How to overcome our human weaknesses
Why do people come and go in the church’s? Why do people fall away from God, one day they are in the front row worshiping the next they are at the clubs, or at some crazy rock concert!
It’s interesting, how many of you have heard a good sermon and then have a hard time recalling what was it about. You see Satan doesn’t rest, he will try anything in his power to get your mind off the truth. He’s like a thief in the night.
And the parable referring to the rocky places is referring to people that are simply followers. They see others going to church, they think…..why not, I’ll check it out…but when temptations come, tribulations come they fall away.
In our generation, this would be something like; your bf/gf broke up with you, or you lost your job, your friends aren’t calling you because you are in love with Jesus and talk about him too much and they are fed up…..
This tribulation is overbearing, we start to feel unwanted, unloved, outcasts, rejected, depressed, sad, and lonely. But these are all trials that God allows in our lives to increase our faith, and not be heavily dependent on people, but on Christ.
If you ask God for patience, he will send you trials, if you ask God for happiness he will send you through sorrows (because to be able to truly appreciate happiness one must endure the counter of the feeling).
To plant your seed amongst the rocks is what many people do, they surround themselves with bad people, the seed will not grow but will be choked and killed before it can bear fruit.
This may mean, that we idolize people in our life, people that aren’t exactly in Gods favor. We idolize our careers, the pursuit to make money.
Every person has their weakness, we are all different, some might be obsessed with their career, some with education, some with being popular…..
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!
(This passage is referring to the people that deny Jesus regardless of whether they’ve seen his power, and felt his presence. This passage makes me think about all the anti-theists, agnostics, and atheists).
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
None of these things can guarantee happiness, they just grow into more thirsty desires. A person that makes a million will always desire to make 10 more…people will never be satisfied with the voids of life, only the word of God can feed the body, mind and soul. And can keep you content in life. Everything else is like a bottomless pit, you can fill and fill but you will never reach the top.
