Does God Have You in Rich Soil?

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Welcome back to the Iron Saints Podcast with your host, Dan Willis.

Welcome back, Saints. It has been a while. July was the last time that we had an episode, and I have taken a bit of a hiatus on this. Initially, I had stopped because of frustration with the tools that I was using to edit the episodes, but now that we are back at it, I am excited to get going. The tool that I use has updated, And it looks like it's going to be a lot better. So the plan is to continue moving through Luke. When last we stopped, we had finished Luke 7. We're going to continue forward in Luke 8, and then hopefully once we get through Luke, we will tackle Acts. But for those of you that may be new, these are daily snippets from Luke. We just come together as a group of men. Obviously, everybody's open to listening, but this is primarily focused to the men of faith. And what we're going to do is just rip through it, take a look at the scriptures, take a look at what's Going on daily, and as always, guys, at the end of the episode, I do pray for any prayer requests that come in, whether that's on social or through email. So if you do have prayer requests, feel free to drop those into the socials, and I will do my best to make a point of praying. But without further ado, let's get back down to it. Today, we're going to break down Luke chapter eight, verses one through eight. So I do encourage you guys to have your physical Bible and crack it open and read along with me, make some notes for yourself. Uh, for those of you that can't, I understand some of you may be driving or commuting or just in a place where you can't open your Bible at the moment, may not have a Bible handy. No problem. I always read the passage as well. I'm going to be reading from the ESV. I'm sure everybody has their favorite version or translation, but for me, I will be reading from the ESV. So Luke chapter 8. Soon afterward, he went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the 12 were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary called Magdalene, from whom 7 demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their means. When a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot. And the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. As he said these things, he called out, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. So a little bit of a shorter passage today, guys, but the parables are those that I don't try to rush through them. Each of the parables, I think, is needed to have its own attention, its own focus. And I know it's going to take a lot longer to get through Luke in order to do that, but that's some of the fun with wrestling with the word is there's no race. It's a marathon. So, um, it's going to be fun that way. It's not a sprint. Uh, we'll take our time and we'll go through it. Um, in this one, um, just, it's been a while. So I understand that Jesus is traveling. He's moving city to city. He's got a group of people that obviously show up at each encounter and with each new city, more and more people are coming. Um, And one of the things that Jesus does frequently though throughout all of the Gospels is making a point of recognizing that there is knowledge that he wants to impart, but not impart to everyone, only impart to those that have the ability to hear what he's saying. So I encourage you in this as we wrestle through this word, strive to be one of those that has the ears to hear. Have a desire to wrestle with us. Have a desire to rip through it. We've got we've got this great parable, and every time that we break down parables, guys, we really should take the time to do the proper analysis of it. Of okay, so who is what in the parable? Obviously, we've got the the sower, the the farmer. We've got seeds, and then we've got all the different environments around it. In most cases, what we're looking for in the parables is where is God and where are we? Sometimes there are some other other figures that pop into those parables. But in this case, this one's fairly straightforward. We do also have things, the crows, the weeds, the dry soil. So I would put forth in this one, guys, that the sower is God planting the seed. The seed is us. Ultimately, we can be the plant that grows and bears good fruit, or we can wither and die for a variety of reasons. And then each of those groups, the crows, the The thorns and the dry soil represent either people or environments around us, and that's really what I want to dive into and rip apart on this one is I think this is a big caution as to the environment, how you surround yourself and who you surround yourself with. When we see the birds of the air devouring the seed, this is people that are showing up and plucking and picking at you. They're taking Taking you away from where you belong, and maybe you are blessed to not have folks like that in your life. But some of you may be struggling with that. That is a reality that there are people that pull us away from God for whatever reason, and sometimes it's not through malicious intent. It's just their lives are their priority, and you're a part of their lives, and they pull you away from God and what God's calling you to do. We've got. People that obviously have malicious intent and try to pull you from God intentionally. And one of the things that I love about this podcast is that the community is truly international, and there are some countries where people are listening to the podcast, and it is not a favorable environment for Christians in those countries. This one, these crows are going to be far more relevant there where there are people that are literally trying to pluck you away from God's intent for you. The the thorns that grow around you. This one for me, and I mean it's going to be different for each of us how we see these things. But for me, the thorns growing around you are those bodies, those men's groups, those those churches where it has become more about the we'll call it the religiosity of it than the actual pursuit of of Christ. The you get caught up in the legalism of it all, the the rules and. the, uh, are we doing this right? Do we have the right liturgy and doctrine? And those things are important, but only to an extent. Um, if you get too muddled up in them, just like the Pharisees were, then you end up choked out in thorns. Um, you've got the dry soil guys. You've got a soil that, uh, is where you've got people that are overly legalistic to some extent. You have the other ones where there's just no spirit Flowing in that place. There's no, there's no life flowing in that place. And that, that may be, uh, the body that you're in, but it may be because you're not in a body either. It may be you find yourself as a, one of the Christians said that it says, well, I'm a Christian. I just don't attend church. I don't, I don't approve of the institution. So I'm not there. Um, it's really, really difficult as a Christian to say, well, I'm a hand. I just don't need the body. Or, uh, I, I'm an eye, but I don't need the face. Uh, These these environments that we put ourselves in that are are dry, that are void of the spirit, whether that's in the church or outside the church. Obviously, we can't grow in those environments if the spirit's not flowing in that place. It's you're not going to get fed. You're not going to get fed the way that you need to. So I I would call you guys in this to really look at the things that we can do. We we aren't always completely in control of our environment. Maybe the country we live in or the city we live in, the area of the city that we live in, the churches that are available to us. Those may may not always be within our control, but there are things that we can do and scripture calls us to do. And being in prayer daily, reading the word daily, for those of you listening here, you know, just doing that daily devotional, making sure that you do have a body of good Christian men to sharpen yourself with wherever you may be. I'm not calling for us to be separate from the world and the world's not calling or the word is not calling for us to be separate from the world. We're to be in it for sure. But we also have to do that with purpose and focus and intent. Really, really take a few moments and just pause and reflect. Are you a part of a body, a good Bible-believing, God-loving body? Are you in the world but surrounded by people that strengthen you and build you up and drive you forward towards Christ? Are you seeking out legalism? How are you seeking out Christ in your walk? They're hard questions, and it's funny that so much can come out of this tiny little parable, but it's a reality that if we put ourselves in an environment that's dry, that's blocked out from the sun, that isn't constantly exposed to God, that we are going to wither. The fruit just can't come unless you're daily in the Word and living with God and walking with God. It's amazing to see how quickly that change can happen just by doing something like a devotion or praying daily.

Yeah.

Joining a men's group or being a part of a body if you've been away for a time. So take that time today, guys, really wrestle with this throughout your day. Pause and consider, are the environments that you're walking with, the people that you associate with, the people that you rely on, are they good soil? Are you growing and bearing fruit? If you're not, maybe take some time and evaluate what you could change. All right, guys. I'm gonna pray for us here and get us off to our day again. Just to reiterate, I know I said at the start, but just again, if you guys have prayer requests, feel free to throw them out into social media. All that stuff's in the the text, the copy that comes with the podcast episode wherever you're listening to it. So feel free to do that. I'm more than happy to lift up prayers because we've been on a bit of a hiatus. I don't have any current prayers, so I'll just pray for you guys today. Lord, thank you so much for the blessings that you show us. Thank you so much that we're able to connect like this globally. Men from all over the world gather. Gathering together and listening to your word being spoken, and then being able to wrestle with that and try to apply it to our lives each day to sharpen one another, to to grow and strengthen. I pray for the men that are struggling with dry soil or thorny soil or the crows, Lord. I pray that you convict them. You convict them of where they are and help them to see what you would want for them. I pray for those that have been away from your word for a time, Lord. I pray that they would dive back in; they would wrestle with your word daily. I pray that they would come to you in prayer with their struggles. I lift up the those of us that have decided that we need to be apart from the body for a time, that we don't need to be a part of the institution, we don't need to be a part of the church. I pray that those men would realize how how crucial it is to be a part of the body, Lord. We're all one vine. We're all one body. Uh, Lord, thank you so much for those men that are bearing good fruit, those who have lives that they see you in them and they feel fed, they feel like they're growing, they feel like they're producing. Uh, thank you so much for what a blessing that is, Lord. Lift up all those unheard prayers that I can't bring to you today, Lord. I pray for all the men that are struggling out there. Uh, just be with them. Give them a measure of your grace, your compassion, and keep your eyes on them, Lord. In your name we pray. That is it for today, gentlemen. I will be back tomorrow and ongoing Monday through Saturday. Sunday I will be taking a break like I normally do, but Monday through Saturday, guys, I will be putting out an episode and we will continue through Luke and then hopefully eventually Acts, and then we'll work our way through the epistles. That is it though. Have a great day.

Thank you for listening to the Iron Saints Podcast. If you are looking to share your prayer requests, check the description for social media or email to contact the show. Blessings on you all until next time.