Immerse: A Ready Heart | Mike Popenhagen
Immerse: A Ready Heart
5.17.26
Mark 4:13-20. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” NIV.
4 Degrees of Readiness
Path: A heart where nothing sinks in.
Rocky: An emotional response with no roots.
Thorns: A heart contaminated by life’s distractions.
Good soil: A heart the follows & obeys God’s word.
Cultivating Our Hearts
Read & obey God’s word.
2 Timothy 3:15-17 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. NIV.
2. Pray daily.
Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. NIV.
3. Pay attention to what is influencing your soul.
Mark 4:24 “Consider carefully what you hear…” NIV.
4. Protect your heart from spiritual weeds.
