Good Soil, Great Harvest

The parable of the sower provides a blueprint for spiritual productivity, showing that any soil can be transformed into good soil capable of producing an abundant harvest. Good soil represents believers who hear God's Word and understand it, receiving it with noble hearts, keeping it under pressure, and bearing fruit with patience. This creates five essential characteristics: intentional hearing, mental comprehension through meditation, holding firmly to the Word, allowing it to produce results, and maintaining consistent faithfulness over time.

Many Christians attend church for decades without seeing expected fruit because they hear the Word but don't understand it. The difference lies between being recipe readers who admire God's Word from a distance versus bakers who work scripture into the fabric of daily life. True spiritual productivity comes not from knowing the most scripture, but from applying the most scripture to daily decisions.

The three harvest levels of 30, 60, and 100-fold all represent genuine fruitfulness but reflect different degrees of productivity. Moving from lower to higher harvest levels requires four key principles: consistency in daily disciplines that compound over time, community with other fruitful believers, commitment to long-term obedience in the same direction, and character development that reflects integrity and faithfulness. The kingdom operates on compound interest principles - small, consistent spiritual investments produce extraordinary returns over time through faithful consistency rather than dramatic breakthroughs.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:29

So I want to begin today with uh an illustration. Can you put up image one for me, please? And there's most counties in this country, you know, especially when in the fall, the town centers, they put up these uh, you know, I don't want to call these shows, but they put up these uh things in the marketplaces, and farmers come and and they bring their harvest, okay? Um, and most of the tables are loaded with winning crops. You probably find corn that is taller than a man, you know, tomatoes that are like balls and pumpkin seeds, pumpkins that are heavier, so heavy for one person to lift. And you see the judges going from table to table, measuring and wearing these and examining these fruits. Some of them are very impressive. But what we don't understand is behind every blue ribbon that somebody receives, there's a story behind that. Right? A story that nobody sees, a story that tells the soil tested and amended for years, seeds are selected with care, irrigation that time to the day, and farmers who show up when no one is watching. The harvest on display that we see didn't happen on the harvest day. It actually happened during a quiet time, ordinary working day, days before that. And today, our text for today is actually Matthew 12, Matthew 13, 23. And we're gonna learn in a minute that this is exactly what Jesus meant. The harvest you see, it's not something that happened today. The harvest you see happened times that we don't see, times of study, times of prayer, times of obedience, times of allowing your life and your thoughts with God's word. Amen. Now, over the past four Sundays, we've been talking about the parable of soa, and the most an assessment is the most famous agricultural parable that Jesus ever told. In week one, we spoke about the hard path. The word could not penetrate the hard path, the enemy snatches the word immediately. Now, if you look at, and we're gonna get there in a minute, uh, Matthew 13, 23. But if you look at um that first soil, Jesus says something I've been kind of going on it for the last three weeks. He said that the word is sowing, the word was sown, and because they did not understand the word, okay, because they did not understand the word, because they didn't understand the word, the word could not penetrate, and it's something that we've established, and we actually started establishing this somewhere last year in November when we began honestly to talk about fruitfulness. We established something in in John 15 that Jesus expects fruitfulness from every believer. It's something that we've spoken about over and over again, and in this part of the sower, Jesus is laying out the process in which somebody becomes fruitful. And he identified, and again, we've been speaking about this over and over again, he identified three different types of soils. And we've been asking the question every week, what soil are you? And the first soil that he spoke about again is a hard path soil. And the reason why that Satan came for the word was that the heart, the soil was so hard that there was no penetration. Okay? And then week two, we talked, we spoke about the rocky, rocky grounds. The roots were too shallow. Faith that springs up fast and collapse under pressure. So these are people that receive the word and immediately they're excited about it. But then when Jesus said when tribulation and persecution arises for the word's sake, because of the word, Satan tests the word, and immediately they stumble and they fall, they collapse under pressure. And last week we spoke about the thorny ground, the worries of life, the deceitfulness of riches. And look at another third portion of it. The pleasures of this age slowly chokes out the harvest that was within rich. And so these are guys that have been in church, they're not backsliders, they're Christians, they come to church, they love Jesus. But because they're not fully, fully submitted to him, and they allow the worries, the deceitfulness of riches, the pleasures of life to come in, he chokes the word. And again, the reason why Jesus was on this subject is to bring us to a place of productivity. Heaven wants us to be productive in the things of God. Somebody say amen to that. So today we're going to talk about the good soil. And I tell you something, this is where everything changes. This is the final week that we study in this, and this is where we bring everything home and begin to explain the relevance of why Jesus shared this and what things we need to do to be able to be productive. Somebody say amen to that. So, with that, let's go to Matthew chapter 13, verse 23, which is our main text for today. The Bible says, But he who receives seed, okay, on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it. And let's stop there for a minute. So the first one who received the word on hard ground that Satan had immediate access to the word. Jesus said the person did not understand the word. Most of us go to church, we hear the word all the time, but we do not understand the word. And if you don't understand the word or comprehend what is being taught, the word Satan has access to that word. And I want you to have this equation in your mind: no seed, no productivity, no seed, no harvest. Now, literally, I've taken you guys through so many illustrations, and it's very simple. You are a farmer. We just looked at this country harvest illustration. You plant pumpkins, you plant orange, you plant tomatoes, and that's how you earn a living. You plant soy, you do everything else. So you have a portion of land. What you do with the land is basically you plow the land, you fertilize it, you irrigate it, you plant seed, and the seed goes through the season, and then eventually something happens, you have a harvest. This is the mindset I want you to have that you here are a spiritual farmer. Say that after me, I'm a spiritual farmer. That means that everything that you're looking for, Jesus, the reason why Jesus taught us this parable is that he wants you to shift your mentality from receiving and cult to cultivating. I'm not, you're not hearing me. Many of us here want to receive things without cultivating those things. I want to announce to you today that in the kingdom you cannot receive anything that you have not cultivated. And the question that is profound, listen gentlemen, is that your soil determines the harvest you have. I hope a million people, Christians, were listening to me. Because this is not about I'm praying, I'm fasting, I'm speaking in tongues. No, no, no, no. Speaking in tongues and praying and harvesting, though they are good, if they are not fixed in your soil, you're not going to have a harvest. You're not listening to me. And so everything that Jesus has died for and has promised us can only be realized through a process that we call cultivated. Are you listening to me today? You have to cultivate what you're looking for. Amen. Everything is made available to us. We have access to everything that he did for us on the cross. It's not about hyperbolic, it's not lies, it's factual truth that Jesus has made available to his people everything that is available to him. You know, this man that I used to understand, and he said something so profound, talking about the cross. He says, if every human being understands the cross, everything that you need, because he said in a cross, God has made provision from time to eternity, everything a human being needs on planet Earth in a cross. So if we understand the mystery of what happened on the cross, it simply means that everything that God has is accessible to you. And this morning, what I want you to understand, the mindset I want you to have, is that you don't pray your way into things, you cultivate your way into things. Does it make sense? The prayer is only effective when your soil is receiving good soil. So Jesus said here, the one that receives seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it. And we're going to explain what it means to understand in a minute. Now we want to do a cross-reference, and in your handouts, you look at it. Your cross-references in Luke chapter 8, verse 15. This is a cross-reference there. Towards the end of the page, you can see it in your page one in your handouts. Here's what Luke says. But the one that fell on good grounds are those who, having heard the word, those sitting here today having heard the word, with a noble and a good heart, keep it, bear fruit with patience. Isn't that interesting? So those who hear the word, Matthew says, When you hear the word, okay, and you receive the word, you said you understand the word. That is critical. My question this morning is anyone here listening to me and understanding what I'm about to teach you. Because when you don't understand it, that means that the word is not falling on good soil. That means that the word I'm teaching today, it's not going to yield any fruit in your life. And most of us have been dragging our lives through the Christian war for the last 20, 30 years, and the fruit that heaven expects, we are not seeing it. And I'm about to just tell you the secret behind your demise. The secret behind your demise is that you had the word, did not understand the word, so you did not give the word the opportunity to bear fruits in your life. And so here, Luke says, the one who fell, the one that fell on good ground are those who have heard the word. Did you hear the word? Are you here with me today? And having had it, there's something they did. They received the word with a noble heart and a good heart. And then they keep it. We're going to talk about that and bear fruits with patience. So here is the good news. Every single Christian has a struggle. Every single Christian is struggling with something. But Jesus didn't teach us days to bring condemnation to us, He taught us days to help us to get to a good soil. So the good news here today, this morning, is any soil here can become a good soil. Somebody say amen to that. And this is where Jesus wanted to be. Now, I want to ask you a question. What does 30-fold, 60-fold, or 100-fold fruitfulness actually look like? And how do you get there? How do we get from where we are to where the Lord wants us to get? And you know, years and years and years I've been reading this verse and reading this verse, and I always ask myself a question. If the soil, if the seed fell on good soil, why that progression of 30, 60, 100fold? That somebody says it's great to study. This study gave me a true understanding why there is that progression, which I'm about to teach you guys. Now, we are about to unpack the difference between the 30, 60 and a hundredfold. So, first of all, I want you to look at the characteristics of a good soil. This is in page two of your handouts. The characteristics of a good soil. So Matthew 13, 23 says, gifts is two verbs. Matthew says he hears and understands. And so the entrance, you know, it was the entrance of your word produces what? Life life. The entrance, how does something enter? You hear. Okay? And so a character of a good story, Matthew says that somebody hears it and understands what he's hearing. But Luke adds three more things to it. So put this in the back of your mind, hear and understand. Luke says he keeps it. That means that he retains it. And that means that what you are learning today, listening to me today, when I ask you in two or three weeks, you've retained it. It becomes part of you. Retaining something, it's one you keep it in memory and it becomes part of you. Amen. So Luke says, Matthew says you hear understand. Luke says you keep it, which means you retain what you have been taught, and then that you bear fruit. And then the third one says, with patience. In other words, it's not in your timing. You're fruit-bearing, and I hope somebody understands me. It's not in your timing because what is expected for you to bear fruit is what we call perseverance. Timing brings what? Perseverance. Someone say amen together. So today together, these build a portrait of a good soil believer. Five important things. This is a good soil believer. Here, understands, keep which is retained, bear fruit, patience and perseverance. Now, I'm not going to give this is not a list of requirements. It's a critical way understand that. This, what we just looked at, is a description of a person who has prepared their hearts to receive soil. Okay? It's this is how heaven sees somebody who is a good soil. Somebody, there's a description of somebody who's prepared their hearts. So it's not about just the reason for coming to church on a Sunday, is that they're excited to hear something and they position themselves that that thing becomes a revolution in their lives that will change them. In other words, before they walked in, they did not know this. But as the word is coming, they're grabbing the word because they are prepared to make the different changes, the necessary arrangements in their lives to be able to be fruitful. Does that make sense? And so there are four marks of good soil that we're talking about. Number one, it says hearing. What is hearing? Hearing is an intentional reception. In other words, you came to church prepared to hear what is being taught. And what is being taught might be something contrary to what you believed for 20, 30 years. But you are willing to let the entrance of God's word, which produces light, come in and challenge your thought process. You see, the reason why God keeps teaching you every Sunday and every Wednesday and every Sunday and every Wednesday is that He's challenging your thought process, trying to tell you that where you are is great, but it's a better thing for you. You're not hearing me. And so there's an intentional hearing. A good soul doesn't just attend church, it actively receives the seed. There is a difference between hearing words and hearing the word. There's a difference. Amen. There's a difference between what? Hearing words. You know, it's quite interesting, actually. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is talking to his church. And he keeps repeating this over and over again. He does an ear. Let him hear what the Spirit is saying. You have an ear, don't you? So why is he keep emphasizing? Because we hear, but we're not hearing. And so intentional reception is the difference between hearing words that I'm speaking, but actually understanding, hearing the word that God is teaching. Good soil believers bring exception, expectation to Sunday service. You know, there is a well, I had a teacher in Sunday school, now what's it called? Bible College in London once. And she always says, she always always uses this expectation is a breeding ground for miracles, right? A Christian, it's somebody who doesn't drag themselves to Sunday morning just, man. No. They come to church with expectation for every Sunday that God is going to do something different in their lives every Sunday. Every devotion they have, they have expectations for it. Every teaching they hear, there's an expectation. They arrive with a posture that says, Lord speak, I am listening. And so church service doesn't become a routine, it's not become part of the things they do. They actually look forward to fellowship with the saints because they know that there's a life-changing word that God is about to teach them. Is somebody listening to me? That's a good sorry. Number two is understanding. What is understanding? Having a mental comprehension of what is being taught. Luke 8 15 says, calls this ennobling a good heart. Understanding is a work of meditation. Now, beginning of the year, we started looking into someone. And one of the things that we said, gee, God said this. And actually, it's interesting. What we say is how the Bible has a roadmap to how we got to be successful. And one of the roadmaps that God said was Psalm 1 verse 2. And it says, The way you become successful is somebody who delights in the law of the Lord, the Bible. And in the law he meditates day and night. Okay? He says, Shall be like a river planted, uh what's it called, tree planted, but rivers of water. And he said, bring forth the season, and whatever he does prospers. That is a simple roadmap to succeed in the kingdom of God. And here we see this. You cannot understand something without meditating on it. You know why? Because turn it the word over and over in your mind until its implications become very clear to you. This is where study, group studies, like what we do every Wednesday, sitting down and sharing the Bible is so critical. Some of you don't show up because you have other things that are more important. Journaling and personal Bible study reading produces depths that Sunday alone cannot. I have now 43 minutes left in this service. There's very little I can teach you. You know, you can't comprehend everything that I'm about to teach you. So this is where personal study, and this is why I stood to my grounds with this. Mind this. Because I don't want this to be a waste of time, just one off-hearing thing. I want you to be able to have access to what we're teaching. And so with your notes, you know, it's not that I'm always accessing for hard work to just add work to what I do. No. But I just want you guys to understand this that with the resources you have, with the videos on YouTube, with the daily devotions, with the blogs and everything, if you're really interested in learning, you have the tools you can. Okay? And so things that we provide is not because I'm I'm I don't have anything else to do, so I'm just looking to add more work to my life. No. It's because I know that Sunday morning is not enough. And there are people under the sound of my voice who have become Sunday morning Christians. The 45 minutes or an hour you're listening to me online, it's not enough. And if you probably have not comprehended it yet, let me kind of spill this out. You can be a Christian for 100 years. If you don't give yourself to the study of God's word and application of God's word, you are going to be an unfruitful Christian till you go to heaven. There are things that God has promised you. There's chaos in your life. There are things that you are rich trying to reach out for that you can never attain. Because the word, which we will explain on Wednesday, which some of you are not here, teaches the word itself within it is built, has inherited power to produce things for himself. And so every road leads back to God's word. And I promise you, Sunday morning won't cut it for you. Because the more you invest, we're gonna. I hope we get it before we close today. Number three, retaining, keeping what you hear. Luke says that keep it. The Greek word used that is very simple. You know what it means to hold firmly to. Word. And so Luke says, the good soul is one that hears the word and keeps the word. What does he how does he keep the word? He holds firmly to the word, not to let go. This is the decision to hold on to the word under pressure. So it's like, listen, if Satan makes it easy for you, if Satan doesn't test the word, then it's not him. And so it's guaranteed that if you're a believer and if you're receiving the word, that word will be tested. Amen. He will test it. But a good soil is somebody who holds the word firm in respective of it being tested. Does it make sense? This is a decision to hold firm onto the word under pressure. When circumstances scream one thing and the word says another, the good soil believer holds onto that word. So, in other words, when the word is being tested, when you made up your mind, have you guys noticed that the week the year that you make up your mind that you're going to serve God is the year that all hell breaks loose? Have you made up, have you seen that whenever you decide to live a righteous life, it's the time that everything in your life gets tested. What do you think is happening? He's testing you to see whether you can hold fast to the word. Because he knows that if you hold on to that word, ladies and gentlemen, you will produce a harvest. If you produce a harvest, you'll be a fruitful Christian. If you be a fruitful Christian, you know what happens? God gets the glory. He doesn't want that. This is not complicated. If you look at John 15, the Bible says that the reason why Jesus, God expects this harvest from us, is so that he expects to get a glory. Amen. Satan has made up his mind, the force of dark has made up the mind, that they're going to rob God blind of every glory that is due to him. And the way they do that is by getting to you, challenging you, challenging the word in your life, because we've already established this. And I've said this, I'm going to say this in my attempt blue in my face. If there's no word in your life, there is not going to be any harvest. And so whatever you are going through, whatever you're experiencing, whatever the challenges in your life are, it's as a result of what you stand up for. You're not hearing me today. Then we're talking about perseverance, consistent action over time. Luke 8:15 starts this phrase, with patience. The Greek word used here is step as endurance. This is not, we're not talking about two weeks of Bible reading, but a lifetime of walking. This is not emotional highs, but consistent faithfulness in the ordinary. In other words, you know, the Christians will go through this high and lows all the time. There are times that we are very high, very excited, jumping up and down. The times that you come to church and it's like you hate God, you don't even want to be in his presence. We talk about consistency here. Consistency here is reading your Bible, lifetime commitment, not emotional highs, but consistent faithfulness in the ordinary. So let's take a look at James chapter 1. James chapter 1, verse 22 to 25. Bible says that but the doers, but be doers of the word and not hearers only. Someone say men to that. Deceiving yourself. 25. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. 24 says, For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he is. 25 says, but he who looks, this is one of my most favorite scriptures. He who looks in a perfect law of liberty and continues in it. It's not in and out. You continue in it. You look in the perfect law of liberty. What is the perfect law of liberty? The word. So he who looks, look at how James puts it. He who looks, anyone who studies God's word, like Daniel is looking right now, in a peripheral of liberty, and decides to continue in that peripheral liberty. In other words, whatever the perfect of liberty tells them, they're prepared to do. No. What they read, you know, I usually say to people that I have. To me, this ends with me. What God has said ends. If I don't know it, I don't know it. I never turn around and say, I don't think. No. What God says is final. And the Bible says that he that looks in the perfect liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in whatever he does. So touch somebody and say, Do you want to be blessed? This is the path to be blessed. Looking into what God has said and abiding in it and doing everything that the word says. It's not subject to question, it's not subject to your situation, it's not subject to where you are, it's not subject to where you were born, what you think. God's word is universal. What God has said is the guarantee that you will do well if you stick to it. Amen. So the person who hears the word but does not do it is like a man who looks in the mirror, walks away, and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the one who looks intensely in the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, this person is blessed in whatever it does. In other words, if you made up your mind today that I'm going to lose to God's word, if you made up your mind today, I'm going to study the word. And the word is my final authority. It's not what any human being says or what any expectation they put on me. But when God has said it, it's the final authority in my life. The promise and the guarantee is that you will do well. Whatever you put your mind to will work out for you. Do you know why? Because I taught him on Wednesday. Do you know why that ends? Because the word that you are living, that word itself brings himself to pass. You're not hearing me. You're not hearing me. The progression is very interesting. If you take a look at the progression, being fruitful begins with information. Some of this information right now, what you are hearing is information. What is information? You're receiving God's word. I just read God's word in James 1.22, which is the information. And so the process begins with the information that you receive and retain. So if it's relevant to you, then you're gonna receive it. Okay? Now, the information you receive, the next step is transformation. You know, hearing me. You can never be transformed without the information that you receive. And this is where when people don't give themselves into studying God's word to come into church to participate in community and they expect things to happen to them. I look at them and say, Are you serious? Who lied to you? A prophet gave you a word. Who is that one? Bible says, We've said and come to pass when the Lord has not spoken. The Lord is speaking to you today that this is the process in my kingdom. Information, then transformation. What happens? The word changes you. The third step is interesting. You cannot get multiplication without receiving information, without a transformation, because multiplication, which is fruitfulness, is what we're looking for, is when you check your change now produces changes in others. In other words, you get you get information, it transforms you, and then everybody around you feels the effects of your transformation. Because they begin to ask you, how did this person get from A to B? And if it's not God's word, that is the foundation, which is the information you receive, you can never get to multiplication. And so when you're a Christian and you are struggling in the things of the Lord, the reason why you are struggling is because what did you do with information that you received? You go to church every Sunday. There is another illustration. Richard, can you put up image two for me, please? I came across this quite interesting. Watch this now. There are two types of bakers. We call one the recipe reader, the other one the baker. So two kinds of people who interact with recipes. The first one reads it, admires it, and says, That sounds amazing, and closes the book. And we do it all the time. We go to church, we sit down, we listen to the pastor scream and shout. And say, Oh yes, people admire the pastor, they admire the person. Oh, I like the way this guy handles the word. I like the way this person prays, they admire it. But that's the end of it. The second person reads the same recipe book, but then when he's done, he does something, he puts an apron, gathers the ingredients, and gets the flour on their hands. So here's the difference. One has information because they read it. So once once they have people have information today because we're reading the same Bible, they have the information, they're excited about information. But the next person has a cake. Because they actually took the ingredients and put the recipe in action and got a cake. So listen to me. The word of God is never meant to be admired from a distance. Good word. Good word. Leave the church the same as you came in. But it's a good word. When he asked you what you do here, you can't even recite one sentence a year. It's a good word. You are admiring the charisma of the person, you are admiring the ability the person handling the word. But what God's word was never meant to be admired, it was meant to be worked into the dough of your daily life. God wants you to take the word and then mix that word, which is the dough, into your work life. Amen. So listen to this. This is a live change statement. And if you're able, you have notes, you can't. This is the whole hula baraba giving you handouts every day. So I want you to write this down. This is where a lot of us miss this. A good soil is not a person who hears who knows the most scripture. You know that certain times you're talking to people, by the time you finish a statement in the Bible, they finish it for you. They'll quote to the next verse for you. A good soil is not somebody who knows the most scripture. A good soil is a person who works the most scripture into their daily decisions. In other words, you're about to make a decision tomorrow. What are the grounds of that choice and decision you're making? Where are you? From what basis are you making a decision? Are you making a decision based upon the circumstances around you? Are you making a decision based upon what somebody has told you, your expectations you have, or you're making a decision right now based upon what God said? That's a good soil. A good soil is not somebody who knows the scripture, but somebody who's working that scripture into their daily decisions. In other words, every choice you're making is based or propagated on what God said. And this is what I keep saying. Most of the time we read these stories in the Bible and they are very, very, I don't want to say trivial, but interesting. So we know this Jesus thing all the time. Jesus, the temptation of the devil to look at Jesus, man. Can somebody tell me what part of scripture that Jesus actually engaged the devil in a dialogue? What he simply told him was what God has said. What you're learning from it. Why do you think he did that? He turned around and said to him, March not only by bread alone, but by every word. You're not hearing me. Every word. Every word. Not some, every word. That proceeds out of the mouth of God. What God has said is what we live our lives by. It's not what you think, it's not what society thinks, it's not what your party politics is telling you, it's not how your feelings are, it's about what God has said. Ah, you're not hearing me. Human beings, we have feelings, man. Somebody's Democrat, somebody's Republican. So it doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter what God has said. I'm a Republican, so that's the way I think. No, no, no, no, no. I'm a Democrat, and the only thing they have is racism. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's not none of that. The problem is look at the critical situation and understand what God has said about it. And it's not where your emotions are, it's about what God said about it. Oh, you're not hearing me. Notice that Jesus described not one harvest level, but three. Thirty, sixteen, and hundredfold. Now this is interesting. All three are in good soil, all three are genuinely fruitfulness. But God declared gold. His standard for every branch is more. Interesting. So one branch produces, so all these branches are on good soil, but one branch produces a 30fold, and another produces 60. You see the multiplication there, and another one a hundred. Why is that in John 15, verse 8, we learn this? But this my father is glorified. You don't understand your fruit bearing, God is glorified. I just explained that to you. The reason why Satan attacks you as a Christian is because he doesn't want God to get the glory. Because your fruit bearing gives God the glory. You know, everything God has done or God is doing is because of one thing, his glory. You're not hearing me. He delivered you from your sin because of his glory. So everything that God does for you as a human being is because of his glory. And if Satan can rob that glory from you, he's got him back to the Father. And so whatever is happening, he's after the glory that Jesus promised us that God is looking for, which is here, right here in John 15. By this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. So Satan comes after the fruit. Why? Because ultimately he wants to deny God receiving glory on the planet. This is why he went up to heaven to fight God. He wanted the glory that God had. This is the genesis of the human struggle. And this has been the same plan of the force of darkness. He is still attacking God's glory. And you know how he's attacking it now? You, your disobedience to God's word, your lack of productivity. Being a Christian, loving Jesus, mention his name, but there is no nature of God in you because it's still in the glory. This is how he's getting to the Father. Somebody say, never again. So there are three levels of a harvest. Let's discuss it. Now, what how does this how do we determine these three levels of harvest? First of all, you need to understand that there are different seasons of maturity. Okay? A new believer in their first year will not produce the same harvest as a saint walking in faithfulness for 20 years. 30 fold is not a failure, it is a beginning. And so God begins with that. This is a good soil. We've discussed it. They hear the word, they retain it, they accept it as a fact, they understand the word, they put in the word in practice. It's a good soil. But I've been walking with the Lord for 37 years. If you just came into the kingdom, God hasn't expect the same harvest from me that he expects from you. Do you understand that? And so God makes provisions for that. It's tied down to maturity. There are also different circumstances. A young mother with three children under five operates differently under different constraints than the retiree who has to hold it open. God honors a harvest that comes from a soil you actually have. And so you see, God is not expecting, He's expecting great harvest from us. But the fact is that your harvest is determined by the soil you have and the harvest you are giving God. God actually accepts that harvest. And also there are different callings as well. Most of the time, pastors want to we want to compare ourselves with one another. No, they're different callings. God has distributed gifts differently, but within the care with the calling, there are levels, and more is always available. In other words, you could start, the good news is this you could start at 30 today, but you could get yourself to 100. Amen. Because the fourth one is different, the different fruitfulness. This is interesting. This is the honest factor. The gap, listen to this, between 30fold and 100fold is often not a matter of circumstance. Usually it is stewardship. What you do, what you do with what you have been given determines the return. And so many a time 30 is great, but it's the beginning of the process. But the reason why somebody's at 30 at times, and the reason why somebody's 100, is because of what they do with what they are given. The attention they give to the word. Amen. There's always more. Okay? There's always more. Now, we're gonna discuss how to move from 30 to 60 to 100. I'm sure somebody's been asking, how do I do that? Now watch this. These four words form the pathway from one harvest level to the next. So we finished with the three: the rocky, the the stony, the waper, the rock, and all that. The good news is that we should all strive to be good soyers. And we've discussed how do you get to a good soil, right? So now we are all on good soil, that is great. But we want to move from 30. Who doesn't want more? Who is satisfied with 30? I want to get to 100. Amen? So if 30 is just an entry point. So I'm here, 30. Great stuff. I'm making it to heaven. But I want all that God gave me, made provided for me on the cross. I want the cripples walking. I want to teach God's word and teach God's word with consistency. I want to be that, I want that handful. I want that experience in my life. How do I do that? Number one, consistency. Trust me, what is the consistency? Be consistent with the things of God, people. We move in waves. Today we are here. This season is great, the next season is difficult because life beats us. You see, when life is beating you, it's when you do the things that you are doing more. Your consistency is critical. Daily disciplines compound. One verse a day for a year is 365 verses that you hide in your heart. One prayer a day for 10 years is a person who is saturated in the presence of God. Faithfulness is really dramatic. It is cultivative. You have to be consistent. You read a verse a day, stick to that a day. You pray an hour a day, stick to that a day consistently. Do not let seasons determine how you approach the things of God. Are you listening to me? Because what Satan is doing, and today I want you to leave this place with this very clear in your mind that whatever the challenges are, do you know why the challenges are the way they are? He's after the word in you. It's very simple. He has marked you because he doesn't want you, God, to receive the glory that comes from your life. Amen. And so he attacks the word in you so that he can deny God of that glory. So I wish I could tell everybody this morning it's gonna be easier. It's not gonna be easy. He's not gonna relent, he doesn't relent. But then it's up to us to be consistent with the things that we told God we're gonna do. Challenges are gonna come, difficulties are gonna come. We're always gonna have choices. But be consistent. You start something, you complete it. Are you listening to me? This is how you get from 30 to 60 to 30 to 60 to 100. Number two, community. Listen to me carefully. What Satan does when does very well is that he Isolates people. Now I promise you today. I don't know who you're. I promise you. There is nobody here that can produce a hundredfold harvest in isolation. You're gonna do it. You cannot be this person who decides that I've disconnected myself from community. Look, I was thinking about this the other night. And I'm telling you something today. You can disagree all you want. But I'm actually not to disagree, but to pray about it for God to share a revelation. One of the greatest gifts that God gave is children. You know what it is? It's a community of Christians. Community of Christians. Actually, your development, your security begins with a community that you belong to. And I'm telling you that you think you want to produce a hundredfold. There's no way that you can get there in isolation. The roots of the surrounding believers interlock with yours and feed yours. And I want to tell you today find people whose fruits is what you want to produce and plant your life near them. Find someone that is doing what you want to do. I sat down in a church about 30 years ago, 30, 35 years ago, even no more longer than that. Listen to a man preach. And I said, I want to be that man. Find someone you want to be like, who is doing what you want to do. This is what mentorship is about. And connect yourself to that person. That is community, people. In a church, feel isolated. They come to church because they feel like no. Coming to church, it's a believer's responsibility. God wants you to be a member of a community. Amen. Number three, commitment. Long-term obedience in the same direction. There are folks who jump from this church to that church. I don't like how the pastor speaks. I don't like the messages they preach. I don't like the people in the church. Listen to me. Your commitment to the things of God is what takes you from 30 to 100fold. Long-term obedience in the same direction, not starting something new every season, but deepening the same root system year after year. The more you get dug in, the more you get committed, the more you are growing in community, the more that God exposes to you. Because the more relevant his word becomes to you. Number four, your character. You are becoming determined. What you are becoming determines what you produce. The harvest is always a reflection of a tree. Investment in character, honesty, faithfulness, integrity. It's investment in a future harvest. You know, God wants you changed from inside out, people. It is not just the outward things you see. God wants your root system to be so deep in his word. Oh, you're not hearing me. Most of us think that deliverance is when you call somebody, you lay hands on the person, the person shakes, the person falls, that he's delivered. No, no, no, no. Do you know when you know you're delivered from something? I told people before. Do you know when you know that you're delivered? You have a character, you have a behavior issue, and you are praying to God and you get delivered from that. Do you know how you know you're delivered? It's not because somebody called you and laid hands on you. It's not because somebody prophesied in your whole life. It's not because somebody who calls himself prophet gave your word. No, no, no. It's not because you got prayed for. Most of the time, when I talk like that, people might think that's not against prayer. No, no, no. I do understand what prayer does. But when you know you are delivered, it's when the challenge comes, and the first thing that comes to mind is God's word. You know that you are delivered. The first thing that comes to mind is what God has said about that situation. You know that your deliverance is sorted out. Take me to image number three. Let's talk about the compound interest principle. I came across this and I saw was the most profound thing. So I wanted to include it today. Watch this now. A financial advisor once said, the eighth wonder of the world. You know they say the seven wonders, right? He says the eighth wonder of the world is what we call compound interest. He who understands it earns it. He who doesn't pays it. So if you understand about compound interest, you earn it. If you don't, you pay to somebody else. Now watch this. If you invest$1,000 or 10% annually, after 30 years, you have$17,449. But if you invest$1,000 and add$100 per month of those same 30 years, you have$227,000. By just adding$100. Look at the difference.$227,000. Now watch this. Small, consistent addition to growing base produces extraordinary returns over time. The kingdom of God, ladies and gentlemen, operates on the same principle. You don't need a dramatic breakthrough, shake, shake, shake, falling. You need a consistent deposit of prayer, a consistent deposit of God's word, a consistent deposit of obedience into the same account every day, in every season. Every day. You don't waver, you don't shake. This is what we call compound interest. You keep depositing. There's a verse in Ecclesiastics. It said, In the morning, give your seed. In the evening, do not withhold your hands. For you do not know which one shall profit. You don't hear in me. Consistently, do something. Oh, I gave C's, and the person told me, and nothing happened. Consistently, God isn't doesn't work on the stock market of America. God is not a magician. What you have in your hands is as a result of what you are investing in the things of God. Watch this. The hundredfold harvest is not for spiritually spectacular, it is for faithful consistency. In other words, if you are 30 and you want to get to 100, I'll give you a shortcut today to 100. Faithful consistency in the things of God. You read one verse a day, you stick to it. You don't change your confession because you come across something difficult. Life can be very difficult and challenging. You hit a situation in your life, you don't change your confession. You don't stop praying because things are not going right for you. You don't stop. You know the first thing that people do when the things are good for them, they disconnect themselves for community. Don't come to church. Do you know who wins when you do that? The force of darkness. Because you might be sitting here today and your mind might not be here. You might be going something through something very difficult, but the mere fact that you are sitting under this atmosphere, that the word of God is being sown. You know what happens when the word of God is being sown? I pray that God opens our eyes one day to see. Angels are very busy. Very, very, very busy, extremely busy. Moving up and down, extremely busy. And the mere fact that you are just sitting in an environment like this, you are sitting next to somebody who you can't pray, but that person is praying. I remember years ago I had an encounter in our church in London. There's some situations that I don't want to have time to go through. And um, somebody came to our church and you what's uh finished preaching, was raising an offering. And I said to myself, I am not going to do any such thing anymore. And the church secretary, I think Lebed knows her, Jennifer Pra. Jennifer Jennifer was on the stage, and I was sitting down there and I was struggling with myself. I said, I'm not going, Lord. The man was calling for 500 pound seed. And I said, Lord, I'm not going. And as if somebody just poured water over me, I was so uncomfortable sitting down there. So after a while, I decided I was so angry. I decided, let me go. Let me give you the money, whatever you do. When I went, I stood next to Jennifer. You know what Jennifer said to me? He said, I know you'll come because I've been praying for you. As I'm sitting down there, somebody was interceding on the stage for me to come and give an offering. Listen, gentlemen, my life, that seed that gave, gave me something I never thought I could get. Up to now, that thing changed my life. That seed that somebody was sitting. What am I saying? If I was staying at home, I would have missed an opportunity. That thing I did changed my life up to now. That thing. And I didn't even, I was angry when I gave it to God. I wasn't even asking me for anything back. My point is because I was in the environment, somebody was somewhere in the same environment praying for me, that God will open something for me. Ladies and gentlemen, being a Christian does not mean you are smarter than everybody, you know. Now, watch this. How do we become good souls? If any soil can be good, which you can. This is not a mystery. Why? Because we know that the farmer knows what the soil needs, and it's about to teach us. I'm going to give you four weeks soil transformation plans. Then we pray. Time is gone. Number one, week one, break up the hard ground. Start repentance and softening. There are things in your life that are unacceptable to things of God. There are things that we cover, there are things that we hide, there are things that we don't want to deal with. Ladies and gentlemen, these behaviors are unacceptable. And if you are one of these and one of these things is going on in life without being dealt with, the issue is that you can never ever increase your productivity in the things of God. So I want you to identify the area for life where the word has bounced off for years. You know, the same thing. You've been sitting in church for 10 years, the preacher men have been preaching the same thing, and there is no movement in your life. You have made up your mind that this area, even though the person is preaching from the Bible, ladies and gentlemen, the person is reading the Bible to you. He's quoting Bible verses, he's telling you, this is what God said. You have decided that you are not going to change your mind. For whatever reason, you're not going to do it. The word bounces year after year. Where have you heard the truth and walked away unchanged? Jewada is that's your hard ground. Every week, Dr. Gogin standing here. We believe in pay your tithes. There are people who have sat in church for 120 years and have never paid the tithe before. And every single day they tell them about the Bible says, Bible says, this is what the Bible says. This wasn't a version of Dr. Gogo writing the Bible. Bible says he simply told you that God says, bring this to the house, and you made up your mind. Hard ground, I'm not going to listen. 200 years, you are still there listening. How do you become productive? When the very thing that produces is bouncing off the soil. How do you become productive? How do you have access to the things of God when God is teaching his word and the word is bouncing back to him? When we just told you that everything you ever produce begins from God's word. Repentance is not punishment, it is a plow that breaks it open. Ask God to show you what has hardened and give you a soft, teachable heart. Decide today when I hear something from His Word. You might not trust the pastor who is teaching or the person that you are listening to. But what I age you to do is to go home, take the same word, and pray and fast on that word and tell God, is this your word? Or is the man trying to call me? And I promise you the Holy Ghost will speak to you because God always backs His word. But don't walk away with a hardened heart, deciding that I am not going to do it. Oh, God understands I can't afford it. My finances doesn't permit. How do you become financially free, liberated, if you have made up your mind that you are going to disobey God's word because of a circumstance? Your circumstance doesn't justify your obedience to God's word. Am I making sense at all? Am I just speaking gibberish? Everybody has a unique circumstance, and I promise you, your father understands it. But it doesn't justify your disobedience to his word when he has told you this is my opinion concerning the word. You have Netflix at home, you have stream TV, you have the best plan on your phone, you barely wear the best clothes, you eat very well, but you have nothing to give to God. But you are praying for financial freedom and liberty when the Bible instructs us to give. How do you realize the hundredfold word that God has given you? Help me understand it, please. Roots need soil depth. What are the shallow areas of a spiritual life? The areas where you have emotions but no structure, enthusiasm but no discipline. Commit to one practice of death, depth. Whether it's a daily devotional time, whether it's a weekly fast or memorizing scripture, commit to it. Somebody say amen to that. Week three, pull out the weeds, name the thorns that are currently choking your harvest. Is it the worry about money, which Jesus said? It's a thorn. Is it a pool to entertainment? You want to express your life, you want to enjoy. There are people that places more emphasis on the entertainment than their connection to God's work in God's house. Every funeral they are there, every party they are there, but selectively we come to God's house when the very root system, what you depend on, the nutrients of your life, is rooted in God's word, but you place other things important, and you are worried and wonder why your life is the way it is. If it's money, deal with it. Entertainment, deal with it. If it's anxiety about tomorrow, pull them up special specifically. You know, I wrote you vague what's called a resolutions don't work. Name the phone and remove it. Week four, you plant. Now the soul is ready, begin a daily rhythm. Morning word, midday prayer, evening reflection, plant seeds deliberately, water it consistently, and trashed the growth. Mark 4, 26 to 28. And he said, The kingdom of God is a man who shall scatter seed on the ground, 27, and shall sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed shall sprout and grow. He himself does not know how. For the earth yields crop by itself, first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the harvest. Mark 4, 26 to 29 teaches us that the division of labor between God and man. Watch this now. What is your responsibility? Very clear. You have to prepare the soil, you need to scatter the seed. In other words, you need to study the Bible, read the Bible. You need to turn to the ground. In other words, make sure that there are no thorns on the ground. Make sure you need to be responsible for the thorns, the anxiety, the excitement, the worry of money. You need to take care of that. You need to take care of that. You are the planter, you are the gardener. God is not going to do it. Somebody's not hearing me. You are the one that scattered the seeds, you turn the ground and protect what you grow. Understand that your productivity, your whole human existence is the predicate on the word that's in you. Can I put it very simple? Your whole human existence, your whole fruitfulness, your whole existence, it's not based upon how much psychology you know. No, you hear me. There are people who have all the degrees in the world, two, three, four, five doctorate degrees. They are very ignoring the things of God. When it comes to spiritual productivity, forget it. Your life, so that I'm very clear, your life, your productivity in God's kingdom is propagated on how much content of word you carry. And not the content of word you carry, but your literal understanding of what you are studying. That's your responsibility. God's one is very simple. He produces the growth, he multiplies the seed, he turns 30 fold into a hundredfold. You cannot manufacture harvest, but you can position yourself to receive it. So the harvest that we're talking about here, none of it has to do with we manufacturing it. All we do is to position ourselves to receive the work that we put in. Does it make sense? We're closing. So we close this series with clarification. A challenge, an assessment, and a promise. But before we do that, this is a word that I want God. God wants us to hold on to. Say this up to me. I will produce a harvest. The reason why God took us through this journey of five weeks, four weeks, is that God wants every single believer of life touch to be very fruitful. So you want to prophesy to yourself. I will produce a harvest. The word planted in me, it's alive, it's active and it's working. My soil is being prepared. My harvest is coming. What I plant in March, I will harvest before the end of the year. I'm going to give you a 30-day plan and then we pray. Starting today. Commit to a 30 day specific daily practice that prepares and sustains good soil. This is not a spiritual performance, it is strategic investment in your harvest. Here is your daily framework. I know time is up, but give me five minutes and we'll pray. Every morning, I want every single person here today to commit to 10 minutes of reading one chapter of a scripture. Before you close the Bible, ask God this Lord, what are you saying to me today? And what does obedience look like? So I'm not asking you to do a lot, just begin to read. And remember, we spoke a lot, consistency. Ten minutes. Midday when you take a lunch break. Go somewhere for about five minutes and pray. But I want you to be specific. Pray the verse you studied in the morning. Okay? Pray the verse or truth from the morning reading. Let the word return to God in prayer. And so you're being strategic here. You are studying the word ten minutes and you are praying the word five minutes. When you get home in the evening, spend about five minutes and review the day. Where did you apply or fall, fail to apply? What you received in the morning. No condemnation, just honest soil assessment. On a weekly basis, share one thing God has been teaching you with at least one person. Listen to this faithfulness multiplies through testimony. If God is doing something in your life, share it with me. Call somebody. This is what God is teaching me through the word. It's not about bragging, it's about being faithful. On a monthly, at the end of the 30 days, ask yourself which harvest level was I on day one and where am I today? So let's say you begin today. You ready to assess yourself, you know where harvest level you are. In 30 days, try this and see where you're gonna be. Now, before we leave this sanctuary today, I want to do an honest assessment. No one is greater than you. This is between you and God who loves you too much. Let's begin with the 30fold because I believe there's no stony grounds here. We all good sort, but the productivity varies. So let's begin with 30fold. So let's assume that you say that I'm a 30fold, returned believer. What that really means is I'm saved, I'm growing. My fruitfulness is visible but limited. I have spiritual disciplines, but they are inconsistent. I know what I need to change. And you know, when you say this to God, this is like musing God's ears. You've done an assessment to yourself, you know that God wants more from you. You're a Christian. But I'm a 30-fold believer, but I want to get to the hundredfold. Because guess what? That hundredfold produces more glory for God. Are you hearing me? Is anybody here at response? Is anybody here even excited that God gets glory from your fruitfulness? Isn't an amazing thing to look at? That all that we're doing is because God gets the glory from this. And so you want to put a finger right at Satan's nose and said, you know, when Devon was here personally, we used to do this. We were not going to give Satan a win. It's like poking your nose right at his nostrils and telling him, I am not going to give you a win. Why? Because I'm going to die and fight so that my father gets the glory. If you believe that, just clap onto him, man. Just give him a lot of clap. And so maybe you are 60fold. I am working consistently with God. I am producing fruit in my family, my relationship, my workplace. I sense that more is available. I want it. Is somebody here like that? I'm producing fruit, but I want more, man. The sky is, have you heard of the sky is your limit? God says, come, come out here, come out, man. It's good. I like what you're doing, but you can do more. Because the more you do, the more glory comes to me. Oh, you're not hearing me. But let's say you're hundredfold. My life is producing fruits that reproduces in others. Discipline, disciples are coming from my disciplines. My household is a testimony. My gifts are impacting the kingdom at a level I did not think possible. That people is a hundredfold believer. When your life is affecting every single person. When you have people that are in your immediate circle, but in a distant circle, but your life that you're living, you know they are people that are impacting life so much, they are dead and gone, but their lives are still affecting people today. You're listening to their videos, you are reading their books, they did something with that. Is a hundredfold life when your fruitfulness in the kingdom is so impactful. Oh, you're not hearing me. How can you sit down as a believer that God has died for you on Calvary and you are not making up your mind that you are going to put yourself in a situation that somebody gets blessed so that God gets the glory? How is that possible? How is that your life is all about you? Oh, the devil is a liar. Watch this. Prophetic word. What you plant in March, you will harvest before the year ends. So we began this year by saying that this is a year of a spiritual fruitfulness. And I want to tell you, this was not by coincidence, it's by design. God has destinated this year because He intends to produce something in your life that will last this year. So every Sunday you have sewn out, you have shown up, every message you have received, every honest reckoning with the hard, rocky, thorny ground has been plowed, going deep. The planting season is not over, people. It is barely begun. Plant deeply in these remaining months. Listen to me. Guide what has been planted and expect a harvest that will make you stand back in the wonder at what God has done.