Water the Bamboo

How many of you read the children's book, The Carrot Seed? Anybody read The Carrot Seed? Okay, so a couple of people. The Carrot Seed was a book originally written in 1945, and it's proved to be this immensely popular children's book. I had actually never heard of it, but my wife had read it, and it's popular for very good reason. For those that are kind of unfamiliar, the story tells the tale of a young boy in his attempt to grow a carrot from seed. And it's kind of a children's book. It's one of those little board book kind of things.

And in the book, he plants the seed, he waters the seed, he weeds around it, and one by one, his family members come up to him and express their concern with him that it's not going to grow.

So his mom comes in first and says, I'm afraid it's not going to come up. So he waters it some more, he weeds it some more, and then one by one, the rest of the family starts showing up going, it's not going to grow. But he keeps working at it. He keeps working at it. And it's really kind of a nice little story with a moral of positive thinking overcoming negative thinking. But he keeps watering, keeps weeding, nothing happens, keeps watering, keeps weeding, nothing happens. Everybody's telling him it's never going to happen. And then one day, he goes out to his garden, and he walks out, and the green part of the carrot is twice as tall as he is. And the next scene you see him going back with the biggest grin on his face, and he's carrying this carrot and a wheelbarrow. And he's heading back to show his family that sure enough, you know, everything worked. And we kind of look at it and go, boy, if gardening were only that easy, right, you know, water it, weed it, and all of a sudden now you've got this carrot that's just, I mean, you could eat for the next year. But we all know that's not how it works. Gardening takes work. Gardening is not an easy thing. It takes a lot of time to water and weed. It takes time for the plants to grow. You can't will them to grow any faster. You know, he's come on, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, germinate, let's go. You can't do that. You can't do that. Plants kind of grow at their own time. They have to have the right conditions. They have to have the right amount of sunlight, as little competition as possible for those nutrients and those resources. And you need to have good soil. But more importantly than all of those other things, you've got to have water.

You've got to have water. And while the book The Carrot Seed is a work of fiction, there is an actual plant that operates not unlike it. It requires an incredible amount of patience and care. But when the conditions are right, when the proper preparations are taken, it grows like no other. The scientific name of the plant is Philostachys adullus. It's also known as mosso. And it is a variety of Chinese timber bamboo. Chinese timber bamboo. And timber bamboo is probably the only grass variety in the entirety of the world that has grown for wood production. They make things like bamboo flooring. They make things like bamboo utensils and bowls, and all those sorts of things. And the reason for that is because bamboo is kind of a neat type of plant. It's naturally antifungal and naturally antibacterial. And so they use them for a lot of kitchen utensils and things like that. And actually, I was doing some a little bit of research for this. More than one billion people worldwide live in homes built entirely of bamboo. Floors, walls, ceiling, the whole thing. It's a very versatile building material with an unbelievable growth rate. Growing it from seed, however, is an exercise in patience and in faith. When the timber bamboo seed is planted, the farmer irrigates the initial seed for an entire year. For an entire year, weekly, putting water on this seed. And absolutely nothing happens. Nothing whatsoever. No shoots, nothing pops out of the ground, no even bump on the surface to indicate anything is going on.

Nothing whatsoever. No noticeable change. The next year he continues to irrigate, still nothing. The third year continues to irrigate, still nothing happens. Now, if the farmer hasn't completely 100% given up on his Chinese timber bamboo by year three, if he continues to water for the fourth year, the seed sprouts and the bamboo can grow 60 to 90 feet in 60 days. There have been some of them that have been recorded to grow as much as 36 inches in 24 hours, but only after four years of very diligent preparation. More along the lines, more along the average, 12 to 18 inches tends to be a little bit more on a daily growth rate. Whether we're talking about 36 or 18 inches a day, it doesn't... that's semantics. It's an incredible growth rate. An absolutely incredible growth rate, but that growth doesn't happen unless the prep work has been put in up front. If that farmer doesn't diligently water that crop for four years with nothing to show for it, he's not going to see that kind of growth. That growth isn't accidental. It has to be intentional. You have to provide that plant with the needed resources for quite some time before you begin to see any kind of results whatsoever. Greg Bell, who is a motivational speaker from the Portland area, actually has taken this concept and coined it into a phrase that he's... markets a little bit, but it was the theme for our school's 2015 track season. So one of our coaches... that's where I actually heard about this from... mentioned it as one of our one of our mottos for this year's track season. It also happens to be the title of the sermon today. The title of the sermon today is Water the Bamboo. Water the Bamboo. So for a moment, what I want you to do is put yourself in the shoes of the farmer that we described above. So put yourself in the shoes of the farmer we described above. Weekly you go out to this field, you irrigate it. You pour that absolutely precious water on that soil, and week after week, year after year, you have nothing whatsoever to show for it. There's nothing going on at the surface level. The crop doesn't appear to be doing anything at all. Perhaps you start to think to yourself, maybe I bought rotten seed.

Maybe... I'll tell you, if it's in my garden and it doesn't come up in about three to six weeks, I start wondering if the seed that I planted was any kind of viable. Imagine three years of nothing.

Three years of nothing. You start really wondering at that point what's going on. But year after year, you water it. You care for that field. You weed it. You do all the necessary maintenance. You amend your soil. You make sure the nutrients are there. Maybe your neighbors think you're crazy. Here's that guy. He's out watering his bare dirt field again. Wonder what he's doing.

But after that fourth year, you put in the work. You've been diligent. And those little seeds that you've been so faithfully taking care of, so diligently watering in the space of two months are the height of a six-story building. To me, I find that absolutely incredible. I find that incredible. And I find it a very apt analogy to what we need to be doing in our spiritual lives each and every day. Now, while that plant may appear to be doing absolutely nothing on the surface, while it's doing nothing whatsoever on the surface, below the surface, it is unbelievably busy. There's an incredible amount of growth going on underneath the surface. It's all out of sight. You don't see any of it. During those first few years, the plant is sending out this vast network of roots. And if you've ever grown bamboo or you're familiar with bamboo, there's a couple different varieties. There's clumping bamboo, which tends to just grow in this clump, for lack of a better term of what it does. Or there's running bamboo. And running bamboo works a little like strawberry plants. It sends out these roots underneath the soil, and then boom, it pops these things, and it makes these big thickets. They actually suggest if you're going to try to grow this stuff, which, by the way, most so, grows really well in the Pacific Northwest because of all the rain. It grows very, very well. Some of these canes will be six or seven inches around by the time it's full height.

But again, four years of watering to get there. They actually suggest that you dig down three feet around the area that you want and pour a concrete wall underground to keep the roots from getting out. Otherwise, you end up with a backyard that turns into a bamboo forest. And most of you probably don't have pandas to keep it all taken care of. But those roots are digging for structural support. They're digging down to find water and nutrients and all the other things that they're going to need so that when that growth finally does come, when it finally is there, all of the structural supports are in place. If it grows too soon and the root structure is not there, a little wind is going to blow that plant right down. So its process has got to be in place. Well, growth, as a whole, spiritual growth is an expectation for all of us. God is clear. We are not intended to languish in the place where we are for an extended period of time. We were called and never, you know, we're not expected to never progress. We've been called to do something far greater with our time on this planet. Mr. Kinsella alluded a little bit to that concept today. What are we going to do with the time that we have on this planet? And you know, I think sometimes we get this little bit of an idea and I don't know, I think sometimes we get this concept of, well, you know, I've got this pretty well figured out. I'm in a pretty good place. The expectation is growth until our last dying breath. Let's begin this afternoon by turning over to Matthew 25.

I would love to tell you that we're going to be in a lot of obscure scriptures today, but we're not. We're going to be in some very well-known places today. Matthew 25. We see in Matthew 25 there are two very important parables that are located in this section. One of them is one we go to very, very frequently. I think we go to this one a little bit less, but Matthew 25 we see the parable of the talents. And so we're going to take a look at the parable of the talents today and kind of see what it is that God has told us regarding the kind of growth that he expects out of us, the kind of thing that he expects in our life. And we'll take a look at this analogy as we get it developed a little bit today. Matthew 25. We're going to go ahead and pick it up in verse 14. So Matthew 25 and verse 14. Matthew 25 verse 14 says, For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. To one, he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey. Now we don't see whether there was any other instructions given in this particular parable, and at least Matthew's recording of this particular parable. It just says he gave him the money and he left. I mean, I'm sure there was some sort of instruction in between, but it's not recorded. But we see the master delivering his goods to three of his servants. And you've got to think, all three of these servants were likely trusted. If you're going to give your stuff to somebody, you at least trust that they're going to do something with it.

But we do see that he divided up what he gave them according to what each servant was capable of handling. And you look further on in this and you see that the one that only got one, you know, ultimately doesn't have such a good response from the master at the end. And at first it might seem unfair. You might look at it and go, but we only had one to begin with. I mean, it's not like he's going to be able to get a whole bunch of growth out of that from that to that one thing. But he didn't give the most responsibility to the least responsible servant.

All received responsibilities commensurate with their capabilities. And I guess you could say that they weren't really given more than they could handle. I guess is what you could say if you look at that. Verse 16. 25 verse 16, then he would receive the five talents, went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise, he would receive two, gain two more also.

But he would receive one, went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. You know, we were growing up as kids. We had our neighbor, they used to keep one of those big carboys full of change. And then when he'd fill that up, he'd pour it off into Folger's coffee cans and bury it in his backyard. And, you know, I asked him one day what he was doing.

He had all these coffee cans. I was just burying money in my backyard. And I kind of laughed like, ha ha ha. No, he really was burying money in the backyard. So one of these days, if he never goes and digs those up, there's probably thousands of dollars in coins in his backyard in these random places.

But this guy did exactly that. This guy did exactly that. You know, the two that got the talent, they each treated it differently. Two of the servants went immediately to work, while the third buried it and kind of just sat on it. Kind of just sat on it. Verse 19. Verse 19, after a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he would receive five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents.

Look, I've gained five more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant, you are faithful over a few things that will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. He who also received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I've gained two more talents besides him. And his Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant, you've been faithful over a few things.

I'll make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Now, what's interesting here to me, both men considered good and faithful servants, yet one brought home five in the end, one brought home two in the end. So what's interesting with this is you take a look at it. Both received the same message. So it kind of seems at first glance that maybe the amount of growth is not as crucial, but then you could also argue that they both doubled what they were given.

So there's that piece as well. But both received the same message. Let's take a look at what happened to the other guy. Verse 24, verse 24, then he would receive the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you've not sown, gathering where you've not scattered seed. And I was afraid and I went and I hid your talent in the ground. Look, there is what there you have. What is yours? In other words, here you go. Look, here it is.

Here's what you gave me. And it's back. Look, I didn't lose it. I held on to it. Here it is right here. You know, we see that the master was not ultimately happy with this. Verse 26, but his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant. I'll tell you, those are words I don't ever want to hear you wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I've not sown and gather where I've not scattered seed.

So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given. He will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

Cast the unprofitable servant in the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You know, when you look at it, the wicked servant did cost the master something. He absolutely did. He cost the master an opportunity. An opportunity to grow what he was given.

An opportunity to invest it and to make it become something more. During that time that that money was buried in the ground and he was sitting on it, that money was sitting idle. It wasn't doing anything. It wasn't working whatsoever.

It wasn't going anywhere. It wasn't gaining interest. It wasn't building. It was in this holding pattern. It lost the master an opportunity to gain anything from its investment. Growth was the expectation. They were expected to take what they were given and do something with it. Ideally, double it.

Because you look at it and you know sometimes we get ourselves in this place where we look at where we are and we go, oh maybe I've only got two talents. And you look at this person over here and go, oh man, it seems like they have five talents. Growth was the expectation. Growth was the expectation.

And in this particular parable, it didn't seem to matter how much growth per se, just important that growth occurred based on what they were given and their own abilities. They were expected to do something with it. There's another parable, though, in Luke 19 that tells a slightly different story. It's very similar. Very similar. Let's go to Luke 19.

Luke 19. We'll see there are some differences in this particular parable. Luke 19.

Luke 19. We're going ahead and pick it up in verse 12 with the parable of the minus.

Luke 19 verse 12. Again, very similar in its structure, but a little bit different from a standpoint of some of the details are just slightly different. Some of the details are a little bit different. So Luke 19 verse 12, and I'm just going to go through this very quickly, says, therefore he said, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called ten of his servants. This time we see a different number of servants. Ten of his servants delivered to them ten minus and said to them, do business until I come. But his citizens hated him, sent a delegation after him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first saying, master, your mina has earned ten minus. And he said to him, well done, good servant, because you were faithful and very little have authority over ten cities. The second came saying, master, your mina has earned five minas. Likewise, he said to him, you also be over five cities. Then another came, saying, master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. For I feared you, because you were an austure man. You collect what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. And he said to him, out of your own mouth, I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an asture man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank? That at my coming I could have collected it with interest. And he said to those who stood by, take the mina from him and give it to him who has ten minas. And I like the response, but they said to him, master, he has ten minas. Kind of that idea as to whom much is given, much is required. But for I say to you that for everyone who has will be given, and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. But bring here those enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them and slay them before me. We see in this parable, it's a little bit of a different setup. This time they were given a very specific command to engage in business. They were told, do this while I am gone. Do this while I am gone. There were ten of them. There were a greater reward, it seems as though, for those that when he returned achieved more growth with what they were given. So based on putting these two parables together, we can't conclude for certain that the amount of growth that we obtain doesn't matter. We can't conclude that.

Growth is the focus and it's expected, but the overriding moral of this particular version of the parable seems to be that we should grow as much as we possibly can in the time which we have been allotted. There's a limited amount of time before Christ returns and the expectation is we are growing during that entire time. We should continue to do his business till his return and really building up as much as we possibly can within that time. So what does it entail? What does it entail? What kind of factors are necessary for growth in our spiritual lives? And if we think back to the timber bamboo that we started with, the plant's incredible growth requires three primary factors. There are actually a number of other things that go into growth rates of plants. You start studying some of the physiologically, as I tried to mispronounce that word, the physiology of plants. You start looking into some of that. There's hormones involved, there's processes involved. There's actually a little hormone called gibberilin. I don't know how many of you are familiar with that. You can give it to the plant and it dwarfs them, makes them really small. So you can affect growth rate with a lot of different things as the plant grows, but really, when it comes down to it, there are three factors that are absolutely necessary for a plant not just to live but thrive. In the right combinations, these three factors can bring about incredible growth. And likewise, spiritually, in order for us to create an optimal environment for our own personal spiritual growth, we need these same three things. We need light, we need good soil, and we need regular watering. We need light, we need good soil, and we need regular watering. For those of you that know that garden, you know the drill. If you've got a plant that's struggling a little bit, it comes down to one of three things. Either it's not getting enough light, it's not getting enough water, or in my case, too much water. I drown all my plants.

Or there's something wrong with your soil. There's some sort of things that need to be in there, nutrients that aren't there. So with the time we have left today, we're going to explore these three factors within the life of a plant and examine how they really impact our spiritual growth as well. So the first we're going to talk about is light. And this is likely not any news to any of you. Even if you have a black thumb, this is not news to any of you, you cannot grow a plant in a dark cardboard box. You can't do it. If you seal out any and all light in that box to where the environment on the interior of it is absolutely 100% pitch black, that plant will not grow. Period. It's not going to grow. You can have all the best water in the world, the best soil in the world. None of it matters if the seed is planted in the bottom of a cave. None of it matters. Light is absolutely essential. There's actually a really cool experiment we do with kids that kind of illustrates this basic phenomenon of how important light is to plants. How many of you are familiar with the word phototropism? Really fancy science-y word. Basically, phototropism is a fancy scientist word because we always like to sound smarter than we really are. Phototropism is the tendency of a plant to grow towards light. So one of the experiments that we do with kids, it's really fun. We grow up a little seedling, and then just as the seedling is really starting to just explode and really start to put on leaves and everything else, we cover it with a box. And you cut a small hole in the side of that box. Just enough. It can even be a pinprick. It doesn't have to be a ton. It doesn't have to be a huge hole. But the plant, as it grows, will naturally orient itself towards the light that it finds. And so you could have a plant that after a few days when you pull the box off, that plant has grown all the way literally 90 degrees sometimes straight over to the side of that box where that light's at. You give them a big enough hole, they'll grow right out of the box. They'll go right through the hole. Then what the kids do is kind of fun. They make a little maze for the plant. So they build a cardboard maze, and they put the little seedling in the bottom, and the plants will go all through the top to find the light. Another fun thing that we do with it sometimes is once it's found its direction towards the light, you take the box and flip it around. And then in the next little bit, the plant goes right back to where it goes. You know, I think we can stand to learn a lot from plants. I really do. John 8, 12. Let's go ahead and turn over the book of John.

John 8 verse 12. We see kind of an interesting interaction here following the situation that Christ had where he confronted all the men accusing the woman of adultery. John 8 verse 12. The statement that Christ makes here comes right on the tail of that event.

The preceding verses before it, he turns to the woman and says, Woman, where are your accusers? Where are they all? She said, there are none left. They've all left. And he immediately goes into, after telling her to go and send Amore, he immediately goes into verse 12 of John 8. And he tells her specifically, and the others gathered. I mean, not all of them dispersed, just the accusers dispersed. There's still a crowd of Pharisees listening. Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. You know, Christ told those gathered at that point in time, he was the light of the world. That those who followed him wouldn't walk in darkness, but that they would have the light of life. That he was the light toward which they should grow.

It's like this dark world that we live in is this giant box that covers us. And there's a small little opening of light in this darkness. And God expects his followers are going to exhibit phototropism. They are going to grow towards that light. And it doesn't matter which direction you move the box. It doesn't matter how many times you spin it. You reorient it, you find the light, and you grow to the light. Phototropism at its finest. Christ basically told them he was the light toward which they should grow. That he was the example, and that through him he brought them to the Father. That he was the model through which they could conform themselves to. That if they knew him, they would know the Father. And, brethren, we have to be actively working to grow towards the light, ensuring that no matter how dark this world gets, and it is getting darker. It absolutely is getting darker. No matter how hard this or how dark this world gets, we need to find that sliver of light. We need to grow towards it. Twisting and turning, if need be, to remain in it. Paul also wrote to the people of Ephesus a number of concepts related to this. Let's go ahead and turn over to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5, Paul writes a really interesting concept here about living in the light and what it means to live in the light and to grow towards the light. You know, when it comes down to it, brethren, we're full sun plants. We're not partial shade plants. We're not shade plants. We grow best fully in the light. And so we want to make sure and understand what that means. Paul writes to the people of Ephesus a number of concepts. We're going to go to Ephesians 5. We'll pick it up in verse 1. And if you have a copy of it in the New Living, it's a really neat translation of this section. I really like it. I'm going to read it from the New King James. But the New Living is very expressive in this one. I really appreciate the expressiveness in it. But Ephesians 5, verse 1, specifically says, Therefore be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet- smelling aroma, beforenication and all uncleanness or covetousness. Let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Verse 6, Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. Verse 8, For you were once walking in darkness, or were living in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Goodness, righteousness, and truth. Living in darkness doesn't produce growth. It doesn't produce growth. A plant can't grow in darkness. In fact, when you take a look at the example of the timber bamboo that we began with, that incredible growth rate that comes from that mosso, it goes sometimes three feet in a day or 18 inches in a day, that only happens once that seed breaks the soil. Once it breaks the soil and gets its first hints of sunlight, then it explodes.

Then it just explodes. And once it gets those first hints, it takes off, it strives, it reaches as high as it can possibly get, as close to that light as it can possibly grow. And again, it'll grow 15 to 18 inches a day on average. 60 days, two months, or 60 to 90 feet in height.

For us to grow spiritually, for us to make gains in our spiritual life, we have to remain in the light. We have to grow towards the light. We have to work to grow more like along the lines of the measure of the fullness of Christ. Now, light may trigger the growth process. Light may sustain it. Light may be absolutely essential. But if it's not working in concert with the other two factors, the plant isn't going to make it. The plant's not going to make it. So one of the other factors that's extremely important is good soil. Good soil. And you know, the Bible's replete with agricultural examples. I find it really interesting as we've moved further away from an agriculturally-based society. Some of these terminology and some of these words that we use in here, sowing, reaping, harvesting. I mention these to my students all the time. They have no connection with it whatsoever. I mean, obviously, their belief is that, you know, food comes from this magic room in the back of Fred Meyer somewhere or at Carl's Jr. It's just magically replicated like Star Trek. But the reality of it is they don't understand agricultural metaphors. And I find myself sometimes speaking in idioms and metaphors a lot. And I have to check myself and go, anybody know what that means? Glazed eyes, shaked head. One of the things that I often talk about is reaping what you sow. And it usually is right around testing season when the kids haven't paid attention for a very long period of time and now they think they're just going to magically ace the test. We talk about, look, you're going to reap what you sow. You know, if you plant pumpkins, you're not going to harvest apples. You're not going to be able to do that. So we talk a little bit about that and they just look at me like I have two heads. So they have so little connection to it. But so much of the Bible is replete with agricultural examples. Let's go over to Mark 4. We'll take a look at one of those. Mark 4, we'll take a look at one of those. I've been coming back to this passage again and again and again and again in my personal study over the last little bit.

And I think I'm seeing it in a slightly different light than what I've seen it before. And I don't think necessarily that I completely glossed over it before, but I'm definitely seeing things in a little bit of a different light in Mark 4. I'd like to share that with you today.

Mark 4, we see one of those agricultural metaphors. We see it as often as labeled as the parable of the sower, but you know, I think more accurately it could be considered the parable of the soils. Because this is so much more about the response and so much less about the sowing of the seed itself. And the sowing of the seed, it's not that it's not important, but this whole parable is about the type of person that receives that seed and the way that the person receives that seed. So Mark 4, we're going to go ahead and pick it up in verse 3. Verse 3 of Mark 4 says, listen, behold a sower went out to sow. See, if I'd have told that to my students, they'd be like, oh, is he making a quilt? Is he making shirts? What's he... No sowing, not sowing, but sowing.

Listen, behold a sower went out to sow, and it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and they devoured it. You know, we see that seed landed on the side of the road here. There was really no soil for that seed to do much with. Just laid there on the salted edges, kind of waiting to be picked off by birds. No depth of soil. It wasn't established at all. Didn't even begin to grow. Verse 5, some fell on stony ground where it did not have much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. You know, plants are really versatile. You ever see plants growing out of the side of a rock?

They'll do that just as long as they can get nutrients. When they run out of nutrients, they're done. But they can grow in these little itty-bitty pockets of soil until they've completely used things up. And that's what it's talking about here. Not ideal situation. There wasn't a whole lot there for it to root in. It germinated. It sprang up. It did its thing.

But once the nutrients in that pocket of soil were gone, it was exhausted. The soil couldn't get any deeper. The roots couldn't get any deeper. And the plant ultimately withered away and died. Verse 7, and some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. So other seeds fell in somewhat decent soil. If the thorns are growing, and we used to always joke about that, if there's a whole patch of blackberries growing in it, the soil might be okay underneath all those blackberries, because they seem to be loving it. So they seem to be in okay soil for the most part, but there's other things getting in the way.

There's other things choking out the light. Those thorns grew up. They shaded it out. They choked it out, and the plant didn't yield any fruit, ultimately. But we see the fourth one, verse 8. See the fourth one in verse 8. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced some 30-fold, some 60, and some 100. So some of this seed did land in very good places.

There were no birds, there were no rocks, there were no thorns. It got good established depth. It started growing. It brought forth good amounts of fruit. We see again variable, variable. 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold. But they bore fruit in varying ways. Now, as commonly with the case, often with many of Christ's parables, the disciples were like, yeah, we don't get it. Explain. And that's what I love about this passage. I love the places where Christ gets to explain his own words, because then there is no question. You know, there is no question whatsoever what he meant.

He explained it very, very clearly. So in this case, we'll take a look at the, just a little bit down in verse 14. Verse 14, we see Christ's explanation. I'm just going to go through this kind of quick. So are sows the Word. These are the words by the wayside where the Word is sown when they hear it. Satan comes immediately and takes away the Word that was sown in their hearts.

These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground, who when they hear the Word immediately receive it with gladness. They have no root in themselves, and so they endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the Word's sake, immediately they stumble.

Now these are the ones sown among thorns. They are the ones who hear the Word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the desires for other things entering in, the distractions of a modern life, the priorities that are out of balance, all of the other things that get in between us and God. Choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful.

But these are the ones sown on good ground. Those who hear the Word accept it and bear fruit, some 30-fold, some 60, and some 100. So we see in some of these cases, we see that all four had some varying degrees of growth. All four had some varying degrees of growth. But we can see that not all growth is ideal. As you can tell, one of these growth patterns is definitely more focused and definitely more desirable in our spiritual life.

So in the first example, the person who received the Word in that case basically allowed Satan to take it away from him. It never really stuck. It never really dug in. It never really became something that they accepted. They were personally involved with.

And when the sun comes out and it starts cooking the side of that road with all that salt they were throwing on them in those days, they never really got started. Never really took off.

Others, the second group, they got into the rocky soil. They burned bright and they burned fast.

They grow up so quickly, there's not the root structure necessary to support them.

They grow up very quickly. They don't have the depth of conversion necessary to stick it out when things get tough. And, brethren, we know this life can be tough. You know, you endure persecution, you endure tribulation, you endure difficulty. This is not an easy road that we've been called to. Call it a narrow road for a reason. When tribulation or persecution arises, they give in, they stumble. Still others hear the word, and this is the part that I hadn't connected before. And when they begin to grow, they seem to be doing just fine, but they can't get to the light because that light has been blocked out by other things. Thorns have grown up. And if you've ever watched plant competition, you ever go into a deep dark... some of you guys have have background in logging. I know some of you guys have background in logging. And you go into some of these places where there's a huge canopy over the top of the forest. And in little few areas where there's patchwork of light coming through that old-growth forest, there's just a life explosion in that area because there's so much sunlight. Otherwise, the plants choke them out. And it's actually some plants... it's a strategy, it's a... it's an adaptation strategy to grow very quickly and shadow out other plants. That ensures they get the light, and the other plants don't. Well, in this person's life, others hear it. They begin to grow, but they let the cares of the world. They let distractions, they let stress, they let worries, they let work, they let life. You can almost say sometimes they let certain idols creep into their life. And all of these block out the light to the ground and prevent them from continuing to grow. But the final and the more desirable group were sown on good ground. They were sown in deep soil. They accept the word they've heard, and they bear much fruit with it. And, brother, I'm going to ask you a tough question. Which type of soil do you find yourself in? Which one is it? Are we in the good, rich, deep soil? Are we among the thorns?

Are we burning bright and fast with, you know, when things get hard, are we going to be able to stick it out? Or are we sitting on the side of the road? Good, deep, rich soil is extremely important. It is. It's extremely important, just like light is extremely important. But both soil and light mean nothing if there's not regular and plentiful water.

Not regular and plentiful water. So, we mentioned regular watering was one of the things we're going to talk about now. I mentioned earlier we'd taken this watering the bamboo concept and applied it to our track team this season. That was like our motto. Every time the kids started whining about the difficult workouts we were putting them through, we're like, you're watering the bamboo. Keep going. We're watering the bamboo. Keep going.

We talked to other athletes this year. You know, every spin you do in the discus ring, every throw it's shot put, every block start you're doing, every long run you're doing, all of these things are getting you stronger and more prepared to compete. All of these things are building and building and you may not see gains right away.

You know, your first track meet, you might go out there and just get whooped. You might just get left in the dust. But as you're putting in the work and as you're improving, you're getting better, you're getting stronger, you're getting faster. And we all looked at it from a standpoint of we don't care about the first four meets.

We want districts. That's what we want. We want districts. We want you peaking at the time when the competition is the hardest. And so we built them in that direction. I had a young lady this year. I coached the throwing events. I coach shot put and discus. And out of the two, my favorite is discus. You can brute force a shot put.

You cannot brute force a discus. It's all technique. I don't know if any of you have ever done track and field or not, thrown discus or anything. It's a very technique driven thing. And I have a young lady who had before this year, we have about a five-week track season, she'd never seen a discus in her entire life. And you know, she picks it up the first time like, this is a really heavy frisbee.

Like, you know, discus. Discus. Do you throw it? No, you don't throw it like this. So we started from ground one with this young lady. But the one thing that she had going for her, she's quite possibly the strongest young woman in the city of Salem for her age level. And she squats like 225. She's just extremely strong. And I would literally put her up against any other kid in the city of Salem at her age, and she can outlift them all, guaranteed.

But her technique was not awesome. Her technique was not awesome. But unfortunately, because she's good at lifting weights, and she's very strong, she gets frustrated really easily when things don't go well. And so she's used to being really good at stuff. She's really good at basketball.

She's good at all these other things. And she's used to that. So when she came up and threw discus and couldn't out throw the little scrawny girl on our team that had better technique, she got so frustrated. So frustrated. And so she couldn't get the hang of it. She was, you know, one throw, she'd be too stiff. She'd just be all locked in. So loosen up a little bit. The next one, she's gummy in it.

She's floppy, you know, going from one ditch to the other. Couldn't get the disc to come off flat. She's rolling it off her hand backwards. Couldn't drive through with her hips. I mean, there were so many different things that she just technique-wise couldn't do. So we talked to her about it.

Look, you have to keep practicing. You have to keep doing this. I know you've been through this footwork 50 times today, but you need to do it again and again and again until it's instinctual. And we kept talking to her about how when you've got it down, you should be able to walk in the ring and not think about it. You just do what you're supposed to do. It's instinctual. So she practiced. I mean, she was driven over and over with footwork and in and out, adjusting the middle and the end. And as she dialed it in, though, it was interesting.

She didn't see much growth at all, to be honest. At first, the first couple of weeks, first couple of track meets, she was throwing all of 50 feet. The longest in the district for the girls at that time was 86.

She's throwing maybe 50 feet. Then she'll get maybe another five or six feet. Every throw, you could see the frustration and the impatience. You know, we talked through a number of times where she broke down crying because for her, she just got so frustrated. She was putting in all the work. I'm doing everything I should be doing. Why am I not seeing results? Why am I not seeing results? You know, I think sometimes we can do that when we look at our own spiritual lives. You can go, look, I'm reading my Bible and praying. I'm doing all these things. Why am I not seeing results?

She did that very thing. Kept talking to her about it. Kept talking to her about it. So just to finish up her personal story, which Trexx season's over with now, she was steadily improving. Steadily improving, she'd have a setback. Steadily improving and a setback. Kind of back and forth, back and forth. The final meet of the year, she threw 76 and a half.

Later that week in practice, she dropped one in at about 83. Now the longest girl, the girl she's chasing, was 86. She was fifth in the district, going into districts. She took first place in the district meet, throwing 89-11. And I pulled her aside after that throw and I said, sweetheart, your bamboo has grown. And then I told her, now that you're going to go up to the podium and you're going to go up there and stand on that podium, I said, now is the time to practice humility. Now is the time to do all these other things that athletes do. But we talked a little bit, too, about after that plant begins to grow, after that plant starts growing, you can't stop watering it. In fact, believe it or not, with Chinese timber bamboo, the water requirement gets more stringent after the plant has grown to the height that it is. It takes less water to grow the seed than it does to grow the giant ficket of bamboo. How many of you ever killed a plant because you forgot to water it? Anybody at all? I have. I, like I told you earlier, though, my, my MO at our house, my wife will kill them because she forgets to water them. I go along behind her thinking, oh, the soil's a little bit dry, it needs more water, and then I dump water on it and drown them. So she's got this all figured out. I try not to touch her plants. But if you've ever watched a plant start to die, I'm not saying that we should just sit back and watch plants die, but if you've ever watched a plant start to die, what happens? A plant starts to get a little bit droopy, start to wilt a little bit, the edges of the leaf start to curl up, maybe they turn yellow from the magnesium, you know, deficiencies. They start to yellow up and brown, and if neglected long enough, they simply wither away. And brethren, if you've ever seen one of our brothers or our sisters who are struggling, they do kind of the same thing. They droop up, they wilt up a little bit, you can tell they're struggling, you can tell they're having a hard time. And it's times like that where water is so unbelievably important. And the reason water is such an essential factor in a plant's life is during the process of photosynthesis, plants take water and they take the nutrients from the ground, they take carbon dioxide from the air, and they produce sugar, which is the plant's food. They provide the sugars for the plant so that it's able to have life and be able to live, really, without water in the plant world, life isn't possible. Let's go over to John 4.

Let's go over to John 4. We'll finish fleshing out this analogy. John 4.

John 4, we're going to pick it up in verse 7. We see here the interaction of Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well. And John 4, we have this, he's come essentially to this major watering hole in the area, major watering hole in the area. This well's been around for thousands of years, you know, it's referred to as Jacob's well. And in it we see that he's sitting near the well and that a Samaritan woman approaches. And we'll go ahead and break in it, verse 7. So, verse 7 of John 4. John 4, verse 7, says, a woman of Samaria came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, give me a drink. I'm sure he said it nicer than that. But for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, Samaritan woman. It mentions here, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Probably due to the whole, during the diaspora, the Samaritans were brought in to their land once the Jews were moved over to Babylon. And they kind of learned a little bit about God. They started to kind of follow God. And they had their own little bit of differences. And so, but the Jews viewed them as kind of illegitimate at that point in time. So they didn't really do a lot of interactions whatsoever. But in verse 10, Jesus says, answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself as well as his sons in his livestock? Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life. Not a trickle of water, not a drop of water, a fountain of water, a giant well of water. This woman said to him, sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. Jesus said, go call your husband and come here. We won't read the rest of it. But basically, she perceives her something about this guy that she didn't perceive up front.

And she realizes when he says a couple of different things about her life that no one would know but she, oh, well, I perceive you're a prophet. She goes in, she talks to the people of the town, they come out, and there were a number of people that heard the word that day and became followers. Let's compare this with the words recorded in John 7. Let's pop over to John 7. Just a couple pages back. John 7. John 7, we'll pick it up in verses 37 and 39. Like I said before, I love it in the places in the Bible where there is nothing left open for interpretation. I really love the places where Christ spells out, this is what I am saying. I love those places. John 7, verse 37, is one of those places. John 7, verse 37, we saw him make reference in John 4 to this concept of living water. This concept of living water. And there, you know, you didn't really go much further into that. There could be some interpretation there unless you put precept on precept. John 7, verse 37, John 7, verse 37 says, on that last day, or on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and he cried out, saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Similar concept to what he let the lady knoweth or the woman knoweth the well. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Here's that reference again, living water. But this, verse 39, thankfully explaining it, but this he spoke concerning the spirit, whom those believing in him would receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Now, there was a hint in John 4. He said the gift of God that's given. Okay, we recognize the Holy Spirit is a gift. It's something God provides us to help us navigate the waters of this life, so to speak. But we see that when he referenced living waters, he's referencing the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As it mentioned in John 4, that would become in them a well or a fountain of water springing forth. And as we see in John 7, 38, it would flow from within us. If you have water flowing, it implies that it's flowing somewhere. Water that sits doesn't flow. Water that flows, flows. So where is it flowing? It's flowing outward. It's flowing out into the lives of the people around us. It's flowing out from us, and it's noticeable. As Mr. Consella mentioned before, you know, many of us may be the only Bible some people will ever read.

They're watching our every move. They're watching our actions. They're watching the words that we say. And it's extremely important that we ensure that, especially when we are ambassadors of God, that we are living in such a way. Let's turn over to the Book of Galatians. Again, one of those places that we go to pretty frequently. Galatians 5. Galatians 5. You can probably predict where we're headed. Galatians 5. We're going to pick it up in 22 through 25. Galatians 5. 22 through 25. We see that as the Spirit works in our life, there is fruit that is bore by us. There's fruit that is noticeable, that is seen from others who view our lives. Galatians 5 verse 22 gets very specifically into the fruit of the Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. And those who are Christs have crucified the flesh with his passions and his desires. You can see a list of those up in 19 through 21. There's a list of those works of the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. So if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. You know, God has provided us the gift of the Holy Spirit. He has watered us. He has watered us. And he continues to water us if we will let him. If we'll let him continue to water us, he will water us. Our part is to yield ourselves to that Spirit and grow, to search through our life, to find those places that are out of balance with what God has given us for expectations, to find those locations in our lives.

To let that love, that joy, that peace, that patience, the kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control, all of those things that are listed here, be the fruit that we bear in our life as we grow. You know, we're actually told that we will know a follower of God by their fruits.

We will know them. We will see it. It will be noticeable. It'll be something. There's not a question. It's noticeable. Our actions speak so much louder than our words. You know, we can pay a lot of lip service. We can say a lot of things. You know, we can just, we can say, oh, I believe in God. I follow God. I do you. Our actions speak so loudly. Do we show love? Do we live joy? Do we live joy? Are we peaceful? Are we patient? Are we kind? Are we good? Are we faithful? Are we humble?

Or do we practice self-control? Galatians 5 is a tall order. It really is. It's a tall order. When you look at those things that are in that section of what the Holy Spirit should be doing in our lives, it's a tall order. And it's supposed to be a tall order because those things fly in the face of human nature because they're God's nature. They're not human nature. Nothing to do with human nature. Those are God's expectations for us. And they should be 180 degrees from human nature.

But they are our expectation. They are what we're expected to do. We have to be striving to grow in these areas of our life to work to bear this fruit. And I think as we go through the Passover season and the Days of Unleavened Bread and as we start to look forward to Pentecost now, we're in that time of the year when we focus a lot more introspectively into our lives. It's not that we don't do this year-round, but you know we're commanded to do it at this time of year, so we tend to be a little more introspective. We look inward. We examine ourselves. We look for those parts of our life that are not in line with God's expectations. And we work to try to overcome things that we deal with. And I don't know about you guys, but sometimes there's times where year after year I'm still working on something that I'm still struggling with. Patience or one of those things.

And we're not seeming to make significant progress on it at all. It can be really discouraging. It can be really discouraging. I don't know if you've had that happen in your own life, but it can be really discouraging when we don't see the growth. And we have a tendency as people, as humans, we have a tendency to see where we are in the moment. We see where we are right now, and we look at where we are right now, and maybe we also have this horrible tendency to compare ourselves to others, but we look around and we go, oh man, so-and-so's got this figured out. Boy, what's wrong with me? So-and-so's got this figured out, or this or that, or oh, I could never measure up. And what we don't often do is take a step back and look at where we are and look at where we came from. Think about the life that we led before we were called, or think about, you know, even where we were five or six years ago. The expectation is we grow, and we continue to grow as that time goes on. And sometimes, even though we may get discouraged because we haven't necessarily seen an unbelievable amount of growth in one year's time, what we maybe don't see is the growth that's occurring beneath the surface. Things that are going on underneath the soil, so to speak. The changes that are happening that God is putting in our life to prepare us for this growth that could come. And we may not see significant growth right now, but we have to keep watering the bamboo. This year could be year three.

This could be year three. This coming year could see an incredible amount of growth, given the right opportunities, given the right conditions, given ample light, good solid soil. This could be the year that you see bare dirt become a 60-foot tall bamboo plant. Brethren, don't be discouraged. Don't give up. Keep watering the bamboo.