Mark 4:19 (nlt) --- but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced.
Jesus was telling the store about the seed and the soils in the passage I quoted from above. He talked about several of the soils and how they accepted the seed. Some of the seeds fell on the road, some on rocky soil, some fell on the soil that had thorns and some of the seed fell on the good soil.
Think of this kind of like a garden. What is the best soil to plant it? It is the kind that has everything it needs to grow: the kind with light, water, minerals and such as that. We've all seen ground that looks like it is just grown over with weeds where a garden may have been some time ago. We've also seen the places where there is a garden with awesome growth and good stuff coming up.
In the verses around the one above Jesus makes the point of asking us some thing like this: what kind of soil are you? I am paraphrasing. Are you the soil that is like the road that has been paved or is really hard? Or are you like the soil that has lots and lots of rocks and little good dirt? Or maybe you are like the soil with the thorns because of all the stuff in your life. Maybe you are the good soil where everything grows pretty good.
Which ever one you are, you need to know. Lots of the people I deal with are like that soil that has thorns. What does the verse above say? Everything crowds out the good stuff. Maybe it is the stuff of God that is crowded out. Maybe it is good relationships that are crowded out. Maybe your life is just so busy or so messed up that things are crowded out.
Think about a crowd. You've heard stories of people being trampled and killed by huge crowds. Some of you cannot handle to be in big crowds. But our lives are full of crowds. Or maybe they are full of things that just crowd out the good stuff.
My point is this ... if all of the God stuff is crowded out, where do you go from here? Another way to put it, you love to help people but if you don't have anything to give (emotional or physical) you can't give cause you don't have. Life has literally sent you the crowd to push stuff out of your life. The crowd could have come in by many ways, but you and I have a choice to deal with the crowd and let God win. Do I follow the crowd? Do I let the stuff God has given me get crowded out of my life?
Psalm 46:10 (nlt) --- "Be still, and know that I am God!I will be honored by every nation.I will be honored throughout the world."
Luke 4:42 (nlt) --- Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him ...
How do you keep the crowd from influencing you? How do you keep from letting the God-stuff in your life be crowded out of your life? Get alone with God. Spend time with God. Acknowledge God. Let Him love on you, share with you and feed you. This happens through time with God, in the Bible and beyond.
Don't let the crowd steer you the wrong way or let the stuff God gives be crowded out of your life. Spend time with God.
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NOTE TO The Community FAMILY ... Next Sunday begins our mission trip AND is our day to work with Metro Ministries in Roanoke feeding the homeless. The two items we need are Potato Salad (homemade or from a store) and chocolate sheet cakes. If you have question, please contact Gordon or me.
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