Oh god give you when he gives you his word is the seed. But Dr. Tony Evans says if the soil won't allow it to grow, it's not the seed's fault. When the Word of God goes to work inside the soul of a believer, you're going to see the explosion of the new life. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.
Tony Evans. People who plant vegetable gardens usually expect to wind up with vegetables. But lots of things can go wrong between the seed and the salad. Today, Dr. Evans explains why some of those same problems can hinder our spiritual growth.
Let's join him as he begins. Jesus speaks of a treasure. He calls this treasure The mystery of the kingdom. He says about the kingdom that this thing called the kingdom is is an unusual treasure for which There ought to be nothing that gets in your way. of discovering it.
This word kingdom means rule. Eschatologically, in terms of the final things, It refers to the millennial reign of Christ, a subject that The Bible talks quite a bit about when Jesus Christ will return and run the whole earth from Jerusalem. Under his thousand-year rule, In the meantime, he set forth During his earthly life, Kingdom Principles. But he set them forth as a mystery. As something that was not previously understood, but needed to be understood.
If you were going to understand the uniqueness. of this treasure. That he calls the kingdom. When he wanted to explain this treasure, he would use parables. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
Jesus would take something ordinary, something everydayish, something that would be known to all. to teach them about something of which they were unaware. Beginning in verse 4, of Luke chapter 8. A sower went out to sow his seeds. He tells a story about this sower who's sowing this seed, and as he sows the seed, He identifies different kind of soil that the sea falls on.
What Jesus wants them to know is that while the seed is the same, The place where it lands is different. What's this? He wants them to know That the success of the seed has nothing to do with the seed. The success of the seed has everything to do with the way it lands. When the sower sows the seed and it lands in different places.
It is the landing spot that determines whether there's a crop. As he said these things, he would call out, he who hath. An ear, let him hear. Evidently It was possible to have an ear and not hear. It was possible.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And hear the sermon. and have heard nothing at all. See the crowd was there because they liked the teacher and they liked the teaching. But they weren't hearing him.
Although they were in the place where he was talking. The disciples, verse. Nine. began questioning him. As to what the The parable meant.
He says, I got a lodge. Crowd here. But only a small group is going to get where I'm going. No, I got I got the crowd But the crowd Not gonna get it.
Now they're gonna like me, they're gonna like the stories I tell, they may even amen it, but they ain't gonna get it. He says But to you. Referring to his disciples? It has been granted. To get in on the secret.
The secret. That which is not available to to the rest of them.
Some of us have been showing up in church for years. We've been going to church since we were made to go as kids. Since we started to go as adults, And nothing's changing. The word of God is not working. The sermons aren't fixing anything.
They just are good inspirational moments. Where I feel good.
Well, it gets even worse than that. Because he says that he That he is We'll get more. But the one who does not hear It says will lose what he heard. You ever go to the restaurant? And order a sampler platter.
You know, it's a little bit of this. and a little bit of that. It's for sampling. The idea is not that the appetizer is the entree, it's the setup. For the bigger thing.
Hearing the Bible preached. It's an appetizer. Once you hear the sermon... No matter how much you liked it, enjoyed it, All you got was the appetizer. The disciples said, we want the entree.
What does all this mean? What do I do with what you just taught? How am I supposed to orient myself in light of what you just said? The crowd. love the appetizer.
The disciples wanted a meal. They said No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we ain't finished, Jesus. You didn't preach. You finished preaching. You finished telling the story.
You finished laying it out now. How are we supposed to grab this? How we supposed to use this? They were saying, not just an appetizer. He says, if you are serious.
The mystery of the kingdom. The mysteries are for those followers of Jesus Christ. who are not satisfied to be part of the religious crowd. Who are not simply satisfied to be members of the church. who not something to be satisfied to go through the Christian thing.
Mm-mm. You don't get the mysteries. The mysteries are given to those who want the entree and the entree of not the sermon. That's just the appetizer. Jesus had already told the story.
But he only explained the meaning. and its implication to the few. Not to the masses.
So that raises one final question. What is this C principle? What is this thing? This thing that you need to grab. I need to grab, we need to grab that because if we ever get it.
Nothing. will ever be the same. He tells it to you. in a very simple phrase, In verse 11.
Now the parable is this. The seed. is the Word of God.
Now If you read that too fast. You mess up. Let me say it again. Jesus says in verse 11, the seed. is the word of God.
One more time, Jesus says, the seed. The sower went out to sow. He sowed the seed on different soil. He says, the seed in my story. Is the Word of God.
Let me say it another way. The word of God Is the seed? He said the seed is the word of God. Flip it. The word of God.
Is the seed.
Now I know as you sit there, you're saying, Okay, I got it, I got it. You don't have to tell me again. The seed is the word of God. The word of God is the seed. I got it, I got it, I got it.
What's the big deal? What's the big deal about the seed principle when you just tell me the seed is the word of God? Yeah. What that means is That when the Word of God comes to you, here it is, here it is, here it is, when the Word of God comes to you, it only comes to you in C form. Stay with me.
You get when you get the word of God the acorn not the oak.
Now the The oak is in the acorn. But all God gives you when He gives you His word is the seed. He gives you the Acorn. In order for an acorn to become an oak. The same must be Put it.
in a situation where it can become one.
Okay. Because all you get when you get the word of God, I don't care how much you like it, how much you love it, how much you read it, you're getting the seed. Because the seed is the word of God. But the seed is not the full-grown expression. of the word.
Even though all All the ingredients of what it's ever going to be is in it. With a female egg It's fertilized. Conception occurs. Life. has now happened.
But if that Fertilized egg doesn't land right. If it does not get embedded in the womb properly, The life cannot flourish Even though the life It's present. Once the egg is fertilized, conception has occurred, there is life. But if the life is not embedded in the womb, properly It can't grow properly. Women.
What you're getting is the seed. What happens is We come to church and get the seed. But because the soil Is not consistent with the seed that it just received. It's not free to express all that it was designed to become. Because the soil Is it cooperating with the nature of the seed?
That the seed does not become what it was designed to become. Every plant and fruit you know starts with a seed. But it only develops because of the soil. Dr. Evans will focus on symptoms and solutions for those soil problems when our message continues in just a moment.
But first, I encourage you to visit our website at tonyevans.org to request a copy of the Spiritual Toolkit. It's a complete 10-part audio series we're presenting a small portion of today. This 10-message compilation contains important insights on achieving victory over life's temptations and struggles, experiencing unity with other believers, and much more. In fact, there's so much in this collection, you'll want to go through each of the lessons to give yourself a solid understanding of the tools God gives us to live a successful life. When you get in touch and make a contribution, we'll send this collection to you with our thanks.
And for a limited time, we are even offering a bonus resource, Dr. Evans' practical, uplifting book, Free at Last. It's a powerful look at how to break free from whatever's holding you back so you can step into the freedom Christ offers. Be sure to visit tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3200. To make your request.
That's Tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222. Yeah. Well right now, let's get back to Dr. Evans for more of today's lesson.
Now let me explain something. There is nothing wrong with the seed. Because the seed is the word of God and therefore the word of God is perfect. There is damage in the soil.
So the question is, what's the soil? James 1.21 says Receive the word implanted, which is able to save your soul.
Okay, watch this. James 1.21 says, receive the word. Implanted, E-D, meaning already planted. Which is able to save your soul. That's what James 1:21 says.
Now I know we like to go around saying, my soul got saved. And that's not quite right. On the day you were converted, your spirit got saved. According to First Peter 1, by the seed of the Word of God. Your spirit was saved.
Your soul is Being saved.
Okay, you got three parts. You got body, soul, and spirit. The Spirit is the God connection. The soul is the self-life. The soul is the self-life.
It's your personhood. And then your body is your physical life. You and I were born with a damaged soul. And we were born with a dead spirit. Our body was alive, our soul was damaged, and our spirit was dead.
Okay, that's what happened when you were born. You were dead to God. Your soul was confused. Because of the influence and presence of sin. Which affects what your body does.
Because your body obeys your soul. That's why when your soul leaves, your body can't do anything because there's no life principle operating within it. What distorts our soul are a number of things. Sin, in fact, we're born in sin. Then the sins we commit mess us up.
Then the folks we hang around with mess us up more. You know, the environment we may be in, maybe the effect of the media, all kinds of things create this screen. of the soul. And we spend most of our time trying to fix our own souls. It's hard for something that's already broke to fix itself.
So, what we settle for is soul management, not soul transformation. Let me just keep my soul under wraps.
So we may not do some things physically, so it's overt, even though our soul still wants to. Because the soul has been damaged. Like mirrors at a carnival that show you big and fat or tall and skinny or squiggly, it creates a distortion. Your soul is so your soul is so distorted you can't trust it.
Now, most people trust their souls. They say, this is me. It's me, it's how I roll. But if your soul is jacked up And you're looking to your soul. Then all you're doing is asking something messed up to mess you up more?
When you were saved, you got a seed. The seed was in your spirit. The goal of spiritual transformation is for the spirit to enter into the soul and the soul to reinstruct the body.
So, if the body's going to do different, it's because the soul is talking different. And the soul's gonna talk different because it's now being influenced by a seed that's growing. Receive the word that's been implanted in you. It's already there if you're a believer, because James says I'm talking to believers, my beloved brethren. He says, my beloved brethren, in fact, he says before that, he says, be quick to hear.
Slow to speak. And then slow to anger. Be quick to hear what, slow to say what, and what's ticking me off. Be quick to hear God. Point of view, be slow to go back to your point of view, and don't get mad when the two disagree.
Let me explain something now. The scene is alive. But it's hope. holding its potential hostage. Papcorn.
We all like popcorn. Have you ever tried to eat unpopped puppies? Cool. Bad experience. to eat unpopped popcorn.
But put that baby in a microwave. And let the heat, the radiation enter into it. The reason why popcorn pops is every kernel of popcorn has moisture in it. When you radiate it, The moisture is heated up and it becomes steam. Steam rises.
So when the steam begins to rise, it starts pushing against the shell. When the shell can't take the pressure of the push of the steam. Because of the heat of the radiation, you hear, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. But it's not. And you would have never thought.
That that little thing was holding all this stuff hostage. All that stuff, that soft, nice, chewy stuff, was being held hostage by a hard external reality. Until The environment inside of it changed. And when that moisture presses up, It releases the inside that was being held hostage by the outside. When the word of God goes to work, Inside the soul of a believer, because the spirit inside is being heated up, you're gonna hear pop papa pop pop pop.
You're going to see the explosion of the new life. But God has already implanted inside your soul. The problem is not The seed. Because in the acorn is the tree. And the watermelon seed, that little thing, is the watermelon.
It's all up. It's all up in there. But until the Word of God is free to do its work. Which is not listening to the sermon. That's not that that's an appetizer.
That's just to get you rolling. That's why. Hebrews 4 is so powerful. Hebrews 4. A closing scripture is so powerful.
Hebrews 4 says this about the word of God. It says in Hebrews 4 verse 12, for the word of God is living and active. Yeah. And sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing into the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, is able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart. There is no creature hidden from his sight, but all is open and laid bare in the eyes of him with whom we have.
to do. The Word of God, he says, is alive. Is energized. Like a seed. It's alive.
You don't see the tree, the fruit, the plant, the watermelon. You don't see any of that, but it's in there. It is alive.
Well, why won't they? Dead sea grout, cause of the soil. If God's word is not working in me, if God's word is not working in you, it ain't the word that's the problem, because the word is alive. The seed is alive. It just hasn't been planted in the right spot yet.
1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13, he says, The word that you received and the word that you accepted is performing its work in you. The seed works if the soil is right.
So what we do is we come to church with bad soil. Ma ma ma. Uh-huh. But we hear. A good seed.
And we wonder why nothing happening. It ain't the word. Because the seed is the word of God. But God's truth is given in seed form. It's not given to you as a completed process.
It's given to you. For the process. And if all you want is a sermon, That's all you'll get. And not only is that all you get, that which you get will be taken from you. Which is why.
You Won't next week even remember this week's sermon. Because that which you get Who be taken? Dr. Tony Evans will return with a thought about why remodeling your life is a little like remodeling your house. First, though, today's message is part of Tony's current series, The Spiritual Toolkit, a 10-part audio collection designed to help you focus on God's plan for your life, helping equip you with strategies for living it out successfully.
As I mentioned earlier, if you contact us right away, we'll send you this powerful sermon series bundled with a copy of Dr. Evans' book, Free at Last, Experiencing True Freedom Through Your Identity in Christ. They're both yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep Dr. Evans' teaching available on radio stations and other outlets around the globe. Visit tonyevans.org today to make the arrangements.
And while you're there, be sure to sign up for Tony's free weekly email devotional. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or give us a call day or night at 1-800-800-3222. Again, 1-800-800-3222. One quick reminder before we get back to Dr.
Evans: the season finale of stories from the Storyteller, a faith-building series for kids, drops tomorrow. In Walking on Chaos, the Evans kids face a rough start to summer, and J2 struggles to trust God through the storm. But a powerful lesson from the life of Peter shows what's possible when we keep our eyes on Jesus. Learn more at tonyevanstv.com. That's tonyevanstv.com.
A little piece of bread and a tiny cup of grape juice. To some people, that's all there is to communion. But doctor Evans says finding the richness in the ritual starts with understanding what it means and taking it more seriously. He'll dig into that tomorrow. But right now, he's back with his final comment for today.
He says the word is a two-edged sword. It destroys. And it constructs. Like remodeling a house. You gotta mess it up before you can fix it up.
That's why if you get serious about this things things may get worse Before they get better. Because that's the nature of remodeling something. But if you're satisfied with your distorted soul, Cause this how I roll. This is my swag. This is my style.
The word of God can't help you because it can't take root in that soil.
