

You can find air times at harvest.org. Well, next time, more solid biblical counsel on maximizing our Christian growth and fulfillment. Join us for more from Pastor Greg's series in Mark called The Gospel for Busy People here on The New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. Helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest partner at harvest.org.