Red Shirts #3: Thorny Soil -- 051612

We continued our study of Luke 8:4-8, 11-15 and our series entitled Red Shirts.  Tonight we focused on verses 6 and 13.  God's word goes out (as seeds) and lands on the soil (people's hearts) developing faith (plants).  Different people react differently to this gospel.  The type of soil we talked about tonight is thorny ground.  This seed falls in thorny soil, it starts to grow but never reaches its full potential because it is choked out by the thorn bushes that surround it.  The people described here believe in Jesus, accept Him as their Savior, but never really make Him their master.  They don't weed out the thigns that hinder them from growing in maturity and understanding of God.  Because of this their faith is never fully developed.  Theya re the people that you here about when it is said, "Wait, I thought _____(fill in a name) was a Christian but they ________(fill in a sin).  They act like veryone else around them and because of this no one knows they are "Christian" or if they do they think of them as a hypocrite.  They in no way help anyone else either in this life or for eternity.

The thorns represent life's worries, riches, and pleasures.  Each of these things makes us lose focus on the goal of growing our faith, they instead distract us, thus stunting our growth.  They are not all necessarily bad things, but if they are distracting us from focusing on the God and our relationship with Him then they are bad.  These things distract us and keep us from becoming mature, bearing fruit, whether that be good deeds, producing disciples for God, or just following the destiny God has for us. 

In order to avoid this fate we have to continually allow the Holy Spirit to weed our soil (hearts).  This must be done daily (weeds will grow constantly, vigilance is required), completely (therer can't be a par tof your life that is off limits to God, whether an action, an attitude, or a thought), and willingly (you must be willing to change that thing if God point sit out as crippling to your faith).  You can also find a friend that can help oint out those areas that you are not following God completely in and are distracted with. 

I give tonight: A-
Favorite Moment: How many army men were earned last week

Submission -- Sunday, April 4th

We continued our study of the book of Ephesians today by looking at 5:21-6:9 which focuses on one very disliked word: Sumbission.

The bible tells us that we are all supposed to submit. In fact all relationships depend on this concept. We should be submissive people if there were no submission anarchy would prevail. The Bible gives us many examples of submission: slaves to masters, Israel to God, us to God, children to parents, wives to husbands, young to old, Christ to the cross, Christ to God, Christians to each other, and christians to the government to name a few.

So what exactly does submission mean? It comes from a greek word (hypotasso) which means 4 things.

#1 Arranging in rank under. This is a military term. It means that somoene in charge has given rank to others. The lower rank salutes and follows orders, not because the other person deserves it but because they rank has been set. It doesn't mean one is of higher importance or better, simply that they have been put in order.

#2 Willingly acquiescing to another who has been placed by God above you. Like playing tug of war and you just let go.

#3 To be subject to or submit to. This means you have your say but when it comes down to a disagreement you bend your own will to the other person's.

#4 Cooperation. Which emans you cooperate with their wishes even if it isn't what you want. You aren't competing with them or trying to take control.

We can also look at what submission isn't to give us a better picture of what it is. Submission isn't forced, it has to be the choice of the one submitting. Submission isn't agreement, you can still have your opinion. Submission doesn't mean you have to leave your brain behind. Submission doesn't mean you have lower worth. Submission doesn't include breaking God's law, if the person over you tells you to do something to do and it goes against God's law you should disobey.

We finished this by looking at Children obeying their parents, which is a command that comes with a promise. If you do it you will enjoy long life on earth and it will go well with you. It is also a command that it tells us that it pleases God (Colossians 3:20). So how are you going to start obeying your parents and submit to them?

I give this morning: B+
Favorite Moment: Digging a hole with the advice to marry an ugly wife