Are You Good Ground?

Well, here we are. The Feast of Tabernacles has concluded for another year. And again, from what I've heard, it sounds like everyone had a wonderful feast, a very spiritually inspiring feast, reinvigorating feast, very enriching. And it sounds like we all did a very fine job of rejoicing for God, our great creator, our provider. And as it had also been a very wonderful blessing this week, all these months of dryness and heat to suddenly have the weather change, and here comes this rain and moisture we were driving through it still this morning on our way up and back from Texarkana.

Now, if we were ancient Israelite farmers, we'd be especially happy right now. Do you know why? I think Mr. Baker hinted at it. He didn't see my notes, but we understand. What we were experiencing might be compared to the early rains in Israel, even in ancient times. If we were ancient Israelite farmers, we'd be happy because it would be about at this same time to 3,000 years ago, or even more recent than that perhaps.

And after the Feast of Tabernacles had concluded that those farmers would have been returning home from the feast to finish preparing their fields for those early rains, just like what we might be experiencing now, it seems. You see, those rains were needed. They're essential before they could plow and sow their grain for the next spring harvest. They're already, the feast was over ending that agricultural year, and the feast thus also then marks the beginning of the next agricultural year.

Those farmers came back from the feast. They're already looking forward and planning for the next harvest. And of course, there's a lesson there for all of us in spiritual sense. Why is it after the feast we so often hear sermons about preparing ourselves spiritually for the year ahead? Well, one, it's a spiritually smart and logical thing to do. And also such sermons share common ground with that practice I just referred to, that practice by those ancient farmers plowing and sowing their fields soon after the Feast of Tabernacles, soon after what they would have called the Feast of In-Gathering, perhaps in preparation for the harvest in the spring.

In other words, that physical fieldwork is a type for the spiritual work God's followers will be doing or should be doing after the feast as we look forward to God's holy days and His festivals that are coming, already coming, as we look forward in your head, annually, consistently coming. And so today, I'd like for us to draw some important lessons from Scripture, a little more narrowly, but to draw some important lessons from Scripture about being good ground, about being good ground.

The feast has concluded that now is not the time to simply return back to our daily lives or routines. Now is the time to bestow ourselves spiritually so that we might produce more of that spiritual fruit that God expects us to be producing. And so I've entitled today's sermon, Are You Good Ground? Are You Good Ground? Anything truly worth having, and we know this, I look at all these white-headed people out there, can't see myself, we know anything worth having takes work and time and good effort, doesn't it?

It takes planning, it takes commitment. And to have a field to harvest, whether we're speaking of grain or the fruit of God's Spirit, it does take hard work and persist in effort. And so again, when those ancient farmers return to their homes after the feast, I'm rather confident in saying that they did not return to a life of relaxation and ease.

And frankly, you can ask any modern day farmer, we have a few in the audience, they could tell you, you don't really have vacation on the farm. The tap feast, tabernacles mark the end again to that agricultural season, a year, the beginning of the next, the early rains were needed to get that next crop growing. And that meant that when the rains came, typically they arrived in late October and November, same time we had our rains here this week, they had to be ready. The farmers had no time to spare.

What did they do? You ever wondered about that? I'm gonna make you think about that this time. What did they do? What did they have to do to prepare their fields? Well, for starters, the farmers had to clear their fields in preparation for plowing.

After the harvest in the spring, March, April, the year, their fields would have been idle, follow, sometimes might be a word I've seen used. In times they'd return to their fields in the fall after the feast and they might find sizable rocks protruding from the ground. Where did the rocks come from? If they're rocky soil, the rocks are down beneath the surface of the earth. And if you remember your physics classes from high school, I'm not gonna ask you how many years ago that was.

But through contracts and heating cooling, rocks can move and they work their way back up to the surface. Those sizable rocks would appear back on top of the ground or close to the ground and rocks like that can do some serious damage to a plow share. Have you ever been gardening and hit a rock with your hoe? It's a little jarring, isn't it? And of course, many rocks also decrease the amount of good ground the farmer would be able to have his crops sewed on.

Now, just as an aside, I did not grow up in rocky country. I grew up in Nebraska. Do you know why a lot of people farmed in the Midwest and the plain states?

No rocks. No rocks. I always thought it's quaint. All these neat little Irish villages and these villages in England and oh look at in northeastern America, look at all these nice quaint cute little rock fences. No, those rock fences are not there because they're cute or quaint. They're there because practically you gotta get the rocks out of the way without having to drag them halfway across the county. You stack them up and they make a nice border to keep animals out as well. The farmers had to keep the rocks out of the field and every fall they had to make sure they were out of the way so it would not impede their plowing. The farmers also had to cut and hack and burn away at any weeds or thorns, bushes that may have grown. If they didn't do that, in time the thorn bushes and and other volunteer weeds and bushes of different types would overtake that field and it would ruin the good ground. And so again, even just starting out here, I think you can understand there was a lot of hard work that had to be done to prepare those unplowed fields for plowing. This is even before the plowing begins. The farmers also had to examine their plows themselves to make sure that they're in sturdy condition. They're made of wood. They make sure everything was still latched tight and that would withstand the the pulling by the oxen and the the shuttering through the ground and hitting a few rocks that maybe they missed. They had to make sure the plow shears were pointed and sufficiently sharp to gouge into the earth. And why? Well, they had to make sure the plow shears were in good shape because the plow would be pulled over the ground not just one time but twice. And I didn't realize that. I thought, well, why would they do it twice? One time was to make the ground ready for the seeds to go in. The second time they pulled the plow over was to cover the seed back up to keep the birds and other animals from eating up the seed. So think how many times they had to walk across those fields behind those oxen. There's a lot of work.

And finally, farm, well, among other things before I get to the finally, farmers also had to make sure that their tractors of the time were in good shape. The tractors of their time are not John Deer but John Oxen, whatever you might want to call your oxen. They had to make sure they were healthy, they were trained, and that they were able to pull the plow. And then they had to make sure their seed grain, which they had been keeping safe and dry since March and April, was still safe and dry, was ready to go. They had to make sure it was stored away from rodents. They had to make sure the damp had not gotten into it, which would have ruined it, cause it to mold and mildew, it would be useless. And they had to make sure that bag that was slung from the shoulder for sowing the seed was stitched up, the strap sturdy. The last thing you wanted to have was to have several pounds of grain suddenly drop on the field in a pile and then try to scratch it back up.

They had a lot to do. But even with all these preparations done, those farmers could not yet plow and sow. They couldn't start yet. They had to wait for the early rains. They had to wait for the early rains, which not one of them could predict. And if you know any farmers, and I come from a long line of farmers, that's the first thing you talk about in the morning. It's the last thing you talk about when you go to bed. What's the weather? What's the weather going to be like?

These farmers then had to wait for the early rains. And when they did come, they had to be ready. They had to move quickly because time was of the essence. Those vital life-giving rains were necessary because the rains would soften the hard ground for plowing. And only with the ground plowed and moistened by rain could those farmers sow those precious seeds, quickly cover them up again with the earth. And then they'd have to hope, and I'm sure they prayed, for more rains so that the seeds would germinate and grow into that future spring harvest or harvest of barley, wheat, oats, and other grains that they'd planted. And so this process for preparing the fields and equipment and the seeds for plowing and sowing grain had to be done during these same months of the year, October, November, after the feast, year after year, century after century. That's a process, a process God had planned and established. This annual process became a deeply embedded pattern of life in that ancient culture. And so we see it still displayed and explained to us in the pages of the Bible. You see, God has made use of the plowing and sowing that actually happened. He used it for a symbolic purpose. God at times inspired his prophets to use plowing and sowing in a manner to warn his people. It became a way of warning his people to repent.

Let's turn to Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 3. In Jeremiah 4 verse 3, in this case we see the people of Judah, they were frightened, very concerned, they could see the enemy armies of Babylon and neighboring armies gathering against them, and they became fearful for their lives, their livelihoods, and they had begun to turn to God. They got to Jeremiah asking him to pray for them, for God to help them. But Jeremiah also conveyed God's answer back to them. And we see that answer in Jeremiah 4 verse 3. For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem. And here's the symbolism. Break up your follow ground and do not sow among the thorns.

Break up your follow ground. Many other translations. I'm reading from the New King James. Other translations say unplowed ground. And so Judah sought God's intervention, but God urged Judah to truly repent of its sins. And especially if you read here, you'll find God is constantly warning them to give up their idol worship. In the warning to break up your follow ground, your unplowed ground, refers to how Judah's heart had become as hard as unplowed ground. And of course, no farmer, and in this case neither God, would sow good seed, an unplowed ground thick with thorns. God was not going to help them unless they had shown true repentance.

And so what God is suggesting, or I shouldn't say suggesting, is urging them, exhorting them to do.

He's telling them that the plow of sincere repentance was needed to break up their hearts.

The plow of sincere repentance was needed to break up their hearts that had been long hardened by their rebellious sins. Their hearts had become like stone.

The same imagery of plowing and sowing also appears in Hosea chapter 10. Hosea chapter 10 verses 12 to 13. Hosea is right after the book of Daniel. It's easy to find Daniel, harder to find Hosea it seems sometimes. Hosea chapter 10 verse 12 to 13. Through Hosea, the prophet Hosea, God in this case is exhorting Israel to repent of its wickedness. Hosea chapter 10 verse 12 through 13.

And here we read, God says through Hosea, so for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your follow, your unplowed ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till he comes and reigns righteousness on you. And again all this pattern of the plowing and sowing that had become such a deep part of their culture. And so as with Judah here, Israel's rebellious heart is also likened to a hard unplowed field. If Israel repented of their sin, they would then reap mercy and receive reigns of God's righteousness, his compassion. But Israel did not repent and trust God. And if we read on verse 13, we see that they harvested the fruit of their sins. Verse 13 says, again God speaking through Hosea, you have plowed wickedness. Plowing sometimes is synonymous with sowing. It can mean the same thing in scripture. You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies because you trusted in your own way in the multitude of your mighty men. And so these sets of scriptures establish the symbolism of a follow or unplowed field rife with thorns as being equated to a hardened, rebellious, and self-willed heart or mind.

It's a heart that is opposed to God. While on the other hand, a plowed field that produces abundant grain symbolically is equated with a heart of submission and obedience to God. Such a heart, such a heart is considered good ground. And so what we're defining here is what is good ground according to scripture. Now the same imagery also appears in Matthew chapter 13. Please turn there with me. Matthew chapter 13. And here we're going to look at a familiar parable. Matthew 13, the parable of the sower and the seed. Jesus used the symbolism of plowing and sowing in a more expansive way. He takes what was in the ultimate Old Testament and expands it in his own unique way here. In the parable here, Matthew 13, we're going to be reading verses 3 through 9 to begin. In the parable we find that the plowing of the field has already occurred. And as we break into the story, Jesus is telling the story, the farmer is now sowing his seed. But the quality of the ground we learn is not consistent. Not all of the ground in this parable is good ground.

So let's read then verses 3 through 9, Matthew 13.

And then Jesus spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. On the wayside it'd be like a hardened path or close to the unplowed edges of the field. Verse 5, some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth, and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. And then he says, verse 9, He who has years to hear, let him hear. Now when we look at these verses 3 through 8, what Jesus has just told so far sounds like, it just sounds like a factual account of ancient farming practices and the outcome. This is just what happens. It's what happened.

But in verses 18 through 19, that we find Jesus' explanation. Verses 18 through 19, he's explaining to his curious disciples who were no doubt scratching their heads wondering, What does this mean? Yeah, yeah, we know this. What's the point? So here he's going to explain the parables important symbolism. So let's drop down now to verse 18, chapter 13. And Jesus said, Therefore hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. And so if we pause right there just a moment, we can understand then that the seed represents Christ's gospel message of salvation. And the ground, the ground represents the hearts or minds of various individuals who hear the gospel that Jesus preached.

And so Jesus we see held to the symbolic meaning of ground and hearts used by Jeremiah and Hosea.

And so the parable is describing as he explains it, how people respond to the gospel message.

They respond the same way today when they hear it. Let's continue on now, verse 20.

But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word, the gospel, and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution, difficult times, tough times arise because of the word, because of that gospel, immediately he stumbles. Verse 22, now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word. And he becomes unfruitful. Seems suggests he had been producing fruit, but he gets taken aside by pursuit of wealth or money, maybe troubles occur, life gets busy, and he lets go of his commitment. He stops being fruitful. In verse 23 though, but he who received seed on the good ground, he who received the gospel message on good ground with a good heart, it's he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit, this would be godly fruit, and produces some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

So again here the good ground clearly represents the individual who welcomes and accepts Christ's gospel. This individual called of God chooses to believe from the heart and he repents and he submits himself willingly to God's will and God's authority. This is good ground.

He who is good ground, we can draw from the these verses we just read, he who is good ground does not give up when persecution arises. He does not quit when the cares of the world and the allure of riches try to turn him from God. He or she remains faithful. And as his belief and faith in God deepen, he remains committed and so does produce much good fruit of God's love and way as best he can with God's help. Don't you want to be good ground? Do you want to be good ground?

I think we all want to be good ground. But how? How? How do we be good ground?

Well the scriptures from Jeremiah and Hosea and now Matthew about plowing and sowing, they point us in the right way. They point us in the direction to some keys that we need to be doing.

So I'm going to address now for a bit with you how can we then be good ground? How can we be good ground? I have three keys to share and of course there are many other keys others will come up with and here's the three I have for us for today. How to be good ground? Number one, be steadfast in our commitment to God. Be steadfast in our commitment to God.

If you've been baptized you have made your commitment to God. It's a lifelong commitment for eternity. We need to stick to it and God will help us. Let's turn to Psalm 91. Let's turn over to Psalm 91. We find a very encouraging psalm especially an encouraging psalm for troubled times.

When we choose to commit ourselves totally to God, God gives us the strength of His faith in love.

He gives us strength of His faith in love because ours is too puny. Ours is minuscule. But God gives the faith He knows we need so that we can endure whatever trials whatever happens in life. He is so loving and so kind and merciful and gracious in that way. God helps us to face anything that life throws at us. And let's read here in Psalm 91. We're going to start verses one through eight.

And I'd like for us to notice how the psalmist urges us to share his commitment, the psalmist's commitment of total faith and trust to God. The psalmist has made the commitment and now he's telling those who hear his song likewise to join him in making this commitment to God. Psalm 91 verse one. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. And I will say to the Lord, He is my refuge in my fortress, my God in Him I will trust.

And surely He, God, shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. Snare of the fowler is imagery suggesting that any traps, any entrapment life might have for us, whether of evil men or corporations or whatever tricks sin can cause, God will help us. He'll help us from falling into that snare, that trap. And from the perilous pestilence, He shall cover you with His feathers and other His wings you shall take refuge. And of course that's a metaphor reminding us of the image of how a mother hen will protect its chicks under the wings, under its wings.

And under His wings you shall take refuge. His truth, God's truth, shall be your shield and buckler. And you shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

And He says verse 70,000 may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes you shall look and see the reward of the wicked. And what is the reward of the wicked? It's death. The wages of sin are death. And the blessings of those who trust in the Lord, trust in God, it's righteousness, it's life, it's eternal life, ultimately. It's annoying that God is with us and that not even death itself can separate us from His love. And then His promise of everlasting life as well that gives us strength, that should give us confidence, that should give us the courage we need to hold fast to God. When we're filled with doubt, when life seems to be getting the better of us, turning to Psalms like the one we're reading right now can be a great source of encouragement and strength. Especially when we take these same words and to our Father and ask Him to strengthen us, to make His assurances here, more of which we're going to read just a bit, to make those assurances real in our lives, especially when we need it.

Going down to verse 19, excuse me, 9 through 16, the psalmist further declares that when we make God who is His or the psalmist refuge our refuge too, we can be assured of receiving God's many blessings.

When we choose to trust God and to be good ground, to allow His Spirit and God Himself to dwell in us, we can be assured that God will abundantly bless us. It's what Scripture says and God cannot lie.

Verse 9, let's read what it says then. Because you have made the Lord who is my refuge even the most high your dwelling place, well then no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.

For He, God, shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways, and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Those words should sound familiar. And you shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Well these are promises, these assurances are for you and me, but they also obviously have messianic overtones because they're also, we understand they would have applied to Jesus Christ as well.

And then in verses 14 through 15, it's very interesting and exciting really. When you pay attention what happens to the language here and our editions of the Bible will put these modern things called punctuation marks in place so we can understand. Verse 14 through 15 are in quotation marks. It's as if God Himself now is speaking through the psalmist. The psalmist has become a prophet and God is speaking through him it seems. God inserts His own voice into the psalm and God Himself assures us that when we are steadfast in our commitment to Him, He is faithful to love us and help us even so that we might receive salvation. And as we look at verses 14 through 15, I'd encourage you to take special notice of something. Take special notice of the six I will statements of God. There are six I will statements of God in verses 14 through 15.

So let's read verse 14. The psalmist says because, excuse me, this is God speaking I told you, let me get it right, because He, the individual has set His love upon me, God says, therefore I will deliver Him. I will set Him on high because He has known my name. He knows who and what God is. He knows what God's purpose is for Him as a human being. Verse 15, He shall call upon me, God says, and I will answer Him. We don't have to worry if God is going to answer our prayers. He will.

Maybe not in the way we'd like or when we'd like, but He will answer us. He says He will.

Continuing, God says, I will be with Him in trouble. I will deliver Him and honor Him.

With long life I will satisfy Him and show Him my salvation and show Him my salvation.

Rather than these are wonderful I will statements, these are God's assurances, assurances from our loving God to those who choose to be steadfast in their commitment to Him. And don't we need God's assurances right now? And may I say His reassurances as well. We've read assurances and assurances and reassurances of God's love for us, His intervention, His protection for us here in Psalm 91. We need to let this Psalm encourage us and lift up our hearts.

We need God's assurances and reassurances of His love and protection because, yes, we are living in very difficult times. I was listening carefully to what Mr. Lucas was saying in his sermonette because I had already planned on saying some similar things right now.

As you know, if you've been paid attention to the news and it's hard not to keep our eye on the screens and I'm trying not to be distracted by all the media reports and I listened to many different sites, I listened to different things, I listened to different voices out there. But they seem to concur. Indications are that this upcoming week is going to be a very difficult week in this nation, this nation we love, this nation that is our home, the United States. And for those of you who will be listening later, Tuesday is election day in the United States. But cities right now across the nation are preparing for civil unrest and frankly some are saying riots. They're expecting riots. You probably read like I did how some businesses now in Washington, D.C., our nation's capital, are boarding up windows and storefronts in expectation of the riots, that they are confident, are probably going to, confident probably. Well, they're confident that they're probably coming, yeah. I have a travel app on my phone. It's Chubb, C-H-U-B-B. It's for those who travel internationally. And I still have the app on my phone. Last night I was working on the sermon and I received an alert for the United States. This is for all their national travelers.

And here's what it said, quote, anticipate heightened security slash disruptions in the vicinity of polling places slash electoral infrastructure on 5 November. That's election day. Demonstrations and connections with the results are likely. Avoid travel near protest.

So even internationally the world is watching. They can read the signs of the times.

I've listened to other commentators and people that claim to know. Many believe that unless it's a landslide victory for one of the two presidential candidates, unless it's a landslide there will likely be not just a week of chaos, but weeks and months of law fair. They're calling it lawsuits and going to courts. Weeks, months possibly of civil unrest and yes, even riots across the nation.

It's very interesting. Have you noticed how there have been very few riots and protests in the last few weeks? We don't hear much going on. It's as if everyone someone's told others to quell it, quiet down. Let's not skew the election one way or the other. I also see it. It seems to be that we're in a calm before the storm that is going to break out in our country and I'm not trying to be negative. I'm just trying to give us perspective much as Mr. Lucas was talking about his sermonette.

We have to stand with God. God will choose who is elected. God is choosing who the next president will be and the other leaders. Scripture makes it clear that God sets up and he takes down the authorities. We are also called to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We must be very careful.

Although politics is a way of our nature, if you have two people in the room you're going to have politics because there will be a struggle who's going to lead and who's going to follow, except when it comes to God and Jesus Christ. They never had such a struggle.

They never had that struggle. So I bring this all up to help remind us that we are have been called out of the world. We live in the world but we're not to be of it. We must be very careful as Mr. Lucas said of being sucked into the vortex. Those are my words. You didn't say that but that's what was in my head because I'd written down. I want us to ask this. If such times as I've just rehearsed with us, if such times do come, will we hold fast to God's way of love or will we allow ourselves to be sucked into the anger and divisiveness of these times? I wrote those words several days ago and Mr. Lucas essentially repeated the same thing today. And so I think you'll find, I suspect a lot of you are thinking the same way. This is the message of God's word. This is what God's spirit is telling us. We cannot become like the world. We cannot become filled with anger. We have been called to be good ground but will we be good ground and will we remain good ground as we're rehearsing right now? And one final point on this key before I move on to the next one. One final point here. No matter what God allows to us in our lives, whether we remain good ground depends on how we choose to respond both to the good times and to the difficult times. It's on us ultimately.

Our choice. We must choose to stand firm with God in and as good ground.

Let's move on to key number two and how to be good ground. Key number two.

Submit totally and willingly in obedience to God. We must submit totally and willingly in obedience to God. To be good ground we need to be ever putting aside our self-will so that we might better submit ourselves to God's will, his loving will to obey him and to follow his way of life.

Let's turn to, we're here in the book of Psalms, let's turn to Proverbs, a few pages. Proverbs chapter three. Proverbs chapter three verse one through six. We see this monologue, these words from a father to a son. It's not too hard to take it a step higher and recognize that maybe these can also be the words of our heavenly father to us, his children. Proverbs three one through six. Let's recall the words, these wise words of a father to his son. Proverbs three verse one.

My son do not forget my law but let your heart keep my commands for length of days and long life and peace. Don't we need that right now? And peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck like a like a beautiful necklace, something beautiful to behold and of honor. Bind them about your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart on that good ground. And so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. I hear echoes of those I will statements from Psalm 91 here.

And again he says in all your ways acknowledge him. In other words, brethren, we must allow no aspect of our lives to be left untouched, unchanged, unplowed. We must put every part of our life, every corner of our minds and hearts under the submission, under obedience to God.

Similarly, you can jot down Ecclesiastes 12-13, this idea of submitting totally to God. Ecclesiastes 12-13 declares the same point. There Solomon the preacher said his conclusion of all his considerations and investigations and prayers to God. The conclusion, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter of what life's all about. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is man's all. In other words, man's whole duty and responsibility is to fear God. That means to revere and respect God and keep his commands. That's it. And that's a lot. And also Revelation 22-14, I'm sure we've read this in the last few weeks, Revelation 22-14. And this hits very close to home for us because it tells us that unless one willingly submits to God and obeys him, he or she will not receive salvation. He or she will not enter New Jerusalem. Revelation 22-14 reads, blessed are those who do his commandments, God's commandments, that they may have the right, the tree of life, to everlasting life, and that they may enter through the gates into the city. And that city is New Jerusalem. And so even as God instructed Israel and Judah through Hosea and Jeremiah, we must repent of sin. We must submit to God and obey him. And so we need to be examining and inspecting our hearts with prayerful attention and the guidance of God's Word and help of his spirit so that we will better hear and heed God's instruction. If we're doing this, then we will we will be good ground. We will be good ground. And key number three, key number three, produce the good fruit of God's love. Produce the good fruit of God's love and way.

Produce the good fruit of God's love and way. To be good ground, we must keep choosing to do more selfless acts of loving service and without any self-centered thoughts and or motivations. We need to try to keep self, that ugly self, that old man that we've buried in baptism, we need to keep it out of the picture and the things we do in service to others. We should be doing more to help others and serving them out of godly love. We do that so that we might better please God because God is love. And that's what we're told in 1 John 4a, God is love and we need to be love.

To produce the good fruit of God's love, his character, requires that we be very good students of the Bible. That's why you hear us every every time we get up here, I think every day we're up here, we're reminded to study our Bibles, to be praying, to be meditating, to be to be fasting, drawing near to God, to be involved in one another's lives, to be building unity, those bonds of unity within the body of Christ the church. And so always we must be mindful to follow Christ's instruction to love one another as he loved us. And that's what Christ said. Let's look at John 13. John 13. Again we're talking about being good ground. John 13 verse 34 through 35.

These are the words of Christ himself recorded by the apostle John. John 13 34. Jesus said, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another. Do we get to decide how to do that?

Do I get to decide how I want to love you? Well okay, that's a trick question right, not really. To a degree we we get to make the choice. But what's our guiding principle? What's the example we follow? How Jesus loved us. And it continues, I give you that you love one another as I have loved you. As I have loved you that you also love one another. And of course how did Jesus love us? And how does he still love us? He laid down his life for us. He paid the penalty of death for our sins. So we might be able to go to the Father and seek his forgiveness and repent and have a right relationship with God and Christ forever. Verse 35 and by this Jesus said, by this all all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Love and unity is what we need. Let's also turn back to 1 John now. 1 John chapter 2 verse 4 through 6. 1 John 2 4 through 6.

We're instructed here to learn and follow Christ's example. Christ's example of his loving service towards others. And really the Apostle John here doesn't, he doesn't mince words. He's rather blunt and to the point and that's what we need. So often that's exactly what we need to make sure we're thinking as God would have his think. 1 John 2 4. He who says I know him, I know God, I know Christ and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

And that's a gauge. That could be a measurement to help us in examining ourselves. Well just how good is my ground? Am I loving my brother? Am I keeping the commandments? But whatever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. And so we study the scriptures. We study Christ's example even as Mr. Lucas showed us in the sermonette earlier today. We look at how Jesus dealt with people that wanted to condemn this woman and how Jesus said go and sin no more. It's not our job. It's not my job to condemn people in the world. It's my job to to help us all learn about God's way of life. To teach us to repent of sin. To teach us to forgive one another. Because I and all of us together we're following the example of Jesus Christ. And so we must be ever striving to be more like Christ in how we treat one another especially as brethren. And so it's critical that we clear out of our good ground. The ground we're trying to improve. That good ground of our hearts. We've got to get rid of any lingering rocks or thorns of bitterness and jealousy. We've got to clear the good ground. We got to get rid of secret grudges. Secret grudges cannot be allowed to fester and grow in our hearts.

I think you know this but there are no secrets from God. He knows what's in our hearts and he knows what we need to be working on and we can ask him to help us and he will help us see what needs to be removed. Let's also look in 1 John 4 verse 20 through 21. 1 John 4, 20 21.

1 John 4 20 again goes back to this idea of our need to be rid of bitterness and jealousy. Those grudges. 1 John 4 20 someone says I love God and hates his brother. He is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? John asks us.

And that's a very important question. We shouldn't gloss over in our reading. We should think about that. If we have conflict with a brother or sister we need to think about that and quickly recognize we need to do some patching there. We need to do some work there. We need to do some reconciliation. Something needs to be happening in a good way. You see it's only with God's help that we can repent of selfishness and learn to be selfless. And it's only with God's help that we can repent of bitterness towards others and overcome it forever. Forever. And all that helps us to control our self-will and bear more the fruit of God's love and the way which helps us to be even better good ground that God wants us to be. And yes I'm talking about a lot of work. It does take much work on our part. But again God is there to help us. As we're told a number of times in scripture with God all things are possible. We shouldn't doubt it. We have those assurances and reassurances the I Will statements of God. He's there to help us. And so these are three keys.

These three keys can help us focus better on what we can and what we need to do. And always God will help us to repent and to build those new and better ways of thinking and doing. He'll help us change our hearts to get rid of the stoniness. And so it is now shortly after the feast while we're still feeling pumped and spiritually energized now is the time to take that energy and to begin drawing near to God for his help and making some good progress making our our hearts even better good ground. And so the feast is over. What will we do now that the feast is over.

Well I know what's going to happen here after services. We're going to have a potluck. We're going to have opportunity to talk. And certainly we should share our feast experiences with one another. We do need to take time to think about and rehearse our experiences this past feast.

You know go back through your notes. Maybe when the sermons are posted online go back and listen to them again. Rehearse the lessons we've gained from the messages of the feast. Yes feast is over. We must also cherish those newly made friendships we made among the brethren. I'm kind of excited. I made some really good friends in the UK. It's great. And they're just like all of us. They're filled with God's spirit and they're warm and kind and generous and serving. It's a wonderful thing making new friends among the brethren. And I even recommend that you take time to pull out your phones. Not right now but you can pull out your phones and look at those group selfies.

I did a lot of those. And if you haven't catch me and I'll do a group selfie with you. Some of you are looking at me like you missed out. And you know what we can even savor that very last piece of saltwater taffy you bought at the gift shop. You still have some left. It's okay. These are things we should do. We should relish God's feast. Remember the rejoicing we did. All these and more keep our memories of God's feast and the brethren and his love and way of life. All that fresh and vibrant in our hearts and minds. We need that that light that joy in these tough times. And as we move forward. But again I warn us however we mustn't allow ourselves to go back. Just simply slide back to old habits old ways old routines. You know it's okay to go back and watch your gun smoke reruns you know nothing wrong with that. But don't forget the more important things that you may need to be doing. And we all need to be doing. Now is the time to make changes and improvements in our spiritual lives. The feast was not a vacation but a time to rejoice before God. And now that we're home again we really don't have time for a vacation a spiritual vacation either. We have pressing spiritual work to do. You know I've been thinking about this a lot and it occurred to me that we are all farmers. We are all farmers of a bit. Sort of a different sort perhaps.

Like those ancient farmers we discussed earlier we must be examining our hearts that good ground within us. Again we need to be breaking up any hard unplowed places there removing rocks and thorns.

And let's be producing more abundantly the good fruit of God's spirit as God expects us and requires us to do. Brethren God has called us the very special calling that we should be called the children of God. All we are and hope to be is because of our loving God our father. And all we do all we do is to the glory of our father. We need to make him happy. We need to make him proud.

And so I encourage us brethren let's get to work. Let's get to work and let's be good ground.