Jun 16

Grow. Strong. (part 3): Good Ground, Pastor David Welch

June 16, 2024

1 'He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 3 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 “Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 6 “And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 “Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 “Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Mark 4:1-9 (NASB1995)

The Idea

When the gospel gets rooted in your heart,

it produces everything your life could be.

But it only germinates in just the right conditions.

What is the gospel?

It is literally the life of God coming to life in you and growing in you.

It is a power to change your life.

It remakes you from the inside out

The Four Heart Soils

1. The Hardened Path

“These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. “

Mark 4:15 (NASB1995)

2. The Thin Soil

16 “In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;

17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. “

Mark 4:16-17 (NASB1995)

3. The Choking Thorns

18 “And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,

19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. “

Mark 4:18-19 (NASB1995)

4. The Good Soil

“And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

Mark 4:20 (NASB1995)