GIGO

GIGO! Garbage in, garbage out. The garbage you let in will eventually come out.

When we put on Hose-A-Palooza this year….we brought in some huge semi trucks to bring in the water for the days' events. Unfortunately, the couple of days before Hose-A-Palooza we pretty much had a monsoon blow through the Troy Grove/Mendota area bringing us buckets of rain; and because of it the ground was softened and the trucks tires sunk into the ground fairly deeply making lots of ruts and big grooves. The lady who mows the area is NOT REAL happy; needless to say. It makes it much harder to mow an area when it isn't level so John still even today is hauling black dirt to the field and filling in the cracks to fix up the ground. There are a lot of ruts in the ground.

I have used the analogy of ruts in the road to describe my patterns of my thought and speech life before I was saved and then still after I became serious about following after Jesus. I have told people that I likened my language to those ruts when something would go wrong and it would be so easy to fall back into those grooves of bad language and behavior. I needed to do some reprogramming to change it.

A mind is a kind of naturally occurring computer – it processes information.

 It comes with its own method of computation, using a system of symbols that literally makes a language of thought and every day we process thousands of thoughts. Scientists say that these repeated thoughts actually create grooves in our brain. They have found that when we practice a skill, learn something new, or study a topic, a new groove is actually carved into our brain tissue. That is why they say that it is so hard to break a habit. They say that a habit is not just psychological but also physical and that we have to actually create new brain grooves to be successful in breaking it.

Our bad thoughts over time will create grooves in our brains and we can develop things in our lives that grow into bad habits and lifestyles too. So this week, I'd like to have you think about what ruts you may have carved into your brain thus far? Think about all the thoughts that go through your brains on a normal day. It's said that a person has about 60,000 of them a day. A lot of them can be crazy, random thoughts; that can be quite bizarre or negative. Because of those thoughts they can make us begin to form bizarre or negative feelings toward ourselves and others around us and then they in turn they can develop into fears, doubts and even hatred over the long haul. These thoughts have carved grooves into our brains and created habits that are destructive to our lives and to those around us too.  Let me ask you…What in the world are you thinking about?

There is a word you may or may not have heard before … it is GIGO. It stands for garbage in – garbage out. It is a computer term. A computer is an amazing thing….but ultimately it can only do what it is told to do; whatever is programmed into it will have an effect on what is produced and more importantly, it's the programmer who will determine the final output and results.  What is inputted into our brain can either limit or expand as to the quality of the data that is actually programmed into it. Day after day after day we have so many negative, destructive thoughts that flow through our brains that cause us bad output. If you program into your brain hatred, unbelief, jealousy, lust, greed etc… you will get garbage for output. But on the other hand, if you put in faith, hope, generosity, selflessness and contentment you will get a high quality output.

Could it be that simple?

Yes, it could and it is.

Philippians 4:8 finally dear brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

Listen, if we can believe what these scientists say about grooves into our brains isn't it then wise instead of inputting all those bad things inside our brains – that we should instead make grooves or ruts with good things? Pastor Steve has mentioned over the years a phrase…"what you are in your mind; you will do in time" Our minds – our thoughts have great power in who it is that we are and eventually who we will become.

This world thinks and acts in ways that is normal to them but I believe that we as Christians should find offensive. It is my firm belief that as a Christian we are to be different and that begins with what we put into our minds in the first place. And with that I'd like to talk to you about media.

Media is everywhere around us; it shapes our culture and guides us in the ways that we think, act, dress and watch. It is a billion dollar industry and it has a huge effect on us.

Today -If you watched television, turned on the radio, rented a movie, read a magazine, logged on to the internet, played video games or read the newspaper you have opened yourself up to the influence of today's media. Influence is the definition of the word leadership – so what happens is that every day we take our marching orders by what media offers up to us. And there is much wrong with that.

First off the media gives us a wrong view about reality. Everyone in TV ads or print ads looks pretty happy – basically telling us that all you have to do is buy a certain product and you are to automatically grow happier. For a lot of people they look to find that one product that will make them attractive to the opposite sex, make them connect with the cool kids and give them hope for their future. Those ads are not real people. They say that even the beautiful models in print ads still get their thin legs stretched longer to make them look more beautiful – they airbrush all the flaws off their faces and give them prettier features. Sadly, for a lot of men they hold to that ideal and look for that perfection in a mate. Also in media it tells people that they should choose actors, musicians, athletes or comedians to be their heroes. It's more about following a celebrity than it is in having a true role model. Then because these people pick people to imitate they fall lock step in following their opinions on the world, politics and religion.

The constant flow of action packed movies and television shows also give us a distorted view as to what this world actually looks like. We are living in an MTV generation… it's high tech and fast paced and when we look at our own lives in comparison we think there is something wrong with them  because our lives don't  look like that. Our lives just seem boring and dull.

There are things that will be offered up to us from the media but a lot of it is trash. Don't be like Oscar the Grouch and love trash.

On the Grammy awards, the American Music awards and the MTV awards there will be those performers who when they receive their awards who will thank God…but let's more so look at what a person actually believes and lives than just more empty words. There has to be a matching up.

I read this article on the internet and it talked about 3 Christian guys who weren't afraid to tell everyone that they were Christians and that they attended bible studies and played in a Christian band and wrote all this music about God.

Sean who was 18 said that when he was in junior high that all the people called him church boy.  So, you can imagine that these 3 guys would not be unlike all the others who are out there trying to live among all the media that's trying to trip them up but you may also be surprised to learn that these 3 boys were then drawn to the blockbuster movie American Pie a few years back; which was a movie about 4 average guys who were trying to lose their virginity before Prom. These guys though didn't just go pay to see the movie but they were paid to star in it. Most confusing and alarming is that none of them saw anything wrong with it. They didn't see any inconsistency in saying that you were following God but still taking a lead in a movie that was just about as disgusting as it gets. This movie had over 50 curse words and rampant sexuality that left about nothing to the imagination.

There is this idea in our culture that we can separate who we are spiritually and be a Christian at church or a youth group but then we can be a different person when we are with another group. That of course DOESN'T MATCH UP with God's word. Also there are a lot of people in the media who speak about spirituality but it has NOTHING to do with God or Jesus. Seriously, pay attention! Not too long ago there was an ad in the USA weekend paper that surveyed teens and they said that religion was their second strongest influence in their lives – only behind their parents. But what kind of faith do they really have IF it hasn't changed  their behavior?

Garbage in – garbage out.

On television there is so much sexuality and violence and it is thrown at us while we are comfortably kicked back in our chairs at home.

Listen to the statistics:

In 1946 there were 10,000 TV sets in the USA.

But by 1950 there were 10.5 million, 1960 54 million and by 1995 99% of American homes owned a TV and most of those actually owned 2 or 3 of them. 

A lot of people eat their meals by them, fall asleep by them – and most people turn on a TV when they get home whether they plan on watching it or not just for the company.

It is said that the average teenager watches over 22 hours of TV a week. By the time they have graduated they will have watched 23,000 hours of television.

In the 2001-2002 television season, "two thirds (64%) of all shows included some sexual content; one third (32%) of all shows have some sexual behaviors, and one in seven (14%) have sexual intercourse"

Evidence exists which suggests that what adolescents see on television, whether or not they know fantasy from reality, is what they assume society expects of them as a typical sexual being.

In 1952 they were not allowed to use the word pregnant on TV even though Lucy was obviously pregnant. In 1961 on the Dick Van Dyke show the characters not being in the same bed together. In 1965 they wouldn't allow Barbara Eden's belly button to show in I dream of Jeanie. But by the 1990's we were showing TV's first R rated show NYPD Blue which featured nudity, violence and sex. In 1994 the comedy show Roseanne showed an up close lesbian kiss and in the late 90's we saw most of the younger people in the shows on TV losing their virginity and having sex with their classmates; even Simon on 7^th Heaven. Nowadays sadly even that stuff is tame. Today we have Teela Tequila who is bi- sexual and we have men and women competing to sleep with her. Old rock stars who are on where women will do what they can to sleep with them and be with them. Sex has gone from a dirty word to a regular event and when we say it's unacceptable we are just labeled as old fashioned. Not true; we just are staying in tune with what God's word says is acceptable.

Today premarital sex on TV outnumbers sex within marriage 8 to 1.During the prime time hours of TV we can see a sexual act or reference every 4 minutes.

What is normally shown on television is not normal Christ follower behavior.

Now let's take a look at violence.

By the time the average teen graduates they will have watched 40,000 televised murders and 200,000 acts of violence. Some of it disguised as humorous and shown in cartoons.

Now, tell me it doesn't bother you okay.

I know it doesn't bother you… sadly enough. But it's supposed to bother you. You haven't gotten older or wiser… you haven't matured past that point… it's just that you have just become numb to it.

Yes, life can be ugly and violent but should we really be entertained by it?

Habakkuk 1:3 Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight.

Jonah 3:8 Everyone is required to wear sackcloth and pray earnestly to God. Everyone must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence.

We live in a society that is in love with violence. It craves it. Take a look at the plugged in reviews for the movies that are playing that I put up every week – most of them are filled with violence and sex. These violent TV shows and movies make us numb to the horrors of violence, yet somehow this is an acceptable thing for us to see on a daily basis.  We need to become aware that what we set our eyes on – what we input and think about is what eventually makes us into who we become.

Garbage in = Garbage out.

Could it be that is why so many people are messed up in this world?

What kind of person could you turn out to be if you set up boundaries in your life?

What if you did what God says to do instead?

Philippians 4:8 finally dear brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

Watch your input because eventually it will determine your output.

Go All Out!

Go all out! Don't be a copout, holdout, or dropout in your faith.

Michael Phelps went to Beijing China for the 08 Olympics and won 8 gold medals there… When someone wins something like that we need to realize that there is much more that has gone on than just in that moment in time.  It's also about the past and all the hours and hard work that have gotten them to that point that we are watching. Michael Phelps worked hard to go all out and win those medals; not just in the race but in all of the time that he invested. He earned every bit of those 8 gold medals.  He's going to be 24 years old but he began swimming when he was 7 years old and when he first started out he refused to even put his face in the water. To help him out in his fear, his instructors allowed him to first just float around on his back. Not surprisingly, he mastered the backstroke first; and over time he developed into the champion that he is now. He is described as having the perfect swimmer's body; he is 6'4" tall but he has an arm span of 6'7". He has a long thin torso and relatively short legs for his height; size 14 feet, large hands and hyper mobile ankles; all of which adds up to a great body for swimming but we must realize that it isn't all that it took. It took a lot of dedication and devotion to his sport to accomplish all that he has. Michael Phelps went all out to win those medals, and people who win and succeed are all out kind of people.

John C Maxwell who has written many books on Leadership; he says that there are 4 different types of people in this world. Let's take a look at them….First off there's: The copouts to cop out; is a saying meaning to avoid taking responsibility for an action or to avoid fulfilling a duty. These people don't have goals set for themselves and they refuse to commit to anything. They never have a plan. They don't put into place a goal and they don't think about their lives past the moment that they exist in. It's all about choosing an easy alternative instead of investing their time and energy in something or someone other than themselves. Jonah out of the bible kind of copped out when he took off from God when He had asked him to go to Ninevah and tell the people to turn away from their sins and seek Him. Jonah copped out and instead went to Tarshish.

Cop outs are the best at giving excuses… "Why they couldn't do something or why they didn't go somewhere." And after awhile when they go off into their myriad of excuses – your mind tends to go off elsewhere too; because you've heard it all before. They are exhausting to be around… they remind me of a big floppy doll who always needs to be propped up or held together. Nothing ever seems to come from a cop out… they start and stop a lot but nothing ever seems to get finished or completed. They are it seems forever in a state of limbo… their bodies seem to be inactive but yet their mouths always seem to be moving…they are to me the saddest bunch. They are kind of like babies…they like it if things revolve around them. They are insecure but yet selfish. It's all the mindset of feed me, change me, look at me – am I not adorable?

Then there are the: Hold outs, a hold out is a person not committing to something out of fear of failure. We hear it being described as paralyzed with fear because that's just what the hold out does….they don't move. Sadly they never become all that were supposed to be because they never got rid of their fear of failure. They try to avoid new things and challenges at all costs. They a lot of times stay in a safe but unchallenging position or an unfulfilling job, or a familiar but boring career, instead of trying new things and perhaps failing at them. They look at life wrongly…Henry Ford said that "Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently." There's no doubt about it - we are going to fail – it's just a matter of time. We will eventually make a wrong decision, choice or thought and we will have to deal with the repercussions from it but if we regroup and move on and go into a different direction we can still succeed.  To truly make it in life we need to embrace failure not as a wrong step but a right step.  In the animal world; within a few seconds after its birth, a baby giraffe will struggle to its feet. Shortly afterward, the mother will knock it over from that first wobbly stance. And this happens over and over again until the young giraffe stands with confidence. We can't comprehend that; to us it seems like an awfully cruel way for a mom to treat her baby; but it is in fact truly an act of love by the mother. For the baby giraffe to survive in its dangerous world it must learn really quickly how to get up in the face of danger.

To the hold out – they need to have the same mind set… maybe in the long run being knocked down will help them to survive in this big scary world.

If we don't try we may never know to the point that we could have actually succeeded. It's said that an entrepreneur will fail an average of 3.8 times before they finally make it in a business venture.  It's all in perspective and how you look at it…With three steps forward and two steps backward – you will have still moved one step ahead.  If you can decide to see your own "failures" as a necessary part of your progress, instead of beating yourself up over it over time you will begin to see your successes add up. A hold out needs to be their own cheerleader; telling themselves that they can and will make it and reach for those things that don't come easily. Moses tried to hold out; he tried to tell God that he wasn't the person to lead those who were captive out of Egypt because he couldn't speak well… it was more really about his fear of doing something outside of what came easily for him that really paralyzed him. God knew though that he could do it if he would just try.  Thomas Edison said that "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." I can kind of think of a hold out as an adolescent – sometimes they really don't want to have to grow up…. Then there are the: a Drop out, dropping out by definition means leaving something for either practical reasons, necessities or disillusionment. Sometimes you can just describe them as quitters. Some people drop out because of laziness – others out of lack of hope or some out of trying to do too many things or allowing one certain thing to takes up all their time. Same thing happens in churches all over the world. I have known many drop outs….the worst thing about them is their fantasy that they play in their mind that they will come back whenever they decide to and then walk right back in and go on as though nothing ever happened. But for the most part, the enemy makes sure that never happens! Drop outs don't do well when the going gets tough and anyone who has truly read the bible understands that it's just a matter of time until those tough times are going to come. John Mark in the bible dropped out for awhile when he decided to go home from a missionary journey that he was on with Paul, thankfully though in his case he did make it back… God's word tells us to weigh the cost of following after Him.  A lot of people DON'T. Saddest of all is that there are a lot of drop outs who affect others. There is comfort in numbers so if "I can be a drop out then maybe you can too and we can both feel good about our lack of accomplishments." This is in my mind can be the teenager… who finally becomes aware of all that life is going to be about but they just don't know if they can handle it so they instead give up.  Finally there is the: All out All outs go above and beyond all that is ever asked and expected of them. It is the Olympic winner… the person who will set goals, commit to them and pay the price to reach them. Michael Phelps may have a body built to be a swimmer but if not for dedication; he wouldn't be who he is. It wasn't his body alone that got him up at the earliest hours of the morning and kept him in the pool for up to 5 hours of the day swimming and training. It was his drive! An all out has counted the cost and they couldn't possibly give less of themselves. They are committed! Commitment is action… you don't see them sitting on the sidelines making excuses or playing games you see them instead bettering and devoting themselves to whatever it is that they are called to do. They understand that commitment always comes before achievement. NBA legend Michael Jordan says that heart is what separates the good from the great.  Nothing is easier than saying words… and nothing is harder than living them day after day after day. Who are you??? Are you a cop out, a holdout, a drop out, or an all out? Look at yourself honestly and truthfully and begin to make some adjustments. Sometimes we think that we are really committed to something but in truth everything about our lives would prove that to be otherwise. Think about it…Who or what is the object of your attention? Ask yourself who or what you are living for? Or better yet– what am I willing to die for?  John Maxwell asks "if it came down to it, what in life would you NOT be able to stop doing no matter the consequences?"An all out to me is a mature grown up; those who have put childish things aside. Look at Paul in the bible; he says that he fought the fight and that he finished the race.  To make it as an Olympic athlete like Michael Phelps who can win gold I think it takes 4 things, and I think these same 4 things apply to our following Jesus just as well…. It takes desire/passion, it takes dependence, it takes discipline, and it takes delight. If you have these four things you can't help but be an all out in what you do. These Olympiads that we've been watching on television do all they can and look to receive medals to show everyone that they are the best of the best; but did you also know that God tells us that we too will be rewarded for what we have done in our race of faith?

1 Corinthians 9:24, 25 remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You must also run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self control they do it to win a prize that will fade away but we do it for an eternal prize.

Matthew 16:27 Jesus says for I the son of Man will come in the glory of my father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds.

1 Corinthians 3:8 -the one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose; yet they will be rewarded individually according to their own hard work.

It's an individual event; and these crowns that we receive will never tarnish or rust away.

Be an all out for God!

 

Brokenness

Brokenness—Don't say no to regrets; Say yes to them! Sorrow and remorse are the scars of brokenness upon our hearts proving that we belong to Jesus; in the same way that His own broken body proved His identity as our coming Messiah. There is a saying in our society; NO REGRETS. It's the thought that we can just throw all of our mistakes and hurts into a pile and just walk away from them and never give them another thought. As great as that would be - I'd like to talk to you about how it really isn't that easy no matter how much we would wish it to be; because it isn't God's plan. To regret is to feel sorrow or remorse or think of with a sense of loss or disappointment.God's desire instead is for us to feel sorrow and remorse and think upon our lives and our choices with a sense of loss and disappointment because that is what will actually bring change. When we regret; we learn and we grow AND we also rid ourselves of pride in our lives.

So I'd like to tell you; don't say no to regrets; but say yes to them. When someone asks you do you regret something? My hope is that you will tell them "yes I do, and with all my heart". Brokenness will lead us to repentance. We have continually gone over again and again how as true believers this is not our home; God tells us that we should not feel comfortable here so it's no surprise to me that this world would again tell us something that doesn't match up with what He would desire for us. Last week I spoke to you about the Parable of the Sower; and how God looks to have His seed which is the word of God planted into good, rich soil and not unlike when we till up a garden or a farmer tills the soil God also prepares our hearts with brokenness so that we will receive His truth and His forgiveness.  Whereas this world tells us we can respond to our past and problems with a blanket… NO REGRETS, which is actually quite an egotistical, prideful response. God tells us instead to humble ourselves and REGRET and think over who we are and what we did and learn from it...:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Mark Buchannan in the book – Your God is too safe says - Brokenness is the one soil that usually withers pride.

Psalm 51:17 the sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.

It's kind of like our brokenness is a whisper of Jesus' name or a beckoning of "come here, and come closer to me. It's a gift. In our faith we should resemble Jesus. True brokenness will mold our character closer to His more than anything else we can do.

Definitions of the word broken are:

Reduced to fragments, not functioning properly, changing direction abruptly, fragmentary or incomplete, weakened in strength or spirit, tamed, trained, or reduced to submission.

All those things need to happen when we accept Jesus as our Savior.

Alan Redpath; a Baptist preacher is quoted as saying: "God will never plant the seed of his life upon the soil of a hard, unbroken spirit. He will only plant that seed where the conviction of His Spirit has brought brokenness, where the soil has been watered with the tears of repentance as well as the tears of joy."

After Paul spoke earlier to the church in Corinth setting some things straight and explaining to them that some of the things that were going on weren't good – he sent them another letter where he tells them in: 2 Corinthians 7:8-10  I am no longer sorry that I sent that letter to you, though I was sorry for a time, for I know that it was painful to you for a little while. Now, I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because pain caused you to have remorse and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have so you were not harmed by us in any way. For God can use sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek salvation. We will never regret that kind of sorrow. But sorrow without repentance is the kind that results in death.

True godly sorrow will always produce repentance.

And our mourning and our repentance is equal to humbleness.

Worship starts with a broken heart. Calvin Miller

Humility is about being honest with God. Being the person you truly are without a mask on and letting them be exposed.

James 4:7-10 so humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites. Let there be tears for the wrong things you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on Him, He will lift you up and give you honor.

God tells us to cleanse ourselves out of our brokenness –to do that we need to humble ourselves. The word humble actually means to depress oneself; to bring ourselves low. Isn't that interesting when we look at what clinical depression is?

As we bow lower to God it is then that He actually lifts us higher.

As we decrease – He increases. This isn't natural with worldly thinking.

Our tendency is to hide our pain from others, when we start to cry; we hide from people seeing us - thinking we are showing weakness because it's humbling to allow people to see us in pain and with our hurts so evident.

But God tells us that our misery and weeping are ways that we humble our hearts in true repentance.  We see people cry and we see their tears. Tears are the language of the soul and they are described as the universal language. Everyone understands tears. We know when we see them that there is something deeper going on. The early Puritans the Christian Protestants used to pray for the gift of tears. Maybe some of us should begin praying for that gift too.

Ken Gire wrote in the book Windows of the Soul that he believes that the closest communion with God comes through our tears. Just as grapes are crushed to make wine and grain to make bread, so the elements of our tears come from the crushing experiences of life.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

In gardening it's said that the seed must actually die to be able to produce much more. So it is the same with each one of us; we need to be broken and die to ourselves so that we can become what Jesus actually saved us to be.

When our tears are turned toward God in brokenness they are never wasted – man might consider tears weakness but God sees them as humbleness, treasures them and actually keeps them.

Psalm 56:8 you keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

This is amazingly comforting….God does not forget the sorrows of His people.

Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.

Have you experienced brokenness? Have you cried?

For the most part we see over and over again the dry eyed confessions of sin in a church; more so than we do a decision with true brokenness of conviction and repentance.

Take a look at TRUE BROKENNESS shown to us In Luke 7:37-50 in the story of a sinful woman.

She came to him and knelt down behind him and sat at his feet weeping one day when He was in the home of one of the Pharisees for a meal. She had brought with her a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume and as she sat there her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee saw what was happening and who the woman was he said to himself, this proves Jesus is no prophet. If God had really sent him he would know what kind of woman is touching him because she is a sinner! Then Jesus spoke up and answered his thoughts. Simon, he said to the Pharisee, I have something to say to you. All right teacher, Simon replied, "Go ahead."

Then Jesus told him this story A man loaned money to two people, five hundred pieces of silver to one and fifty pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, cancelling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?"

Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the larger debt.

"That's right," Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn't give me a kiss of greeting, but she has kissed my feet again and again from the time I first came in. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I tell you, her sins, and there are many have been forgiven so she has shown me much love.

That's brokenness!

With Joseph who went through so much – having his own brothers who were jealous of him plot his murder and then only escaping because of one of his brother's pleas who was then sold off as a slave and taken to Egypt and bought by a ruler named Potiphar who threw him into prison when Potiphar's wife unjustly accused him of trying to sleep with her. He was in prison for years and was only set free by interpreting a dream for the ruler Pharaoh and then finally was put into charge as ruler of Egypt himself. He was a man of great pain and great hurts and we are able to get some glimpses of his brokenness when he comes face to face with his brothers again when they came to ask for grain because they were starving to death in the famine and he pretends he doesn't know them when they don't recognize him either. He puts them into prison for 3 days and while they were talking to an interpreter he hears them speak about how they are being paid back for treating their brother Joseph so badly all those years ago…Joseph hearing this leaves the room and goes to find a place where he could break down in private. We see him in brokenness again when he confesses to them that he is their brother… the bible saying that He broke down and wept aloud, his sobs could be heard throughout the palace. And again when he sees his younger brother Benjamin and his father Israel again after all these years.

Our world lies and tells us it's not manly to cry but God's word shows us great men of God who cried and cried a lot.

Joseph was a man of brokenness but he also became a man of great character because of it.

Life is hard. Bad things happen to good people; but why? Because it is out of our brokenness that we will move toward the living God.

God promises beauty for ashes.

We are broken by life's circumstances of pain but God's plan is that we let Him use it and then skillfully put us back together again.

I've read that God needs to break us before He can bless us and we can see that's true when we read the bible.

 

The sinful woman that we spoke of earlier who broke the alabaster jar of perfume but receives so much more when she receives the forgiveness from God.

 

And in one of the strangest stories in the bible Genesis 32 when Jacob wrestles with God and God breaks his hip but then gives to him the new name of Israel.

 

There is something special about brokenness. God's word says that we should be thankful for it because out of it we will be blessed. We should regret the hurts and pains that we've gone through and also those pains that we've caused others.

There is amazing blessings in store for those who truly are broken for Him.

Look to our ultimate example: Jesus who's own body was broken for us but out of His pain we receive eternal life. We are blessed from His brokenness!

I see brokenness as a pain we feel from the pain that we've caused the God who created us, but it's also a coming to grips with the knowledge that we are a sinful bunch who needs a savior's saving.

One of my favorite scriptures in the bible is Isaiah 6:5 when Isaiah goes into the presence of the Lord in the temple and comes face to face with himself.

 He says, my destruction is sealed for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet, I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.

He was broken right then.

Have you been broken? Have you cried out of and for your brokenness?

Jesus was sent to comfort the brokenhearted. He was sent to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come.

He's here for you if you want Him.

Good Dirt

Hard dirt, rocky dirt, thorny dirt, and good dirt, how receptive are you to God's Word?

Tonight we are going to spend some time in looking at Matthew 13:1-23; where Jesus tells his disciples about the parable of the sower, i.e.…the farmer or the planter – whichever makes it easier for you to understand. This is the story that Jesus used to explain what happens after we've shared the word of God with others. Sadly, if you have been a Christian for any length of time you can actually pick out those people from your past who've either been the hard road, gravel, the weedy path or good, black, rich soil.

This passage is out of The Message translation.

At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed the people telling stories.

What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and the birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.

Are you listening to this? Really listening?

The disciples came up and asked, why do you tell stories? Jesus replied you've been given insight into God's kingdom; it hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That's why I tell stories; to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. IN their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till their blue in the face and not get it. I don't want Isaiah's forecast repeated all over again.

Your ears are open but you don't hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don't see a thing. The people are blockheads, they stick their fingers in their ears so they won't have to listen; they screw their eyes shut so they won't have to look, so they won't have to deal with me face to face and let me heal them.

But you have God-blessed eyes, eyes that see and God blessed ears, ears that hear. A lot of people prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.

Jesus makes it clear in the very next passage that we are to actually "Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the Kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface and the evil one comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.

The seed cast in the gravel, this is the person who hears and INSTANTLY responds with enthusiasm, but there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.

The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangles what was heard and nothing comes of it. The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the news and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."

So, not all soils are going to be the same; which is Jesus telling us that not all people are going to be the same either.

What He was explaining to the disciples was that the seed was the word of God and that the soil is actually the heart of the person that the seed falls into. And it's really about how good their dirt is whether or not they are going to be able to produce a plant and then fruit.

HARD DIRT

First off let's talk about the hard soil, as he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and the birds ate it.

When anyone hears news of the Kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface and the evil one comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.

If you've ever seen a path in the woods where people have constantly traveled over it; the ground gets very compacted and hard from all the traffic; so that a seed cannot get through it.

The hardened soil is just like a person's heart that has become hard and resistant. This person has over time just become hard, unbelieving and cynical.

Everything they hear, they doubt. They think they have gotten this life thing all figured out and they turn from God and His words and pursue instead the things that have already proven don't work but they keep on keeping on thinking that somehow things will change for them but they don't. Over time this makes them harder and harder to understand God and His love.

Ephesians 4:18 says they've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can't think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.

When a person begins to harden their hearts they make it easy for Satan to start lying to them and they begin to believe it more and more and they refuse to believe that there is anything else out there.

Those with hard, resistant hearts do not have salvation. The shortest verse in the bible John 11:35 - Jesus wept. It shows me that there will be a difference in those who've come to know the living God…you will weep for those things that He wept about.  When we pray for CYM on Tuesday nights and right before we begin in here tonight - one of the things that I pray for is that God would prepare all of the hearts and that He would plow them up so that hearts can be ready to accept the words of His that we teach.

ROCKY DIRT

The second type of soil that Jesus talked about was rocky soil… Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly.

Jesus explained it to them like this… The seed cast in the gravel, this is the person who hears and INSTANTLY responds with enthusiasm, but there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.

This person has the good time heart; they hear the word and receive it with joy but they are more concerned with their enjoyment, the atmosphere and having a good time. They might come to church or CYM to meet new friends and be cared for by others which is great FOR AWHILE but they never seem to get past the point where it's not all about them and they can't figure out that now it's their turn to befriend people and begin caring for them.

When others encourage them - and let me explain encourage meaning correction; they move on instead.

This soil – this person is all about the experience and it had better be good.

Sadly though when the good times end so do they.
When the tough times come AND THEY WILL they don't stick around. When church or the people aren't just about the fun times and they realize that this faith thing isn't going to be a perpetual party forever - they skate.

They grow too quickly and fall away just as fast when tough times come. Some go over the top with their Christianity and get all super spiritual…but it doesn't last long because it's not real. This person might look like a Christian, sound like a Christian, but they are not a true Christ follower because Jesus Himself told His disciples that this was not going to be easy.

Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12 that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Christianity if you read God's word shows us that it's not just a fun experience but sometimes it's going to be really hard and it's going to be a struggle but you can make it if you just keeping going.

THORNY DIRT

A third type of soil is the thorny ground. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds.

Jesus described it like this… The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangles what was heard and nothing comes of it.

This type of person is too concerned with the world and its riches.

Am I making enough money; how much money do I have put away for a rainy day? Am I driving the right car? Hanging out with the right people?

They desire to be confident in all areas of their lives and have all the resources to make it in whichever way they see fit. And this sadly also applies to the next place they are going. They are in the business of controlling their lives and they want to make sure that they have the next act figured out too; to have all their ducks in a row and have this heaven thing all planned out too.

So, they try to do both; to store up riches and still serve Jesus.

To have the hottest girl or guy and STILL follow Him,  or work all hours of the day and night with their careers and hobbies and still try to add him into it and they don't get it that Jesus tells us it's NOT HIM + THINGS, BUT HIM AND NO OTHER THINGS.

They don't understand that Jesus desires to sustain us instead on a daily basis. Our faith in Him is an anchor; we may not know what is coming around the bend but we can do it if we've invested in our walk with Him.

In Luke 12:16-20

Jesus told them this story; the farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself, what can I do, my barn isn't big enough for this harvest. Then he said – here's what I'll do; I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. They I'll gather in all my grain and goods and I'll say to myself, self, you've done well, you've got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life. Just then God showed up and said, Fool! Tonight you die and your barnful of goods- who gets it? That's what happens when you fill your barn with self and not God.

This again is another person who might look like they are the real thing, a true Christian but they aren't real. This is just like the story I told you a few weeks ago about the rich young ruler who was keeping all the commandments of God but didn't understand that it wasn't about storing up things for yourself but instead sacrificing them.

GOOD DIRT

 Then there's the soil that Jesus says was good.

Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.

He describes it as the seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the news and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."

Good dirt = a fertile, ploughed up heart ready to be planted with the word of God.

This is the person who hears the Word of God and is open to it and begins to understand it. They recognize their need of their own salvation and recognize that this is going to be a tough row to hoe but they love Jesus enough to carry on and they recognize and believe that there is no possible other way in which to live .

This is the REAL CHRISTIAN and because of their "realness" they go on to produce much more than just themselves.

Because when you love something… you truly love it and you see its worth – you'd do all you can to tell others to get it too. With me; I know my life is meaningless without Jesus and I need to share the gift that I received when I received Him into my heart and experienced His forgiveness of my sins. I desire to see others experience the love and forgiveness and freedom.

So, to wrap this all up; Jesus himself made a point of discussing 4 different types of soil that represent people's hearts and He asks us to study them…

For us to be good dirt we need to allow God to break up the hard ground of our lives. Give God permission to look into your heart and examine it and give Him permission to begin changing you.

Read God's word. Grow up and grow deep roots. Pull the weeds… Don't get involved with everything that comes down the pike. Spend your time in an area where you will NEVER EVER regret it - on your faith.

And don't fall for the worries, riches and pleasures that this world is always going to offer you.

And someday God willing you will be able to look back on your life as having produced 30, 60 or a hundred times what you've been given yourself.

Be Good Dirt!