Another Look Podcast
Another Look Podcast is a podcast where we discuss our splinters and planks of wood in the American church. The purpose of this podcast is to have frank and honest dialogue about the role of the church and the role of the believer in America today. Our goal is to take "another look" at who we are and realign our spirits properly. It will hurt initially but the end result will always be a beautiful masterpiece in the Potter's hands.
Another Look Podcast
The Seed, The Soil, and The Spirit - part 2
Why do some of God's promises seem unfulfilled, and why do some prayers go unanswered? This episode of Another Look Podcast promises to unravel these profound questions as we explore the parable of the seed and the sower from Luke 8. By examining the symbolism of the four types of ground, we uncover the different responses to God's word and how they manifest in our lives. Each type of ground presents unique challenges to spiritual growth amidst life's distractions, and we emphasize the vital connection between our love for God and our relationships with others.
Our journey continues as we delve into the transformative power of sowing righteousness. Reflecting on scriptures like Hosea 10:12 and Jeremiah 4:3-4, we highlight the necessity of breaking up the unplowed ground within our hearts, steering clear of life's worries and material pursuits that hinder our spiritual growth. By prioritizing God, we strive to cultivate a fertile ground capable of receiving His word effectively, leading to a bountiful spiritual life where His love is both sown and reaped.
Misconceptions about grace and the vital role of obedience in our faith journey are addressed. Through self-examination, we question if our hearts are truly prepared to receive God's word, unimpeded by unforgiveness or worldly distractions. The episode concludes with a heartfelt invitation to join in a prayer of faith, welcoming new believers into the faith family and encouraging them to reach out and share their spiritual journeys with us. Embrace this opportunity to renew your mind and affirm your place as good ground, ready for spiritual growth and community.
Please feel free to leave us your prayer request, comments, and feedback at our website at https://anotherlookpodcast.buzzsprout.com or https://podpage.com/another-look-podcast/.
You are precious and loved beloved. Keep pressing forward towards Jesus.
Welcome to Another Look Podcast. At Another Look Podcast, we go beyond the norm and literally take another look at our life in Christ. We keep an open heart and mind so we can reach, teach and love all of God's creation. Whether you are a novice or veteran in this walk, this podcast is for you. You ready for something new, something that will challenge your thinking and heart? Are you willing and ready to unlearn in order to learn, willing to tear down so God can rebuild? Good, let's get up and go. People are waiting for us. Let's go fishing.
Speaker 2:Tranquility Base. Here the Eagle has landed. Welcome back to another Look podcast. This is your brother, brother Kenny D, with part two of our series regarding you and me and us. That's good ground. Again, thank you for your faithfulness and your support of Another Look Podcast. But let's dig right into it in the part two and let's do a recap real quick.
Speaker 2:So part one we were addressing the question how come some of God's promises are not manifested in my life, how come some of my prayers go unanswered. And we started getting into the parable of the seed and the sower in Luke 8, 5 through 8 and 11 through 15. And if you recall, we talked about the four different types of ground, understanding that Jesus, when he spoke to the crowd, spoke in a parable using things that were common to them. Whether they were farmers, it'd be agrarian. If they were fishermen, it'd be about fish and fishing. But when he got along with his disciples, he began to explain the rhema, or the revelation of the parable. So, going back to Luke 8, 5 through 8, one of the things he did share with us is about there was a sower who sowed seed, and he sowed that same seed into four different grounds. They remember the first ground was roadside or a seed sown along the path, as it says in the scripture. The other ground was thorny ground, I mean, I'm sorry, rocky ground, which was seeds sown on on the rocks or in rocky areas. The third ground, or soil, was in thorny ground. And fourth ground being good ground. And in explaining um in the parable what this means, he explained that seeds sown into the path or on the roadside ground were people who heard the word, but the devil came immediately and took that word from them, so they would not believe and be saved. And seeds sown into rocky ground received the word with joy, but because they had no root, when they were tested the seed would wither and they'd have no fruit produce. Third ground was thorny ground, and these were people who heard the word, received the word and went on their way, but they lost that word because they were choked out with the cares of life, with the pleasures of life, with the worries and riches, and so their fruit never reached maturity. And then the fourth ground was the seed sown in the good ground.
Speaker 2:Who now these individuals? These are people who heard the word, but they had an honest and good heart and they held on to the word and they endured and so, because of all of those things, they produced fruit a hundred times over. And then we started looking at okay, could you be in this area? And we started talking about different scenarios where you could be in those scenarios.
Speaker 2:So, for example, for someone who is in on the path or roadside, soil or ground, these are people who you know they're into it emotionally when it comes to the services, but as soon as the word comes forth they check out. So they're into everything but the thing that could very well change their lives, which is the word. For people who are on rocky ground or on the rock seats among the rocks, they hear the word, they receive the word, but because they have no root, they lose the word when they get tested. These are people who may be, they hear the word, they may be followers, but they don't have any connection because they're not connected to the root of the thing, their source. So these are people who may think they have a relationship with God, but they don't, because they're disconnected from God. God's just a part of their life, not their whole life. These are people who may not be connected to a local church, because this is where God called us in Hebrews to forsake, not the assembling of the saints, because that's where we get encouraged and built up. And you know, for these people some of these people are people who believe they can love God but hate their fellow man, even though the scriptures say the opposite that you know, the first command is to love the Lord, that God, with all their heart, with all their mind, with all that, with all that strength. But the second one is just as, equally as important, which is to love your neighbor. And you know, for people to think that they can't be connected one to the other, they're fooling themselves, cause to say I don't love the people of God is to say I don't love the body of Christ, which is basically to say I don't love God either.
Speaker 2:And as we dealt into Matthew 25, you know when Jesus said look hey, when I was hungry, you fed me. When he was talking to the sheep, when I was naked, you clothed me. And he said when did we do that to you? He said, well, if you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me. And on the other side, the goats. He said when I was hungry, you didn't feed me when I was thirsty, you didn't give me drink when I was in prison and visit me, and they said well, when did we not do this? He said when you didn't do it to the least of my brethren, you didn't do it to me.
Speaker 2:So God ties our relationships with each other on the same level that he ties our relationship with him. See, the cross is both vertical and horizontal. You can't have one without the other. The vertical is my relationship to me and God, but my relationship with me and god has to produce fruit, which will be demonstrated in my relationship with my fellow man. I can't say I love god, because if I love god it'll have fruit, and that fruit is my relationship with not only god but with my fellow men, whether they like me or not.
Speaker 2:Third ground we talked about was the thorny ground, and this was a ground where we talked about where both the seed and the seed that got sows grows with the thorns that Satan grows, and, of course, satan's never going to try to coexist. He's going to want to choke out that seed. So what are these? These are people that always look for things to please them in life, things that they're constantly distracted by other things, and even to the extent that they may even bow down to worship idols as opposed to worshiping God, who is supposed to be the only object of their affection when it comes to worship. And then the fourth ground is good ground, and the good ground that we said is not demonstrable by what you say. It's demonstrable by evidence, which is your fruit.
Speaker 2:So the question is where is your fruit? What fruit are you producing that looks just like God and is producing through you for him? It's evident by the fruit. And fruit doesn't mean just because you have a person there that you disciple. That it's, it's, that's. I mean, that's a start, don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. That's a start, but that's not where it ends. You can't. There's not an end point when it comes to discipling people. So we have to be careful that we think oh well, look, I have a church with 200 members. There's my fruit. It could be no doubt at all.
Speaker 2:But the real I guess the real result is in how are they living? Are they just like you, where they're being hardheaded, knuckleheaded and disobedient, or are they following? Are they looking like Christ? Because they see christ in you, which means they walk in love, even if they're being ostracized or being dogged out? Will they say when they're being crucified lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do, or will they curse this person out? You know, and again, it's not to say that everything they do is is reminiscent of you, but you got to ask yourself am I producing myself, am I reproducing me, or am I reproducing Christ in them? Because if you're reproducing yourself, that's not good fruit because you're filthy. Your righteousness is as filthy rags, according to the word. My righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord. But if I'm reproducing Christ in my children, if I'm reproducing Christ in the people that Lord, but if I'm reproducing Christ in my children, if I'm reproducing Christ in the people that I disciple, if I'm reproducing Christ in the people who are following me as I follow Christ, then we are producing fruit beloved.
Speaker 2:And, as I said ending our last episode, many of us think we're good ground, but in reality we're not necessarily, or we may be good ground in one area, but not in another area. So now that we did the recap, let's talk about what's. What do we got to look at? So in this episode we're going to talk about, we're going to answer the question how do I transition from being either roadside ground or roadside soil, rocky soil or thorny soil, to become good soil? So let's start by first looking at Hosea 10, 12 through 13.
Speaker 2:And it says this sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love. Break up your unplowed ground or fallow ground. It is time to seek the Lord until he comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain. You've plowed wickedness and reaped injustice. You've eaten the fruit of lies because you have trusted in your own way and in your large number of soldiers. And again, I'm reading this from the CSB, the Christian Standard Bible. So God calls us to sow righteousness for ourselves so that we can reap faithful love. Righteousness is God's way of doing things. If you sow God's way of doing things, in other words, you sow obedience into the soul of your heart he promises you, you will reap faithful love. Faithful love is God's mercy and loving kindness. Sowing God's word in your heart, beloved, enables God the ability to hold back from you or hold back you from reaping the consequences of your disobedience, or that's called mercy, and he enables God's faithful love to exist in our lives, based on our covenant relationship we have with God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:Hosea 10.12 also instructs us to break up the unplowed or uncultivated, or fallow ground within our hearts. The uncultivated soil refers to the roadside soil or the rocky soil in our hearts. Uncultivated soil is not fertile, which prevents the seed sown from being able to go deep within the soil so it can germinate. But if you break that soil up by being obedient to his word and if you're willing to have your mind renewed by God's word, it creates fertile ground for the seed to be planted deep and germinate. Verse 12 calls this act the time to seek the Lord. Again. Verse 12 calls this act the time to seek the Lord. This posture enables the Lord to come and send his righteousness on you like rain. That same rain will bring moisture to the ground surrounding the germinating seed and allow it to grow in fertile ground. So then, how do I transition, brother Ken, from thorny ground to good ground?
Speaker 2:Let's take a look at Jeremiah 4, 3 and 4. So that's Jeremiah, chapter 4, verses 3 and 4. And I'm going to read this again in the CSB version, for this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem Break up the unplowed. There it is again. Break up the unplowed or fallow ground. Do not sow among the thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, remove the foreskin of your hearts, men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem, otherwise my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it because of your evil deeds. So here again, god instructs us to break up the unplowed or uncultivated or fallow soul of our hearts. But he also is instructing me, you, us, in verse three, to not sow the seeds among thorns. So don't sow the seed again, the word of God, among thorns.
Speaker 2:Now, here we're going to go deep, so please just follow me. What does he mean when he says this? Again, recall, in Luke 8, 14, he described the thorns as worries, riches and the cares or pleasures of life. Right. So now, applying that definition to Jeremiah 4, 3 tells us to avoid misplacing or misapplying his word by using it to pursue after things. I'm going to say that again Thorns are worries, riches and the cares are pleasures of life. So if we apply that definition to Jeremiah 4.3, he's telling us clearly look, avoid misplacing or misapplying my word to use it to pursue after things he is desiring. He, being the Lord, desires us to use his word to pursue him.
Speaker 2:Matthew 6, 19 through 21 tells us to not store earthly treasure because they don't last. They will either be destroyed or taken. These earthly treasures have your heart, not God. These earthly treasures are the idols mentioned in Jeremiah 4.1. Now let's take a look at Matthew 6, 19-21. It says Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves don't break in and steal. For where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. So Jeremiah 4.4 tells us to circumcise ourselves to the Lord by the removal of the foreskin or the sins of your heart. That sin or foreskin blocks God from being the Lord of your heart, because the entrance of your heart is barricaded by sin. Now, if you are serious about turning that thorny soil into good soil, here is a kingdom key beloved. Please let him who has ears hear this.
Speaker 2:Matthew 6, 24-34 tells us how to remove the worries, pursuit of riches or cares of life from distracting us and from turning our good ground into thorny ground. No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore, I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink or what, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky. They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his lifespan by worrying.
Speaker 2:Why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow. They don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon, in all his splendor, was adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you, you of little faith? So don't worry saying what will we eat, what will we drink or what will we wear, for the Gentiles eagerly seek after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6.24 tells us first, we must accept this truth that we cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve God and serve those thorns y'all. Verses 25 through 32 speaks about what we do with those things we worry about.
Speaker 2:Your life doesn't revolve around your worries. Your life is much more significant than your ability or inability to pay your bills your career, job, your wayward son or daughter, your medical issues, your crazy spouse, your own ratchet behavior, etc. Do you see those birds on the roof of your house? Are they storing? No, they aren't storing or reaping any earthly treasure, but doesn't God still provide for them? So then, aren't you more valuable to him, even more than those birds? Why are you worrying about your wardrobe? I get it. You got two pair of shoes and three outfits that you repeat all week in different combinations, and, yeah, that stinks.
Speaker 2:But is that all your life is about, though? See, that's what Satan wants you to be distracted with to keep you in bondage. So when he comes to you to offer those kingdoms, see if he has you distracted with those things and keeping you in bondage. When he comes to you to offer those kingdoms, ie the pleasures of life or riches, you'll be willing to bow your knee and heart to him Because you're so distracted by keeping your eyes on those things instead of on God. God reminds us, beloved, to take a look at those flowers in the field. Take a look at them, see. You see those flowers right there. See those flowers grow without laboring or spinning thread Because they put their trust in God to clothe them. They know that. They know that. They know that tomorrow, if God wills for them to still exist, he's going to take care of them. So because God does that for flowers, why would he not do the same for you? I mean, think about the logic of that.
Speaker 2:To get to this place in verse 33 is key. Don't chase after things. Chase the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Chasing him, chasing his kingdom, chasing his righteousness is our priority. It's our priority. Maintaining this priority now creates a ripple effect, and as I discipline my life to chasing after him, as I discipline my life to chasing after his kingdom, as I discipline my life to chasing after his righteousness, he promises that all those things that I need will begin to chase me down. So let's look at this last point. Luke 8, verses 5 through 8, 11 through 15 discuss the four kinds of soil or ground. 11 through 15 discuss the four kinds of soil or ground. And it is vitally important to understand that at some point we all will start out as roadside soil or ground. But as we grow spiritually we evolve into rocky soil, then thorny soil and eventually good soil or good ground by faith.
Speaker 2:But you got to be careful to heed those warnings in Hosea 10, 13 and Jeremiah 4, 1. Beloved, you got to stop resurrecting those idols that got removed. Be unwavering and aggressive in keeping those altars destroyed. Stop allowing your carnal mind to sow wickedness or you are going to reap injustice. Stop doing things your own way or following the crowd, or you will eat the fruit of dishonesty or lies.
Speaker 2:Look, if you want to change, you can change. You just have to be in this race for the long haul, because you're engaged in a battle that Satan hates to be engaged in. He hates he being. Satan hates fighting a battle against the word of God because he loses every time. But if he could convince you to give him the seed or give him the word in you, you become a slave of Satan. Stop bowing down to him. He fears a believer who knows his or her rights and authority while on the earth. The lack of ignorance disrupts him and his dominion over you. But ignorance disrupts you and prevents you from living a life of victory and dominion.
Speaker 2:So, listen, I encourage you to keep going and keep plowing until you produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life and reproduce seed rooted and grounded in God. It is possible. I'm a living witness that it's possible, and I'm not saying I'm perfect. But what I'm telling you is this the Word works when you work the Word. The Word works when you work the Word. The word works when you work the word. The word works when you work your faith and you put your faith in him, not in the things he can give you, not in the things that you have a secret desire for, but in him. Again, not, it's an affection, not an infection. It's an affection that you have for him and his word and it will grow in you. And yes, I understand, right now you may be roadside, I get it. I get you may be rocky, I get you may be thorny, but you ain't going to stay there as you desire to change. God will change you because you refuse to give up, but you got to want to change beloved Time out for these lukewarm Christianity.
Speaker 2:You know misconceptions of grace, where we believe that we have all the time in the world to keep disappointing God or to keep doing things and expecting God to bless us when we don't want to be obedient. Obedience is better than sacrifice beloved, and I know people have used that scripture to coerce you into giving or to coerce you into other things. I get it, trust me. I've been through all of those cycles of the church, but it doesn't matter. It's about you and God and you and being obedient to what his word says. See, it's the obedience that really is what transitions you from soil to soil, to soil to soil. It is your faithfulness and your walk with God.
Speaker 2:Every time you fall, you get back up because you have made up your mind, you are fully persuaded that there is nothing that can separate you from the love of God and you get up. You fell, you get up. You fall, you get up, you fall, you get up. You fall, you get up, you fall. You get up. You keep loving, even though they're cursing you. You keep trusting, even though everything says don't. You keep moving forward. Even though everything says go back. You don't stop because you are keeping your ground tilled. You are maintaining your course, you are going forward and not backward. God is mindful of you.
Speaker 2:But if you don't see manifestations of your prayers, if you don't see prayers being answered, number one, take a look at whether you're looking to consume it upon your own lust. Be honest with yourself. But if that's not the case, could it be beloved that you're not the ground that needs to be? The seed is right, but the ground is not. And you, my beloved, are your roadside surface. There's no root in you. Nothing can grow in you.
Speaker 2:Maybe you're that rocky ground where you hear the word, but because you have no root system, because you're disconnected, because underneath all of that is rock. Maybe you got an unforgiving heart. That's a rock. You love the word of God, but you're walking in unforgiveness, so there's a rock underneath you that prevents that word from being able to take root. Or maybe you just don't want to connect to nobody. Maybe you're isolated. You know you don't want to be around people, you hate the people of God or you hate the body of Christ. Yet you claim you love God. Well, you got a wrong attitude, your attitude's wrong and you are in sin, maybe you just you love God.
Speaker 2:You hear the word, you receive it, but then you keep getting distracted by these cares of life. You want the next car. If you want the next car, you want the next house. Or you worry so much, you walk in so much fear. Faith has no chance. So, yes, you start to grow and even fruit starts to show, but it doesn't ripen Because as soon as that thorn gets up, that thorn gets taller than you and it begins to choke you or suffocate your faith, causing everything to die. So you start, but you keep stopping. You start, but you keep stopping. Because you start, but you keep stopping Because you don't have. Your heart is full of thorns. But you have an option Go back to Matthew 6.
Speaker 2:Take no thought, have your mind renewed, give it to God. Say, lord, I got these distractions, lord, but I'm going to give it to you. Lord, I don't care what the bill says, I can't pay this bill. But, lord, I give it to you because you are Jehovah Jireh, my provider, and it shall be seen. Lord, my kids are acting like crazy park apes and, lord, they're distracting me from what you call me to do. But, lord, I thank you that they were yours before they were mine, and that, lord, before they were formed, and my wife's womb before they were formed, and the earth, god. You knew them, god, and you know the path, you know the plans you have for them. God, lord, I thank you for taking care of them, whatever it may be. Give it to the Lord, cast your cares upon him For he careth for you, and get up and walk Understanding and trusting and having faith in him.
Speaker 2:That he will handle it. See, that's faith, and faith will cause you to speak. Faith will cause you to call those things, which be not as though they were, because they are, because in the kingdom of God it's already happened. You got this. It's going to come to pass, beloved Everything you prayed. It's going to. If God so willed it, it will happen. You can't let that thing or those things cause you to doubt God. You can't let those things cause you to walk in disbelief or doubt. You can't let those things, excuse me, cause you to say in disbelief or doubt. You can't let those things Excuse me, cause you to say things out of your mouth that God didn't call for. You got this and he's got. You. Trust him Because you are good ground. It may not show it right now, but it will Because you are good ground. It may not show it right now, but it will because you are good ground. I pray this word.
Speaker 2:This two-part series has been a blessing to you. If it has, let us know. You can reach us at alptrinity1, at gmailcom, or you can hit us up on our Instagram or Facebook page at another look podcast, or you can just make a comment on whatever platform you use, whether it be Apple or Spotify. I don't think Google's in there anymore, but we are on YouTube, not YouTube, sorry, are we on Google? No, we're on Amazon. Yeah, we're on Amazon podcast. We're on all the major platforms. So feel free to let us know what you think and let us know how it's been a blessing to you for sure. Germany, reizenberg, Sweden or Iceland sorry, that's new and Kyoto, japan. We're getting lots of feedback from Kyoto, japan and other places. So you know it's all good because it's all God and it's wonderful before our eyes. So we love you guys. Be blessed. Let us know how we can be a blessing to you and look forward to the next episode. Love you. Hey, thank you for listening to another Look podcast.
Speaker 2:For now we're going to offer the call of salvation and I'm going to offer you two scriptures. The first one is Romans 10, 9. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The other one Ephesians 2,8.9. For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. So now I'm going to ask you to pray this with me in faith, and I want you to believe that everything you pray is true and God will answer. So pray this with me, in faith, and I want you to believe that everything you pray is true and God will answer. So pray this after me, lord, I admit I am a sinner. I need and want your forgiveness. I accept your death as the penalty for my sin. I accept your death as the penalty for my sin. I recognize that your mercy and grace is a gift you offer to me because of your great love, not based on anything I have done. Cleanse me and make me your child by faith. I receive you into my heart as the Son of God and as Savior and Lord of my life. From now on, help me live for you, with you in control, in Jesus, precious name, amen.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the family. Feel free to give us a shout out on our Facebook page or our Instagram page, or you can email us at a shout out on our Facebook page or our Instagram page or on our. You can email us at alttrinity1 at gmailcom or you know. However, you choose to reach out to us, but we want to know if you received Christ. We want to make information and materials available to you. If you have for your next steps and if you need help finding a faith-based Bible, teaching Bible, believing church home, we have resources available to you. So we look forward to hearing from you. We are excited for you. Welcome to the family. We love you and God bless you.
Speaker 1:Welcome home, columbia, beautiful, beautiful.
