🎵Music🎵
Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Let's go ahead and find our seats this evening.
Find a seat, find a hand real close to you.
Turn to page number 420.
Song number 420, there is a song in the air.
There is a song in the air, there is a star in the sky
song number 420, find a seat, find a hand real close to you.
Let's go ahead and sing it out.
420, sing it out.
On the first 🎵 There is a song in the air 🎵
There's a song in the air, there's a star in the sky.
There's a mother's deep prayer and a baby's low cry.
And the star raises fire while the beautiful sing
For the manger of Bethlehem cradles the King.
Song number 420 on the second.
There's a tumult of joy o'er the wonderful birth
For the virgin sweet boy is the Lord of the earth
And the star raises fire while the beautiful sing
For the manger of Bethlehem cradles the King.
Song number 420 on the third.
In the light of the star lies the ages imperiled
And that song from afar has swept over the world
E'er we heard there's a flame and the beautiful sing
In the homes of the nations that Jesus is King
Let's finish strong on the last.
We rejoice in the light and we echo the song
That comes down through the night from the heavenly throng
E'er we soar to the lovely evangel they bring
And we greet in his cradle our Savior and King.
Amen. Great singing. We want to welcome everyone here
to Verity Baptist Church here on our Sunday evening service.
We call it the most exciting service of the week.
And we are so glad to see everyone here this evening.
Let's bow our heads and open the service with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we love you and we thank you again
just for the opportunity to be in your house this evening
and we thank you for a great day you've given us.
And we thank you for the season, Lord, and we thank you
for these dear people who would come, sing praise to your name
and learn from your words, Lord.
We ask, Lord, that you bless the service.
We pray for the singing, the preaching, and the fellowship.
And we hope, Lord, that everything that would be said
and done this evening would only bring glory and honor
to your name. We love you and Jesus and I pray. Amen.
Alright, it's now time for favorites where if you're selected
we will sing a stanza from the song that you pick.
Brother Moses, go ahead.
427. It's the season, so feel free to sing or to choose Christmas songs.
Alright, song number 427, We Three Kings of Orient are.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
We three kings of Orient are.
Bearing gifts, we travel so far.
Fields and fountain, o'er and mountain,
following yonder star.
Oh, star of wonder, star of night,
star with royal beauty bright.
Westward leading, still proceeding,
guide us to thy perfect light.
Brother Josh, go ahead.
429.
Hark, the herald angels sing.
It's a song that you have to sing.
Alright, song number 429.
And read the words and actually listen to what you're singing.
Alright, song number 429 on the first.
Hark, the herald angels sing.
Glory to the newborn king.
Peace on earth and mercy mild.
God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful all ye nations rise.
Join the triumph of the skies.
When angelic hosts proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
The herald angels sing.
Glory to the newborn king.
Miss Dogma, go ahead.
What was it?
434.
O little town of Bethlehem,
song number 434.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
O little town of Bethlehem,
how still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep,
the silent stars go by.
Yet in the dark streets shineth
the everlasting light.
The hopes and fears of all the years,
are met in thee tonight.
The Jocelyn Guide.
210.
Song number 210.
Wonderful grace of Jesus,
song number 210.
Sing it out on the first.
Wonderful grace of Jesus,
greater than all my sin.
How shall my tongue describe it?
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden,
setting my spirit free.
For the wonderful grace of Jesus,
bitches me.
Wonderful the Master's grace of Jesus,
deeper than the mighty rolling sea.
Higher than the mountain,
sparking like a fountain,
more sufficient grace for even me.
Brother than the scope of my discretion,
sing it greater than all my sin and shame.
O magnify the precious name of Jesus,
praise his name.
Brother Glenn, go ahead.
451.
431.
Let's go back to Christmas songs,
song number 421.
Silent night, holy night,
song number, what was it?
431.
Yes, 431.
Silent night, holy night,
song number 431 on the first.
Silent.
All right, let's do it again.
Three fours, all right,
song number 434,
or 431, I'm sorry.
Three fours, silent night, holy night,
let's do it again.
We're gonna do it, we're gonna do it right.
All right, song number 431 on the first.
Silent night,
holy night,
all is calm,
all is bright,
round yon virgin,
mother and child,
holy infant so tender and mild,
sleep in heavenly peace,
sleep in heavenly peace.
All right, let's sing one more song.
Joel, go ahead.
What was it?
261.
This will be the last song for favorite song number 261,
turn your eyes upon Jesus,
song number 261.
Let's finish strong, all right?
261 on the first.
Oh, so lie you weary and troubled,
no light in the darkness you see.
There's life for a look at the Savior,
and life more abundant.
Come on, sing it out.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and grace.
Amen.
Amen, good singing.
We welcome you to the Sunday night service
here at Rarity Baptist Church.
We're so glad you're with us.
Let's go ahead and take our bulletins.
We'll look at some announcements real quickly.
If you do not have a bulletin,
just raise your hand,
and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin,
just put your hand up,
and we'll get one for you.
The verse this week, Matthew 121,
and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins.
And that's a good verse there.
Of course, we like that.
You open up your bulletin,
you'll see our service time Sunday morning,
service 10.30 a.m.
We had a wonderful service this morning.
We're glad you're back out tonight
for the evening service,
and we do invite you to be with us
on Wednesday night for the midweek Bible study.
We call it the most encouraging service of the week,
and it's nice to just,
after you've been back in life
and in the world for a couple of days,
to get again with God's people
in the middle of the week on a Wednesday night,
we're going to be studying Psalm 19 this Wednesday.
We're in a study in the book of Psalms,
and we're going to be in Psalm 19,
so if you'd like to read Psalm 19, study it,
be ready to study it together on Wednesday night,
then we'll do that, of course,
collectively as a congregation.
If you look at our soul winning times,
our main soul winning time
is on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.,
and then we have additional soul winning times
on Thursdays and on Sundays at 2 p.m.,
and if you are a soul winner,
we ask that you please do not forget
to add your salvations on your communication card
so that you can turn that in in the offering
so we can get the bulletin updated,
and of course, if you went out
and you did not finish a map,
clearly mark on the map what you did,
what you didn't do,
and then you can turn it in into the bin in the foyer
so that we can get that recycled through
and make sure we get that done,
and of course, if you're coming
to one of our soul winning times
but you're running late,
you can call us or text us at the number there,
916-868-9080.
Let us know that you're planning on being there
but you're running late.
That way, we can make sure we have a map for you
and a partner and all of that.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events,
of course, this morning,
we began a brand new sermon series
called The Most Wonderful Time,
and we're talking about how Christmas
is a wonderful time for a lot of things.
We talked about family this morning,
and we'll continue that over the next several weeks
as we build up towards Christmas,
and then, of course, we want to let you know
about our Christmas service coming up
on Sunday, December 22nd.
In the 1030 a.m. service,
we're gonna have special music from the BBC adult choir,
the children's choir.
Both will be singing in the morning service.
Of course, the orchestra playing as well,
and then, on Sunday evening,
after the evening service,
we're gonna have hot chocolate
and Christmas cookie fellowship,
so just make sure you make a note of all of that,
and if you're able to bring cookies
for the cookie fellowship,
then please make sure you go by our foyer there.
We have a sign-up sheet,
and you can sign up to bring cookies,
and then there is a bridal shower this Saturday
for Miss Emily Gessler on December 7th
at 3 p.m. here at the church building.
If you'd like to attend,
you can sign up on your communication card.
It is a potluck,
so if you can, please bring a dish to share,
and she is registered on Amazon and Target.
There was choir practice today at five
and children's choir at 515.
There's other things there, of course, for you to look at.
If you look at the back of the bulletin,
birthdays and anniversaries
for the month of December.
Tomorrow is Brother Andrew Davidson's birthday, December 2nd.
Also, Jeremiah Johnson has a birthday, December 2nd.
Wunu Her has a birthday, December 3rd.
Miss Rebecca Garcia has a birthday, December 4th.
And Josiah Taylor and Valerie Zuniga
both have a birthday on December 6th.
Praise Report, Money Matters,
all of those things are there for you to look at.
We do want to remind you, of course,
that you should have one of these Christmas gifts for Jesus
inserts in your bulletin,
and as you're out and about this holiday season,
you're buying gifts for people or for yourself.
Make sure you buy something for the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you can do that, give it through the church,
and we've got a list here of things that we just use
on a regular basis,
and if you'd like to pick one of these things up,
or a few of these things up as you're out and about,
then we've got in the foyer a drop-off location there
where you can drop off whatever it is
that you're purchasing for the Christmas gift for Jesus,
or if you'd like to just make a special
Christmas gift for Jesus donation,
then there's a QR code, you can do that as well.
Just something for you to consider
as you are out and about this holiday season,
and just a couple of extra announcements real quickly,
if you don't mind.
First of all, if you'd like to sign up
to bring Brother Luke and Miss Angel a meal,
then my wife has the clipboard,
and I think there's still a couple of open slots,
so if somebody would like to help with that,
we'd appreciate it,
and of course we want to be a blessing to them.
They just had a baby,
so if you could help with that, that would be great,
and then also if there's any guys that want to help this week,
we're trying to get some guys
to maybe help hang some Christmas lights out front,
and if you've got some experience with that,
then you can see me after the service, let me know,
and we can get you situated with that,
and we'd appreciate the help with that,
and then of course if you're a first-time guest,
if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church,
we're so glad that you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you
as you walk out of the church building this evening
as you go through the main foyer there.
You'll see a little table set up,
and on that table you'll see these little gift bags.
Please grab one on your way out
as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight.
There are several resources in this bag
that we'd like you to have,
but the one I'd like to highlight
is this documentary that our church made.
It's called Being Baptist.
It's very well made, very interesting.
It takes you really from the time of Christ to modern days,
and it highlights the lineage of Baptist people.
We think you'll find this interesting,
it's entertaining, it's educational.
We wanted to give this to you as a gift,
so please make sure you don't leave here tonight
without grabbing one of those gift bags on your way out,
and if you are a guest,
we'd ask that you'd please take a moment
to fill out the communication card
which is inserted in your bulletin,
and if you need a pen, you can just raise your hand.
One of our ushers will bring you by
a Verity Baptist Church pen.
You're welcome, of course, to keep the pen as well,
and we would just like to have a record of your attendance.
We actually would like to get a little gift to you this week,
but we need your information to do that,
so please take a moment to fill the card out.
When we're done with the announcements,
we're gonna sing a song.
When we're done singing, we're gonna receive the offering,
and as the offering plate goes by,
you can drop off this card in the offering plate,
and I think that's it for all of the announcements,
so we're gonna go ahead and sing the chorus of the week,
which is the insert in your bulletin,
and we're gonna sing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,
and of course, we're in the Christmas season now,
so we're singing these Christmas hymns,
and let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
Good, sing it out on the second.
From God our heavenly Father
A blessed angel came
And unto certain shepherds
Beings of the same
O that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
You're singing well this evening.
We're gonna sing it out on the third.
We'll just ask the instrumentalists.
Let's slow it down a little bit.
Sing it on purpose with passion on the third.
Fear not then sing it out.
Fear not then said the angel
Let nothing do affright
This day is born a Savior
You're a pure virgin bright
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan's power and might
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
Good, sing it out on the last.
Now to the Lord sing praises
All you within this place
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace
This holy tide of Christmas
All others duck the face
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Tidings of comfort and joy
Amen. Good singing.
Before the guys come up,
I just want to remind you, of course,
that we are a family integrated church.
We've got mother baby rooms and daddy rooms
available for your convenience.
So make sure you use those rooms as needed.
If you need to be baptized,
you can let us know on your communication card
and we'll follow up with you in regards to that.
And if you don't mind making sure your cell phones
are off or silent or vibrate
so they don't go off in the middle of the sermon,
we'd appreciate your help with that as well.
Let's go ahead and bow our heads
and have a word of prayer
and we'll have the guys come up
and help us with the offering.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you
and we pray that you would bless us
together tonight.
Lord, we pray that you would bless the time
and set aside for preaching.
Lord, help us to learn from your word
and Lord, we pray that you would bless
the offering, the gift, and the giver.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Please open up to Hosea 10.
Hosea 10, if you do not have a Bible,
please raise your hand
and I know she can bring you a Bible.
Hosea 10, if you need a bow,
keep your hand up unless you'll come by.
Hosea 10, we'll read the entire chapter
as our custom.
Hosea 10, making it verse number 1.
Israel is an empty vine.
He bringeth forth fruit unto himself.
According to the multitude of his fruit,
he hath increased the altars.
According to the goodness of his land,
they have made goodly images.
Their heart is divided.
Now shall they be found faulty.
He shall break down their altars.
He shall spoil their images.
For now they shall say,
We have no king,
because we feared not the Lord.
What then should a king do to us?
They have spoken words,
swearing falsely and making a covenant.
Thus judgment springeth up as a hemlock
in the furrows of the field.
The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear
because of the calves of Bathaven.
For the people thereof shall mourn over it,
and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it,
for the glory thereof,
because it is departed from it.
It shall be also carried unto Assyria
for present to King Jareb.
Ephraim shall receive shame,
and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
As for Samaria,
her king is cut off as a foam upon the water.
The high places also of Avon,
the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed.
The thorn and thistle shall come up on their altars,
and they shall say to the mountains,
Cover us, and to the hills, fall on us.
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah.
There they stood.
The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity
did not overtake them.
It is my desire that I should chastise them,
and the people shall be gathered against them,
and they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.
And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught,
and loveth to tread out the corn,
but I passed over upon her fair neck.
I will make Ephraim to ride,
Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.
Sow it yourselves in righteousness,
reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground,
for it is time to seek the Lord,
till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity,
ye have eaten the fruit of lies,
because thou didst trust in thy way,
in the multitude of thy mighty men.
Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people,
and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled,
as shamans spoiled Beth Arbel in the day of battle.
The mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
So shall Beth will do unto you because of your great wickedness.
In a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening.
God, I thank you for our church and for your word.
I ask that you please give us all the tender hearts of the message tonight,
and as we be their pastor, please strengthen them,
and fill them with your spirit.
We love you, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right, we're there in Hosea chapter number 10 tonight,
and I'd like you to look down at verse number 12,
a very familiar verse, Hosea chapter number 10.
In verse number 12, the Bible says,
so to yourselves in righteousness reap in mercy.
I'd like you to make note of this little expression found in verse number 12.
In fact, if you don't mind writing your Bible,
maybe you can mark these words in your Bible.
The Bible says, break up your fallow ground.
Break up your fallow ground,
for it is time to seek the Lord,
till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
I want to speak tonight on the subject of break up the fallow ground,
and you might be wondering, what does this mean?
What does this phrase mean to break up the fallow ground?
In ancient times, of course, when Hosea is writing in the Old Testament,
he's writing to what we would call an agricultural society,
so he's using farming terms,
and these would be terms that maybe to those of us that are city slickers,
we're not too familiar with,
but in this society, in this culture, at this time,
these would all be terms that people would be familiar with.
They would understand the phrase, break up your fallow ground.
They would understand why God is using that illustration,
and what he's getting at.
In the ancient times, fallow ground was land that had been left unused.
It was land that was not plowed or was unplowed,
and this was land that was either left unused because there was no use for it.
Maybe nobody owned it, nobody had need for it,
or maybe it was land that was left unused for a season.
Maybe they purposely did not plow it in order to restore its fertility,
but this was a land, fallow ground,
when there's a reference to this idea of fallow ground.
This would be ground that had become hard.
It would be ground that had become neglected,
and it would be ground that had become unproductive,
and this is an illustration that God is using,
this agricultural illustration of ground that is hard and cold
and neglected and unproductive,
and God is telling the children of Israel here,
in Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12,
he's telling the people of God in the Old Testament,
he's telling them to sow to yourselves in righteousness,
rape and mercy, and he's telling them break up your fallow ground.
We know that in the Bible, and I'm not going to take the time to go through it,
we're going to look at a lot of passages this evening,
but we know that in the Bible, in the New Testament specifically,
there's a famous parable of the seeds and the ground,
and we may look at a verse there later on,
but we know that the ground is a picture of our hearts,
and of course the seed is the word of God,
and here God is using this as an illustration,
and he's telling the children of Israel
that in the same way that ground can grow hard and unproductive,
it can grow cold and it can grow fallow,
he says in the same way your hearts can become this way,
and God is using this as a spiritual analogy,
because if you notice in verse 12,
he says break up your fallow ground,
and then he says for, and the word for means because,
and he's going to explain why it is that he's telling them this,
he says for it is time to seek the Lord,
and what we see here is that the opposite of seeking the Lord
is having fallow ground,
the individual who has fallow ground is not able to seek the Lord,
I want you to know as well that this is repeated elsewhere in scripture,
and oftentimes when something is repeated in the Bible,
it tells us that there's some importance to it,
not that if it's not repeated it's not important,
everything in the Bible is important,
all scripture is given by inspiration of God,
but especially during this time,
God is dealing with the people of God here,
and he's telling them that they need to break up their fallow ground,
I'd like you to keep your place there in Hosea,
that's our text for tonight,
and we're going to come back to it,
but go with me if you would to the book of Jeremiah,
Jeremiah chapter 4,
if you're there in Hosea,
and if you go backwards,
you're going to go past the book of Daniel,
past the book of Ezekiel,
past the small book of Lamentations,
and then you have the big book of Jeremiah,
you have Hosea, Daniel, which is a smaller book,
Ezekiel, which is a large book,
Lamentations, which is a small book,
and then Jeremiah chapter 4,
I'd like you to look down at verse number 3,
Jeremiah chapter number 4,
and verse number 3,
Jeremiah 4 and verse 3,
the Bible says,
For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
notice what he says,
he says,
Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among the thorns,
and we see this illustration that God uses,
for the people of God,
telling them to break up,
break up your fallow ground.
Make your way back, if you would,
to the book of Hosea.
In fact, actually, if you would,
go with me to the New Testament book of Hebrews.
I'd like you to keep your place in Hosea.
If you kept your place there,
make sure you've got a ribbon or a bookmark
or something there,
and go to the New Testament book of Hebrews.
Towards the end of the New Testament,
if you start at the book of Revelation,
you go backwards,
you've got Jude,
3rd, 2nd and 1st John,
2nd and 1st Peter, James,
and then the book of Hebrews,
Hebrews chapter number 2,
and let me just say this,
spiritually speaking,
when we're talking about physically,
a literal field that has become fallow,
is a field that has been left unused,
it's been unplowed,
it's not been cultivated,
and it is a ground that has become hard,
neglected, and unproductive.
Spiritually speaking, fallow ground.
We're talking about fallow ground in our hearts,
as God's people,
the reason that God would tell these people,
break up your fallow ground
for it's time to seek the Lord.
Spiritually speaking,
fallow ground represents a heart,
or a spiritual life,
that has grown cold,
that has grown indifferent,
that has hardened to God,
and to the word of God,
and to the work of God.
It is a ground that needs to be softened.
It's a heart that needs to be plowed,
it needs to be prepared,
so that it can bring new growth.
Just as a farmer needs to break up the hard soil,
to allow the seed to take root,
what God is teaching us in these passages,
is that we too,
must soften the hard places in our hearts,
so that God can do a work in us.
And tonight I want to speak on this,
and I want to explain to you,
and give you some thoughts in regards to,
what it means to break up the fallow ground,
and what we can do about it,
and why it is that this is something that is essential,
for our spiritual lives,
and our spiritual growth.
Now if you're there in Hebrews chapter number two,
let me give you three thoughts this evening,
and if you've got a place where you can write down some notes,
maybe you can jot this down,
or of course on the back of your course of the week,
there's a place for you to take down some notes.
Let's begin by talking about this.
What is the problem of fallow ground?
Why is having fallow ground a big deal?
The fact that God would tell the people of God,
in the Old Testament,
to break up your fallow ground,
in Hosea 10 and verse 12,
and again in Jeremiah 4 and verse 3,
break up your fallow ground,
what's the big deal?
What's the problem?
What's the issue?
Or maybe we should say it this way,
what are the characteristics of fallow ground?
If God is telling his people,
you need to break up the fallow ground,
because it's keeping you from seeking the Lord.
He says,
for it is time to seek the Lord,
and he's telling his people,
your hearts have grown fallow,
your hearts are represented,
not by good ground,
as Jesus would teach in his parable,
but instead it's fallow ground,
and we've got to ask the question,
what is fallow ground?
What is a heart that has become fallow?
And I think there's several things,
characteristics that we can see,
with regards to fallow ground,
the problem of the fallow ground.
Let me give you several of those,
and we'll begin here in Hebrews chapter 2.
The first one is this,
that fallow ground is neglected ground.
What makes ground fallow,
is the fact that it grows hard,
and it grows cold,
but the reason it grows hard,
and it grows cold,
is because of the fact that it's been neglected.
It's been left alone.
It's been left unused.
It's a field that could produce a crop,
it could produce a harvest,
it could produce something of use,
but instead, for one reason or another,
people have chosen to not use that field,
and it's been left alone.
It's been neglected,
and as a result,
it's grown hard,
it's grown unproductive,
it's grown cold,
and it is now fallow.
And in the same way,
we can learn that in our hearts,
and in our spiritual life,
the same way that ground that is neglected,
grows fallow,
our hearts can become fallow ground,
when we allow our spiritual lives to be neglected.
You know the Bible teaches that,
we should not neglect our spiritual lives with God.
Are you there in Hebrews chapter 2?
I'd like you to look down at these verses.
Look down at verse number 1,
Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 1,
the Bible says this,
Therefore we ought to give,
notice these words,
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed.
Notice those two words there,
earnest heed.
The word earnest is defined as ardent,
or an ardent pursuit of an object.
It's the same idea as being eager,
and the Bible says that we should give the more earnest,
the more ardent, the more eager heed.
The word heed means to give attention to,
to give careful attention to.
Now why don't you notice what the Bible is saying here,
because there's a context here in Hebrews chapter 2,
when he says,
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed,
to the things which we have heard,
lest at any time,
notice these words,
we should let them slip.
And here's what I think we need to understand about the Christian life.
Is that we believe that salvation is a free gift,
and praise God for that.
We believe that salvation is not of works,
the Bible says it's not of works,
lest any man should boast.
It's the gift of God.
We believe, as we talked about this morning,
that God commended his love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
That the reason that you and I can be saved tonight,
is because the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross,
to pay for our sins.
It's not because you and I live a good life,
it's not because we're in church on a Sunday night,
it's not because of anything we've ever done,
it's because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And of course we're not Calvinists,
so we don't believe that God has chosen who's saved and who's not saved.
We understand that we must make a choice to receive the gift of salvation,
we must choose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and then we can be saved.
But I think the problem that we have is this,
when we understand that salvation is something that we don't do,
we don't produce,
it's not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God.
All we do is by faith call upon Christ and receive it,
and that's it, then we're saved for all eternity.
Then we get this idea that once we're saved, that's it.
Once we're saved, there's nothing else to do.
There's no more attention to be given.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
Because what the Bible tells us is that we ought to give the more earnest heed
to the things which we have heard,
lest at any time we should let them slip.
The word slip there means it's the idea of an unintentional,
allowing something to slide away,
it would be the same idea as we read in the Old Testament
of a sinner who slides backwards, who backslides from God.
Notice verse 2, Hebrews 2 and verse 2.
For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast,
and I realize we did a whole study in Hebrews,
we went verse by verse, chapter by chapter,
I realize that Hebrews is a little deep
and I don't want to spend a lot of time here
because I've got other things that I want to show you tonight.
But I want you to notice that he's telling us
if the word spoken by angels was steadfast
and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense and reward.
And of course he's talking about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant
and we're not going to go into those details right now.
Look at verse 3, he says, How shall we escape?
I just want you to notice these words here.
He says, If we neglect so great salvation.
And I understand that the context here has different applications
and we can make an application about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
Of course we can make an application about salvation itself.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great of salvation,
if you reject the salvation.
But I want you to notice it's not just about salvation in the sense that you're saved.
It is about salvation in the sense that you're saved.
But what you and I need to understand that when we got saved
that was just the first step.
That was just the first thing.
God wants us to be saved, yes,
but God did not save you to sit there.
God saved you to serve.
In verse 3 we're told, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation
which at first began to be spoken by the Lord
and was confirmed unto us by them that hurt him.
And here's what I'm saying to you tonight.
What I'm saying is this.
God gave you salvation.
God gave you spiritual life.
God gave you a spirit life.
But we need not neglect it.
And when we do neglect it, then it is liable.
It is not liable to become fallow.
Why does fallow ground become fallow ground?
Because it's neglected.
And why do spiritual lives become fallow ground?
Why do hearts of believers become fallow ground?
Because they neglect their walk with the Lord.
Let me give you another example.
Keep your place there.
I've asked you to keep your place in Hosea.
I'd also like you to keep your place in Hebrews.
chapter number 2 and go with me from Hebrews to 1 Timothy.
1 Timothy chapter number 4.
And I'd like you to look down at verse number 13.
1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 13.
If it's a little warm in here, we can turn the heat off.
If somebody could help me with that, I'd appreciate it.
1 Timothy chapter 4.
And look down at verse number 13.
Notice these words.
1 Timothy 4 through 13.
The Bible says, till I come.
I want you to notice these words.
Give attendance to.
That's an older archaic maybe way of saying give attention to.
Pay attention to this.
He says, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
And then notice verse 14.
He says, neglect not the gift that is in thee,
which was given thee by prophecy,
with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery,
meditate upon these things,
give thyself wholly to them,
that thy profiting may appear to all.
Notice verse 16.
He says, take heed.
Again that word heed means to give attention,
take notice of, pay special attention.
He says, take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine,
continue in them, for in doing this,
thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
And here's what I'm telling you.
The Christian life needs to be a life that is not neglected.
Your spiritual life and your walk with God,
and your daily walk with God,
needs to be something that on a regular basis you're giving attention to.
You're not neglecting it.
You're not forgetting it.
You say, well what happens if I neglect it for a while?
What happens if I don't worry about it for a while?
Aren't I still safe?
Well isn't the ground still ground?
If you don't plow it, if you don't cultivate it?
Yes, it's still ground.
But if you neglect it, it'll grow fallow.
Fallow ground is neglected ground.
And fallow ground Christians are Christians
that have neglected their walk with the Lord.
Their spiritual lives.
They've failed to give attendance to.
They have failed to take heed unto themselves.
They have failed to give the attention that is needed.
You understand that after you and I got saved,
God desires to have a relationship with us?
And our relationship with God, like any other relationship,
requires work.
It requires an investment.
How good is your marriage going to be?
If you never talk to your spouse,
you never try to spend time with them,
you never do anything to try to fellowship with them
or anything like that,
you're not going to have a very good marriage.
How will your relationship with your children be?
If you never talk to them, you never spend time with them.
In the same way, you and I need to cultivate
and give time to the things of the Lord.
So we see that fallow ground is neglected ground.
Let me give you a second thought.
If you would go back to Hebrews.
This time, chapter number three.
Hebrews chapter number three.
Have you kept your place in Hebrews?
I think you have your place in Hosea.
You have your place in Hebrews.
I said number one, fallow ground is neglected ground.
Let me give you a second characteristic or problem
of the fallow ground.
Number two, fallow ground is not only neglected ground,
but fallow ground is hard ground.
Because it's been neglected, it has grown hard.
It's not broken up, it's not soft,
it's not easy to then put seed into it.
It's fallow ground because it's neglected ground.
And it's fallow ground because it's grown hard.
And you know, in the Christian life,
the fallow ground Christian can also,
if he neglects his spiritual walk with the Lord,
can be hardened.
You say hardened toward two.
Well, first of all, you can be hardened
towards God himself.
Are you there in Hebrews chapter three?
Mikey looked down at verse number eight.
He knows what God says here in Hebrews three and verse eight.
He's, again, speaking to Christians,
but he's using the children of Israel as an example.
And he says, harden not your hearts.
And then here's the example.
He says, as in the provocation.
And what he's referring to is the children of Israel
in the wilderness when they were provoking God,
when they were rebelling against God,
they were tempting God.
He says, harden not your hearts as in the provocation
in the day of temptation in the wilderness
when your fathers tempted me, proved me,
and saw my works forty years.
Now I want you to notice here that a fallow ground Christian
is a Christian whose heart has grown fallow
because they've neglected their walk with the Lord.
They've neglected their spiritual life.
But not only have they grown hard,
grown fallow due to neglect,
they've grown hard due to neglect.
And they've become hardened towards God.
And here God is telling us,
harden not your hearts as in the provocation.
They're hardened against God.
But I want you to notice it's not just being hardened against God.
Keep your place there in Hebrews if you would.
Go with me to the book of Mark, Mark chapter number three.
In the New Testament, of course, you've got Matthew,
and then the book of Mark, Mark chapter three.
They're hardened against God.
But as we talked about this morning,
your walk with God is connected,
your relationship with God is connected to your relationship with people.
And people that are hardened, they're not only hardened to God.
That's where it begins.
But the truth of the matter is this,
that you and I would never admit to being hardened towards God.
We might be hardened towards God, but we won't admit that.
We won't say that out loud.
We may not even be aware of it.
But another characteristic of a fallow ground,
because if you're asking yourself,
I wonder if I have fallow ground?
And you should be asking yourself that,
because you either have good ground if you're saved,
you either have good ground or you're a fallow ground.
You either have good ground or you have ground that has grown hard.
And if you have ground that's grown hard,
it's grown hard due to neglect.
You say it's hardened, hardened towards who?
Hardened towards God?
I want you to notice, secondly, hardened towards others.
Notice in Mark chapter three and verse one,
we have this story,
and I'm not going to take the time to develop the story,
but I just want you to see what Jesus says here.
In Mark chapter three and verse one, the Bible says this,
And he entered again into the synagogue,
and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
This is a man who's disabled.
He has a withered hand.
The Bible says,
And they watched him whether he would heal on the Sabbath day,
that they might accuse him.
So they're watching Jesus.
Jesus is there and there's a man with a withered hand.
He's already healed many people
and they're watching Jesus,
but they're not watching Jesus out of wonder.
They're not watching Jesus out of amazement.
They're not watching Jesus out of praise
and saying, wow, look at this,
he's going to heal this man.
No, the Bible tells us that they watched Jesus
to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath day,
that they might accuse him.
They wanted to see,
is he going to do this on the Sabbath day?
And if he does this on the Sabbath day,
then we have something on him.
We have something to get him in trouble with.
I want you to notice the response of Christ in verse 5,
Mark chapter 3 and verse 5.
The Bible says this,
And when he had looked round about on them.
I want you to notice these words.
The Bible says, with anger.
Jesus was angry about this.
Obviously Jesus didn't sin.
The Bible says it's possible to be angry and not sin.
In fact, the Bible commands us,
be angry and sin not.
I would say this,
that most of the time that you and I are angry,
we sin because we lack self-control.
Jesus did not sin here,
but he was angry about this.
The Bible says,
And when he, Jesus, had looked round about on them with anger,
being grieved.
Notice what the Bible says here.
Notice what the Bible says that Jesus was grieved about.
He was grieved for the hardness of their hearts.
He saith unto the man,
Stretch forth thine hand.
And he stretched it out,
and his hand was restored whole as the other.
See, the thing about these individuals in this synagogue,
the Bible says that they sat and watched,
that they might accuse him,
is that they didn't care about this man with a withered hand.
They didn't care.
The Bible says that their hearts were a heart.
They were hard towards God.
They were hard towards Christ.
And as a result, they were hard towards others.
I mean, you would think if you saw a man with a withered hand be healed,
that the proper response would be,
Praise the Lord.
Hallelujah.
I mean, that's amazing.
That's great.
God healed that individual.
Jesus healed that individual.
But instead, these people have this view of it,
and they are wanting to accuse Jesus.
They're upset about it.
And Jesus is upset about the fact that they're upset about it.
Why?
Because their hearts were hardened.
Not just towards God, but towards this individual.
And I'm here to tell you that fallow ground is ground that's hard.
You say, how can I know if my heart is fallow?
Is your heart hard?
Is it hard towards God?
You may never admit that.
Is it hard towards others?
See, the opposite of hard is tender.
In fact, the Bible gives us a famous verse where we are told
to forgive one another, to love one another,
and it says to be tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you.
But here, we don't have a tender heart.
No, no.
We have a hard heart.
It's a fallow ground heart.
So we see that fallow ground is neglected ground,
and fallow ground is hard ground.
In Ezekiel chapter two, you don't have to turn there.
In fact, I'd like you to go to Matthew chapter 24, if you would.
You're there in Mark.
Just flip back to Matthew chapter 24,
and look down at verse number 12.
I'll read to you from Ezekiel two and verse four.
Ezekiel two and verse four, the Bible says this,
for they are impudent children,
and here's the word I want you to hear, stiff-hearted.
Stiff-hearted.
They are impudent.
The word impudent means rebellious, not showing respect.
They are impudent children and stiff-hearted.
Their heart is stiff.
It's hard.
It's fallow.
So we see that fallow ground is neglected ground,
and we see that fallow ground is hard ground.
I want you to notice, thirdly,
that fallow ground is cold ground.
See, the thing about fallow ground,
and the reason that they had to go out there
and break up this ground is because
they could not plant seed in fallow ground,
because fallow ground had been neglected for a while,
and as a result of being neglected,
it had grown hard, and it had grown cold.
And unfortunately, this is what happens to many Christians.
They grow hard, and they grow cold.
Why does this happen?
Well, there's lots of reasons,
but let me give you a couple.
In Matthew 24 and verse 12,
this is an end times verse,
but you and I live in the end times,
and we don't live in the tribulation period
or in the wrath of God.
Hopefully, you don't live in the wrath of God,
but we don't live in the time of the antichrist,
and that has not happened yet,
but anything past the New Testament,
God considers end times.
And here in Matthew 24 and verse 12,
the Bible says this,
Iniquity shall abound.
Look at it.
The love of many shall wax cold.
Why is it that our love wax cold?
Because of iniquity, because of sin.
When we allow sin in our lives,
it often causes us to neglect our spiritual walk.
Isn't that true?
And as a result, our hearts grow hard,
and our hearts grow cold.
And the Bible here tells us
that what grows cold is the love of many.
The love of many shall wax cold.
And that's what had happened in the synagogue
with the man with the withered hand.
Those people's love had grown cold.
It had grown hard.
Why?
Because they had foul ground.
Their hearts were not tender.
They were hard towards the things of God.
Let me give you another example.
Go to Revelation.
You're there in Matthew.
We're going to come back to Matthew in a minute,
but that's the first book in the New Testament.
Go all the way to the book of Revelation,
the last book in the New Testament.
Revelation chapter 2.
I want you to see this idea
of your love growing waxing cold.
May I ask you something?
How's your love?
How's the temperature of your love?
Is it hot or is it cold?
Is it ardent or is it apathetic?
In Revelation chapter 2 and verse 4,
we have the Lord Jesus Christ, of course,
speaking to the seven churches in Asia.
I want you to notice what he says to this.
I want you to notice what he says to this church.
Revelation 2 and verse 4.
He says,
Nevertheless, I have someone against thee.
This is a church of Ephesus, of course.
He says,
Nevertheless, I have someone against thee.
Notice the words.
He says,
Because thou hast left thy first love.
Their love had waxed cold.
In the remedy, verse 5, he says,
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen,
and repent, and do the first works,
or else I will come unto thee quickly
and remove thy candlestick out of his place,
except thou repent.
The remedy is to remember and repent.
I want you to notice that their love had waxed cold.
They had left their first love.
They just weren't as in love with God
and as in love with people as they used to be.
This is fellow ground.
Fellow ground is neglected ground.
Fellow ground is hard ground.
Fellow ground is cold ground.
And then let me give you a fourth one real quickly.
Fellow ground is dormant ground.
If you would, go make your way back to Matthew.
You're in Revelation,
the last book in the New Testament.
If you go back to Matthew chapter 13,
the first book in the New Testament.
Matthew chapter 13, of course,
is the famous parable of the sower.
And you've got the four different grounds
and the seed being sowed.
And I'm not going to preach on that,
but I just want you to notice
one illustration here in Matthew 13 and verse 22.
We see that fellow ground is dormant ground.
And dormant, the word dormant means
having a normal physical function suspended
or slowed down for a period of time
in or as if in a deep sleep,
temporarily inactive, inoperative.
When ground goes dormant,
it's not producing anything.
It's like it's asleep.
It's not fruitful.
Are you there in Matthew 13?
Look at verse 22.
The Bible says in Matthew 13, 22,
He also that receives seed among the thorns
is he that heareth the word
and the cares of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches
choke the word, notice the words here,
last part of verse 22,
and he becometh unfruitful.
And what we find is the prophet Hosea
and the prophet Jeremiah
telling the children of Israel,
your hearts have become fallow.
He said, you need to break up the fallow ground.
He said, well, what does that mean
that our hearts are grown fallow?
Well, they've been neglected.
Ground becomes fallow
because of the fact that it's neglected.
In your spiritual life,
if it's neglected,
it will become fallow ground.
And as a result of being neglected,
it will grow hard.
And as a result of growing hard,
it will grow cold.
And as a result of being neglected
and growing hard and growing cold,
it will go dormant.
So maybe you say,
I don't get as many people saved as I used to.
Maybe you say,
my spiritual life just doesn't feel
like it used to.
Just not as excited.
I'm just not as in love.
I just feel like I've grown hard
and I feel like I've grown cold.
You may be a fallow ground Christian.
And the problem that I have
with this whole situation of fallow ground,
I remember years ago,
if you wouldn't mind,
go back to Hosea chapter 10.
Hosea chapter 10,
I remember years ago,
sitting across my desk in an office
with a man,
a man who I respected
and was a very faithful Christian
on fire for the Lord,
on fire for the things of God.
I remember sitting across my desk
from this man one time.
We were having a conversation
and he said to me,
Pastor, if you ever see a problem
in my Christian life,
if you ever see a problem in my work,
if you ever see a problem in the things
that I'm doing with my family,
if you ever see a problem,
please, I want you to know,
you can come and tell me
and I will receive it
and I just want to do everything
the best that I can.
I want to do everything
as well as possible.
And I remember thinking to myself,
like, that's great.
That's amazing.
Praise the Lord for that.
I mean, good, good.
That's a good attitude to have.
What I found over the years, though,
is that the problem is,
by the time you get to the place
where you begin to identify,
oh, this individual has an issue here.
By the time you get to the place
where it becomes apparent
that you're not as on fire
as you used to be,
you're not as tender as you used to be,
you're not soft and you're not hot
and you're actually just cold
and hard and dormant,
by the time you get to that place,
that offer has been reneged.
That offer is no longer available
because by the time you get to the place
where everyone can begin to identify,
there's something wrong with that person.
There's something, it just doesn't seem like
they're as happy as they used to be,
as on fire as they used to be,
as faithful as they used to be,
as loving God as they used to be.
By the time we begin to identify that
on an outward level,
coming to you and saying,
hey, brother, I think you're backslidden,
is not gonna go well.
And for that reason,
God tells the children of Israel,
you know what you gotta do?
Is you gotta break up your own fallow ground.
Because the truth is this,
that the person who can best identify
whether you're growing cold and growing hard
and growing dormant is you.
So he says, so do yourselves in righteousness,
rape and mercy.
Break up your fallow ground,
for it is time to seek the Lord
till he come and reign righteousness upon you.
So we see the problem of fallow ground.
What's the problem?
Fallow ground is neglected ground.
And if you neglect your spiritual walk,
if you neglect your spiritual life,
if you neglect the things of the Lord,
I'm here to tell you,
you will grow hard.
You will grow cold.
You will grow dormant.
And by the time there's enough weeds in that field
for us to see it and understand it,
it'll be too late.
You say, well, what do I do then?
You gotta break it up yourself.
We see the problem of the fallow ground,
but then secondly this evening,
let me quickly talk to you about
the plowing of the fallow ground.
The plowing of the fallow ground.
Again, we're not in an agricultural society,
and some of you are.
Maybe you're farmers and you understand these things,
but for those of us that don't,
let me give you a definition of the word plow.
It means to turn up soil with a plow.
The tool is called a plow,
and you plow with the plow.
You turn up soil with a plow.
You tear it up.
You cut into it.
You tilt the soil.
You break it up.
You say, why do I need to break it up?
Because it's hard.
Why do I need to break it up?
Because it's cold.
Why do I need to break it up?
Because in its state, it's dormant.
It will not produce fruit.
So what do I do?
I've gotta plow it.
I've gotta break it up.
Break up your fallow ground.
Now the question is, well, how do we do this?
How does this happen?
I'd like to give you two steps for plowing your field,
for breaking up your fallow ground.
Because the truth is, I can't do it.
I can't do it.
By the time I realize it,
by the time your wife realizes it,
by the time your husband realizes it,
by the time your friends realize it,
it's too late.
This is a responsibility
that falls upon every individual Christian
to watch, to keep an eye,
and to monitor your own heart.
The plowing of the fallow ground.
How do you do it?
Let me say this.
We've got many young people
that have grown up in church here in our church,
and I'm thankful for that.
Praise the Lord.
I used to be a young person.
I'm not a young person anymore,
as you can tell by my gray hairs.
But I'm an individual that grew up in a Christian home,
and I grew up in church.
And you know, I think that one of the dangers,
and there's many blessings to growing up in a Christian home.
Obviously, I recommend it.
But one of the dangers of growing up in church
and growing up in a Christian home
is that there's a very good possibility
that you've never been on fire for God.
That you've never been zealous for the things of the Lord.
It's a very good possibility
that all you've ever known is fallow ground.
You go to church because your parents bring you to church.
You read your Bible because your parents read your Bible to you
or make you read the Bible when you grow old enough.
You go soul-winding because your parents bring you soul-winding.
I'm all for those things.
I think parents should make their kids do all those things.
I think you should make your kids brush their teeth
and floss and go to church.
I think all those things are good.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that.
But what I'm saying is this.
Young people who grow up in this type of environment
need to ask themselves,
Am I right with God?
Am I excited for the things of the Lord?
Have I ever experienced revival in my own heart
and I'm on fire for the things of God?
If not, it may be that all you've ever experienced
is fallow ground.
So what do we do about it?
The plowing of the fallow ground.
Two things.
Number one, you cultivate it.
Cultivate it.
Again, for those of us that are not farmers,
the word cultivate means to prepare and work on land
in order to raise crops.
You till it.
See, before you can raise a crop in a field on a ground,
you have to cultivate it.
You have to prepare it so that it's ready to produce a harvest.
You cultivate it.
You break it up.
That's what the whole idea is about.
Break up your fallow ground.
Your ground is hard.
Your ground is cold.
You break it up.
Now, how do we do this spiritually?
Physically, obviously, you take a tool
and you start breaking up the ground.
But how do we do this spiritually?
If you're there in Hosea,
I'd like you to go back to Jeremiah,
but this time chapter 23, if you would.
If you go backwards from Hosea,
again, you've got Daniel, Ezekiel, Lamentations, Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 23.
It's good for us to know what a fallow ground Christian looks like,
and it's good for us to identify
if we are becoming fallow ground Christians.
Fallow ground is neglected ground.
Fallow ground is hard ground.
Fallow ground is cold ground.
Fallow ground is dormant ground.
Then the question is, what do we do about it?
What do we do about it?
Well, number one, we cultivate it.
We need to break it up.
In Jeremiah 23 and verse 29, the Bible says this.
Is not my word like as a fire?
Now, if you've got a cold ground
taking the fire of the Word of God to it,
well, heat it up.
Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord?
But that's not really what I want to emphasize.
What I want to emphasize is this.
The Bible says, and like a hammer.
What are we talking about?
We're talking about the Word of God.
Is not my word like as a fire?
Is not my word like as a hammer
that breaketh the rocks in pieces?
See, when we're talking about a fallow grounded heart,
a heart that's fallow, that's hard, that's cold,
that's neglected, that's dormant.
You say, how do we plow that?
How do we cultivate that?
How do we break that up spiritually?
You do it with the Word of God.
The Word of God is the hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces.
On a very practical level, what does that look like?
Let me give you a verse that I think illustrates this.
If you can go with me to the New Testament book of Acts,
Acts chapter number 17.
And look at verse number 11.
Acts 17 and verse 11.
The Bible says in Acts 17 verse 11,
these were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
We of course have seen the apostle Paul on his missionary journeys
and he has now left the church of Thessalonica
and he's in Berea and the Bible tells us here
that he identifies the fact that these, the Bereans,
were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
Why? Why were they more noble?
Why were they better?
Here's what Paul is saying. I didn't say this.
Paul said it. Paul said the Christians in Berea
were better than the Christians in Thessalonica.
You've heard me say this before and I'm not trying to hurt your feelings,
but not all Christians are created equal.
Some Christians are better than others.
Let me say this. Not all churches are created equal.
Some churches are better than others.
And here he says they were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
Here's why.
In that they, Paul shows up to Berea
and he's preaching there.
He's ministering the word of God to them.
And here's one thing he identified about the Bereans.
He said, here's why they're more noble.
Here's why they're better.
Here's what's better about them.
He says, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind.
They showed up to church and they sat in the preaching
and they were ready to receive the word of God,
the Bible says, with all readiness of mind.
Now I'm going to ask you the question.
When's the last time you showed up to a church service
and you sat down and instead of just kind of zoning out
and just waiting, when's this guy going to be over
so I can go do what I actually want to do?
When's the last time you showed up to church
and you sat down and you said,
Lord, speak to me through your word today.
Use your word.
You know what's interesting to me is that I find that Christians,
and God bless you, I'm not mad at you,
but I find that Christians that go to church
and they're faithful to church
and they're there on a Sunday morning
and they're there on a Sunday night
and praise the Lord for it,
but I find that Christians are more concerned
about whether or not the preacher is preaching about them
than they are about whether the preaching applies to them.
I mean, we're more concerned like,
I wonder why he said that.
I wonder if he's talking about me.
I wonder if he's talking about this person.
I wonder if he's talking about that person.
Hey, you know what you ought to do is show up to church and say,
I hope he talks about me.
I hope the word of God is something I need to hear.
I hope that God will take the word of God like a hammer
and break that hard heart of mine.
When's the last time you and I came to church and said,
God, I've grown hard towards sword winning.
I've grown hard towards tithing.
I've grown hard towards people.
I've grown apathetic and cold.
I've never even experienced revival in my own heart.
And oh God, use your word as a hammer to break this fallow ground.
When's the last time you stopped worrying so much about
whether you were getting preached at
and accepted the preaching that was coming your way and said,
God, speak to me through your word.
I've never understood this idea.
We come to church supposedly to hear the word of God,
but we only like it if we can somehow dodge every bullet
and walk out the door saying,
I ain't gonna hit that time.
Y'all don't want to get hit every time.
Y'all don't want to be preached at every time.
Y'all might get mad if I think he was preaching at me.
Y'all don't get mad if you think,
that's what it was as he preached against me.
And I understand that none of us like getting preached at.
I understand.
What I'm saying to you is this.
When's the last time you showed up to church?
When's the last time you took time to pray and to say,
Lord, we're going to church this morning.
Lord, we're going to church tonight.
Lord, we're going to church on Wednesday night.
And the word of God will be opened.
And the word of God will be preached.
And Lord, I want to be ready to receive the word
with all readiness of mind.
I'm ready to hear from your word, Lord.
I'm ready to hear.
I'm ready to be corrected.
I'm ready for the word of God like a hammer
to break that fallow ground.
We cultivate it during the preaching of the word of God.
But see, that's going to require you putting your phone away
during the preaching.
That's going to require you not checking in on the sports game
that happens to be going on during the preaching.
That might actually require you opening a Bible
and turning to the passages and paying attention
and maybe taking some notes.
That might actually require you caring a little bit
about the things of God and the word of God.
It's not my word like as a fire, sayeth the Lord,
and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces.
See, the Bereans, they were more noble
because they received the word with all readiness of mind.
But that's not it.
How do we cultivate this fallow ground?
We do it during the preaching of the word of God.
But let me say this as well.
We do it during the reading of the word of God.
Notice Acts 17.
See, they told me to be careful.
And I'm sorry, honey.
We'll put that back up, I promise.
Acts 17, verse 11.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica,
that they received the word with all readiness of mind.
That's what they did at church.
Notice what they did at home.
And search the scriptures daily,
whether those things were so.
When was the last time you opened up your Bible
on a non-church day?
You got alone with God somewhere.
And you opened up a King James Bible
and you began to read it.
Let's just start there.
When was the last time you read it?
And if you're like, I'm super Christian
and I've developed a habit,
I've got a chart and I check it off,
and every year I read it.
Okay, praise God for that.
When's the last time you sat down
and you actually said,
Lord, open thou mine eyes
that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
Lord, you did not just give this to me
so I can have some sort of assignment
and I can check it off somewhere
and get a gold star someday.
You gave this to me because you want to speak to me.
You want to speak through my word,
through your word and my heart gets hard.
I'm prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
Prone to leave the God I love.
And I need you to speak to me today.
When's the last time you and I got alone
with the word of God and said,
God, speak to me
because I don't want my heart to grow cold
and I don't want my heart to grow hard
and I don't want to neglect things of the Lord.
We see the problem of the fallow ground
and we see the plowing of the fallow ground.
It needs to be cultivated.
This happens during the preaching of the word of God.
This happens during the reading of the word of God
because, look, we've got nothing more
than the word of God and that's enough.
That's all we need.
Sometimes people ask me,
Pastor, I notice you don't tell a lot of jokes
and I notice you don't tell a lot of stories
and I notice you don't read a lot of poems in your preaching.
Hey, we've got the Bible, that's all we need.
And I'm not against an illustration here and there
and I'm not against reading something here and there
but I'm here to tell you that what you need
and what I need is the word of God
and heavy doses
and like a hammer
that breaketh the rock in pieces.
So we must cultivate it.
But then not only that, not only must we cultivate it,
we must clear it out.
Because here's what happens if you can,
go back to Jeremiah chapter 4.
Jeremiah chapter 4.
When a farmer goes out there and there's a fallow ground
and they look at the ground and they say,
I can't plant anything here, I can't produce or harvest here,
this ground is neglected, it's hard, it's cold.
I've got to take a tool out here and begin to break this ground up,
I've got to break up the fallow ground,
I've got to break it up and soften it up and warm it up
so that it can produce something.
See, often here's what happens,
when you begin to break up that fallow ground,
you begin to find things.
You begin to find rocks.
You begin to find trash.
You begin to find things in that fallow ground
that cannot stay.
At least it cannot stay if you're going to grow harvests.
So it must be cultivated and it must be cleared out.
Are you there in Jeremiah 4?
Look at verse 3.
Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 3.
For thus saith the Lord, the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
Break up your fallow ground.
And then he says this,
And sow not among the thorns.
See, he says, when you begin to break up the fallow ground,
you know what you might find in that fallow ground
is a bunch of thorns.
You might find some things there
that are going to keep you from producing a harvest.
So you've got to cultivate it and you've got to clear it out.
You've got to break it up and you've got to clean it out.
In Matthew 13, I've already read this to you,
but I want to just read it again.
Matthew 13 and verse 22 says this,
He also that receives seed among the thorns.
That's the same thing we're reading about in Jeremiah 4.3.
Break up your fallow ground and sow not among the thorns.
He also that receives seed among the thorns
is he that heareth the word
and the care of this world
and the deceitfulness of riches
chokes the word
and he becometh unfruitful.
Why is it that you can sit there week after week,
month after month, year after year
and let your heart grow cold and hard?
It's not because the word isn't powerful.
And excuse me, I know I'm not perfect
and I'm a sinner like everybody else
and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that we're perfect or whatever,
but I can tell you this, at Verity Baptist Church,
you show up here, you're going to get the word of God in heavy doses.
So how can it be that people sit in the church like this
week after week after week
and get the word of God fed to them week after week after week?
And it doesn't produce anything.
It's not the word of God's fault.
The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing center of soul and spirit.
The Bible says that it will produce what it was sent to do.
So what's the problem? Here's the problem.
The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
choke the word.
You get the word, but it's choked out
because you've got a heart that's filled with thorns.
Sin, lust, covetousness, anger, bitterness, hatred,
the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches,
they choke the word and he become unfruitful.
So we see the problem on the fellow ground.
What is it?
Why can't we be satisfied with fellow ground?
Well, because fellow ground is neglected ground.
And fellow ground is hard ground.
And fellow ground is cold ground.
And fellow ground is dormant ground.
And we see the plowing of the fellow ground.
What do we do with it? We cultivate it.
We cultivate it during the preaching of the word of God.
We cultivate it during the reading of the word of God.
We say to the word of God, the hammer that breaks the rocks and pieces,
and we say, Lord, I want you to use your word.
I'm ready to receive your word.
And I want you to break up this fellow ground,
this hard and cold heart of mine.
And then as God begins to do that work and we begin to identify,
this has got to go.
This can't stay.
Here's a thorn and here's a weed and here's a rock and here's a track.
We begin to clear out that ground.
And slowly, it goes from fellow ground to good ground.
Slowly, it becomes ground that can produce.
So very quickly, tonight, let me give you the third point.
We'll finish up.
I said, number one, we saw the problem of the fellow ground.
Number two, we saw the plowing of the fellow ground.
And then thirdly, this evening, I'd like to just end
by talking about the potential of the fellow ground.
The potential of the fellow ground.
If you can, go back to Hosea chapter 10.
See, the thing about the fellow ground is that it's dormant.
It's just asleep.
But there's potential there.
You know that in every Christian, there's a potential for fruit?
In every Christian, there's a potential for something to happen in that Christian life.
There's a potential of the fellow ground.
And here's the promise.
I named the point the potential of the fellow ground,
but we could have called it the promise of the fellow ground.
Because here's the promise of the potential.
Ready?
Here's what God says.
Hosea chapter 10, verse 12.
Notice, we were focusing in on this phrase, break up your fellow ground.
But that's not where the verse begins.
The verse begins by saying this.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness.
Sow is what we do.
The sower went out and sowed the field, right?
He threw the seed out in the field.
He says sow to yourselves in righteousness.
And then here's what God says.
God says if you begin to break up the fellow ground,
and you begin to sow in righteousness.
Because see right now your heart, if your heart is fallow,
it's hard and it's cold.
And it doesn't matter how much seed we throw on it.
It doesn't matter how much rain falls on it.
It doesn't matter how much we try to do with it.
If it's fellow ground, it's not going to produce anything.
But God says you start breaking up that fellow ground.
And you start sowing the seed, right?
Receive the word of God with all readiness of mind.
Search the scriptures daily whether those things are sowed.
You begin to sow in that field, in that heart.
Here's what God says.
You break up the fellow ground.
You begin to sow.
And God says I promise you will reap.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, God says.
Reap in mercy.
God promises you'll reap.
Be not deceived.
God is not mocked.
For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Now that can work for us and that can work against us.
We can sow wickedness and reap the whirlwind.
We can sow righteousness and reap mercy.
And here's the potential of fellow ground.
Is that if you break up the fellow ground and begin to sow, God says you will reap.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy.
Now this promise has to do with the promise that God, this is just a promise of,
I would call it a promise that God has put a law of the universe.
God has just said this.
God says if you reap, you will sow.
No matter which way you do that.
If you sow, you will reap.
No matter which way you do that.
If you're sowing sin, you're going to reap bad things.
You're sowing righteousness, you're going to reap good things.
It doesn't matter how you do it.
The truth is this.
God said it's just a fact of life.
You reap what you sow.
And God says if you begin to break up the fellow ground
and you begin to sow yourselves in righteousness, I promise you, I promise you.
And God says it's not because I love you any extra, although God does love you.
It's not because of anything I'm going to do.
It's just a fact of life.
If you sow, you will reap.
So if you break up the fellow ground and begin to sow, God says I promise you'll reap.
But then God says something else.
Why don't you look at it again.
Hosea 10, verse 12.
Sow yourselves in righteousness.
Here's a promise from God.
God says reap in mercy.
Break up your fellow ground for it is time to seek the Lord.
And then I want you to notice this.
He says this.
He says till he come and, notice this word, reign.
Don't miss the words.
It's an agricultural illustration here.
He says till he come and reign.
Reign rises upon you.
And in the illustration, the former illustration, here's what God's saying.
God's saying you begin to break up that fellow ground.
You begin to sow and receive the word.
You search the scriptures daily.
You receive the word with all readiness of mind.
You begin to do those things and I promise you two things.
You will reap.
And God says I will reign.
I don't know much about farming but I know this.
They need reign.
They need water.
But that's what God's in control of.
Here's what God says.
God says I will help you.
I will supernaturally help you.
I will make sure if I see you sowing, I see you breaking up the fellow ground.
He says I will reign righteousness upon you.
He says I promise you'll reap and I'll reign.
That's the potential.
But you've got to break up the fellow ground.
Let me give you one last verse.
Couple verses and we'll be done.
Go to 2 Peter if you would.
2 Peter chapter 1.
If you kept your place in Hebrews, you've got Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter.
We're talking about fellow ground.
What's the problem with fellow ground?
It's neglected ground.
It's hard ground.
It's cold ground.
It's dormant ground.
And unfortunately, that's the description of a lot of Christians and their Christian life.
You say what do we do about it?
We plow it.
We cultivate it.
We take the hammer of the word of God and begin to break the rocks and begin to break the ground.
We begin to break it up.
It happens during the preaching.
You need to start showing up.
You need to start making a decision.
Instead of fighting with your wife on your way to church, you ought to be praying on
your way to church and saying, Lord, speak to my heart.
When the word of God is open, when the kingdom's Bible is read, when the word of God, Lord,
I need to hear from you today.
I want to be ready to receive the word.
Lord, readiness is mine.
You need to get up on Monday morning and get up on Tuesday morning and get up on Wednesday
morning and open up the word of God and say, God, you gave me this Bible for a reason.
There's something you want me to learn from it.
Help me to learn from it.
And you need to begin to clear out the thorns and the rocks and junk and all those things
that will keep the harvest from coming cleared out.
And then God says, you do that and I promise you'll reap and I'll reign.
You'll reap and I'll begin to supernaturally help you.
I'll begin to reign the blessings upon.
I'll reign righteousness upon you.
I brought this up to you recently in my personal Bible reading.
I think last week or whatever I was reading in one of the minor prophets and this verse,
I'd read it many times before, but it just jumped out at me where God said,
I cause it to reign in one city and I don't cause it to reign in another city.
One city has a harvest and the other city doesn't have a harvest.
God says, I control that.
And I'm here to tell you that God can bless your business or God can curse your business.
God can bless your marriage or God can curse your marriage.
God can bless your health or God can curse your health.
So instead of being distracted with all these things that are keeping you away from God,
why not seek the Lord?
And say, God, I need you to reign upon me.
And God says, I'm happy to reign as soon as you start plowing.
As soon as you start plowing.
Second Peter chapter one, look at verse five.
Second Peter chapter one, verse five.
We're going to be done in two minutes. Look at it.
Second Peter chapter one, verse five.
And beside this, and beside this,
I want you to see this. Notice what he says.
He says, giving all diligence.
That's just another way of saying, don't neglect it.
Giving all diligence.
You say, well, I'm already saved. What else do I need to do?
Here's what you need to do.
If you're already saved, you need to give all diligence to add to your faith.
See, faith is just the beginning.
The Bible says that we're saved by faith, but the Bible says the just shall live by faith.
We walk by faith and not by sight.
So God says, look, it's not enough to just get saved.
I'm glad you got saved, but he says there's more to do.
He says, I want you to give all diligence to add to your faith virtue
and to your virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance
and to temperance patience and to patience godliness
and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity.
You know what it sounds like?
It sounds like we're supposed to be working on this all the time.
Don't neglect it. Don't let it grow fallow.
You've got to work on it.
You say, I've got faith. Good. Then work on virtue.
You say, I've got virtue. OK.
Then an knowledge. I've got knowledge. OK.
Then work on temperance. I've got temperance. OK.
Then work on patience. I've got patience. OK.
Then work on godliness. I've got godliness. OK.
Then work on brotherly kindness. I've got brotherly kindness. OK.
Okay, then we're going to tell you so I got charity. No you don't start over
Because by then I probably let virtue slip a little bit
My then knowledge has probably grown some weeds, and it needs to be dealt with
My then temperance probably need some attention, and I'm here to tell you don't let your heart grow fallow
And here's the promise of God see verses 5 6 & 7 is what we do
Verse 8 is what God does look at it second Peter 1 8
for if these things be in you and
abound
They make you that he shall neither be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
He says I promise you you do these things
You shall neither be barren nor unfruitful. That is the opposite of
Fallow ground fallow ground go back to Hosea chapter 10. We'll finish up
Hosea chapter 10 verse 12 so to yourselves and righteousness reap and mercy break out the fallow ground
Here's what it's all about
This is what we've really been talking about tonight
For it is time to seek the Lord
I'm here to tell you it's time to seek the Lord
But you're not just going to seek Lord by accident
It's not just something that's gonna happen
Well, I grew up in a Christian home, and I've grown up in church my whole life. That doesn't mean anything that doesn't mean anything
I'm glad you grew up in a Christian home, and I got you've been in church your whole life
And I'm glad that you're saved. I'm glad for all those things, but that doesn't mean anything you've got to break up
your fallow ground
Because seeking the Lord is something that's intentional
The word seek is a word. We don't use a lot today
But you might be familiar with it in this game of children hide and seek
And to seek means that we get up and we're searching we're looking we're seeking the Lord
Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10 you have to turn there
I'll just read this for you as for chapter 7 verse 10 says this for Ezra had
prepared his heart
to seek
the law of the Lord and
To do it and to teach in Israel statutes and Jesuits
Ezra is a great man of God
But the Bible tells us that he had prepared to seek the Lord, and that's what you and I need to do, so let's
Break up our fallow ground. It's by our heads and I'm going to prayer. I'm the father Lord. We do love you
And Lord I I think we need you
Because I can't do this I
Can't tell when people's hearts grow cold and hard
By the time I can tell it's too late
And the secret is not
That their pastor would notice or that their pastor's wife would notice
Or that their spouse would notice or that some caring friend would notice if those things happen then those things are great
but the secret is
To never let our ground grow fallow in the first place
And Lord I pray you'd help us to be Christians that would break up our fallow ground
To realize that we are prone to grow cold and hard
And dormant
And Lord help us to give attention to seek the Lord
With all our lives we love you in the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray
Amen
God bless you. Thank you for being here tonight
I'm gonna ask for the RJ to come up and lead us in a final song
but I've just got a couple of announcements to give you first of all don't forget that we've got a
Sign-up sheet in the in the foyer if you'd like to help us bring some cookies to the Christmas cookie fellowship
Please go by there and sign up and let us know you're playing on helping with that. We'd appreciate your help with that also
My wife has a sign-up sheet for brother Luke and Miss Angel. Of course. They just had their baby this week
We've got a couple of nights still open that we'd like to maybe fill in with some meals for them
So if you wouldn't mind if you could help us
Please see my wife with that and she can get you situated for that
And then also if there's any men that want to help hang up some Christmas lights if you've got some
Experience with that. I'm we're gonna try to do this this week. I'm gonna be here
The staff guys will be here
But if there's any of you guys that just have some experience with this
Because I've never done it and I don't trust the staff guys. All right, so I'm just kidding
Some of you guys are real good at this kind of stuff and if you could help us would appreciate it
So if you want to help us see me after service and we'd appreciate your help with that
And then of course if you don't mind
Looking in your area there if your kids made a mess
Would you mind putting the hymn books back kind of picking up around you helps the cleaners in the morning and we'd appreciate your help
With that we hope you know my wife and I hope you know that we love you all we're praying for you
And there's ever anything we can do for you
Please let us know and we hope that you're having
Had a good Thanksgiving this week and we hope you have a great holiday season
Of course, and we want to encourage you to be back tonight Wednesday night. Say why would I come on Wednesday night?
Here's why because the Word of God will be open
And you'll have an opportunity to allow the Word of God to do a work in your heart
We'd love for you to be a part of it
There's anything we do for you, please let us know my brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song
Amen Scarborough song looks at the turn of page number 15
Song number one five
Lead me to Calvary saw number 15
King of my life. I crown thee now saw number 15. Let's go ahead and sing it out
on the first
My life I crown me now mine child
Lest I forget thy thorn crown brow lead me to Calvary
Lest I forget yet
harmony
Lest I forget
For me lead me to Calvary
Saw number 15 on the second show me the tomb where thou
asleep
tenderly morn
Lest I forget
For me lead me to Calvary
Calvary
Let me like Mary through the blue come with a gift to thee
Show to me now the empty tomb lead me to Calvary
Lest I forget yet
harmony
Lest I forget
Let's finish it strong on the last may I be willing
Even
Now
Lest I forget
For me lead me to Calvary
Calvary
Amen great singing of course before we dismiss if anyone here has questions about salvation
baptism or church membership
Pastor will be at the door and would love to talk to you or directly to someone who's trained to do that as well
I brother Matt. Would you dismiss the way the word of prayer?
God bless you you're dismissed