Dear Church Family.

This Sunday’s message was the first in our summer mini-series “Endure: Holding Onto the One Who Holds You”. 

Here are some thoughts and questions to help you in care groups this week and in your personal devotionals.
 
In this first message we considered the foundational truth of the necessity of enduring faith.  Endurance is not an option for the believer, but as the parable of the four soils in Luke 8:4-15 shows, an enduring and fruit-bearing trust in Jesus and His word is an essential mark of a genuinely born-again Christian.

In the parable and His interpretation, Jesus warns against two kinds of soil that represents faith that does not endure and is not fruit bearing.  One kind of faith dies as it in the midst of temptation, (in Matthew’s version it is falling away due to persecution).  Another kind of faith dies through concerns for this world. These initial “believers” are “choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
 
But the true believers are those who keep holding onto the message of Christ with a "an honest and good heart".  They bear fruit for God in keeping with genuine and lasting faith.  This fruit of this faith isn't spelled out in the parable, but it is almost certainly a life of loving obedience to the will of God as He expresses it in Scripture.
 

1.  Does your “theology” of the Gospel “have room” for this parable?

It can be tricky for believers who are Gospel-centered and emphasize salvation by faith alone in the work of Christ (as we should!) to come to terms with the reality in this parable:  There is a kind of faith that is false and not saving.  But this is exactly what we are confronted with in these words of Christ.
 
However, God does not warn us to condemn us. Rather, just as a father warns his children about dangerous situations and thus protects them from these dangers, so too God gives us these sobering truths to protect us and cause us to stay close to Him, endure in our faith, and thus live fruitfully.  
 
When we are reminded that we can not claim to belong to Jesus and yet live fruitless lives of unrepentant disobedience - and that this is possible for people and must be guarded against - we are actually being protected from falling away. This is because God’s warnings lead His Spirit-indwelt people to respond in repentance and endurance as we are brought to examine our lives and cry out to Him for grace.

• Does this make sense to you and help you make sense of the warnings in Scripture written to Christians? (If this parable is confusing to you - and seems to contradict the Gospel of grace to you, talk about this with others and/or a pastor who can help!)
• Consider spending some time thanking God that He is a good Father who is willing to speak truth to His children to keep them from harm.

2.  The Condition of Your Soil

In the parable and its interpretation Jesus spoke of spoke of temptation that draws us away from God. He warns of worries and wealth and pleasures in this life which dominate our lives, choke our faith in the Gospel, and lead to fruitlessness.
 
Where do you feel your belief is most vulnerable right now? 
Whether its desires for the things of this world you want, or worries about the future, or the slow numbing that can come from being caught up in wealth and prosperity –  what is vying to be “bigger than God” right now in your life?
 
Is Your faith enduring?
How are you holding onto the Gospel of God’s grace?  Are you allowing prayer and time in the word to be a means of nourishment to the “plant” of your faith? 
 
Is your faith fruit bearing?
Are you investing the truth you know into real practice?  Is loving and obeying God a real pursuit for you?
 

3.  Are you crying out for good soil?

We will never ever pull this off on our own!  An enduring and fruit bearing faith is not something we can ever have apart from a constant flow of the grace of God through the Holy Spirit. On this side of heaven we will never stop singing the words of the old hymn “Come Thou Fount”:
 
“Prone to wander Lord I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love
Take my heart now, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above”
 
Yes, we are called to hold onto our faith and put it into practice.  But the Gospel tells us that ultimately our soil can only become - and stay - “good” as we are changed by the Holy Spirit who is ours by the blood of Jesus.
 
This is why at the heart of the Gospel is the Father’s gift of a sympathetic high priest to whom we can and must always come for help in our fight to hold onto our faith and bear the fruit of loving obedience.
 

• Are you making it a habit of continually crying out to God for the strength to stay near Him and bear fruit for Him?
• Read Hebrews 4:14-16 and spend some time coming boldly and confidently – because Jesus is worth your confidence!) – to your heavenly Father for the help you need today.

 Ok that's all for now folks.

Until next time, may God keep you holding into to Him as He holds you!
Albert