Today’s key is being grounded in God’s word. What does grounded mean? A tree is grounded…it will not be
shaken. It may sway and bend in
windstorms (like palm trees) but will not break. We do not preach that storms do not come, but
that we go through them and are not destroyed by them. There are 3 things you can be grounded in: Truth, Lies, or Nothing. We are first going to determine what kind of
ground you are. Mark 4 tells the parable
of the sower. We are going to contrast
the descriptions of the soil with Jesus’ explanations.
The first is the seed sown by the path, which is eaten by birds. Jesus explains this as satan stealing the
word. I think the soil along the path is
someone who is always moving around and never planted anywhere. We have to learn to dig our roots in, not get
offended, understand that no church is going to be perfect, and be planted
somewhere. Plants that are portable,
like a potted plant, can only grow so big because the space for their roots is
limited. Sometimes God will tell you to
move, but we should always make sure it is God telling us to go and that we
leave in good standing (whether it be a church, job, etc.).
The seed in rocky soil that withers is what I would call “faith
by association.” Some people feel
certain things should be happening because of the church we are attending, or
because we simply attend church or follow certain rules. Sometimes when things then do not work, we
blame someone or something else. We
never take the word deep enough to be personal.
The seed among thorns that are choked and made unfruitful. Notice all these are related to us and what
ground we choose to be. These people get
choked before the word produces fruit.
Often it is right before the fruit was going to produce.
What does it mean to be good soil? Our soil gets contaminated by hearing things
other than the Word. God wants us to
hear what He says in order to multiply and produce fruit. The Word tills our soil. The seed then gets under the ground, the soil
is soft and ready to receive the roots and allow the seed to sprout and
last. The Word (the seed) is always
good, but the soil varies. We all have
parts of our soil that are better and
patches that are worse. We always need
to work on improving our soil. Our soil
does not become good on its own. We must
use the Word to change our soil.
Additionally, what we are grounded in affects the quality of
our soil. Let’s explore grounds in
electrical terns. Exposed metal pieces
are connected to a ground to prevent contact with dangerous voltage. Voltage in our life is information. There is good and bad information. A good ground limits the buildup of static
electricity when near volatile and flammable products. A ground can absorb an unlimited amount of
current without changing its potential.
You ground electricity to earth.
We are to be grounded to God’s Word.
Psalm 1 talks about how we should be.
We are not to be controlled or guided by the world’s wisdom but to
delight in the Word of God.
James talks about accepting the word planted in us with
humility. That means sometimes we get a
Word that is different than what we thought and have to let it change us.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on
online media. To learn more about Living
Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/
