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lord let my heart be good open to the seed of your word lord let my heart be good spoil where love can grow and peace is understood when my heart is heart break the stone away when my heart is calm warm it with the day when my heart is lost lead me on your way lord let my heart lord let my heart the lord be with you and welcome to worship today with faith lutheran church may your hearts be good soil today we are out in the trails the beautiful outdoors of port elgin ontario and it's always in the outdoors that i feel god's presence so close to me i feel connected to nature and to the world around me they say that for every place that god reveals himself he also conceals himself when we think about the word of god there is perhaps no other place that holds this truth so fully because god reveals himself to us in diverse ways through his holy scriptures and through the life of his son his living word but he also conceals himself he hides himself from us sometimes in plain sight through the use of parables through words that come to us stories that come to us that we have trouble making sense of or that just seem to hit our ears but not really go any further for every parable teaching and promise that sinks into our heart is good soil there are those that fall by the wayside now today we are going to focus on god's word in the fourth chapter of mark's gospel and what is important about the gospels about all of god's word is that he uses it to both express his will towards us and also his will for us we talk about his will for us we're talking about the law of god the instruction of god where he teaches us how to live who we are intended and called to be how to go about removing those things from our lives that stand between our relationship with him and our relationship with others and when we hear about god's will towards us in the scriptures we're talking about that which we call the good news we're talking about the gospel the promise of god that we are his that we are loved by him unconditionally and that no matter where we go on our journey he promises to be there with us and so as we journey together today hold this word of god and as we leave here today hold this word of god wrestle with it play with it it is not just a word to be absorbed into our minds but a word of power a word that has the promise of transformation within us around us it has the power to comfort us and console us and to calm the difficulties that surround us in our gospel reading today we are going to hear about the parable of the sower where god talks to us about his intention for us how we are to be in relationship with god's word as a living word that has the power to transform us but we are also going to hear about the story of jesus calming the storm in the boat and this is a story about god's will for us and towards us about how god promises to be present with us unconditionally and that god's word has the power to comfort us and to console us and to hold us in those times when we needed to be comforted consoled and held most tightly let's journey together now as we take a look at the fourth chapter of mark's gospel perhaps we will find an elevation a revelation of this word out here in the great outdoors today let us go and find that word now oh hey look we've bumped into a friend of ours here how are you today pastor dar what are you up this is fabulous well i found this snowman somebody made isn't he gorgeous yes and always the good pastor are you are you trying to uh evangelize this i was just thinking that i would read this to him that's wonderful well we're just working on a scripture study today and some worship and we're looking at the fourth chapter of mark would you be willing to share the fourth chapter of mark with this phone to do that so this is the gospel according to mark the fourth chapter again he began to teach beside the sea such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land he began to teach them many things in parables and his teachings he said to them listen a sower went out to sow and as he sowed some seed fell on the path and the birds came and ate it up other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil and it sprang up quickly since it had no depth of soil and when the sun rose it was scorched and since it had no root it withered away other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no grain other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain growing up and increasing and yielding 30 and 60 and 100 fold and he said let anyone with ears to hear listen the purpose of the parables when he was alone those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables and he said to them to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of god but for those outside everything comes in parables in order that they may indeed look but not perceive and may indeed listen but not understand so that they may not turn again and be forgiven and he said to them do not understand this parable then how will you understand all parables the sower sows the word these are the ones on the path where the word is sown when they hear satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them and these other ones sown on rocky ground when they hear the word they immediately receive it with joy but they have no root and a doer only for a while then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word immediately they fall away and others are those sown among the thorns these are the ones who hear the word but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word and it yields nothing and these are the ones sown on the good soil they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit 30 and 60 100 fold a lamp under a bushel basket he said to them is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket or under the bed and not under the lamp stand for is nothing hitting except to be disclosed nor is anything secret except to come to light let anyone with ears to listen and he said to them pay attention to what you hear the measure you give will be the measure you get and still more will be given you for those who have more will be given and for those who have nothing even what they have will be taken away the parable of the growing seed he also said the kingdom of god is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow he does not know how the earth produces of itself first the stock then the head then the full grain in the head but when the grain is ripe at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come the parable of the mustard seed he also said with what can we compare the kingdom of god or what parable will we use for it it is like a mustard seed which when sown upon the ground is the smallest of all the seeds on earth yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade the use of parables with many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it he did not speak to them except in parables but he explained everything in private to his disciples jesus steals a storm on that day when evening had come he said to them let us go across to the other side and leaving the crowd behind they took him with them in the boat just as he was other boats were with him a great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that the boat was already being swamped but he was in the stern asleep on the cushion and they woke him up and said to him teacher do you not care that we are perishing he woke up and rebuked the wind and see and said to the sea peace be still then the wind ceased and there was a dead calm he said to them why are you afraid have you still no faith and they were filled with great awe and said to one another who then is this that even the wind and the sea obeyed him this is the gospel of the lord praise to you o christ oh hello the journey continues what were the chances that we were gonna find pastor dar out here in the middle of nowhere and even the chances that she would have a bible on her well what a miracle what a wonderful thing so in this gospel reading that we've just heard from jesus he's talking about the parable of the sower and he says to his disciples if you don't understand this parable how are you going to understand all the other parables he says we have to understand this one and so he explains it a little bit and he talks about three main parts he talks about the sower casting the seed and he says to us we're not the seeds he says the word of god is the seed he says it casts all over the place right the word of god what is the word of god well it is as we talked about it's our way of understanding god's will for us and god's will towards us and he says that this seed grows into the kingdom of god so we want to understand something a little bit about the kingdom of god well he tells us that when he says that when it grows up it provides shelter and comfort and a place for all the birds of the air and then he talks about the soil he talks about four different kinds of soil and what is the soil well he says that we are the soil our hearts are the soil well let's take a closer look at what he's talking about here he says sometimes the sower cast seeds and they fall on the path and when they fall on the path the birds come and they eat up the word right away he says satan comes and takes away the word of god that the adversary comes and takes away the word of god then he says sometimes the seed is cast onto to rocky soil and when it's cast onto rocky soil he says that soil receives the word with joy and happiness it receives it very fully but as soon as any kind of persecution or difficulty comes along as soon as that soil is tempted and tested in any way the seed withers away because it has very little root he talks about the seed being cast amongst the vines where he says that while the the seed is able to spring up and sprout up it is quickly choked out by things like love of money and wealth and power and all those things that tempt us to to put our hope and faith in ourselves as opposed to our hope and faith in god and he says sometimes the seed falls on good soil and when it does it bears fruit sometimes 30 60 100 fold more than we could ever expect now there's a tendency in my mind to think of myself as wanting to be that good soul we even sing that hymn lord let my heart be good soil but if i'm honest with myself i find that the word sinks into me in different ways at different times sometimes i hear it in a way that makes a lot of sense to me sometimes it's a word that transforms me and calls me to change in myself and to reach out in love to others but sometimes it just doesn't stick and sometimes i just don't really want to wrestle with it at all what i'm saying is i don't think these different soil types are different people different types of people i think all these soil types exist within our own hearts and so when i think about this soil of the path where the seeds are taken away by the adversary i think about this soil as those places in my life that way that i've walked so frequently that the path is well trodden those parts of me that just aren't willing to change at all god comes and says to me that uh you know i should you know sell all my belongings and you know uh go and travel off and and follow him wherever he goes and i say uh no that doesn't really apply to me because my life is here and i have a family and responsibilities and these sorts of things so i just pretty quickly dust that kind of teaching off then we hear about the rocky soil where the root is very shallow where the word takes root but whenever things become difficult then we sort of let the word be brushed aside we let it wither away as jesus says i think about this as all those temptations in my life you know i think to myself you know i wake up i maybe i on church i go to hear the word of god on sunday talk about loving my neighbor and being a good guy and giving of myself and then as soon as somebody steps on my toes right all of that goes out the window and i just go hey the problem is them not me and i lash out or i say something i didn't mean i just not really rooted in the word you know then there are those parts of the word that those moments in our life where we are really wanting to grasp on to god's promise in our life god's teachings in our life but our life is so filled with other stuff i mean i'd go to church i'd make time to pray if i only had time right i'd give some to charity if i only had some left but i've got all these bills to pay you know i got two cars in the garage i got a nice house right all these sorts of things so we get bogged down by our many things and this can be material things they can be relational things they can be spiritual things and then sometimes sometimes god's word falls upon good soil in my heart sometimes i feel called to be be nurtured and to nurture in a new way and sometimes that grows into fullness and what i found in my experience of discipleship is when that happens i am so encouraged i feel so built up and i see so much goodness come out of it that it encourages me to keep going to keep going through the vines keep growing through the rocky times keep going even though i'm on that same old path to be brave and to courageously every once in a while take a risk of stepping off that path and trying to follow jesus in new places and so our role in all of this jesus teaches us is not to transform ourselves but to try and follow him in a way to follow some of his instruction to us in a way that tills the soil in our hearts that starts to care for and build up the soil around those rocky places that starts to till soil on new paths maybe alongside the path that we're going already we're called to start to trim back some of those vines and weeds and things that are growing into our growing spaces when we see that the seed is falling on good soil and is starting to bear fruit in our lives to share that with others to to let it be a fruit that nourishes and feeds the world around us that feeds and nourishes the relationships around us we are called to share of ourselves when that bears good fruit and jesus says this is how the kingdom begins to grow but how are we to go about doing this well we know that we have different ways of tilling the soil we have our spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting and sacramental life of being gracious and full of gratitude for the good things in our life of sharing our gifts and talents with others and letting go of those things that are holding us back but what's key here also is that we not lose sight in our busyness of trying to care for the soil in our hearts that god has already begun this process jesus also says in the parable of the sower that the kingdom of god is as if a sower came and cast seeds in the garden and by day and night he slept and these things grew up and we don't necessarily know how it happens but all of a sudden the kingdom begins to grow up within us what he's talking about here is an act of grace that god is at work in us making our hearts good soil that ours is not to work harder all the time to try and prepare our hearts there is an aspect of that we want to participate in god's kingdom and god's called to be part of this way of living but we should never lose faith and never lose hope and never lose trust in the promise that god is already at work in our lives doing these things he says in time the kingdom will grow up within us what i think is key here is that we continue to wrestle with god's word that we embrace it that we spend time not just reading and intellectualizing god's word but praying being in conversation with god and talking with others about god and our experience of his instruction for us and his promise for us the promise is that this kingdom will grow up within us by grace through faith in jesus christ but as we go along this journey of living with god's word we face difficulties we face challenges even myself just this week you know it snowed about four times i was out blowing the driveway my kids have gone back to school so i wake up early we help get breakfast ready that sort of stuff then i drive them off to school then i come and i blow the driveway and i come in and i get ready to start my day to start my work i do my readings all these things what i'm saying is that although there are all these gifts in life there can also be some mundanity to it right some some challenge as i was cleaning off my truck the other morning i was thinking about the scriptures for today i was wrestling with them i was letting them sort of bounce around when i was talking with my son on the way to school he asked me a question and i wanted to answer quickly because i thought i knew the answer but i thought to myself wait a minute what is he really asking me what does christ teach us about these things making time in our day and continuing to journey with god's word wherever we go i think is really the key it's not about fully understanding it it's not about making god's word the absolute center of everything that we do at all times but allowing ourselves to journey alongside god's word and when we can get into the habit of this when god's word can be a traveling companion for us as a way of life then what i find is when things get difficult in the church in our homes even within us and around us god's word gives us a way to respond and it also has the power in and of itself to work within us to calm the waves beating against us to calm the winds blowing all around us and to grant us peace these are the promises of god's word that his kingdom grows out of it that it promises peace to us as we journey alongside it and that it has the power to transform us and to build us up into the image of his son and to be his church for ourselves for our families and for the world around us this is the good news and the gospel of our lord thanks be to god amen now one thing that jesus says to us in our prayer that he teaches is that thy kingdom come thy will be done and i want you this week to hold on to that to let those words rattle around inside you to think on them to prey on them what does he mean by this thy kingdom come doesn't he say that the kingdom is already at hand does he mean that the kingdom will come from without does it mean that the kingdom is coming from within didn't pastor say that he was already there that the kingdom was already there what does this mean to you and what is its relationship to the next stanza that thy will be done god's kingdom come thy will be done does he mean that god's kingdom comes when thy will be done does he mean that god's kingdom is coming and that is the will of god is a prayer are we asking that god's kingdom comes are we asking that god's will be done i'll leave you with all of that but let that word sink in with you and be a traveling companion with you in the week ahead now let us pray together the prayer that jesus taught us our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen now brothers and sisters as you journey into the week ahead go in peace and serve the lord in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen until next week peace be with you you