Brother Gary Sunday Morning 7/6/14

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 7/6/14

Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

They heard the voice of God:  For everyone that prepared for today, by studying and praying, by cleaning the church and watering the lawn, by coming in early and practicing songs and practicing with the instruments, we appreciate it.

I went out and walked this morning and prayed for those along the roads that go west and that go east.  We know people west of here and east of here, north of here and south of here.  I believe that God spoke to many souls this morning.

God has spoken to me and He has spoken to you.  He is speaking to us from His word which is so valuable.  God spoke to Adam and Eve as they were walking in the cool of the day.  God said to Adam, “Where art thou?” 

Every one of us in this audience are one of the soils spoken of in Mark chapter 4.

Mar 4:1  And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.

They were gathered to hear Jesus.  We appreciate every brother and every sister.  We appreciate our teachers, the choir, the instrument players, and the children singing.  There is one sound that is above every other sound and that is the voice of Jesus.  We so desire that He would speak to us this morning out of His Word.

Mar 4:2  And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,

Mar 4:3  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:

One of the greatest challenges in communication is to listen.  It is Jesus this morning that is saying, “Hearken.”  You parents understand the necessity of your children hearing you when you speak to them.   Many times you want their eye contact so that you know that they are hearing what you are saying.

Any of us that is impaired in hearing or multitasking, when something is important for us to hear, because it is important, others try to get our undivided attention: “We need you to understand, it is vital that you know.” 

Here we are this morning.  You hear my voice, but my voice will fade and one day not be heard anymore.  There is one voice that is vital that we hear this morning it is the voice of Jesus.  It is vital that you listen to what God has to say.

If you want to know where you are spiritually this morning, it is not “hearken to me”, but “hearken to the voice of God this morning”.  He will help us to hear where we are in this reading this morning.

Mar 4:3  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:

In my mind there is something so beautiful about springtime, seed, and sowing a crop.  This seed that was being sowed was going to affect all mankind.  It would affect them as far as eternity.

This sower that went forth to sow had the most precious seed in the world and was willing to sow it on all types of earth. 

There are individuals that you could tell of, really close in your family, that this could be applicable to.  Some of this precious seed that was going to be sown would be sown on soil that was wayside.  Wayside soil is like a highway. 

We all travel roads that are pretty much wayside soil.  They are really hard and really rutted.  Some of them have been exposed to terrible things.  They have had poison put on them.  Some of them stink, they have been abused. 

You and I come along and there are times that we can tell by looking that this road was nothing but a byway for someone.  We may even say, “It is so sad that it has been used and abused and is in such sad shape.” 

There are a lot of people that are wayside soil.  They came into life and, maybe before they came to life and before they could make choices of their own, choices were made that they were treated like they were of no worth.

It is sad to see parents that are so in love with themselves that their children are neglected.  We see husbands broken men because they are wayside soil.  They have a one-sided love affair with someone that they made vows to.

We see ladies that have become wayside soil, it is really sad.

Many times people become wayside soil because choices are made and they are slapped to the ground with it and then again and again and again.

Some congregations are wayside soil.  They are beat and they are beat and they are beat.  Some preachers are wayside soil because they are beat and beat and beat. 

Wayside soil requires a heavy duty tool.  You cannot deal with wayside soil with a little bamboo stick.  There is hope for wayside soil but someone has to have a burden.  Someone has to be willing to take off rosy glasses, face reality, and say, “There is something wrong with this picture, terribly wrong.  It is painful.”

What is supposed to be the church or what is supposed to be America loves shallowness.  There is a price to pay to have depth.  We know that Jesus spread His seed on this wayside soil.  I think of the faithfulness of God!

I said to this older gentleman in the rest home, “How is it with you, your soul, the bible, and God?”  He said, “I always believed that there was a God but never had time for that stuff.”  It left him wayside soil.  He got through life, became wealthy, but there is a price to pay for becoming wayside soil.  The seed was sown, precious seed, and it lay there.

“I believe there is a God.”  Oh for a hunger for depth, for a hunger past shallowness. 

The bible says, “It came to pass…”

Mar 4:4  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

Dear ones, all soil is sown upon.

Mar 4:5  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

I don’t know how far back you were instructed to make sure that you looked out for yourself.  Self preservation is the first law of nature and once men and women become self centered, it grows and grows and grows.

How many people when you initiate a conversation, they neither ask where you came from or anything else, it is all about them.

Jesus is no respecter of persons; He sowed upon this stony soil. 

God asked Adam, “Where art thou?”  If our soil is stony may God help you and me to desire to have the stones taken away.  You know that the Bible says that the seed sprung up, but because it had no depth of earth it was soon withered.

Mar 4:6  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

Stony ground is ground without character, without depth of character.  We live in a society that is filled with heroes that are individuals of no character.  It is not worthy of our time to talk about.  People of lives that are full of sin, selfishness…  They are elevated in positions in the world but they have no character.

They marry and they are unfaithful, they have children and they don’t take care of the children.  The financial part of care is the small part of caring for children.

They have no character.  Home is a forgotten subject most places.  God always has honored the home.  If you don’t want to establish a home as you get old enough to be married then you are in the wrong congregation. 

Everyone can get an education and a job with the right priorities.  I want to get an education and a job so that I can provide a good home.

Children, have character.  Know how to be a good friend.  Learn to share.  Learn to be a friend to your brother and learn to be a friend to your sister.  We need to look out for each other.  Have character, respect.

The stony ground has no root.  I plan my roots to go deeper.  It takes deep watering, deep nutrients for the roots of a tree to go deep.  My goal is not to become a spiritual hero.  I want to know God.  I want more of God. 

The stony ground is a life left to oneself.  If you want a miserable life then focus your life on what you see in the mirror.  You will be unhappy, unrecognized, unloved, and uncared for.  Whatever you were hoping to happen will not happen.  That is the way it will be.

“Let me lose my life and find it lord in thee; let all self be slain, my friends see only thee; though it cost me grief and pain; I will find my life again; when I lose my life and find it Lord in thee.”

Convicted by the Word of God and attracted to the right things.  If you don’t have character, the hot temptation will come.  It will be put on you like on Peter, “You are one of them…”

The stony ground gave up.  You don’t have to give up.  There is a God that has dynamite.  He has more than equal power to remove any boulder in your life.  We serve a God that can pulverize that hindrance in your life.

Mar 4:7  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

The thorns are named in Matthew and Luke as cares, riches, pleasures, and the lust of other things entering in.  We choose what is choked in our life.  The Word of God doesn’t have to be choked. 

If we will allow cares, riches, pleasures, and the lust of other things entering in to choke the Word of God…  When I think of how good God has been when I think of His record.  There is joy in the service of the master. 

Brother Warner isn’t here to verify this, but ask him when you get to heaven, “Was there a price to pay to have the experience ‘Jesus my life and my love evermore?’” 

You that have read the book he wrote of his life know how broken he was.  They lost a child, a beautiful little girl.  He was out preaching and the message came, “Come home.”  The precious little child was taken into eternity before he got there. 

His wife left Brother Warner and was a terrible disgrace.  She had letters written against him.  He had a son named Sydney and they went to visit Sydney’s mother and she said she wanted nothing to do with the two of them.

DS Warner dug passed the thorns.  He didn’t have a perfect home, life, and family.  He had heartache.  We sang this morning a song he wrote and rejoiced as we sang, “Could I sing out the pleasures in my bosom, how my heart thrills with glory in the way.”

If something is choking the Word of God in our life then we must get rid of it.  We cannot let frailty choke the word in our life and keep us from working for God.

We choose our thorns.  You say, “I cannot get all my work done.”  My counsel is: don’t try.  Find out what God wants you to do and do it.  Then prioritize what you have to do.

Too many only see what they haven’t gotten done.  God help us to prioritize or we will become a thorn patch.  Either the seed of the Word of God will be choked or the thorns will be choked.

Adam and Eve heard the voice of God walking in the cool of the day.  Think of the times that they had enjoyed the sweet presence of God in the past.

God was there when the shingles were wracking my body and I wondered if I was going to go crazy.  He was there when my dad was killed; He was there when my mother went into eternity.  Oh those times that Adam and Eve felt sweet fellowship with God! 

I imagine many times when they heard His voice in the past as they were walking in the cool of the day they would hasten to Him. 

You all know how Eve listened to the destroyer, the thief, the tempter.  Then Adam listened to her voice.  Then as God was walking in the cool of the day, He asked, “Where art thou Adam.”

This morning, I don’t need to tell you, there is no place to hide.  We are without excuse; the price has been paid for us to be saved, to be sanctified, and to have spiritual depth. 

Jesus left us the account that that one that built upon the sand had a shallow experience.  But there was one that dug deep.  The storms and troubles can and will come.  Disappointment will come.  I am not saying that it is God’s will; I am saying that it will come. 

You will feel your heart and soul sink.  You are heartbroken, disappointed.  It will come. 

If it has happened to you and you realize now, “I need to dig deeper.”  Then I wouldn’t wait until I got home, I would be at the altar before the piano player gets to the piano. 

“God I don’t know what is going to happen about these plans here or there…”  I want to tell you, no matter what happens, what storms come, have your house built upon the rock.

If you have a thought, “There are some things that I need to do to become good ground”, then I’m glad that you are here.

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

There is something more than economy or our finances looking right on paper, or in the eyes of men and women, and it is being on the solid rock.

If there are stones, things in your life that are weighing you down and are controlling you.  If it is self, if it is something that someone will say, look up to God and say, “I want to be steadfast and unmovable.

If you feel, “I am wayside soil, I’m not letting the Word of God work in my life like I ought, and I am a shallow experience.”  We want to help you with the pick and the shovel; we want to help you with a Pulaski. 

If you have things in your life that you cannot get past, there is strength in prayer.  There is strength in agreement.  There is strength in experience. 

There would be those that can say, “At one time I didn’t think that I was going to make it but God helped me to get a hold of a Pulaski.  There was a dear brother that came and preached, and hammered with that Pulaski and I felt the rock moving and I prayed and the saints prayed and the rock moved.”

You can have a crop of berries in your life that is getting sweeter every day.  “Let’s go visit with that brother or sister.  My mouth is watering for those good berries.” 

It is not all about having a good time but about being serious.  The enemy is turned lose.  The spirit of apostasy and death and hell is as a flood.  You don’t have to go with it.

Where are you?  You need to know where you are.  Where are your roots down to?  If you are not watering deep, digging deep, then when the storms come you will feel like giving up.