Since each lesson will contain one or more Bible verses to memorize. We need to spend a short time talking about effective Scripture memory techniques. Repetition and review are the key. It is just as easy to memorize word perfectly as it is to memorize using synonyms and approximate meanings. Word perfect memorization is easier to retain than the general meaning. It is better to consistently memorize from only one translation. When you say the memory verse repeat the reference before and after it, because most of us have a more difficult time remembering the reference numbers than we have in retaining the words. Memorize a phrase at a time and keep adding to it until you can say the entire passage word perfectly. Write the Scripture verses on index cards and carry them with you so you can review them frequently throughout the day. Continue to repeat the verses daily for six weeks, and thereafter, repeat it at least weekly for six months.

Cultivated by God - Faith is the Key:

Every farmer and gardener knows that you must prepare the ground before you try to grow crops. Even the best of seed needs good soil in which to germinate, grow, and produce fruit. Jesus took this commonly held knowledge and explained fundamental truths of human nature.

Read Matthew 13:3-9 and 13:18-23

The soil in the Lord’s parable represents the inner being of a person, their heart. Every heart can become fertile ground within which the message of the Kingdom can sprout and grow. Faith is the plow that breaks up the hardened heart, removes the rocks and uproots the thorns in our lives. We must willingly submit to being cultivated by God.

1. Along the path
2. In rocky places
3. Among the thorns
4. In good soil

Along the Path:

Those who heard the message of the Kingdom but did not understand it were like the hard packed pathway. Satan quickly removed all traces of the message. The question in my mind is why didn’t these people understand the message?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

What is so difficult to understand? The depths of God’s love are unfathomable, but His message is easy. What would prevent someone from understanding that God loves them so much that He would allow His only Son to die that they might be freed from the death grip of sin? Jesus gives us the answer in the analogy he used. If you have been a pathway all of your life, you might find it hard to believe that this kind of love really exists. If you have resented the fact that people walk all over you, you become hardened and cynical. If you hate being walked upon, but feel you deserve nothing better, you may fall into self destructive behavior and completely ignore God’s ultimate expression of love because you believe you are unworthy to receive it. In either case you will become a person who has learned to trust no one. You may become fiercely independent, and have faith in nothing but yourself and what you have personally experienced and proven to be reliable. Or you may live in fear and isolate yourself from others either physically or emotionally. Perhaps you sense, at least in part, that your heart is like a pathway, but it isn’t totally impenetrable. You have trusted God in some aspects of your life, but you continue to struggle with faith. You still are not sure that God really loves you. In the deepest recesses of your heart you wonder when He too will walk on you; so you hold back and keep Jesus at arms length. With respect to Jesus’ parable, you are no longer a pathway. You may find at this point, however, that your heart is a shallow, rocky seed-bed or that it is filled with worrisome thorns.

What causes you to misunderstand God's message?

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In Rocky Places:

Then Jesus spoke about those who hear the Word and receive it joyfully, but they do so in such a superficial manner that it is forsaken as soon as it results in conflict. The rocks in the soil composition of our hearts are varied in size and shape, but they seem to all be essentially the same at the core. They appear to be those areas of our life in which we are unwilling to submit to the Lordship of Christ. This is where we draw the line; this is the point beyond which God is not allowed to proceed. The rock is something in our lives that is more important to us than God. It is our idol!

If your idol is your family, you will say no to God anytime He asks you to do something that appears to put them at risk. If you are your family’s provider, you will not follow the Lord into a ministry that reduces your income. If you are the caretaker in your family, you may find you never have enough time or energy to serve the Lord because your family requires all you have to give. If your idol is your privacy, you will simply not obey God when He tells you to talk with people about your relationship with Him and what He can do in their lives. If you jealously guard your free time for rest, recreation, or hobbies, you will not allow the Lord to interrupt you with ministry opportunities. If your personal well-being is your idol, you will challenge and reject anything that God asks you to do that makes you uncomfortable.

"Rocky" Christians generally play the role of spectator. They come to church but they never really get involved. They focus on form rather than substance. They can be very ritualistic, even "superstitious" in their approach to "religious" activities. Their assessment of good and bad is usually from an egocentric point of reference rather than from God’s perspective. So they conform to situational ethics and bend the rules to suit themselves. Their superficial relationship with God may have them chasing after things to fill the void in their lives. They are often intrigued by sin rather than being repulsed by it. These people will fantasize about sinful things. They dwell on the sin and view it as something that might bring them pleasure. They usually fail to see the destructive nature of sin until they are surrounded by it.

What are the really important things in your life (people, things, events, expectations) that can potentially get between you and God?  Are these places where you draw the line with God?

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Among the Thorns:

Jesus said, "The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." Unlike the rocky places where God is pushed away, here God is received openly but is asked to share first place along with many other equally important things. These equally important things are the same idols as those found in the rocky places. Health, career, family, comfort, recreation, and valuable possessions are still major considerations in every decision. The difference is that these idols no longer hold absolute sway in every decision. Sometimes these people listen to God; at other times they listen to the idol. They are double-minded. They are always wondering and never certain about God’s will in their lives. Their ability to discern His will is distorted by their own wants and fears. When they say yes to God, they worry that He might not have really been asking them to take the steps they are taking. What if this was just their imagination and not God that led them down this path? When they say no to what they believe is God’s leading, they worry about the consequences and spend a lot of time rationalizing their behavior. The Word sown among the thorns never really grows up. Every step forward in their faith is counterbalanced by another step backward. They wander through their Christian life trying to serve too many masters.

"Thorny" Christians get involved in the ministry of their church, but not always for the right reasons. People who strum their heart strings in just the right way can get these people to follow them. Guilt and flattery are often more convincing to them than the still small voice of God. They are sincere and will do their best, but they have a difficult time staying on course. Sometimes they get involved in a ministry for the wrong reason. At other times they say no, when God was urging them to step out in faith. Once they get involved, they can get derailed and quit, or they may hang on to the ministry long after God has asked them to move on to something else. They are not sure how to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to work in and through their lives, so they often rely on their own capabilities. When they fall back on their natural resources rather than relying on God’s supernatural power, their ministry lacks His eternal dimension. It becomes their ministry rather than His, and if things don’t go the way they want them to go, disappointment, discouragement, and depression can put them on the sidelines.

Make a list of your anxieties.

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In Good Soil:

But the one who received the message of the Kingdom with an understanding and submissive heart produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. The Christians in this category both recognize their need as well as their inadequacy for meeting it. They are deeply involved in ministry, but since they receive their assignments from the Lord, they are not very responsive to the tactics of flattery nor guilt. When they say yes and accept a ministry responsibility, they inevitably fulfill it supernaturally. Those who work with them or are served by them observe a unique ability for dealing with the central issues rather than the perimeter. If they are called to serve others or give to those in need, their service and their gifts do not have "strings attached", do not enslave by making the recipient dependent upon the giver, but rather they tend to free others to accomplish the work God has given them to do. Those who are called to administrate or lead do not become the center of attention and are not benevolent dictators. They simply see the Spiritual capabilities of those around them, the essence of the work to be performed, and they orchestrate these people to perform this work to the glory of God. When this true disciple teaches, encourages, extends mercy, or performs surgery on sin and heresy, they touch lives in an eternal dimension. These Christians invariably exceed their personal capabilities. They usually accomplish more than anyone expected, and yet, their successes do not produce pride. They recognize their inadequacy, but they have complete faith in the power of God to work in and through them to change both their life and the lives around them. These people steadily are becoming like Christ. They acknowledge Him in all of their ways. They are constantly interacting with Him. They bathe their minds with the Word of God by meditating on it day and night. They are disciples, and they make disciples wherever they go. We recognize them by their abundant fruit.

Can you identify the fruit the Lord has produced in you?

Summary Questions:

Each successive place upon which the "message of the Kingdom" fell was increasingly more receptive. The fertile ground is a heart that trusts God, relies entirely upon Him, and submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over their lives. When faith erodes and obedience falters, our hearts become encumbered with worry and hardened by disappointment.

Do you see yourself in any of these descriptions?

Are you unresponsive to God?

Where is the limit of your faith?

Does God have free reign in your life?

Does your will in a situation often cloud your ability to hear God’s will in the matter?

Are you ready to allow God to cultivate your heart so that you can grow to become like Christ?

 

Personal Evaluation:

Psalm 139:23-24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Access, print, and fill out the Discipleship Quotient Evaluation Sheet to aid in determining areas of your life that the Lord wants to affect with His love and power.

Listen to the Lord’s opinion of you with respect to this spectrum of attitudes and characteristics listed on the Evaluation Sheet. Place check marks in the boxes honestly as you sense the Lord is directing. Do not be bashful to place entries in the extreme columns. This evaluation does not have a middle of the road or average column. The middle column describes people who are unpredictable rather than those who are safely somewhere near the middle of two opposing attitudes.

Discipleship Quotient Sheet

 

Setting Your Course:

Believers are on a journey. This place and this life is not our home; we are pilgrims. We must be careful not to become wanderers; pilgrims are passing through on their way to a specific destination.

Describe the next steps He is leading you to take as a result of this evaluation.

 

 

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