The Parable Of The Sower – Part 3 Lawson Perdue

The Parable of the Sower Part 3

In The Parable of the Sower Part 3, join Pastor Lawson Perdue as he shows the power of the Word of God. When you understand what Jesus Christ has already done for you, the world, the flesh, and the devil are no problem!

The Parable of the Sower Part 3 Transcript

Praise. Today, I’m talking about Power of the Word of God. We’ve been talking about the sower sows the word, and we’re talking about the harvest that the word will bring forth in you. And I talked about, in this broadcast, how the world, the flesh, and the devil are no problem for you when you understand what God has already given you in Christ. So open your heart and receive the good Word of God today. Friends, we’ve been teaching on the Parable of the Sower, and we have been talking about the enemies of the word. You know what? Satan wants to steal the word outta your life. And Jesus said in Mark 4, if you understand this parable, you can understand all parables. This is how the kingdom operates. And so if you can get these very simple principles that are laid down in Mark 4, Matthew 8, Luke 13, or actually Luke 8, Matthew 13, about the Parable of the Sower, you can begin to understand how the kingdom operates. You know, the fact is your heart is producing a harvest. And if you don’t like the harvest that your heart’s producing, you have the power to change it. And you have the power to change it by what you allow in your garden. You say, “Pastor, I don’t have a garden.” Yes you do. I’m talking about the garden of your heart. What do you allow to remain in your heart? You see, your heart is producing a harvest. That’s how God set it up. And you know what? It’s the heart that determines the harvest that the seed of the word produces. It’s the ground that determines the harvest. When a farmer plants a seed, the seed is consistent. I want you to know that the seed of the Word of God is consistent. The seed of the Word of God is good. The seed of the Word of God is eternal, and it will only produce a harvest of good. Notice what Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth; it shall accomplish what I please, it shall prosper the thing that I send it to, and it shall not return under me void.” You see, that’s what the Word of God… The Word of God will not return to God void, it will prosper what God sends it to, and it will accomplish what He pleases, amen? So if you’ll allow the word to have preeminence in your heart, the word is going to bring forth a harvest of eternally good things, salvation, sanctification, healing, health, peace, righteousness, prosperity, all the good promises of God. You know, all the promises of God are yes and amen to the glory of God by us. And when God gave us Jesus, He said, yes. When we believe the word, we’re saying amen. But there are enemies of the word. Now in Mark 4, when Jesus explained this parable, in verse 15 to verse 19, what it meant to his disciples, He said, there’s a first aspect of when the farmer sowed the, the seed really fell out on the wayside when he was on the way to the field, like it fell out of his planting. And he said, the birds came and ate the seed before it ever had a chance to produce a harvest. You know, Satan is the enemy of the word. And the reason that he’s the enemy of the word is he knows the power of what the word will produce in our life. So he wants to stop the word before it ever gets started. And so we said, we have to be watchful because our adversary, the devil comes about seeking whom he may devour. Be steadfast in the faith, hold onto the Word of God. The second type of soil was the soil where the farmer went in the field and it was like rocky soil, stony soil. And he planted the seed and it came up and it looked good. But when it came time for the fruit, it had no root in himself so it could not produce a harvest. Jesus said, these are those when persecution and affliction comes for the word sake, immediately they are offended. So we talked about, you don’t wanna be offended by the Word of God. And we’re gonna talk a little bit more about that today. And the first aspect of that we talked about is when you take the, and it talks about this in Mark 7:6-13, by your traditions, you make the Word of God of no effect. You don’t wanna be that person that by tradition is making the Word of God of no effect. But I wanna go to Colossians chapter two and continue to read. Listen to what Paul says in Colossians 2:6. He says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walking in Him, get rooted, built up and established in the faith, as you have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware,” He says in verse eight, “Lest any man spoil you, cheat you, take from you that which is rightfully yours, through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men and after the basic principles of the world and not after Christ.” You see, this is what the devil is trying to do. He is trying to spoil you. He is trying to rob you. He is trying to take from you that which is rightfully yours. How does he do it? Through philosophy. When people come with philosophies that are contrary to the Word of God. Through empty deceit, right? Vanity, you know, just deceit, it’s just empty. It doesn’t have anything really to do with anything. After the tradition of men. Jesus said, “You by your traditions, make the Word of God of no effect” in Mark chapter seven. And after the basic principles of the world there. You know, I told somebody the other day, ’cause they’re all offended about all the stuff of the world, you know what? There’s always gonna be sin in the world. There’s always gonna be junk in the world. But the problem is we’ve got too much of the world in the church. We’ve got too much of the world in us. And you’re so worried about the world. You get the world outta you and you’ll make a difference. Praise God. You gotta get the word in you and get the world out of you. You know, John says it this way, “Love not the world for everything in the world is lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, pride of life, and it’s not of the world, but of the Father. If any man love the world, then the love of the Father is not in him.” But just before that, see, that’s 1 John 2:15-17. Before that he says in verse 12 to 14, he talks about what you have. He says, you have the Word of God, praise God. You have overcome the wicked one. You are forgiven. You have a relationship with God. He talks about these things that you have. And because you have a right to a vital relationship with God because you’re strong and you have overcome the wicked one, because you have the Word of God, amen. Because you are all these different things, because you have these things, he, you know what? The world really shouldn’t be a match for that. And so we just need to see the greatness of what God has given us. And we see the greatness of what God has given us. In fact, I’m gonna go over there for just a minute and share about that and compare that with what the world has to offer. We’re not gonna follow the world. We’re not gonna let the world rule us. Listen to this, 1 John 2:12-14. He says, “I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven.” Number one, you are forgiven. He says, “I write unto you fathers because you’ve known Him, or you have a right to vital relationship with God. You have known Him that’s from the beginning. I write to you young men because you have overcome the wicked one.” Number three, “I write to you little children, because again, you’ve known the Father. You have this vital relationship with God. I’ve written unto you fathers because you’ve known Him that’s from the beginning. I’ve written unto you young men because last of all, you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one.” So five things, five reasons that we don’t have to let the world overtake us. Number one, he says this, our sins are forgiven. Number two, we have a relationship with God. Number three, we’re strong. Number four, the Word of God abides is, and number five, we have overcome the wicked one. Did you know what? A lot of people think that the goal of Christianity is to overcome sin and overcome Satan, but you know what? You cannot overcome sin and overcome Satan in your own power. The only way that you can overcome sin and overcome Satan is through the power of the Word of God abiding in you and the power of Christ abiding in you. You see the fact is today that Jesus overcame the wicked one for us and we are made overcomers when we believe on Him. You see, the Bible actually says this in 1 John 4:4, he says, “Greater is He that is in you than he, that is in the world. And then he goes on to say this in 1 John 5:4-5, he said, “Whosoever is born of God, overcomes the world.” And this is the victory that overcomes the world. Even our faith, who is he that overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. You see, the moment that you believed in your spirit, you were made a brand new creation, in your spirit you were made a world overcomer, in your spirit, greater is He that’s in you than he that’s in the world. In your spirit. You’re born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God that lives and abides forever. In your spirit, you have a relationship with God. In your spirit, the Word of God dwells, amen? When you understand what is given to you in the spirit, then these things that the devil tries to bring from the world, they are no match for you. We listen to what he says again, in verse 15 to verse 17 of 1 John 2 following that, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father’s not in him for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, of pride of life, it’s not of the Father, but of the world and the world passes away and the lust thereof, but he that does the will of God abides forever.” You see, we have these enemies in the world. And a lot of times when you hear preachers preach, I used to hear message on love not the world, all that’s in the world’s lust of flesh, lust of eyes, pride of life, but nobody ever told me what I had. And you see if you understand what you have, if you understand that you are forgiven, if you understand that you have a relationship with God, if you understand that you are strong, that the Word of God abides in you and you’ve already been made an overcomer, a world overcomer, that you’ve overcome the wicked one, if you already understand that, then Satan is no match for you as a believer. So when you get an understanding of what you have, praise God, you’re automatically made a world overcomer, praise God. And one of the things that you have, is you have the Word of God abiding in you. You are born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God that’s living and abiding forever. And you know what? That word will bring forth a harvest. Friends, I wanna take just a moment to share with you something that I believe has the power to change your life. I’m talking about the Word of God, and I’ve got a special package that I’m making available. I’m calling it the “Word Package.” And the first teaching that I have is a 3-CD teaching on The Parable of the Sower. The other one that I have is a multiple CD teaching on The Power and Life of the Word, and then I have the book, the “Power and Life of the Word.” And you know what? These are principles that I have found in my life that work. You know, the Bible says in Isaiah 55:10-11, that the Word of God that comes from heaven produces a harvest. It does not return void. It accomplishes what God pleases and it prospers the thing He sends it to. And we have a special offer. You can get either one of the CD teachings or the book itself, or you can get all three and you know what? The best deal is to get ’em all three. We know if you get this, that it will bless you and help you. Thanks so much. Friends, we’ve been sharing on the Word of God and on the power of the Word of God, the Parable of the Sower, and what the Word of God will do for you and the enemies of the word. And we said, one of the enemies of the word is deception. Satan wants to deceive you. He wants to steal the word before it ever takes rut in your soul, really. You see, your spirit, you’re born of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. But before that word ever really ruts down, Satan wants to steal it outta your heart. And so he’s an enemy of the word because he knows the power that the word will harvest. The word will produce in your life. He knows the harvest that it will produce. Number two, we said, don’t be offended. And being offended is like these people that they’re, you know, they start out and they’re excited about the word. Immediately they receive the word with joy. They’re excited about the promises, but then some religious person comes and they say, well, what do you think about that healing stuff? What do you think about that face stuff? What do you think about that prosperity stuff? You know, I’ve had people ask me those questions and I just said, “Well, what do you think about this scripture? And what about this scripture here? And what about this scripture? I had a man, you know, that came to my church for 11 years when I pastored in Eastern Colorado. And this man, you know, the first year that he came nearly every time he’d come to church, he’d say, “Pastor, I don’t know about that face stuff.” And I’d just say, “Well, go study this in the Strong’s good courts, study this word and study this scripture.” And then he’d come back the next week. “Well, I don’t know about this healing stuff, Pastor.” Well, I’d say, well, go look at 1 Peter 2:24 and Isaiah 53, verse four and five. Go look at Psalm 103:3, go look at Matthew 8:16 and verse 17, go look at these scriptures and then come back and talk to me, go look at 3 John 2, praise God, and go study the Greek meanings of those words.” And then he’d come back. “Well, I don’t know about this prosperity stuff.” And I’d say, “Well, look at Philippians 4:19. Look at Psalms 35:27. Look at Psalms 37:23 or verse 25.” Praise God. “Look at all these verses. Look at the promises of the Word of God and look at Philippians 4:19, look at 3 John 2, and then come back and talk to me.” And after he, you know, I noticed after a few months he quit coming. And then after about another year, he got really involved. He started being a leader in the church, he started taking mission trips and leading mission trips and doing different things. He became a very fruitful member of our church, a very fruitful, you know what? You’re not gonna be very fruitful when all you’re doing is questioning the Word of God, question and question and question, you know what? I’m not looking for how I can question the Word of God, I’m looking for how I can believe the Word of God. And I know some people, they might get a little extreme in an area but sometimes we’ve been so off, you know, off course on the other side of the road, then we have to get some people that are a little bit extreme in an area to get us back in the middle of the road, where we can start believing the promises and receiving what God has for us, amen. God has many good things for us. Now, as we looked at this, we said different things. What traditions of men, philosophy, vain, deceit, the basic principles of the world, keep us and keep the word from really producing a harvest. But the third type of soil that Jesus talked about in the Parable of the Sower was the weedy soil. And you know, the number three enemy of the word that we see, not only do we see Satan and who’s the enemy of the word, affliction and persecution, religion and tradition as an enemy of the word, but we see the cares of this world. And Jesus said, you gotta watch out for the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things that come in to steal the word. You see, there’s different things that wanna steal the word out of your heart so that it doesn’t produce a harvest. Let’s look at this scripture in Matthew chapter six, and we’ll begin reading in verse 19 through verse 24. Jesus is talking about our life, and he’s talking about not worrying. You know, so many people get caught up in worry. You don’t need to get caught up in worry. You need to get caught up in the word, but in Matthew chapter six beginning in verse 19, Jesus says, “Lay not up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust corrupts, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth or rust corrupts, where thieves do not break through or steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” In other words, you don’t wanna put anything in this world above Jesus. This is really talking about the deceitfulness of riches. You know, I don’t believe it’s wrong to have richest God’s people in the Old Testament. They’re some of the most wealthy people on the earth. I believe everybody who’s born again is blessed in the spiritual realm. And I believe if you begin to take the promises and believe them, that blessing that you’ve received in the spiritual realm has the power to bring abundance and provision to you in the outward realm. But you see the problem is not that people have riches, but that riches have them. The problem is when you set your heart on those things, rather than you’re setting your heart on God. He says, “For where your treasure is there where your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye.” And he says, “If therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light.” So you look out there and it, you know, the eye brings light to your body. But if your eye is evil or if it’s double, the whole body will be full of darkness. “If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon,” or you cannot serve God and money that’s gained in the wrong way. In other words, you don’t wanna let, you know, you don’t wanna serve money, you wanna let money be your servant. You know, money is neither good or evil. Money is indifferent. If you give money to a good man, that man will do good things with it. If you give money to an evil man, that man will do evil things with it. So you gotta choose and you gotta say this, “I’m not gonna serve money, I’m gonna serve God.” Praise God. And you make your decision to serve God, and I believe you know what? He’ll bring money to you. So I believe when Jesus is talking in Mark chapter four, about this, and in Mark chapter four, he says, “You’ve gotta watch out for this.” Let me look at this in Mark 4:18-19 he says, these are those who are sown among the thorns such as hear the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things choke the word. And it becomes unfruitful.” We don’t want different things choking out the word in our life, vying for the moisture, vying for the good place in our heart. Now, he goes on and says this in verse 25 through verse 33, he says, “Therefore, I say to you, do not worry. Take no thought for your life, what you will eat or what you will drink or your body, what you will wear. Is not the life more than what you eat and the body more than your clothes? Behold, the fouls of the air. They sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?” Can you take thought and add a foot and a half to how tall you are? You can’t do it. You can’t add an inch to your stature by thinking about it. “And why do you worry about your clothes? Consider the flowers of the field, how they grow. They toil not neither do they spin, and yet I say that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” He says, “Wherefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast in the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, o you of little faith? Therefore do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink? Or what should we be clothed? For after all these things, does the world seek, the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of them.” Again, it’s not wrong to have these things. It’s not wrong to have clothes, right? I need clothes, right? It’s not wrong to have gold. Praise God, it’s not wrong to have money, but it’s wrong to let money be your god. It’s wrong to serve money. It’s wrong to seek out, you know, so you seek God and all these things will be added to you. It goes on and says this. “After all these things does the world seek, do the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things.” But he says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, His ways of being right, and all these things be added unto you. Therefore don’t worry for tomorrow. For tomorrow will take thought for itself. Sufficient is today the evil of it.” So do you know what? When we begin to look at this, what is the number one enemy of the word? It’s Satan. He comes to steal the word because he knows the word has power to bring forth a harvest, a harvest of peace, a harvest of righteousness, a harvest of forgiveness, a harvest of healing, a harvest of health, a harvest of physical and financial prosperity. A harvest of blessing. The word produces that. That’s why Satan wants to steal the word because he knows that man, you are gonna be a power force, if you get ahold of the word. Number two, you know what? Don’t be offended. You know, the number two enemy of the word is affliction and persecution for the word’s sake, religion and tradition. Jesus said they taught for commandments, the doctrines of men. But the third thing is not only don’t be deceived or don’t be offended, but don’t get distracted. You know, so many people start out good, but they end off in the ditch somewhere. Why? Because they let the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches or the lust of other things come in and steal the word, and it becomes unfruitful or unproductive in their life. So you know what? You need to make a foundational decision in your life. I’m never gonna let money rule me. You know, I’ve made that decision a couple of times in my life. I made that decision when I was just 17 years old, my grandparents offered me to give me their ranch if I would stay and run it. And it was worth well over a million dollars. I said, “I can’t do that because I’ve gotta preach the gospel.” If they would’ve just given to me straight up, that would’ve been different, but that wasn’t what the offer was. You know, then when I, you know, moved out to start into the ministry, it’s not about money and that wasn’t hard, but once you get in the ministry and work and earn some things and get some things going, and we pastored an Eastern Colorado and we had a business paid off, we had our house paid off, you know, we had a lot of good things. Our vehicles paid off. We had a lot of things really going in a good direction and then God called me to leave there and start over in Colorado Springs after I’d been in Eastern Colorado for 13 years. And I had to make a fundamental foundational decision from my heart that this isn’t about money. That I’m not gonna let money rule me. And no matter what, you know what? I’m gonna serve God and do what he called me to do. And so I left a church that I had paid for, with a business that I had paid for, with a home that I had paid for, you know, of course I sold part of my business, I sold my house, you know, so I could get a down payment, just, I sold part of my business and my house just so I could get a down payment on a house. And then I came to Colorado Springs and I had to go to six different banks with 50% of the money down before they’d loaned me money to buy a house, but God’s been good to me and God’s helped me, but I made a fundamental decision. Now, first of all, I made a decision that, you know what? I’m not gonna let money rule me. This is not about money. This is about following God and about doing what he wants me to do, but secondly, I made a decision that I’m gonna take care of my family. You see, because God is my first priority, but my family is my first responsibility. So I said, “God, I’ll do whatever it takes, but my family is not going hungry.” That means if I have to dig ditches at night, you know what? That means if I have to carry dog food at night and back then it was $9 an hour minimum wage I’ll do that. I’ll do whatever it takes. It’s actually probably less than $9 an hour, it’s probably about 550 an hour or something, minimum wage. But you know, I think I could have gotten $9 an hour working at the dog place, at the dog store at night, carrying dog food. But you know what? God’s taken care of me and God’s provided for me. And I’ve never had to go work a night job at the dog store, carrying dog food. Praise God, because Jesus took care of me, but I was committed. “God, I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m gonna do what you want me to do. I’m not gonna let money rule me, but I’m gonna take care of my family.” Praise God. So number one, don’t get deceived. Number two, don’t get offended, but number three, do not get distracted. You know what? There’s so many people they’ve let different distractions come and I wanna read some scriptures here in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 if we have time, about not getting distracted, just staying on course. It says, “This know also that in the last days, perilous times will come, hard pressed times, men will be selfish, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to their parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection.” We see that today, right? “Trucebreakers, they break their word, false accusers, incontinent, right? They have no control over fleshly desires and appetites, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away.” Don’t get distracted. Stay on course. You know what? And the Word of God will produce a harvest. I love Mark 4:20. These are those with a good and honest heart who bring forth fruit, some 30, some 60, and some a hundredfold. God wants you to have a positive and good harvest. As you allow the Word of God first place in your life, don’t be deceived. Satan wants to steal the word. Don’t be offended and don’t get distracted. Amen? Keep following God. Keep doing what Jesus told you to do for the word is producing a harvest of life in you.