Working the Dirt (Matthew 13:1-9)
Dennis R. Wiles, June 8, 2014Part of the PLANTED...In Fertile Ground series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
Dennis R. Wiles
FBC Arlington
June 8, 2014
PLANTED. . . In Fertile Ground
June 2014
Working the Dirt
Matthew 13:1-9
PLANTED . . . In Fertile Ground
Working the Dirt
Jesus Roots
Growing Together
Free Indeed
ROOTED . . . FOR GOD’S GLORY
Go to Class!
Worship God!
Fasting is for Baptists!
GPS: God’s Positioning System
The Spiritual Disciplines are tools in the process of spiritual formation. Spiritual formation affects the entire person.
A spiritual discipline is an activity I can engage in that helps me become more like Jesus.
Spiritual formation in Christ is the process leading to that ideal end, and its result is love of God with all of the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and of the neighbor as oneself. The human self is then fully integrated under God.
-Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ, NavPress, 2002, p. 31
Without proper spiritual formation, individuals remain spiritually immature. Some sure signs of immaturity are: self-centeredness, lack of perspective, impatience, defensiveness and vengeance.
Matthew 13:1-9
Jesus often used parables to teach truths about the Kingdom of God. These parables were confusing sometimes to the crowds, but were powerful tools of communication for the followers of Jesus.
The Gospel is always good seed!
The “soil of our hearts” needs to be “worked” so that the Gospel can produce its fullest manifestation of transformation.
Kingdom math is characterized by multiplication!
Matthew 13:1-9
13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)
