Week 29 The Thorns Choke the Word
I let you all down. I completely forgot to send out Sunday's lesson, and I apologize. I won't let that happen again. Here it is.
I will also come up with a way to make it up to you all. You're the best. I get metrics on opening emails vs. not, how frequently someone reads the email, how you found the piece, and if you clicked through on any links. I am eternally grateful to those of you who read what I write. I hope you find value in it.
Oh, and we are growing too. I can see when someone subscribes to my Substack too. Those of you who are in my Sunday school class are sort of held captive because I see you guys every Sunday. You almost have to like my stuff (I'm kidding.) But you guys who are just subscribing after finding me in the wild, well, wow. That just floors me, and I thank you.
I'm planning something. Nothing big, just a little thank you to the people who joined me in the beginning or stuck with me. I haven't figured out exactly what, but I have an idea. I will likely implement this idea just before Advent this year. The first Sunday in Advent this year is November 27, 2022.
The point? You'll have to be subscribed before that date to take advantage of what I have planned. That's free subscribed too, not paid. Nobody has joined via the paid side yet, and that's fine. Everything I'm writing right now is on the free side, but that's not going to last forever and may not affect the people who stuck with me in the beginning (if that gives you a hint of what I'm planning.)
Quote
“If you will make time with God your first priority, everything else in your life will fall into place.”
Joyce Meyer
Passage
3And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;
4and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
5“Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.
6“But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7“Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
8“And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
9“He who has ears, let him hear.”
Matthew 13:3–9 (NASB95)
"Thorn bush" by Elsie esq. is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Background
Quote-First Pauline Joyce Meyer (née Hutchison; June 4, 1943) is an American Charismatic Christian author, speaker and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce and her husband Dave have four grown children, and live outside St. Louis, Missouri. Her ministry is headquartered near the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri. Meyer also reports that she was praying intensely while driving to work one morning in 1976 when she said she heard God call her name. She had been born-again at age nine, but her unhappiness drove her deeper into her faith. She says that she came home later that day from a beauty appointment "full of liquid love" and was "drunk with the Spirit of God" that night while at the local bowling alley.
Passage-First The book of Matthew is a Gospel that contains Narrative History, Genealogy, Parables, Sermons, and some Prophetic Oracles. It was written by Matthew (Levi), the Disciple of Christ around 48-50 A.D. The key word in Matthew is "Kingdom" and is used 28 times.
The personalities of this book include the Messiah Jesus Christ, His parents Mary and Joseph, the Twelve Disciples, the prophet John the Baptist, and other kinds of leaders. These leaders include those in government like Pilate and religious leaders such as the Pharisees (who attempt to hinder the work of Jesus).
The book of Matthew is the first of the synoptic gospels and it was written to reveal the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, the King of the Jews, from the line of David. It also was written to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was indeed their long-awaited Messiah.
Lesson Notes
Joys and Concerns
Pray
Opening Statement
Be purposeful. Be intentional. Make time for God. Don’t give God what is left over. First Fruits, up front, on purpose, before anything else, make time for God. Monthly, weekly, daily, until it is moment to moment making decisions on purpose in His guidance.
Ask: What do we let distract us?
Point: The list is long and unique to each of us.
Ask: Why do we let these things distract us?
Point: Because we want to be distracted so we have an excuse, “I didn’t have time.”
Ask: Where do these distractions come from?
Point: First Reading Matthew 12:28–30 (NASB95)
Ask: What does the first reading mean as an answer to the question posed?
Point: If you are not with God, you are against God, which means you are with Satan. It means if the “distraction” isn’t from God, it is from Satan.
Ask: Can distractions come from God?
Point: Yes.
Second Reading Matthew 11:28–30 (NASB95)
Ask: How do we tell the difference between God’s approved distractions and Satan’s distractions?
Point: Discernment.
Third Reading 1 Kings 3:9–14 (NASB95)
Ask: Solomon asked for the ability to tell right from wrong and God rewarded him for it but what happens if we ask God for that ability?
Point: God gives us direction as he did to Solomon.
Re-read verse fourteen from the Third Reading
Ask: God was speaking directly to Solomon in the third reading. How does God speak to His people today?
Point: The Holy Spirit.
Fourth Reading Matthew 12:31–37 (NASB95)
Closing Statement
Make time for God. Discernment. Don’t blaspheme the Holy Spirit. What does all that mean? What does it have to do with thorns choking the word of God? It means God speaks to those who ask Him to talk to them. It means that small, still voice can grow louder. It means when we become astute at recognizing the Holy Spirit’s calling ignoring that voice has consequences. Allowing distractions become excuses. Excuses becomes justification, and justification leads us off God’s path and onto Satan’s path. We are walking somewhere. The march of time cannot be stopped. The question is, what destination are we marching to?
Questions for the Week
Question 1 What are the two destinations we can head to?
Question 2 Which destination do we want to go to?
Question 3 Find scripture to anchor these last two statements to.
Question 4 Contemplate how discernment works in your life.
Question 5 Pay close attention this week for points where the Holy Spirit is trying to give you a message.
Question 6 Write down the message the Holy spirit is giving you.
Scripture
First Reading
28“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29“Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
30“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
Matthew 12:28–30 (NASB95)
Second Reading
28“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28–30 (NASB95)
Third Reading
9“So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
10It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
11God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice,
12behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.
13“I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days.
14“If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”
1 Kings 3:9–14 (NASB95)
Fourth Reading
31“Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
32“Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
33“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
34“You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
35“The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.
36“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
37“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matthew 12:31–37 (NASB95)
Definitions
discerning
[ dih-sur-ning, -zur- ]
adjective
showing good or outstanding judgment and understanding: a discerning critic of French poetry.