What does he do? The words used are snatches or clucks out. What? The word that was sewn.
So this happens every Sunday at different times, different people, including me, if I am sitting there.
And so the intent is, how can we prevent this? And so what is Jesus doing here? He already explained the parable.
He said that a sower went out to sow and he scattered seed and some fell on a path.
And he is now talking about the seed that fell on the path.
And he is saying that the message of the kingdom, as in what I am preaching right now, whenever anyone hears it—
so let's assume it is Tooni hearing it—whenever Tooni hears it, if he does not understand it,
then the evil one or Satan turns up to pluck out of Tooni's heart what he heard.
And so it begs the question, why does not Tooni understand it if he is hearing it, like all of us are hearing right now?
And this happens every Sunday, every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, every time we hear the word of God.
And it is common to us, but it does not have to be like that.
And so we will answer the why. Why does he not understand it even though he heard the word?
Why does Tooni not understand it even though he heard the word? We will talk about that later. Let's keep going.
This is a seed sown along the path. Where is 20? The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places.
So then there is the seed that fell on rocky places. By the way, what is his name? Kamal.
They checked him out. They put him on IV. They said all the other tests were fine.
And then he began to crack jokes and they said we are sending you home. So he will be home shortly.
So praise God, yeah? Not for his jokes, but for his quick recovery.
So rocky places. So these are the people who hear the word.
Hear the word. And then it says they receive it with joy.
They receive it with joy. So there is immediate response.
And there is the promise. There is this initial promise that something is going to happen.
There is promising initial growth. There is promising initial growth.
And we have been here, right? And as leaders we have seen this and as hearers we have been here.
I have been here where you say something and I get so enthusiastic about it, but the initial response is not what we go by.
So they hear the word. They receive it with joy. So let's pick on Anilay.
So Anilay hears the word. She receives it with joy. And there is an immediate response.
She starts praising like crazy. She grabs a flag, stands dancing. There seems to be promising initial growth.
But then it says troubles come. Persecution comes. Pressure comes.
And where does this come from? It comes because she believed the word.
She believed the word. But when troubles come because she believed. When persecution comes because she believed.
When pressure comes because of the word that she received. She cannot endure it.
She cannot endure it. And it says she cannot endure it. She regresses and gives in.
Let's read that, verse 20.
The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is a man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
But since he has no root, and it gives you the reason why. The reason is in verse 21.
But since he has no root, he only lasts a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
So why is it that they have such joy and there's promising initial growth, but the moment pressure, trouble, trials come because of standing in the word that they received.
Why is it that they cannot endure? Because the soil has no depth and the roots are shallow.
It happens every Sunday. It happens every Sunday. Where the word is being preached, you're hearing it, I'm hearing it.
And there's this initial response that is so amazing where you love what you hear and you want to walk in it.
But you don't get past about two days. Two days from now when the same situations come your way.
When the same things begin to happen, it's like this doesn't work.
And the moment this doesn't work, you go back to your old default and therefore the word does not change you.
Why? Because the soil has no depth. As in, there wasn't any, and we'll talk about how to give soil depth, but the roots are shallow.
The roots are shallow.
Any questions before we go on?
This has happened to me guys. I receive a promise from God. I receive a word from God.
Sometimes on a flight, sometimes when I'm sitting on my own at home.
And it just thrills me. I'm so full of, oh gosh, I'm going to stand on this.
Two days later, the same circumstances, the same pressures, the same trials.
And now the question is, Jacob, can you still walk in it? Or do you regress or do you fold up?
Or do you still have the same joy and enthusiasm?
The loss of joy is an indication.
It's because the roots are shallow.
Any questions?
When are the roots shallow? Why is this happening?
It's usually because the word received,
the word was received, but was, the word received was not mixed with faith immediately.
It was not mixed with faith, action or experience.
If you look at Jeremiah 17, verse 7 and 8,
Fruits grow by faith.
Jeremiah 17, verse 7 and 8.
Blessed is a man who trusts in the Lord, who's trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out roots by the stream,
does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green,
is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.
Roots grow by faith.
And so there's this thing that we need to develop for the year ahead, guys,
where when you are listening to the word of the kingdom,
and you absolutely know it's preached here, regardless of who's preaching here,
then know that if as you're listening, it's not immediately heard with faith,
and received with faith, then it's unlikely that over the next two, three, four days,
that you're going to go and cultivate the depth required for the roots to take ground.
Galatians 3, verse 2 to 5 puts it this way.
When you first came to the Lord, did things happen by the law,
or did things happen by the hearing with faith, or the hearing of faith?
You'll notice sometimes when people come and read things here,
be it a prophetic word, be it a scripture, you'll often hear me saying,
can you read it again?
Partly I'm doing it for myself, partly I'm doing it for you,
because most of us are not listening to what's being read.
Most of us are not listening to what's being read.
And so I ask that it be read again, hoping that in the second reading,
I'll catch little things, and then I catch it with ears of faith.
There's physical hearing, and then there's hearing with faith.
What does hearing with faith look like?
What examples can you think of?
You know, sometimes you're sitting in a room and somebody says something,
and you were dull to everything else, but that one thing suddenly clicks.
You don't even know why it clicks.
But it's just like the penny dropped and something happens.
That's an isolated incident.
But I'm saying to you that the word of the kingdom is such
that you can continuously hear with faith.
It is a practice, it's a habit, it's developed.
I went and read again what I read to you long ago to encourage myself.
These are the ways I encourage myself.
Let me read it to you.
Take a deep really have to pause to read this.
If I find it.
Yes.
I read this today and it felt very encouraging.
Silence is not disengagement.
Often that blank look is processing, not apathy.
You go ahead and present the plan, Jacob.
They hold the gaze.
There are no nods.
Your brain yells, bored.
It's not boredom.
It's cognitive buffering.
Give it a beat.
Here's why this is huge.
Congregations where people keep quiet like this boosts learning and retention by 25%.
Speed isn't the only signal.
I read this today and it encouraged me.
So I don't care what you look like.
I'll go by this.
So as long as you're still hearing with faith, I'm okay.
But it has to be a practice.
You know, fivefold teaching and by fivefold teaching I'm saying when one's called to the office of apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, pastor, when the grace for that is there,
that teaching, it's hard to keep notes, but it is easy for your spirit to pick up.
It's like it's a difference between a guy who's teaching you how to play a game because he learned it on AI or on a computer and a guy who actually played the game.
When they speak, there's something to it.
And it applies to most of the people who teach here.
As they teach, yes, it's good to keep notes, but be aware, listen with your ears, not with your pen.
And as you listen, things will drop.
You know, I wonder how the disciples kept track of Jesus' teaching because unlike the prophets, he never told them to bring in a writer and to start writing.
They had to recall and they're recalled by the spirit.
And they came up with four gospels, which covers all, which doesn't cover all his teachings, but covers enough to have us run.
Just be aware of it.
I'm not saying don't take notes.
Please take notes.
But I'm saying listen with your ears and listen with ears of faith and you'll catch stuff.
Most of the things that brought me into the next phase of my life was sitting on the teachers and as they taught, I got what they were saying.
I remember thinking of faith, healing, the apostolic, the prophetic.
It all happened just listening.
Christ life.
I'm a regent, man.
It's a great place to go.
But Christ life was something that happened while I was sitting in a church in Surrey listening to a guy called Dan White, who I've never met before.
And he revealed that Christ actually lives in me and that my spirit and his spirit have become one.
And it blew my mind.
It is the same thing Paul has been saying in the gospels, but one day it clicked.
Hearing with faith.
It's a habit that needs to be formed too, yeah?
So, usually the soil is shallow.
Sorry, the soil has no depth and the roots are shallow because the word is not received or mixed with experience, action or faith.
And those three words go together.
When you receive a word, those three words cannot be separated.
Faith means action and experience.
Faith that does not have action and experience, according to James, is not faith.
Faith without words, as in action and experiences?
Dead.
Why is this important?
I mean, I thought I'd be talking about training our hands to war.
We're on series six.
We've got quite a few more to go.
Why this?
Because it's almost like take a break and help us as a church learn how to listen this year so that our harvest is much greater.
Enthusiasm is short-lived if faith in God's word is brittle.
I see this in my life so often.
So enthusiastic and then unable to walk in it because I get so scared because my faith is brittle.
We'll talk about how to develop it.
Next one.
The next soil was the thorny soil.
Thorny soil.
In this case, the word is heard.
The person hears the word.
And the soil depth is adequate.
Nothing with that.
No problem with that.
Soil depth is adequate.
But here's the thing.
Let's read it.
Verse 22.
The one who received the seed that fell among thorns is a man who hears the word.
But the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
So the soil depth is adequate.
He hears the word.
But the heart that receives the word is divided, occupied.
And won't yield space or room to the seed of the word that is planted.
And what is it occupied with?
The ambition for wealth, the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of mammon or riches.
So these begin to compete for space.
And now we understand why God said in Luke 16, 13, you cannot serve.
He said God and mammon.
You cannot serve mammon and God because you will be devoted to one and you'll despise the other.
These are relative terms.
You will hate one and love the other.
It doesn't mean you hate God.
So this is happening every week.
Every week we are receiving words that are being taught.
But every week we are sowing seeds into a plot that has thorns and weeds.
And it's impossible for these seeds to come up.
Because the heart is already occupied.
The heart is already divided.
The heart is already competing for space.
But there's something that pre-exists.
Because we are all sinners and we came out of a background where the world system rules everything we do.
What do you mean by the world system?
1 John 2, 16.
1 John 2, 16 says that there are three things that occupy man.
The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
These are the three things that occupy man.
This is why it doesn't matter how many times you tell me if I am thorny ground.
That Jesus wants you to do this.
Jesus wants you to deny yourself.
Jesus wants you to take up your cross.
It doesn't settle because that space in my heart is already taken.
I hear it but I can't commit to it.
Jeremiah 4 put it this way.
Break up your fallow ground and do not sow amongst thorns.
God is speaking to Israel and God says to Israel, break up your fallow ground.
I mean plough it.
That's the only way to remove weeds.
And do not sow in thorny ground.
Which means that when you come here or when you come anywhere to sit under the word,
you'll have to decide the condition of your heart before you get here so that transplanting takes place.
And what are the things that compete with the word?
It all comes under one thing called mammon.
The ambition for wealth.
But Jacob should we not be ambitious?
No.
It's not a kingdom quality.
God has the ability to promote you.
God has the ability to raise you up.
God has the ability to give you amazing dreams.
But ambition feeds into the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
Whose words are these? Mine?
No.
These are the words of your Lord and Savior.
What happens to the seed that is planted in this kind of ground that is already occupied?
Which is the condition of all our hearts, by the way.
All our hearts are this way.
What is the condition of someone who is already occupied?
Which is the condition of all our hearts, by the way?
All our hearts are this way.
What is the condition of someone who, when the word is planted in this ground, it suffocates the word.
As in, it robs it of oxygen.
So the word is gasping for breath in your life.
Or it strangles the word.
It doesn't kill the word, but it strangles it.
What is the intent?
Let the word stay with the weed.
Let the word stay with the weeds, but it should not produce fruit.
And so the intent is to make the word important.
Do you realize it's happening to us right now?
Right now.
Happening to me, happening to you.
He is the word made flesh.
When he, when, what's he giving to you, himself?
This is why perhaps it was important to start with your alpha and omega.
And everything in between.
Let me just deviate a little to just again briefly touch on this thing called mammon.
It is unrighteous money.
For some reason, I used to teach that money is amoral.
It's neither good nor evil.
But the system that money has created is unrighteous.
It's unrighteous money.
Luke 16 talks about it.
It's a devouring spirit.
Mammon is a devouring spirit.
It's a power that runs the systems of the world.
It spawns greed, lack, insecurity.
It encourages you to be noncompliant with the ways of the kingdom.
See how heinous it is, how wicked it is.
Till you begin to see it this way, there's no need to hate it.
It is unrighteous.
There's nothing right to it.
Go ahead.
No, not illegal money.
There's a certain wickedness about it.
It literally invites you to wickedness.
Not that it's illegal money.
No.
Jesus put it this way, make friends with unrighteous Mammon.
So you have to recognize that it's not amoral.
It has been the ruin of some of the best people on earth.
Be it Judas, who walked with Jesus.
Be it Adonais and Sapphira at the start of the church.
Be it Achan at Ai.
Be it Gehazi with Elisha.
It unseeds the best.
Yeah.
Would you say is it money or is it heart?
Jesus calls it unrighteous Mammon.
He's calling the very substance unrighteous.
The thing with money is it always reveals the heart.
It's like something that you rub against the heart and it reveals it.
It reveals it every day, guys.
Reveals it every day.
Because it's a system that Babylon is built on.
When you go to Revelation chapter 17, you see a woman riding a beast.
And she's called Babylon the harlot.
And the captains of trade and the kings and the nations have traded with her.
But how she's fallen, Babylon has fallen.
A day will come.
But till then, it is the system that runs the world.
And it touches all our lives.
Can it touch our lives without making us unholy is the question.
And that can only happen because of the condition of the heart.
It's a devouring spirit.
Malachi calls it that in Malachi chapter 3.
It is the power that runs the systems of the world.
And all the systems of the world are run on just two things.
Greed, lack.
That's it.
All the systems of the world.
I was telling someone yesterday,
there are a couple of people that send me offerings in crypto.
It's strange when you receive offerings in crypto.
Because you look at it and you realize crypto is going up.
And you don't want to cash out.
And then it goes up.
And you begin to think, God is blessing me.
But the next day it crashes.
And now, instead of placing the offering before God or distributing it,
you're looking at your phone, whether crypto is rising or not.
It's crazy how caught up we are in greed or lack.
And if you don't beat this, the year is governed by it.
It spawns greed.
It spawns lack.
It spawns insecurity.
It encourages you to be non-compliant with the ways of the kingdom.
The kingdom will say one thing.
Mammon, money, lack, greed will say something else.
This is a condition of every heart in this room.
And the weeds must be cleared every day.
When the weeds are cleared, the word falls on good ground.
You know, please don't raise your hands.
And if you feel guilty or condemned, get over it quickly.
Because the intent is not that.
The intent is to illustrate something.
We talked about tithing first roots and stuff like that a week or 10 days ago.
Do you realize that some of us have, some of us have not?
And we have ways to justify it.
We have ways to skirt around it, avoid it, obey it.
But do you realize how non-compliant we are,
even though the word was spoken very plainly from scriptures,
do you realize how our hearts react to it?
It's crazy.
Is it 10% before taxes, after taxes, before expenses, after expenses?
It belongs to God.
Everything belongs to God.
These are legitimate questions, please.
I'm not frowning at the questions.
What I'm saying, money always reveals the condition of my heart, guys.
And I cannot serve God and Mammon.
One or the other, I will despise one I'll be devoted to.
One I'll hate, one I'll love.
Jacob, surely you love God and you hate Mammon.
Why would you say you love Mammon?
It's not love, hate, despise, devote, as we talk about hatred.
It's relative.
And somehow we learn how to avoid it, justify it.
That's why I say it encourages you to be non-compliant with the ways of the kingdom.
Trust me, man, if you ask Heidi, this church is doing well financially.
And so this is not a call for you to tithe so that the coffers are enriched.
If they are enriched, as long as Heidi is involved in money,
this church will rarely have money at the end of the year.
She'll give it all away.
Any questions before we go on?
I just want us to, I want to expose the condition of our heart.
And know that the word cannot take root here.
If my heart is this way, it cannot.
Any questions?
You know, I was lying down on the floor in my house three days ago,
repenting for the months this year that I didn't joyfully, deliberately, prayerfully give tithes.
I gave, I didn't keep account.
Some months maybe I gave more, some months I didn't.
And I realized, my God, man, you're the pastor of this church
and you didn't do it the way God asks you to do?
You know how they would give firstfruits?
They would bring it and they would lie down before God and say,
Oh God, my deliverer, how wonderful you've been.
There's this cavalier attitude towards, not towards the bank, not towards the salary,
but towards God and money.
This will enrich us because the year ahead you will need what you need to do what you need to.
It will bless you.
It will make you fearless.
Another thing Mammon does, fear, man, the amount of fear that comes with money.
My God, it's terrible.
It will make you fearless.
These teachings will make you fearless.
Not because you suddenly have much or don't have much.
It will make you fearless.
Because it's a power, guys.
Recognize it as a spirit.
Cripples people, eh?
This is just on the side.
Maybe for someone here.
Someone else said it, I wrote it down.
Let me read that again.
It's cause you aren't all there yet.
Just keep that in mind.
So why did the first guy, why did he not understand it?
Why did the guy, let's call him Pat, with an H,
why did the guy not understand the word even though he heard it?
One week after week of cavalier hearing.
It's like, eh.
This becomes a habit and it dulls receptivities.
That's the first one.
Week after week of just callous hearing, dulls receptivity, it hardens the heart.
It's a habit that needs to be broken, eh?
It's a habit that needs to be broken.
Cavalier is when it's this callous, not concerned, I'm a free bird,
I might doze off in between but sure I'll listen.
I know the word, I know where that scripture is.
That point isn't all that interesting.
It's this attitude where there's no seriousness.
There's no seriousness. It's kamsi kamsa.
Indifference. But you swing in and out of it.
It's not a complete negation.
So that's the first one.
It's become a habit.
Like when we used to meet at Ross Street,
there was a gentleman who would always doze off at 12 minutes into my sermon.
I would know that I was 12 minutes into my sermon because I could hear him snoring.
Then after a while his wife would start nudging him.
It was like on the 12 minute dot.
Thank God Jeremy stopped doing that.
But Jeremy used to be 47 minutes into the teaching.
I don't blame you for that.
But 12 minutes is way too early.
That's where we started shouting euticus.
It's casual and indifferent, both mixed together.
It's like Ronaldo. He doesn't really play and then he'll do that thing and shoot a goal.
But most of the time he's casual and indifferent.
No offense taken says Don.
Second, it's how the knucks are for 22 years, 40 years.
Next one is James 1, 22-25.
James 1, 22-25.
When you read it you'll find that there are three aspects to hearing that are important.
The reason we don't understand is hearing but not attentive.
Second one, hearing without nurturing.
Third one, hearing but not doing.
Fourth one, hearing without faith.
Which the Bible says is self-deception.
The Bible says this is self-deception.
So these are the three aspects to hearing without nurturing.
And then there's self-deception.
So these are important.
And guys, strangely enough, at the end of this parable Jesus says, let him who has ears hear.
And so he's not talking about the quality of preaching.
It is the quality of hearing.
Which is important because I sometimes go to other churches and I can sit there
and James 1, 22-25 goes into effect.
James 1, 22-25 says, hey, when you are listening to the word, first, cleanse your heart from all filthiness.
Then it says, take on a posture of meekness so that the word can be grafted to you.
I was recently at another church and I was sitting there and I was with that attitude of man, this guy, my God,
with a big church like this he could do so much better.
And all those thoughts are coming up.
And then I remember James 1, 21 saying, great, Jacob, you just sit there and sit there with your pride,
judge his doctrine, judge whether he's preaching well or not, judge all that,
and you can walk out of here and you won't hear a word I want to deliver by my spirit through him
because you're too much of a donkey to listen.
The word will never get grafted into you if you don't come with meekness.
And I was sitting there and I immediately stopped looking at my phone because it was like,
oh, this is a great time to prepare my next message.
So while he's preaching, I'm preparing for our next message.
What an attitude, eh, when the word is being preached but you're preaching it to me.
And I'm preparing for our next message.
What an attitude, eh, when the word is being preached but you're preparing your own message.
Why? Because you don't think the guy has anything good to say.
But thank God the Holy Spirit is there, eh, because he'll use people like that
to send you a message that you will not hear because of your pride.
And so I quickly put it down and I started listening.
And I started picking out each good point he made.
This happens here every Sunday.
Yeah, hearing without nurturing is when it's like a little sapling,
a little seed has suddenly sprung in your heart.
You know there's something about it.
But instead of holding that precious thing, I'll go home and think about it.
Ah shucks, that certainly applies to my life.
Instead of nurturing it, it just gets crushed.
Doing is different. Doing is now that I know I will go and do.
That's different.
Sometimes when something clicks, nurture it, man.
Last week Sede came to me on the 31st and said,
Jacob, I saw something while we were worshipping.
And so I asked him and he told me.
Then I say, send it to me. Text it to me.
Why? Why do I ask you?
So that I can go home and read it.
What if it has to be nurtured?
What if the nurturing of that word from a small-time guy like Sede,
who has a big time, you know, a little bit of a problem,
from a small-time guy like Sede, who has a big time job,
what if that nurturing will affect the church in the future?
Or should I only listen to someone who leads a house church?
If you don't actively wrestle with the word,
and if it doesn't change or bear fruit in your life,
then the heart just begins to harden, eh?
The mind begins to dull.
There's this lousy word in 2 Thessalonians 2.11.
2 Thessalonians 2.11.
It says that whenever the truth is rejected,
delusion is waiting to come in.
Whenever the truth is rejected,
delusion is waiting to make an entrance on your stage.
Whenever the truth is rejected,
delusion is waiting to make an entrance on the stage.
This is why if I find that someone is not either hearing the word,
practicing the word, or reading the word,
but is prophesying at Acts 29,
I will willingly go and say,
stop, you have not earned the right to speak on God's behalf on a regular basis.
Occasionally God would still use you,
but no, you cannot,
because you neither practice the word,
nor read the word,
nor sit under the word.
You do not have the right to,
because you will only lead people astray.
Is that a fair statement?
It is.
So when I begin to not allow God to wrestle with me through the word,
then like I said, the heart begins to harden.
And usually if the heart happens,
that's when it leads to complacency,
to dullness,
to rebellion,
it's a progression.
But thank God for God.
What he does is,
he sends either discipline,
or he sends his mercy and does surgery on our hearts.
Ezekiel talks about it,
I will replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh.
And sometimes God does not want to do that.
He sends his mercy and does surgery on our hearts.
And sometimes the devourer gets into,
the devourer gets into,
come on man, this year,
you just rebuke the devourer with your giving,
you just make sure.
It doesn't matter that you know what you have,
will not let you survive till the end of the month,
you just decide that this belongs to God,
and I will do it and I will see the result.
Rebuke the devourer.
Test him.
He says please test me.
Prove it guys.
Yeah, prove it at the beginning of the year,
beginning of the month, not at the end of the month,
meaning when you get what you get,
prove it then.
You know the thing with the devourer,
is he first will eat the money,
then he will eat the car,
then he will eat the stove,
then he will eat some pipe that delivers water,
then he will eat the tire,
then he will eat your investment,
then he will eat some flight cancellation.
It's a locust, it keeps eating.
And in the end you get to a place
where all your good intentions aren't working.
Why?
Because you do not have the power to rebuke the devourer.
It's not worth it guys.
Any questions?
You know Joan can tell you stories about this.
Her dad, he was so faithful all his life,
right from when he was a young kid in the Second World War.
He would, doesn't matter what happens,
he would keep giving to God, keep giving to God,
and because of that he and his family
were taken care of by God,
through war, through disease, through thick, through thin.
We don't give to get guys,
that's a prosperity message.
We don't give to get, we give to get free
of the bondages that we are in,
including the bondage of money.
We are not giving to get.
There's something wrong.
When a child gives his father money
so he can get back more money from his dad,
there is something fundamentally wrong in that relationship.
We give so that we can get free
of the very things that have held us from loving,
from obeying, from following.
The first person did not start, the guy on the path.
First person did not start.
The second started well, but did not survive.
The third survived, but produced nothing.
None were useful to the master.
Then we have the good soil.
Hey, Brielle.
Good soil is someone who hears the word
and understands it.
And it produces
30, 60, 100 fold.
Here's a crazy thing, eh, to those
who hear
and understand
that good soil is something
that is given to them.
And they hear
and understand
increasing understanding is given.
Increasing understanding is given.
Sometimes in that area
and they have
of what?
Of knowledge.
Of what?
Of the truth.
That does what?
That sets
them and others
free.
You'll find people, eh, you'll find certain people who seem to
hear and understand in certain areas so well.
They seem to just thrive in that area.
You don't even know how.
They seem to excel in that.
Because
in the area of your understanding, more understanding is provided.
Why?
So that you may have an abundance.
Why? Abundance of what?
Of the knowledge.
Of what?
Of the truth in that
word with regard to that.
So what happens?
So you set yourself free and you set others free.
Different areas, you'll find people having different understandings.
But what if that was a general attitude to things?
How liberating it would be.
And yet, to the others, what they had was taken away.
All three had the seed, right?
The path, the rocky soil, the tawny soil.
All had the seed of the word.
But from all of their lives it was taken away.
This happens every Sunday.
It can happen today too.
Let me conclude.
Yep.
The last three words are
they have an abundance of the knowledge of the truth
that sets them and others free.
I don't know why you can't understand that.
So here are these three things you can do
to be good soil.
Ask God.
Ask God to
we can ready our heart.
We can ready our heart every day to receive.
Ask God to open your ears.
Psalm 40, verse 6.
In sacrifice and offering,
you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.
Ask God.
Little prayers that you can include in 2026.
Father, as I start this day,
open my ears so that when I receive a word,
I can hear it with faith, nurture it.
Second,
prepare the soil.
Prepare the soil.
Hey guys, it's not possible
to spend six days
watching crap and shit
on social media
and then come
with a heart ready for the word.
The difference between the filth
and the purity is so enormous
that there is no traction.
Yeah.
James 1.21 says,
Therefore, rid yourself of the filth
and the wickedness
and present your hearts
in such a way that as you hear,
the word of God will be grafted.
I cannot do
the six day.
This is not some kind of Daniel fast
where for one day I'll hear the word,
six days I'll eat crap.
It doesn't work like that.
It's reality.
Again,
if you feel guilty and condemned,
try getting over it a little fast.
If the last six days were spent
watching stuff on social media
and you know as you come through it,
all kinds of images come
and you pause on some
and you move on on the others.
After six days of that
and a Saturday like that,
to come on Sunday and think
the word is going to have traction
in your life,
ain't true.
I'm not saying it.
The scriptures say it.
It's like putting new wine
into old wine skins.
It won't work.
What do we do then?
Depend on the mercy of God.
Saying, oh God,
sorry, go ahead.
Yeah.
I'm dependent on the mercy of God.
I've got to cry out to God saying,
oh God,
do spiritual surgery in my life.
And God will do it
because he's so interested in you.
One of the ways to overcome
condemnation is immediately run to God
so you don't feel too condemned.
I'm not saying that
you should do it.
I'm saying that
so you don't feel too condemned.
I will. He won't.
Third one.
Desire the truth of God's word.
Desire it.
Desire the truth
of God's word.
Desire the truth of God's word.
You know what excites me most
about Sundays is that
every week I have this
marvelous privilege of going through
the word and preparing something
that God wants for us.
And there are people here
I know that come hungry.
You've gotten used to
one hour sermons.
That's your fault.
But you come hungry.
I try to shorten these sermons
I shave off words from sentences
so that it stays within a page.
I'll put and with that sign
because I don't want it to spill
over to the next page.
See, there's only one page.
Read Proverbs chapter 2 verses 1 to 5.
Proverbs 2, 1 to 5.
Guys, these things are normal
for us as believers.
It's just that it gets covered
with so many layers of dirt
that it doesn't come up.
It just needs sweeping.
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart
to understanding.
If you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
I will give you my blessing.
If you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
Hunger, desire it.
Desire it.
Welcome to those strangers.
The church usually starts at 3.30.
Allow God to landscape you with the Word.
Enter any teaching space with meekness of heart.
Not with prejudice, not with doctrine,
not with culture, not with pride.
Last one.
2 Timothy 2, 7.
Think over what has been said.
I, she won't believe this,
I actually go home and at some point during the week
I'll go over what I've taught
and I'll look at one or two points that stand out
that I know I must practice
or I must go over again.
There's nothing as grating as listening to your own voice.
But I'll still do it because
it is required.
2 Timothy 2, 7 says,
go and think about what I have said.
That's how you nurture it.
This will revolutionize your life this year
if you practice it.
Because everything that God does,
he does through the
Word.
Any questions?
So I don't know what your takeaway will be.
But my hope is
that you'll either focus on what we said about Mammon
or you'll focus on how to sit under the Word.
Another thing that Mammon does guys,
it alienates you from the Father.
Mammon alienates you from the Father.
It makes you the architect of your future.
You decide, I have to go to school,
I have to go to college,
you decide, and it makes you a manipulator of your finances.
It alienates you from the Father.
It makes you a manipulator of your finances.
And it makes you the architect of your future.
Fight it, eh?
I've written down
on the side notes I've written,
this is the year that the strangled hold of Mammon
will be broken from the life of this Church.
I don't know why at the end of last year
this thing began to come
that Acts 29 is being ravaged by Mammon.
Even though the Church itself is doing well financially,
we might be doing well financially,
but we are wrestling with this power.
And for whatever breakthrough has to happen in the future,
this pastor definitely has to completely break out of it.
And if he doesn't, we are screwed.
And this Church, I know words like crap and screwed
are not to be used in Church.
Yeah, I apologize for that,
but it just seemed to be...
Okay, I will not use it in future.
But the point is that
if I don't break out of it,
and if this Church does not break out of it,
all those things remain nascent,
remain just an occasional flash.
And so, I've written here,
this is the year that the strangled hold of Mammon
will be broken from the life of this Church.
I really believe that.
And so I speak it.
Yeah?
So go beyond the natural, guys.
Go beyond the natural, eh?
The natural life will resist the demands of the Word.
The natural life will always resist the demands of the Word.
The natural life...
Your natural life will resist,
because the flesh is that way,
will resist the demands of the Word.
Jesus said,
the flesh is willing, the spirit is willing by the flesh's.
Flesh is what? Weak.
The message put it as,
your spirit is willing,
but your flesh is like a lazy dog by a fire.
Just don't want to get up.
And so, the natural will resist the demands of the Word.
And God is limited.
God is limited
when I pamper my natural life.
God is limited when I pamper my natural life.
So what should I do?
Do what Abraham did.
Send Ishmael into the desert.
Do what Abraham did.
Send Ishmael into the desert.
Isaac will not prosper till Ishmael is sent into the desert.
What do you mean by that?
Romans 12.1.
Romans 12.1 says,
give your bodies as a living sacrifice,
and then it will become your spiritual worship.
As in, the natural can only be made spiritual through obedience.
Here's what's happening.
There's Isaac and there's Ishmael.
Both come from Abraham's loins.
Sarah doesn't want Ishmael.
Abraham is hesitant to let Ishmael go.
God comes and says to him,
Isaac is the son of promise.
Let him go. I'll take care of him.
Abraham doesn't want to,
but he decides, okay,
what is spiritual, what is a promise,
will survive only if I send Ishmael off.
He sends Ishmael off.
It's the same thing.
Abraham had to obey.
And when Abraham obeyed,
Isaac began to prosper,
and Ishmael became a nation.
The strange thing,
when you begin to stop pampering your natural life and obey,
is that not only do you become more spiritual and more usable,
God also feeds your natural life.
What happens to Ishmael?
He goes into the desert.
He's dying.
Out of nowhere comes a well full of water.
Out of nowhere comes God
and begins to prophesy on that boy saying,
you will become a nation too.
The only way to transfer the natural into the spiritual
is through obedience.
Whenever your flesh begins to resist
what the word is demanding,
just obey.
Do not pamper the flesh that obey.
And as you obey,
something will happen inside you spiritually.
And the natural that you were so scared of losing
will also be taken care of.
Therefore, brethren,
offer yourselves as a living sacrifice.
Tie yourself, put yourself on the altar.
And when you do what your natural self resists,
then this is your spiritual act of worship.
Always through obedience, guys.
Go ahead.
What is an example of Ishmael that you would send off?
What is an example of Ishmael that I would send off?
I'm going on at least three international trips
in the next six weeks.
It does not make sense to give money away.
The natural says,
you don't own airplanes yet.
The church is not rich enough to get you a private jet.
Use this money.
Do not give it away.
But everything in me,
because I want to break the spirit of mammon,
is so enthusiastic to give money away
so that I'm forever broken.
And as I obey,
in tithes, in offerings, in first fruits,
it does not matter.
You will find that not only does something spiritually rise up within me,
but in the natural I will be taken care of.
And nothing that God has ordained for me
in terms of where I need to go,
when I need to go,
how I need to go,
how long I need to go,
will not be taken care of.