Getting Conversion Right Part 2

Morris Jesus phone number for when the seed of the gospel is sown can land in receptive so you will not allow the seed to germinate today lessons on how some seed lands where interiors is accepted and be fruitful. Please stay with us from the Moody Church in Chicago this morning with Sir helps us make it last.

Return again to the parables of Jesus as you take us into Mark chapter 4 day when I think the ministry of running to win in the sense we are like so Jesus talk about. We sow the seed of the gospel in 20 different countries in three different languages and our desire is that it fall on good soil and bear fruit.

Of course their times. Also, when it may fall on other kinds of soil.

But the word of God.

Does the work and I want to thank the many of you who help us get that word to as many people as possible during this period of time. We have a matching gift challenge that has been put before us. There are special friends who have said, we are willing to match everything that is given up to $90,000.

That means whatever you give.

It becomes double.

Would you help us. Here's what you do go to RTW offer.com RTW offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 today.

My heart is filled with joy and faith that I want to thank you in advance for helping us help us during this period of time as we so the word of God in many different places, but now we listen to the words of Jesus as we continue our study of one of his most important parables that we come to category number four and that's what we've been waiting for his but those first 20 that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accepted in their thirtyfold 60 fold hundredfold now you know I was born on a wheat farm we had some cattle but primarily we grew wheat and some oats. Maybe also some wild oats at times least my brother, but I know something about planting. We thought that for every bushel of wheat that we planted it we got 30 bushels in return. That was really great if we got 4050 was unusual and only happened every once in a while.

Now Jesus here is saying thirtyfold.

Hey that's great thirtyfold, 60 fold that's that's beyond the limit hundredfold.

There's no way that you could expect to get a hundredfold. There may be some things that you get a hundredfold and usually it's weeds, not wheat or oats or barley.

But Jesus said that the life where the soil was good doesn't mean that we as humans are guided means that the soil received a wonderful welcome and was deeply rooted that that soil or fruit and by the way, that's the only soil that really has the assurance of salvation. It's the only real evidence that you and I have that somebody has been converted when they become fruit bearing Christians and we begin to see evidence of the new life that God has implanted within them. What I'd like to do is to give you three lessons that I hope that you never forget. It's easy for us to forget, but don't let Satan snatch this out of your mind.

First of all, notice this, that even though all of the soils received in the same only one really bore fruit God intended and that means that there are degrees of receptivity for the word of God. Today I'm preaching to a lot of people here at the Moody church. Many who have joined us by way of the Internet.

This message is going to be on the radio, God willing it will be heard by many thousands of people and there's going to be a variety of responses. Some are going to say yes I get. I understand and those of the Christians who say I know that my roots are real, that the gospel is done its work in my life. Others are going to blow it off and simply say we've heard all this before and they are on interested because their hearts are hard this past week I met a man who debates atheists.

I wish I had met this man a few months before before I debated an atheist a few months ago and he said this he always asks atheists this question. I love it. He says if I ask you two questions will you give me an honest answer and they say, of course, yes, and the first question is, will you give me an honest answer to question number two had every atheist of courses. Yes, because remember, atheists also are created in the image of God because there created in the image of God. They have a sense of morality and conscience set their conscience and their morality did not come from atheism, but it comes from the fact they are God's special creation in his image. So they always say yes and then he asks them this question. If Christianity were true, would you become a Christian.

Most of them think about it for a moment, and some of them say no wool. What's this debate all about here how much evidence would it take to convince you. The answer is none. Because even if it true you wouldn't become a Christian. In other words, it does not matter the evidence is irrelevant and what that means is hard, determined heart. But let's not think that that's relegated to atheists. It's relegated to church people who are willing to come and listen but are in different to God and in different to the gospel and so please keep in mind that when we speak about hard hearts.

It doesn't mean somebody who's angry, it means somebody who is comfortable without God's forgiveness and grace as it is found in Jesus, so please keep that in mind, the response is different in the lives of different people. Secondly, second lesson and that is that it is the word of God, the gospel which will become clear in the moment. It is the word of God that produces the miracle not the solar sorrow.

So the seed may not of been addressed to. Well, he may not be very educated but ultimately if the miracle is going to happen. It's going to happen because the word of God in this seed fell onto the soil that was willing to do it and accept it. That's really the key to witnessing now. I might say that sometimes the sewer gets in the way of the seed.

If you're going to so the good news of the gospel to those with whom you work your friends and so forth.

Don't don't trample on them at the same time because as I mentioned, those who were along the path.

That path was hard because many people had walked over it. So the integrity of the sewer. Often times is important for the receiver to accept but at the same time when the miracle actually happens. That miracle is really a miracle that the seed does the word does what you and I cannot do it is the miracle of regeneration.

It is the word of God and we don't know how that is doing in another parable Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like unto a man who sows seeds in a field and then he goes and sleeps and after a number of sleeps he comes back and he sees that there is growth but he doesn't understand how it happened. I don't understand how you can have one little seed of something that is very small and you planted and then you get 30 or 40 or 100 back. I don't understand that I don't understand how the Holy Spirit of God works in a heart and brings about conversion or regeneration. I don't understand that but I do know that the word does its work and we are born again by the word of God and so God often uses very imperfect solar's I love that story you know in the 1800s there was a great preacher in England by the name of Charles Haddon Spurgeon one time when he was about 18 years old. As I remember the story.

Spurgeon went to a church and it was snowing so hard he trudged through the snow and it snowed so much that the pastor never made it to the church himself. So a layperson stood up and read the phrase from Isaiah look on to me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth.

He read that text a couple of times made a few comments and that was it. And that word stuck in Spurgeon's heart and soul and led him to conversion. It's not a matter of saying oh I don't witness because I don't have all the answers are. I'm not polished.

No, we need to do is to give people the word of God.

Now there's 1/3 lesson. Only God only God can take the soil and change its consistency.

Only God can really take the soil and change it because a question you should be asking in this message is them. What about the hard soil can it ever be plowed so that it becomes soft and pliable. The answer is yes, we should never think that somebody is locked into hardness. God is able to take soil and change it now.

One of the things I learned in the Cullen Smith preached on this passage and he brought it out and I totally agree with him is that in those days, what they would do is to seed the word of God or of seed.

The seeds I should say and are broadcasted over a piece of land and only after that. Did they plow it.

They didn't plowed ahead of time. They plowed it afterwards and so they plowed it under so that it would begin to grow. Now here's the reason why you and I should be witnessing and sharing the word of God is that as we give it out to people. We have no I DO when God may decide to plow whose life he may begin to plow up so that they can receive the word of God. Maybe they can't when we give it to them. But the time may come when they will and how does God do that. Why don't all the ways that God does it, but I do know that there are times when a person feels as if the needs God may be an awareness of God. It may be tragedy. Somebody comes into your room. The doctor comes into your room and says you know you've got six months to live. That may cause you to begin to think you know my heart is been hard toward God, but maybe maybe I should listen to God's word God comes along and plow us and the reason that you and I should so seed as we do not know where he will plow next now. Sometimes God goes ahead of us and and prepares the soil so that when the word comes, it falls into good soil immediately. Now let me tell you a story two weeks ago today Rebecca and I were on a train going to Prague in the Czech Republic. We were with two other couples and when you buy tickets on a train.

You are given, you know the place where you're going to sit and so forth. So we were given six seats than we arbitrarily chose them. We couldn't sit together in one group went there I and another man we chose some seats I found myself directly across you know how those trains are the seats face one another. I found myself across from the young woman who had headphones in, I asked her whether or not she could speak English and she said yes. I asked her where she was from. She said Moravia I said you know the story of the Moravian you know they were the ones that went from the Czech Republic to Germany and sent 265 missionaries around the world know she'd not heard of the Moravians and I said, they spread the gospel and she said what it what you mean by the gospel. So in less than two minutes we were into the gospel.

Now the good news is this all tell you the end of the story and they'll give you the process in less than an hour. I took her by the hand and led her to saving faith in Jesus Christ is not wonderful. I got that for all I know she may be listening today because I encouraged her to join us here at the Moody church online. But here's what I discovered. First of all, most of the time was spent helping her to see why she was a sinner who needed a Savior that she was open to God, but thought that she could find God just within her know the God within. She didn't need forgiveness in the biblical sense because and then she raised the issue of why can't we just come to God directly. Why do we need Jesus. I love that question. Why do we need Jesus.

And so I explained to her why you can't go to God directly.

You can pray to him, and he may answer your prayer.

But the way in which you will answer. It is he'll bring Jesus into your life in one way or another very quickly because Jesus is the mediator between God and man.

The only one qualified to take away this issue of sin now. She said she was defining sin as the big thing. Murder you know if after etc. etc. when I began to help her to see that our nature was corrupt.

I said you know it we as human beings are something like fish in a sea that say I don't water no worse the water. What you mean by water swimming.

So that helped her along the way. But here's what I tell you the story, God prepared the soil. She said a year ago and it's a year ago this coming month she was walking along the pier and fell down and she said there was blood for 2 m. I'm not sure exactly what all that meant but she was picked up basically dead. She was taken to a hospital and in the hospital after being in a coma for I forget how many hours she recovered, but the doctor said that she should be written up in the Guinness Book of World Records because they have no idea why she live so matter fact when she was there in the hospital.

She actually her soul left her body so that she could see herself lying there from the corner of the room, which helps us to understand the separability of the soul from the body, but she came back to life and she said that there were people who came into room just to look at her and to say we don't understand why you are alive, so she said to me why didn't I die old love those questions.

I took her by the hand and said you didn't die because you weren't ready to die. God knew that at some time I would sit across from you in this train and explain to you how you can come to saving faith in Jesus Christ and be ready to die.

So afterwards she was ready to struggling of course with how to pray. So I explained the prayer that I would pray in detail what she was admitting to that she was a center she couldn't save herself. That Jesus died for sinners and that he made a path to us so that he could take away our sins and give us the righteousness of Christ as it would you like to believe on Jesus.

She said that would be wonderful if you'd help me to now, only time will tell whether or not she fits into soil a I know for sure that she isn't in the first soil as her heart was not hard, I trust that she did not belong to soil number two that received the word with gladness. I hope that she fell into good soil and I received an email this week from the folks in the Czech Republic, with whom we connected that they have followed up with her. They've connected with her a couple of times by email and are helping her to find a church in Prague and to the disciples. I hope and pray that she will be the fourth soil that bears fruit forever, but I tell you that to let you know that God went ahead and then he plowed the soil land he brought into her life circumstances that made her ready to believe on Christ and maybe today those of you are watching by Internet listening on the radio or those of you here in the sanctuary of Moody church God has brought you to this moment this hour. For this reason that you might saving really believe on Christ that the word of God coming into your heart might be so received and that it creates the life of God.

And you'll begin to love Jesus. You'll begin to display the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, etc. and you'll say to yourself. Surely I know God and of the fruit that you will bear. You'll never see here on earth, and that guy who led Spurgeon to faith in Christ.

Because of that one or two sentence sermon that he preached he had no idea that that 18-year-old in the congregation was going to be one of the most famous preachers in history. You have no idea the impact you have when you so see get your colleagues at work to read the book of John, just say to them, even if you don't believe it, read it and ask yourself who is this Jesus anyway get the word in their hearts. God will come along and plow the field.

Someday they'll bear fruit. 4060 or hundred fold. Did God intend this message for you this morning. I hope so. To encourage you to share the word or for those of you who are not sure to bring openness and receive Christ will my friend, this is Pastor Luther I can't help but think of the words of Martin Luther, who of course began the Protestant Reformation and he said the word of God.

Did the work. Sometimes when we witness we think to ourselves that we're the ones who have to convince people of the truth of the gospel and certainly God uses us, but ultimately it is the word of God planted in the human heart that bears fruit. I trust that you are blessed as a result of these messages. Would you like to have these messages permanently so that you can listen to them again and again. Here's what you can do. Go to RTW offer.com RTW offer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 ask for this series, you Redo life how the parables help us get it right the first time you see our desire is that all of us might be fruit bearing Christians and we believe that through the challenge of God's holy word transformation happens and that's why if you listen to running to win over a period of time, you will know that we are committed to the word of God and were committed to the good news of the gospel of Christ, ask for this series, you can't redo life how the parables help us get it right the first time for info go to RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com for a gift of any amount.

These messages can be yours or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Never forget that we exist to help you make it all the way to the finish line here in the ministry of running to when we talk about many different issues, but we have one goal and that is to be faithful all the way to the and connect with us. Go to RTW offer.com call us at 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us at running to win 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614 four some prayer is a mystery. They wonder if God really listens more prayer makes a difference in everyday life. Jesus left us a pattern for prayer and outline of how we are to approach God.

Next time I'm running to win the famous Lord's prayer, the answer of Jesus. When the disciples asked him to teach them how to pray.

Thanks for listening for Dr. Erwin looks her, this is Dave McAllister running to win his answer by the teacher