Jan. 29, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James
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| Hi and welcome back for our God's Grace is Greater segment. | |
| Today we have a very special piece of scripture for you. | |
| We're starting the Gospel of Luke chapter 8 today. | |
| So we left off in chapter 7, finishing chapter 7 yesterday, talking about some pretty powerful messages there in the end of chapter 7 where it discussed how we were going to see this incredible example of a Pharisee's interaction talking about some pretty powerful messages there in the end of chapter 7 where it discussed how we were going to see this incredible It was really powerful. | |
| And for that, we're basically picking up where we left off there. | |
| So the beginning of chapter 8 kind of talks about the women who were supporting Jesus Christ in his work. | |
| And then it goes into the parable of the sower. | |
| So we're going to basically read the first 15 verses of chapter 8, and we're going to talk about it also. | |
| So let's just dive right into it. | |
| Again, we're picking up with the woman who was the sinful woman who was forgiven and she showed a great love for Jesus and Jesus forgave her of her sins and had this interaction with the Pharisee Simon that was really impactful. | |
| And if you want to watch it, that was in yesterday's God's Grace is Greater. | |
| Today, we're picking up again in chapter 8. | |
| Let's go ahead and read chapter 8, verse 1 through 15. | |
| It says, Soon afterward, he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. | |
| The twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. | |
| Mary called Magdalene, seven demons had come out of her, Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward. | |
| Susanna and many others were supporting them from their possessions. | |
| As a large crowd was gathering and people were flocking to him from every town, he said in a parable, The sower went out to sow his seed. | |
| As he was sowing, some fell along the path. | |
| It was trampled on, and the birds of the sky ate it up. | |
| Other seed fell on the rock. | |
| When it sprang up, it withered, since it lacked moisture. | |
| Other seed fell among the thorns. | |
| The thorns sprang up with it and choked it. | |
| Still other seed fell on good ground. | |
| When it sprang up, it produced a crop 100 times what was sown. | |
| As he said this, he called out, Anyone who has ears to hear should listen. | |
| Then his disciples asked him, what does this parable mean? | |
| So he said, the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. | |
| So, going on, this is the meaning of the parable. | |
| The seed is the word of God. | |
| The seed along the path are those who have heard, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so they may not believe and be saved. | |
| And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, welcome the word with joy, having no root. | |
| These believe for a while and depart in a time of testing. | |
| As for the seed that fell among the thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. | |
| But the seed in the good ground, those are the ones, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it, and by enduring, bear fruit. | |
| And I love this parable because it's so clear and simple. | |
| And it gives us this clear way of understanding how some people can hear the word of Jesus and accept it and live it and still not find salvation. | |
| Jesus tells us how this all happens by giving us the parable first which is kind of a parable which is locked in only being able to be understood by those who seek to understand it. | |
| I think it's interesting because the disciples wanting to know this Basically, here's what it is. | |
| I love this. | |
| This is an explanation for what Jesus says, because we heard the parable, right? | |
| The seed is sown, some of it along the path, and it gets trampled, and the birds eat it. | |
| Some of it's on the rock, and it's allowed to grow, but then it has no real deep root or moisture, so it dies. | |
| Some are among thorns, and they do grow, but the thorns choke them out. | |
| And some seed is just on good ground, and it's able to grow and produce 100 times what it's sown. | |
| And when he says that, he says anyone who has ears to listen or to hear should listen. | |
| And then when they ask him, the disciples say, what does this parable mean? | |
| Right? | |
| The secrets of the kingdom of God, he says, have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that looking they may not see and hearing they may not understand. | |
| People go, what does that mean? | |
| Well, it's actually Jesus quoting Isaiah chapter 6, verse 9 and 10. | |
| He's saying that, essentially saying that, Some portion of God's truth is being revealed to eager disciples in this case, right? | |
| But it would obscure that truth from those who choose their own way. | |
| He's implying that those who rejected this truth would remain in exile, as per Isaiah chapter 6. | |
| So he's essentially saying that if you choose not to pursue the understanding, then you will remain in exile away from God and the Word. | |
| That's why the parable is being used in the first place, if that makes sense. | |
| But, because his disciples ask, he explains the parable. | |
| And he gives us a very, very good explanation, I would say. | |
| He tells us that the seed on the path are people who have heard, and the devil comes and takes the word away from their hearts, so they may not believe and be saved. | |
| So those are the people who hear the word and dismiss it automatically. | |
| Those are like the people we just saw, right? | |
| I'm not saying that that girl... | |
| We talked in the previous video, if you guys aren't watching this on Rumble, this won't make a lot of sense, but we saw a woman who talked about how she was a pagan, who talked about how she didn't believe in God and how she agreed with the church of Satan. | |
| And those are the people, I believe, who are like the ones who are scattered along the path. | |
| They hear the word, but they don't attempt to understand it or to grab onto it. | |
| They just would prefer to listen to the devil. | |
| Because the devil is a great manipulator. | |
| The devil's greatest manipulation is convincing the world that he doesn't exist. | |
| And even those who believe he does exist, the greatest manipulation beyond that is him convincing them that their hope can be found with him. | |
| It's a deceptive tactic and a trick nonetheless. | |
| But it is something that happens in this world. | |
| So that's one way people can lose their way from God. | |
| Then it gives us the explanation of the seed that's on the rock. | |
| Now, those are the people who hear it, and they welcome the world with joy. | |
| You've seen those people who are on fire for the gospel immediately, right? | |
| But... | |
| What happens is that they have no root. | |
| Those who sow their seed on the rock, there's nothing beneath to grab onto. | |
| There's nothing to dig into. | |
| Jesus uses the parable of a tree and their deep roots, talking about how we have to basically invest fully in the Word. | |
| We have to let ourselves grow fully into it. | |
| And if you're sown into this, these are people who are on fire first, but, as it says here, In a time of testing, depart. | |
| So the moment someone challenges them in their faith, the moment somebody attempts to throw a roadblock, the moment something doesn't go the way that they expect God to make it go for them, they're gone. | |
| Don't be that person. | |
| Trust in God, even in hard times, even in affliction. | |
| I know it's not easy. | |
| I know it's tough. | |
| I've been there myself. | |
| But those are the times we have to turn to God the most, is when we're faced with suffering, when we're faced with affliction, when things aren't going well. | |
| We should be turning to God in thanks and gratitude for the blessings and things that we have that go our way that we're happy about. | |
| But when it doesn't go our way, we must not be like those who are sown along the rocks, who have no deep foundation with Jesus and the scripture, who believe that if it doesn't go our way every time, then it must be God's fault, and he must be to blame, so we must, you know, look at him in a different way. and he must be to blame, so we must, you No, we must look at him in the same way every time. | |
| The seed among the thorns, he explains, are those who have heard, they go on their way, but they believe, but then they get distracted. | |
| They get distracted with what? | |
| The worries of this world. | |
| What would be the worries of this world? | |
| The anxiety, the depression, worrying about your family and your friends. | |
| I'm not saying don't worry about those things, but I'm saying if you truly have faith in God, you will trust that God will help you deal with those problems. | |
| You won't let them overtake yourself and remove you from having a deep root and foundation in the gospel, in the word. | |
| You'll actually be pushed more toward sharing the gospel and sharing hope through Christ with others in those times of need, and your worries will actually make you stronger in your faith, but not for these people. | |
| The riches and pleasures of life will obviously, if people get distracted with power, wealth, treasure, all these things on earth, and they lose sight of God, that is like the ones who are choked out by the thorns. | |
| It's the devil's greatest trick and deception. | |
| Remember what the devil did when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness? | |
| When Jesus was gone for those 40 days and nights? | |
| He offered Jesus domain and power over everything on earth. | |
| He said he would give him all the kingdoms of earth and all the power that there was within it. | |
| But, Jesus said no. | |
| Why? | |
| Because he understood that there was a kingdom more powerful than the kingdoms, and the power of God was more powerful than what the devil was offering. | |
| So don't get distracted by the treasure and the things of this earth, because it's all going to come to nothing. | |
| And pleasures of life, it's easy to get distracted by pleasure. | |
| Don't let it happen to you. | |
| But then finally he says,"...the seed on the good ground." These are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it, and by enduring, bear fruit. | |
| So what are the two things there that we have to take away? | |
| Hold on to the word, but then what's the most critical thing he adds there? | |
| Jesus adds, by enduring. | |
| By enduring. | |
| It's not going to be easy. | |
| You know, following Christ is somewhat simple. | |
| It is not as complicated as a lot of people want to make it out to be. | |
| But it is not easy. | |
| I wish it was easy, but it's not. | |
| Because we know, those of us who have been around long enough to realize it, life's not easy. | |
| Life's not fair. | |
| there's going to be times where things are going to happen that we are going to be just either mad about or sad about or feel unjustly taken advantage of from or feel like we didn't get our fair share or we put in all this hard work and it didn't pay off but guess what Jesus tells us that if we have a good heart and we're honest and we hear the word and we hold on to it and we endure that it will bear fruit | |
| I don't know what that's going to look like. | |
| I'm not a prosperity preacher. | |
| I'm not saying, oh yeah, you know, give me a Ferrari and I'll help you find salvation. | |
| No, that's not how this works, guys. | |
| And if somebody tells you that, they're lying to you. | |
| Better try to find a real church, I would imagine. | |
| I'm just telling you that if you hear the Word of God and you hold on to it and you have an honest and good heart, and that's only something that you can know between you and God, And you endure that it will bear fruit. | |
| Now, what does that fruit look like? | |
| I don't know. | |
| Does that mean you're going to have a mansion and a Ferrari tomorrow and everything's going to be great and your family's going to love you and your co-workers are going to give you a promotion and you're going to hit the lottery and everything's going to be wonderful? | |
| No. | |
| Maybe. | |
| I don't know. | |
| But I do know this. | |
| That even if none of that happens, and even if everything that you have from here to the day of your death is suffering, which I pray it isn't for you, there is a great gift which will bear fruit, and that is our eternal salvation. | |
| The treasure we've built in heaven will be there waiting for us. | |
| Don't forget about that. | |
| And please be like the seed that was sown in good ground. | |
| And that's the message I want to share. | |
| So, let's say a prayer and then we'll wrap it up. | |
| Lord and Heavenly Father, we pray that in our lives we are like the seed that is sown in the good ground. | |
| We pray that not only do we come to you with an open, honest, and pure heart, but Lord, that you allow us to hold on to your word and endure our Endure through all things the afflictions we face, the troubles, the heartache. | |
| Lord, we know it's tough. | |
| Some of those out there may be facing these things right now as we speak. | |
| They may be looking to you, God, right now to intervene and step in, and I pray you will. | |
| But I pray that if you don't, as a part of your infinite wisdom, and you know that your timing is perfect, and you know your plan is perfect, and you know that they have just to get over the next hill to get to where they need to be to find that peace in their heart that they're looking for, that you'll give them the endurance to do it, so that they may bear fruit, whether it's in this life or in the next with you in heaven. | |
| Lord, I pray that you'll give us all the endurance. | |
| To run the race and finish strong for you, Lord. | |
| We thank you most of all for our eternal salvation that was bought and paid for by the blood of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. | |
| Amen. | |
| Alright, well, I'm going to go ahead and wrap it up. | |
| I want to say thank you all for watching another God's Grace is Greater segment. | |
| If you're watching this on YouTube, I encourage you to scroll down in the description of this video. | |
| There is a few links. | |
| There's a link to my Rumble channel. | |
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| If you guys want to watch that, I'm live on Rumble Monday through Friday. | |
| That's where I do the live stream news show. | |
| I do these God's Graces Greater segments there as well. | |
| Please check that out. | |
| Look it up. | |
| And then you can follow me over there because I can't say the truth about what's happening in the world on YouTube because the thought police will censor it and surely will censor us out of existence. | |
| But... | |
| If you're watching anywhere else, thank you for watching. | |
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| I appreciate it. | |
| But I want to say thank you for watching this episode. | |
| We'll see you on the next one. | |
| Same time, same place. | |
| But until then, my name is Craig. | |
| Godspeed. |
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