Bad Dirt 2

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. (Matthew 13:5-6)

The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. (Matthew 13:20-21)

This person unlike the person who heard the word of God & turned away from it, this one accepts it with joy. This person is excited about hearing the word. You can see this, a lot of the times, in church services, & if you really want to see it turn on TBN (now I'm not knocking everything on TBN, though I do think that their a bit showy & some are not Biblical). You'll see people who get excited & jumping up & down, "Hallelujah , Praise the Lord," they'll fall in the floor, twitch a little while, jump back up… I'm all for getting excited about God, but if it's all for show or if you scare off the unbelievers because they thing you're crazy it's wrong, & not at all Biblical. Some of those people will do those very things; then walk out of the service & act like they never knew who God was, & when they are the least bit persecuted they give up Christianity. Now I hope you caught what I just said, "They give up Christianity" not Christ. If they act like this they are following a religion not Jesus. Therefore they have never accepted Christ. They act like they have, talk like they have & some even walk like they have. But when it comes down to it they are as lost & confused as a…as a…lost & confused person could be…I'm bad with analogies.

The persecution that we face in America today is not real persecution; I am ashamed to even call it persecution. We don't know real persecution. Have you ever had yourself & your family drug out into the streets, a gun pointed at you child's head & the trigger pulled because you would not denounce Christ, then your wife's life taken & you put into slavery? How about your hands cut off for preaching the good news of Jesus? Your home destroyed? No, well thank God & pray for those in the Sudan, China & other places around the world.

It’s amazing that when some, have others so much as laugh at them because of their faith, they can't take it, they give up. What happened? Why can't they stand strong? You ever noticed a tree that has been uprooted in a storm. The root system is usually shallow, or withered & rotten. When we truly accept Christ our root system is put in place. In order to keep from blowing over in life's storms we need to keep a healthy root system. Now, sometimes we blow over because there was a shallow root system (we have never accepted Christ) & then there is a rotten root system. At one time it may have been big & strong but we allowed things like persecution to keep us out of God's word or prayer & that root system has decayed. We will not fall away as in loss of our salvation, but fall away as in backsliding (now when I say backsliding, I do believe in that, but if you think you are backslid, you best make sure that you have truly accepted Christ. Many people think that they have because they had tried to be a Christian & fell. But they may have never accepted Him in the first place). Whatever your case, without a relationship with Christ you can't make it.

The person in these verses, I heard Vernon Mcgee say it this way, is like an Alka-Seltzer , when you drop an Alka-Seltzer in the water it goes nuts, fizzing & crackling, then all of a sudden it just stops & nothing left but nasty tasting water. Don't let your excitement & faithfulness to God end when you leave church. If it does, check your salvation.

Vern