(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, I want to first thank Pastor Minnis for giving me a chance to preach here tonight and just being a part of this sermon series. And the parable of the sower is a very, very important parable in the Word of God. I actually think it's the most important in my opinion. And you might say, why are we doing an introduction to this? You know, we have four different groups of people that are mentioned in the parable of the sower. And honestly, you know, if we didn't have an introductory sermon, then in each sermon there would be introductory stuff. And I think it's better just to have a foundation so we understand a few things. And so the first thing that's really, that we need to know tonight, the first point is this, that this parable is important. This parable is important. This parable is mentioned in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And you'll actually notice in the Bible that there is no parable mentioned in all four Gospels, because if you notice, the book of John doesn't really focus on parables. You know, the book of John is more focused on people believing on Jesus Christ and getting saved. So there is no parable that appears in the Bible more times than the parable of the sower. It appears three times along with a small handful of other parables. And whenever God mentions something multiple times, you know that means it's important. You know, for example, in 2 Peter chapter 2 in the book of Jude, these are parallel chapters in the word of God talking about false prophets. And when something's mentioned multiple times, it's because it's an important topic. Obviously we know that, you know, false prophets, that's a big issue that all great churches are going to deal with. We think about the Gospels. The Gospels, there's four different ones of them, and they tell a lot of the same stories but in different ways because it gives you more added insight. And so when something's mentioned multiple times, it means it's really important. And this parable, the first thing, why it's important is this, it's mentioned three different times. Obviously this is something God wants us to understand. But notice what it says in verse number 13. It says in Mark chapter 4 verse 13, and he said unto them, Know ye not this parable, and how then will ye know all parables? He says, Know ye not this parable, and how then will ye know all parables? What he's saying is that if you don't get this parable, you won't get any of the other parables. So what Jesus is saying is this parable is extremely important. He says if you don't get this parable, if you don't know this parable, how are you going to understand any of the rest of the parables? And he's saying, well, why does he say that? Well, look back at verse number 10. I think there's a few reasons. It says in verse number 10, And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables. So basically, he mentions the parable, and they ask him about the parable, and then Jesus actually explains what this parable means. This is actually a parable that we don't have to be in the dark about what's going on. And you can go online and look at the parable of the sower, and there's like a million different opinions on each of the groups. But there shouldn't be a million different opinions, because Jesus tells us what this parable is about. We don't have to be in the dark about this, because Jesus explained it. Now there's a lot of parables in the Word of God that, honestly, you could come to different conclusions on what each part of it is talking about. But in this parable, he actually explains it. And here's the thing. If you don't understand a parable that Jesus explains to you, how are you going to understand the parables where he doesn't make it that clear? So obviously, if you don't get a parable where Jesus says, hey, this is what this parable is about, how are you going to understand the rest of the Bible? And it's funny, because you see people that they always want to study the end times and all these interesting things in the Bible, and they don't even understand the basics about the Bible. They don't even understand salvation. They don't understand the basics of what the point of the Bible is about. But they want to study all these deep and new and cool doctrines, and they get led away into very strange doctrines. We see that all the time with people that get led away into really crazy, strange doctrines, because instead of setting a good foundation, they want to go off on all these interesting topics. And that's why we've got to focus on parables like the parable of the sower, where God makes it very clear what it's about. We need a strong foundation of the Word of God. Books like the book of John, we need to understand that book. Books like the book of Galatians and Romans, you say, man, I understand salvation. We need to hear it again, because if you don't keep hearing it, you can be led away with weird doctrines, like people take a halfway position and say, well, you don't have to turn from your sins, but you've got to be willing to turn from your sins. And they start making it a gray area, but the Bible's very clear. You don't have to turn from your sins. You don't have to be willing to turn from your sins. You've just got to believe. And that's why we need to keep a strong foundation and focus on the things that the Bible talks about. It's interesting, because churches will do a 30-part series on the parables of the Bible. And they want to focus on parables. And one reason why I think they like to focus on parables is because parables can be taken a lot of different ways. And so if you're a pastor and you want to preach whatever you want, you can take a parable and just make it mean whatever you want, because a lot of them aren't that clear. But we ought to focus on what's very clear in the Bible. I mean, think about when we get somebody saved out soul-winning, and they ask us, well, where should I start in the Bible? Who opens their Bible and puts them in the book of Zachariah? Does anybody do that? No. What do you do? You start them in the book of John, right? Because John is the book about salvation. John or Romans. You don't put them in Zachariah. And I'm not saying we shouldn't study the deep things of God, but you just notice people want to study and study and study the Bible. They've never read the Bible. They don't know the basics, and they want to learn all these cool new things. And they preach sermons. They want to preach always something cool instead of just preaching the foundational things we need. We need the basics. And this parable, Jesus says it's paramount, because he says if you don't know this parable, how are you going to know the rest of the parables? And so this parable, another reason why it's important is this parable really focuses on salvation and on soul-winning. And those are very important topics. Turn to Proverbs 11. It's kind of interesting because you could look online at a Calvinist like Charles Spurgeon, who said only the last group, the princess of preachers, who said only the last group is saved out of these four. Or you could look at the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses and the Catholics, the Repentance of Sins preachers, the Protestants, the Pentecostals, all these different denominations. And you know what they're going to say? They're going to say only the last people are saved. It's kind of funny because people like to make you think there's all these different religions in the world, but it really only boils down to two religions. Either believe on Jesus Christ or trust in your works. And all these different churches, all these false prophets, they're going to come together and say, well, only the last group is saved. And we're going to go through this series over the next several weeks, and we'll see which are saved and which aren't, because it's actually very clear in the Bible. But honestly, the parable of the sower is a good test if someone is either saved or how strong they understand salvation. And you say, well, why do they think only the last group is saved? They're going to say because they're the only ones that bore fruit. That's what they're going to tell you. They believe only the last are saved because that's the only one that bore fruit. And if you're really saved, you're going to bear fruit. That's what they say. It's kind of funny. These people that never bear any fruit think that if you're really saved, you're going to bear fruit. Well, it's like I guess you're saying you're not saved then, you know? Because they don't understand what bearing fruit actually means. Look at Proverbs chapter 11. I know this is a famous verse, but we need to be reminded of the things of God. It says in verse 30, Proverbs chapter 11, verse 30, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. So the Bible says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. You see, bearing fruit as a Christian means to win souls to the Lord. That is our fruit. Do most Christians win people to the Lord? No. Very few. Does that mean that they're not saved because they're not soul winning? No, it doesn't mean that at all. We have about half of our church from the bulletin went out soul winning. Lord willing, everybody will go out soul winning. That's the goal that everybody will be out there soul winning. But whether you go soul winning or not, I'm not going to question your salvation because salvation doesn't come down to what you do. Salvation doesn't come down to whether or not you go soul winning. Salvation comes down to what you believe, not what you do. So I'm not going to question anyone's salvation because they don't bear any fruit. But if somebody says that, well, I think only the last are saved because they're the only ones that bore fruit, I might question their salvation because it sounds like they think it's based on our works. And honestly, when you think about how foolish this is, because most people think that having your fruit is talking about doing good works. And if you're really saved, you're going to have fruit. So if you're really saved, you're going to do good works. Everybody does good works. I did good works before I was saved. So I mean, I guess everybody's saving because everybody does good things from time to time. I mean, that's ridiculous. It doesn't even make any sense that, well, if you're really saved, you're going to bear fruit. You're going to do good works. Everybody does good works from time to time. So I mean, that doesn't make any sense at all. But if you cross reference here in Proverbs chapter 11, it's very clear that your fruit is talking about who you win to the Lord. Turn to Revelation chapter 2. And here's the thing. If you don't understand salvation very well, you're not going to understand the rest of the Bible. There are people that are saved, but they can easily be led away with every strange doctrine because they aren't firmly rooted in salvation. It's going to change the way they look at every passage in the Bible because they do not understand salvation that well. I honestly believe some people do not go soul winning because they're not that confident in what they believe. They don't know how to answer very well. They're not very firmly rooted in what they believe. And if you're not very confident in what you believe, you won't be confident to go out and preach the gospel. It would be like coming up here with a speech to read that I had never looked at and I didn't know anything about. I wouldn't be very confident. And a lot of people don't go soul winning because they're scared. Because they don't know salvation that well. They need to memorize the verses on salvation. They need to read the book of John over and over. They need to read the book of Romans and know the basics. And the more you know the basics, the more confident you're going to be. If you were to look at a kickboxing fight, most kickboxing fights don't end with a twirling kick to the head. They usually end with just like a basic punch or basic kick. And everybody wants to learn these deep and new things. No, you need to know the foundational things. You need to know the basics. You can look at anything. If somebody's good at something, it's because they do the basics really well. Not because they can do the really complicated thing, but they know the basics really well. I used to coach a soccer team and I remember seeing the guys warming up before the game and they were doing all these crazy tricks. And I'm like, man, I was never able to do that. I never tried to do that, but they were doing all this crazy stuff. I was like, man, it looks like I got a good team to coach. And then once we got actually out there to scrimmage, they didn't know how to pass. They didn't know how to dribble. They didn't know how to trap the ball. I was like, oh, man. We were the worst team in the league. But we could do a lot of really crazy flicks up in the air that you never do in an actual game. And see, that's the way some people are with Christianity. They want to just skip the basics and say, well, I'm safe, so I'm just going to read Revelation and Zachariah and just study the deep things of God. It's like, no, you need to know the basics very well or you're going to get led away with some strange doctrines. In Revelation chapter 2, it says this in verse number 1, Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars, and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Man, this sounds like an awesome church. They're working hard. It sounds like they're a great church, but then there's a word in verse 4, Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. I've seen people take verse number 4 and apply that to salvation and say, well, if you don't do the first works, you're going to lose your salvation. Well, first off, this is talking about a church. This is not talking about an individual. But what God is saying is, if you don't do the first works, which is talking about soul winning, basically your church is pointless. It's useless. If there's a church that does no soul winning, what's the point of it existing? If a bunch of saved people go to that church to do no work whatsoever, it's just ridiculous. I mean, they're better off not even existing, so people actually go and move to a great church or travel to a great church. And this parable is about soul winning. This is very important to God. This is the main thing, the first works. And it makes sense that it says the first works, because think about when a church starts. When a church starts and has very few numbers, they're going to have to have some sort of soul winning or outreach or evangelism or something to get that church off the ground. Even lame liberal churches will have some sort of outreach program or canvassing. Every church does that. When they open up, they have to, because they don't have any members. The first works are talking about soul winning. But what you see with churches that are really zealous for soul winning, all of a sudden the church grows and they start having a lot of activities, and all of a sudden soul winning starts to get canceled because they're too busy with lots of activities. Now, activities are great. We have activities. I think the ladies' activity was great for all the ladies, but we can never forget the first works. We can never forget the first love, because that is what is important to God. I mean, this parable focuses on soul winning. They're sowing the seed. Four different examples. This is a soul winning parable, and Jesus says, if you don't know this parable, how then will you know all parables? Because this is a very important parable. Turn to John chapter 4. And I want you to understand that in this parable, there's four different examples given. There is seed sown by the wayside, there's seed sown on a rock, there's seed sown among thorns, and there's seed sown on good ground. Now, I want you to think about this logically. Let's say, for example, you're trying to get a plant to grow, okay? Is it smart to just throw it by the wayside, some random place like on the side of the highway? Doesn't make a lot of sense, right? What about if you put it on top of a rock? Does that seem like a good strategy to get it to grow? Probably not. What if you just throw it among thorns? Did you just find where you can find the most thorns and just throw that seed in there? Probably not a good idea. The best strategy would be on good ground. Couldn't we all agree on that? You want to throw it in an area where it looks like it's probably going to grow. But here's what you need to understand. This is talking about soul winning. You know what God's telling you is, you throw that seed everywhere, whether it looks like they're going to get saved or not. You say, they don't look receptive at all, they look like they're the wayside, they're never going to receive it. Hey, throw that seed anyway. We knock every single door just in case they want to listen. Hey, most people reject us, but I don't care if it says it has a Hillary Clinton sign on the door. We still knock that door and we hope they'll listen and we hope they get saved. We throw that seed out everywhere. You know, if you've been a soul winner for any length of time, you have seen people get saved that you never thought were going to get saved. And you've also seen people that you thought were going to listen and they had no interest whatsoever. Now, I'm not saying that we usually don't have good perception, because obviously if somebody's younger, someone's a teen, they're more likely to listen, someone's older, they're probably not going to listen, but you just don't know. Even when we were soul winning yesterday, my wife was going solely with Miss JC and she gave the gospel to a group of three people and she told us afterwards she did not think they were going to listen. They just did not think they looked like they were going to be receptive. It didn't look like they were going to listen. All three listened and got saved. And see, just because it looks like they won't listen, that does not necessarily mean they won't. This is an example of soul winning, and he throws it by the wayside, he throws it on the rock, he throws it among thorns, and he throws it on good ground. So we preach the gospel, you know, unless they tell you they're the golden stake killer, unless, you know, we're talking about some crazy serial killer reprobate that you know for sure, I mean, you knock that door, you preach the gospel, you try to give the gospel to anyone. You say, my family members will never get saved. Why don't you give it a shot anyway? You just don't know. I've seen family members get saved that I never thought were going to get saved. You do not know if someone's going to get saved unless you give it a shot. In John chapter 4, we're going to look at an example of a woman that you would never think would get saved. John 4, look at verse 13. Jesus answered and said under whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Verse 15 is interesting because basically this woman wants the water but she doesn't understand what the water is and who's given it to her yet. She doesn't get it yet. You know, when we're out soul winning, there are people that are willing to pray with us but it doesn't mean that they understand salvation. Honestly, some people will pray with you at the beginning of the conversation. You wouldn't even have to give them any verses whatsoever and they'll repeat whatever you say. Just because somebody prays a prayer doesn't mean they get saved. They need to actually understand what salvation is and that's why we need to be thorough and make sure they understand that it's a gift, that it's only in Jesus Christ. There's not multiple ways to heaven but it's completely free and it lasts forever because honestly people will pray they're out there with you whether they believe it or not. And you know, me and Brother Joe were talking about this just this morning. We've seen IFB churches, it's like a joke. They try to trick you into praying and they'll count it as a salvation. They'll literally start praying with you and just kind of change it. Then they'll put their hand on your shoulder and say, all right now, Billy, we're going to accept Jesus as our Savior now. And they haven't even heard any verses. I mean, it's a joke. I mean, it's laughable. I mean, the amount of stories and it's somewhat funny but it makes you angry because all these people, these IFB churches, they're getting a shallow presentation of the gospel and they're counting people saved and they haven't even explained what salvation is. It's a joke. This woman, she's ready for the water but she doesn't understand yet. But notice verse 16. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said I have no husband. For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, and that saidest thou truly. This is a woman who's been married five times, okay? And now she's apparently living with a guy. She's with some guy that she's not married to. Now I find it interesting in verse 18 that Jesus says that she's with this guy but she's not married to them. You know that, there was that moron that we kicked out of our church last year who was going around telling people, well, if you fornicate in the Bible that means you're automatically married. Well, not according to Jesus in verse 18. Because he says she's with a guy but she's not married to them. Because being married is when you actually make public vows and you make a decision public and show the world that you want to be married. But this woman, she's with a guy but she's not married to him. But she's been with five other guys. Now, I'll be honest, I would not expect this woman to want to listen to the Gospel. Usually when people are living a sinful life, they don't want to hear anything about the Bible. Yes, salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but most people, you can just look outside. You know, on Sunday morning, before we start our services, are most of the people out there, do they have any interest in the Bible? No, they don't. They want to come in here to get free coffee but they have no interest in what the Bible says at all. Most people that are living in sinful lives, they like to be in darkness. They're living sinful lives, they don't want to come near the light. This woman, you would expect not to want to listen to the Gospel. I wouldn't think she'd be the best candidate to listen to the Gospel. And I'm not going to read the whole passage but let's drop down to verse 28 after she understands salvation. The woman then left her water pot and went away into the city and saith to the men, come see a man which told me all the things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? She understands who Jesus is now. Now drop down to verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified, he told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans would come on to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode their two days. And many more believed because of his own word. And said unto the woman, now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. So in verse 39, it shows that she won people to the Lord with her own words. And then verses 41 and 42 show that people showed up to hear Jesus and got saved. And so she won people through her own testimony, preaching the word of God, showing the verse from the Bible. And then other people came and heard Jesus and they also got saved. This is a woman that has rewards up in heaven. This is someone you would never expect to get saved, but she ends up getting saved. And I'd assume even after this she probably tried to preach to people and show them salvation. Who knows how many rewards she has? There's a lot of unlikely candidates in the Bible. The thief on the cross, is that a likely candidate to get saved? If you cross reference with Matthew 27, that thief is mocking Jesus when he's on the cross. Both thieves mock Jesus. Thankfully that one was willing to humble himself, we see in Luke, and he ends up believing on Jesus Christ. That shows you how you need to read each of the versions to get the full picture. Just like with this parable of the sower, it's in three ones. We need to read and have a full understanding. And that thief on the cross was a pretty rotten guy his whole life. But you know what? He truly believed on Jesus Christ and he is in heaven today. And praise the Lord, because even on our worst enemy, we should not want to wish hell on them. Unless they're an enemy of God, no matter how much they bug you, no matter how much you dislike them, I mean hell is forever. We don't want to see anybody go there. The Philippian jailer, unlikely candidate to get saved. You know, when I was in college, I remember when I was a sophomore and I had gotten saved as a freshman, and I lived about 45 minutes from where I grew up. So a lot of people would come up to West Virginia University to go to football games and basketball games, one of my friends that I was friends with in high school, he was coming up and I said, hey, let's go out and get lunch together, dinner together or something. And so some of my friends went and some of his friends. And my intention was to preach the gospel to him. You know, he's a friend of mine from high school. I hadn't had a chance and I wanted to try to get him saved. And I started talking to him about the Bible. And he kind of stopped me and he said, he's like, I heard you went religious, Stuckey. He's like, you are the last person I ever expected to be saying something like this, the last person. Now that's kind of strange to me because I've always believed in God. I've never believed in evolution. I was always trying to live a moral life, so to speak, because my parents were very strict so I stayed out of a lot of trouble. I wouldn't have thought that on the outside I looked unreceptive, but according to someone I was friends with in high school, I was the last person he ever expected. But honestly, on the inside for a couple of years, I'd been wondering what happens if I die. I had wondered that for a long time. And I'll tell you what, there's people out there, they don't look receptive on the outside, but you just do not know if they're interested. You know, in this room is filled people that used to live completely different lifestyles. And if you saw them before they got saved, you might say they would never listen. They'd never get saved. But you know what you do? You throw that seed no matter what. It doesn't matter. You give it a shot and see what happens. So what do you do? You knock on a door and it says, Bernie Sanders. You knock on that door with that Bernie Sanders sign and say, Hey, my name is Matt from Verity Baptist Church. I just want to give you an invitation to church. Is it likely they're going to get saved? Probably not. But you know what? There's people with Bernie Sanders signs that get saved. There's people that don't believe in the Bible, but if they hear the word of God, it's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, they might believe. And I think that's the reason why the Bible says, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You know, Jesus said preach the gospel to every creature. He didn't tell them, I want you to make judgment calls on if they're likely to listen or not. He said preach the gospel to every creature. So the first thing we see is that this is a very important parable. The second thing we see is the need to give it to everybody. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. And the third thing that we can learn from this parable, this parable actually kind of gives us some of the requirements for someone to get saved. You don't have to turn there, but in Mark 4, verse 14, it says, The sower soweth the word. It's a very basic verse, but it says the same thing in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They just keep sowing the word, sowing the word. You know why it emphasizes that? Because you need the word of God to get saved. The Bible's very clear on that. But not only do you need the word of God, we need to make sure that we focus on the word of God when we go sowing. Look at what it says in 1 Corinthians 1, starting at verse 18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved that is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Have not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified under the Jews' stumbling block and under the Greeks' foolishness. And the Bible says the Jews require a sign. And they're saying, if you just show us a sign from heaven, we're going to believe. You know what? We preach Christ crucified. We don't try to convince them that God's real with our own logic. We just show them what the word of God says. They can take it or leave it. We show them what the Bible says. You know, the Greeks, they seek after wisdom. Do we pull out a Ken Hovind seminar and say, watch this for 30 hours, and then there's a Gospel presentation you can check out at the end? No, we preach Christ crucified. And the reason why I focus on this is because there's a lot of apologetics ministries, and they de-emphasize the word of God, and they emphasize worldly wisdom. And that's the truth. When I first got saved, I used to read a lot of apologetics stuff about reaching all these cults and everything like that. It's kind of funny because when I used to read all that stuff, I'd memorize all these facts about Mormonism, but I never want any Mormons to the Lord. But then when I forgot about that stuff and actually showed them what the Bible says, you actually do see that some will get saved. Because it's the word of God. It's not our wisdom. And this is Paul. I'm sure Paul was a lot wiser than me. He spoke a lot more languages. I'm sure he was more knowledgeable. But you know what? Paul did not use his worldly wisdom. Paul used the word of God because the word of God is what we must focus on. One big mistake I see from new soul winners. This is a soul-winning parable, so I'm just trying to give you advice. But new soul winners like to focus less on the word of God and more on their own wisdom. Examples and things like that, rather than focusing on the word of God. But the Bible says we need to focus on the word of God. We don't use man's wisdom. I'm not saying we shouldn't use any examples at all, but God gave us some good examples in the Bible. He gave us the example of salvation being a gift. That's an example everyone can understand. He gave the example of being born again. That's something everybody can understand. How you'll remain the child of your parent, but you'll be disciplined in this life if you break his rules. That's something people can relate to. He used the example of drinking a glass of water. Very simple example. You know, if somebody out there wants some really complicated example and they say, well, I won't listen unless you debate evolution with me, they're not going to get saved anyway. You just forget about it. Don't try to use worldly wisdom. You just show them what the word of God says. If they don't want to hear, you just go on to the next door. That's a way it is. We can't save everybody. I know we want to try to get everybody saved, but most people, they're not going to get saved no matter who preaches the gospel to them. Most people aren't interested. So we find those that are interested. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. And while you turn to 1 Peter 1, let me read a verse where it says in James 1 21, receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. The Bible says the word of God is able to save your souls. We're going to see very clearly the Bible teaches that without the word of God, you cannot get saved. Now, in our language, we have a perfect Bible. The King James Bible is perfect. There are no mistakes in this book. Now, I don't know if everybody's familiar with this topic, and we honestly, we have a documentary on this topic, New World Order Bible Versions, of why we're a King James only church. And if you're not familiar with that, ask me after the service. Ask Pastor Menes, Brother Oliver after the service. We'll give you a copy so you can watch it and see what the Bible says. But we take a strong stand that the King James Bible is perfect. And it makes sense because obviously the devil can't get rid of the real word of God, but what he wants to do is confuse people about all these other versions that pop up. I mean, why are there a hundred versions of the word of God? Did God say it like this or did he say it like this? I mean, he said it one or the other, right? And there's all these versions because people are trying to make money. And people have this idea that you can get saved from any version. You read a Bible verse, whether it's in The Message or the New Living Translation or the NIV or whatever, and someone can get saved. But let's see what it says in 1 Peter 1. It says, verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. See, the Bible says we're born again. We're saved. We receive everlasting life by the incorruptible word of God. Not a corruptible word of God, but the incorruptible. And see, here's the thing. These modern versions, they change all the verses. And if they change the verses and it's not the same as what the King James says, then someone can't get saved from that version. Why? Because it's a corruptible seed. It's not the word of God. That's what we see in 1 Peter 1. It's interesting to me because I thought this was pretty foundational to being King James only, but then you have guys like Sam Gipp, who's supposed to be an expert on the King James, and he says you can get saved from any version under the sun. You don't need the King James to get saved. And it's like I thought being King James only, that was kind of a big part of it, that you believe this, the word of God, is the power to regenerate you. And that's why you shouldn't just listen to all these apologetics ministries because they have a lot of bad material out there. But if you're just reading the word of God, receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. And it says we're born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God. This is not just a book written by man. This book was written by God. And this whole parable is about sowing the seed. You need to sow the actual seed of the word of God. And if you're sowing the NIV, it's not going to bring about anybody's salvation because that's not the word of God. They change everything. I think they change every verse except like two or three in the Bible. Unless you can use Jesus' wept to get him saved, I think that's one they keep the same, then you're probably not going to be able to get him saved. And honestly, Jesus' wept is not part of my normal soul-winning routine. It just doesn't appear in my top thousand verses to use out soul-winning. You're not going to be able to get him saved because the Bible is very clear, not of corruptible seed. Let me say this, though, that when I first heard that about 12, 13 years ago, I thought it sounded extreme. Because I had become King James only, but I still thought that, well, he could still get saved. But when I saw this verse, 1 Peter 1.23, I wanted to argue with the person I heard preaching it. It was on a tape, an independent fundamental Baptist pastor. But I just looked at it and looked at it and I said, he's right. That's what it says. It didn't make sense to me at all. At the time it made no sense whatsoever, but I said the word of God says it. So whether it makes sense or not, that's what the Bible says. You need the King James Bible in the English language in order to win someone to the Lord. And God's word can be translated into any language. We're not saying you can only get saved in the English language, but we're saying that in English you need the word of God that's the English word of God. If it's another language, you can translate those verses into Italian and lead someone to the Lord in Italian. But it must be the word of God, because God said it like this or he said it like this. He didn't say it 50 different ways. It was one or the other. The Bible says you're born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible. That's why this parable focuses on sowing the word. So it shows you the elements of salvation. Turn to Matthew chapter 7. And I want to mention one other thing that's sort of related. And I thought about not mentioning this, but I saw a video this afternoon pop up, and I felt like God was kind of leading me to talk about this a little bit. And this is kind of a random question, but I think it's something we've all thought about before. And that is, okay, we need the word of God. We know that you need a sole winner to preach the word of God. God's not coming down from heaven and preaching the gospel. And this sounds like an odd question, but what if you had an unsaved person preaching the gospel? You say, why would an unsaved person preach the gospel? Well, Judas Iscariot was an unsaved man preaching the gospel for three years. And so the question is, was Judas able to win anybody to the Lord? And the reason why this has been an interesting topic is because obviously a church that we're friends with, Faithful Word Baptist Church, has had people at their church that came out as being complete heretics. And I'm going to use just one of them as an example, someone that I used to be very good friends with, but once I realized he's a false prophet, you've got to realize, you know what? He fooled me just like he fooled everyone else. And I'm talking about Garrett Kirschway, the evangelist from their church. You know, Garrett Kirschway, you can go on YouTube. You don't have to take my word, for example. You can listen to him just deny the basic elements of the Bible. You can tell it's very clear he doesn't understand the Bible. You can tell that every time he preached, he must have just been vainly repeating things he heard. Because when he explains passages, you're like, are you kidding me? I mean, he doesn't understand the Bible at all. He completely denies that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. It's like, what are you talking about? The Father sent the Son. He gave his only begotten Son. That's really basic when it comes to Christianity. That's why we need to preach these basic foundational things, because otherwise there's all these diverse and strange doctrines. But you know, Garrett for ten years was at that church preaching the gospel. So the question is, since you can tell that he's not saved, was he ever able to lead people to the Lord? Because I've been with him and seen him pray with people. There's other people in this room that have been sowing with him. They heard him pray with people. The question is, did those people really get saved? So you need somebody to preach the Word of God, but what if they say the right thing, but they're not actually filled with the Spirit themselves? You know, they're not saved. Well, look at what it says in Matthew 7. It says in verse number 17, Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. So when we're talking about leading people to the Lord, it says, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. So what the Bible's saying is, an unsaved person cannot bring forth good fruit. So even if they're saved, or even if they're not saved and they're preaching the right gospel, they can't get saved if they're a corrupt tree. Because here's the thing. If he's a false prophet, which, you know, it's very clear from what he says, how was he a false prophet if for ten years he was leading tons of people to the Lord? I mean, he's kind of working for the wrong team then. If he's unsaved and a child of the devil, then he's leading all these people to the Lord. It wouldn't really make a lot of sense. But the Bible says a corrupt tree, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Turn to Romans chapter 1, and let me show you one more verse on this topic, and then I'll just give you kind of a personal example. But let's say we took two different types of trees, okay? Let's say you had a mango tree and you had an apple tree, okay? Now mango trees grow in warm weather. They need lots of water in tropical locations. Apple trees can grow better in colder weather and, you know, less water. And honestly, I'm not an expert at trees at all, so I looked up this information today, so if I say something wrong and somebody wants to use it against me, well, okay, I'm not that smart when it comes to trees. But basically, you know, you have two different types of trees. You have mango trees and you have apple trees. Well, apple trees grow better in colder weather. Mango trees grow well in warm weather. So let's say you planted a mango tree in cold weather climate, okay, and gave it very little water and treated it like it was an apple tree, okay? Would it ever bring forth an apple if you acted like it was an apple and did everything you're supposed to do with an apple tree? No, because it's a mango tree. And so what I'm saying is this, that if somebody's unsaved, they can do everything that a saved person can do. They can preach it, use the exact same examples, but they cannot lead someone to the Lord. And you say, that doesn't make sense to me. Well, one thing we always need to do when we talk about these topics is, what does the Bible say? One thing I thought about when I was talking about this is, we can't really see the spiritual battle that's taking place behind the scenes. You know, we go out soul-winning and we pray that God will lead us to the right doors. We pray that God will fill us with the Spirit. We pray that the people's hearts will be open. We pray the devil won't interrupt the conversation. And we go out soul-winning, we're preaching the gospel, and we see how the devil tries to destroy the conversations. But we can't really see what's going on, you know, at all. And honestly, you know, if we saw what was going on, that's probably all we talk about, because it'd probably be pretty interesting seeing, I don't know what goes on, but I know there's a spiritual battle where the devil doesn't want anyone to get saved, and we want to see people get saved. So when they're saying those words, why it can't bring it about salvation, I would say, because you have to be filled with the Spirit, and the Spirit speaks through you. It's not our magic words, but it's God's words. But let me show you in Romans 1 here, and then I'll give you an example of another verse. It says in Romans 1, verse 16 and 17, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith. You know what that's saying? When it comes to the gospel, it's passed along from faith to faith. Someone that's saved passes on the gospel. It goes from faith to faith, and then hopefully they pass it on. Faith to faith to faith to faith. That's how it works with getting people saved. So I do believe a saved person needs to, but I wasn't actually planning on talking about this, but Pastor Anderson put out a video today, and it was not on his main channel. Who saw the video that I'm talking about with Garrett? So a few people, right? It's a pretty interesting video. It was on his Steven Anderson YouTube. You know, he has a lot of different YouTube channels, and it showed, I guess, Garrett when he left the church. He went to 35th Avenue Baptist Church, and they just videotaped him giving the gospel. So you can see this. This just happened this past week, just a few days ago, and he's preaching the gospel, and he goes through it, and the woman prays, and she says, yeah, it's just by believing. She calls on Jesus to save her. She thinks you're saved forever. Seems like she got it. And I guess in the video, the pastor kind of had the address listed or something online. So then two days later, Faithful Word went back at that door, okay? And she was very, I mean, he was very thorough. It seemed like she got it. They went back a couple days later, and you see Brother Chris Segura preaching the gospel, or trying to, to this woman. And this woman who answered everything, she seemed like she got it. She's like, and he asked, what do you have to do to go to heaven? She's like, we got to follow God and keep the commandments. And he's like, okay, well, if you're saved, let's say you killed someone, would you still be saved? Well, if you don't repent of your sins, you would lose your salvation. I mean, not gray area. I mean, she was so far from being saved. It's like it completely went over her head a hundred percent. And it makes more sense to me, because I remember, you know, like I said, Garrett used to be a good friend of mine. But Garrett, I remember him saying, you know, that he preached the gospel to his parents. And he preached it to them, and they prayed to receive Christ. And then it's like a week later, it's like they didn't get any of it. And he just went through that cycle over and over. He just kept praying and praying. And he told me two years ago at the Red Hot Preaching Conference, he's like, you know, I'm hoping when I go down to Botswana, he's like, my parents are starting to get interested. They'll keep listening to my preaching, and eventually it will sink in. Because he preached the gospel over and over. They prayed, but it went over their head. They prayed, it went over their head. They prayed over and over again, but they never got saved. And you know what? It makes a lot of sense, because a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, the Bible says. And so even though he was saying everything correctly, they can't get saved according to the Bible. That's what I believe. And turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. And I understand this is the sort of topic that you might have a different opinion on, so I'd encourage you to look at the verses I mentioned. You know, Matthew 7 when it's talking about false prophets is the main one I would reference, but Romans 1 16 and 17, talking about bearing fruit. But one thing that I thought was interesting was this. Obviously that video was made to try to show, well, I'm still going soul winning, I'm still doing the work, and everything like that. But notice what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 9. Let me turn there myself. When it's talking about false prophets, notice what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 9. It says, But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was. Boy, isn't that true that he puts out this video, look at me, I'm going soul winning, I'm still doing the work. And his folly is manifest to everyone. It's like, man, they didn't get saved. It's like, good job. You know, your folly is manifest to everybody. He obviously was doing that video, videotaping, they wanted to show, well look, I want someone to the Lord, I'm doing the work, and then all of a sudden, you can see clear as day. You know, go to the channel, Pastor Anderson, it's one of his channels, and you can see that Brother Chris Hagar goes back and this lady does not understand salvation at all. So she said the words, it seemed like she believed it, but for whatever reason, she didn't get it. For whatever reason, with Garrett's parents, they didn't get it. Now here's the thing, we all do have false conversions. I don't want you to get scared and say, oh, I had a false conversion, I'm not saved. John the Baptist had false conversions, okay? I understand, we're all going to have false conversions. Don't let that get you down if somebody that you talk to didn't end up getting saved. We try to be as thorough as we can, we're all going to have false conversions from time to time. But I just find it interesting that, you know, that he preached the gospel, and I just think back, because I heard him preach the gospel to plenty of people that prayed, and they seemed like they believed it. But I don't believe any of those people got saved. And it's sad, I wish that weren't the truth, but that's what the Bible says. Turn to Mark chapter 5. And the fourth point, I'm not going to use any verses for this, because I don't want to give away any of the next sermons, but the fourth point we need to understand when understanding the parable of the sower is, this does not represent all situations out soul winning. Honestly, that's one of the big errors people make when they look at this story, is they try to fit these four examples into everything. It doesn't fit every single example, it's not even close to fitting every example. God's giving you four specific examples because these are pertinent examples, but there's so many things that can happen out soul winning. Now let me say this, that people debate about how many of these four get saved, but everybody that I've ever heard thinks at least one, but less than four get saved. So everyone thinks either one, two, or three get saved, okay? And like I said, I'm not trying to give away the rest of the sermons, but nobody believes that nobody gets saved, and nobody believes that everybody gets saved, because the first and the last are just really clear in the Bible. But everybody believes at least one group gets saved, but here's the thing, and that one group does not get saved. But you know, of the example of the people that do not get saved in this parable, that does not include most examples, because in each of these four examples, notice what happens, the word is sown in their hearts, okay? Most doors we knock, do they get the word of God? No, because they reject it. This doesn't include most people that don't get saved. This includes those where the word's actually sown to some degree, okay? But when we go soul winning, there's plenty of people that just slam the door, we don't even hardly say anything, right? Most doors, at least in our country where we are, most aren't interested, and so this does not represent most people that don't get saved. In fact, it only represents a small percentage of those that don't get saved. But not only that, this does not include most of those that do get saved, because as we look in the next several weeks at the people that do get saved in this parable, they all have some spiritual growth in their lives that's evident. They all have at least some spiritual growth. Well, most people we get saved never come to church, right? Most people that get saved, they never really grow spiritually, they never come to church at all. But in this parable, we're going to look at examples of people that have at least a little bit of spiritual growth, whereas most people that get saved, they never come to church. Now, we don't question their salvation, because if they believed and we were thorough, you know, hey, we assume that they meant it, that they weren't lying to us, they got saved. Think about the 10 lepers. Only one came back to thank Jesus, but all of them were healed. When we go soul winning, most people are not going to come to church. It does not mean they didn't get saved. It just means that they didn't come to church, right? And so this parable is not going to represent most of those that don't get saved, and it's not going to represent most of those that do get saved. It only is going to represent a small percentage of those. In the next several weeks, we're going to see very clearly which ones do get saved and which don't. But the last thing I want to look at is this. The importance at looking at all three Gospels when we're looking at this parable of the sower. Notice in Mark chapter 5 what it says in verse 1, And they came over onto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately they met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. Okay, so we have a man. We're talking about one man. You look at verses, you know, three through six, it's focusing on one man, right? Drop down to verse number seven, and cried with a loud voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. So we're looking at one man. Drop down to verse 11, Now there was there nigh under the mountains a great herd of swine feeding, and all the devils beside him saying, Send us into the swine that we may enter into them. Now turn to Matthew chapter 8. Mark chapter 5 is a lot more detailed than Matthew 8 in terms of adding a lot of verses, but Matthew 8 adds something that's very important that Mark chapter 5 doesn't mention. Mark 5 is focusing on the individual, but when you read Matthew 8, you don't see one man. You see two men. It says in Matthew chapter 8, verse 28, Matthew 8, 28, And when he was coming to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fear so that no man might pass by that way. And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with Jesus, thou son of God? Remember in the last one it said, What have I to do with thee? And then it says, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? Verse 30, And there was a good way off from them, and heard of many swine feedings. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou castest out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. Whereas in the book of Mark it said, you know, there was, they went under the mountains, a great herd of swine feeding. So you can see that these are parallel sections of the Word of God, but you notice that Matthew explains it a little bit differently. It mentions two, whereas Mark only mentions one. You say, well, that's a contradiction in the Bible. We can't trust it. It's an error. You can go online, and everybody's gonna say that. Everyone who hates the Bible, they're gonna say, well, there's an error. There's only one, but there's actually two mentioned here. It's like, no, the Bible's focusing in Mark 5 on the individual, and in Matthew 8, it's giving you more of the picture they're mentioning too. But in Mark 5, it gives more details. There's more verses mentioned. There's 12 verses in this section in Mark 5. I didn't read all of them. In Matthew, I only went through four verses. So Mark goes in more detail, but it also does leave out that there were two of them. Why? Because the Gospels show you things from different angles so you can get more clarity. That's why things are mentioned multiple times. They're not mentioned word-for-word the exact same, because it's trying to focus on a specific thing. So what I'm trying to show you is this with the parable of the sower. We only looked at Mark 4 tonight. I don't want to bounce around everywhere, but if you want to study this in your personal time, you need to look at all of the examples. You need to look at Luke 8, Matthew 13, and Mark 4, because if you only look at Mark 4, you're only going to get a small picture. If you only look at Matthew 13, you're going to get a small picture of what's going on. If you only look at Luke 8, you're going to get a small picture. This sermon I specifically want to do for Mark 4 because of verse 13 is worded in a specific way here in Mark 4 with more clarity on what I was preaching about than in the other ones. But you know, the next sermon I preach, I'm going to be preaching from Luke 8 mainly, because it gives more clarity on certain points. And so realize that when you're looking at these things and they're mentioned multiple times, read each of them and compare them together to get a better understanding. Because if you only read Mark 4, you might not have a full understanding of each of these. If you only read Luke 8 or you only read Matthew 13, we need to read all of them. There's a reason why the Bible mentions them several times. And this is just an introduction to the parable of the sower, but let me just stress that this is a very important parable in the Word of God. There might be other ones that seem more interesting, but there's nothing more important than it comes to reaching the whole world, the whole spherical world, spherical earth, with the gospel. And that's the reason why we have this here, because we want to reach the whole world. I'm amazed that people would attack that. But soul winning is what it's all about. That's what we care about. That's what we love. This is a parable I hope you're excited about. I hope you're going to study in your free time, because our whole goal here in life is to reach the world with the gospel. Let's close in the Word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and help us to just focus on the things mentioned in the sermon, help us to apply this to our lives,