{"id":10,"date":"2018-11-06T15:59:27","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T23:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrate.bettersermons.org\/?p=10"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:41:24","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:41:24","slug":"god-is-looking-for-good-soil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/god-is-looking-for-good-soil\/","title":{"rendered":"God Is Looking for Good Soil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Objects:<\/strong>\u00a0A rock and a large seed (sunflower)<\/p>\n

Lesson:<\/strong>\u00a0God’s love grows in a receptive life.<\/p>\n

Outline:
\n<\/strong>
\n1.\u00a0A seed cannot grow in a rock; it cannot break the hard rock.
\n2.\u00a0God\u2019s love cannot break through a person\u2019s life who does not want it.
\n3.\u00a0Be open to God\u2019s love. Then you will be good soil in which the seed will grow and flower.<\/p>\n

Birds love sunflowers and so do I. They are large and colorful. Their seeds are good for eating\u2014both by people and birds, so sunflowers are very useful. Here\u2019s a sunflower seed, and, as small as it is, if we plant it in the right place with plenty of water and sunlight, it will grow into a sunflower as tall as you and produce hundreds of seeds.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see whether I can plant this seed. (With the rock in one hand and the seed in the other, try to push the seed into the rock.) Well, I can\u2019t plant the seed here in this rock; the rock is too hard. It will not let the seed in, will it?<\/p>\n

It is actually rather silly of me to try to plant a seed in a rock, isn\u2019t it? We know that this seed needs good soil if it is to grow and flower.<\/p>\n

Jesus said that God\u2019s Word (or God\u2019s love) is like this seed. God provides us with lots of His love. God\u2019s love is spread everywhere, among all people, all kinds of people. But some people are like this rock\u2014they will not let God\u2019s love come into their lives, take root, and grow. God never runs out of love; there are always plenty of seeds being sown. But, the love that falls on hard, cold, unreceptive rock cannot grow and produce.<\/p>\n

God wants us to be good soil, not rocky soil. If we are good soil, we will listen to God\u2019s word and let His love come into our hearts. We will try to share His love with other people. Then our lives will be useful to God. As His love grows in us, more and more seeds of love are scattered over the earth among everyone we are around. Be good soil, and watch God\u2019s love grow.
\n______________________________<\/p>\n

Excerpted\u00a0from\u00a0Elder’s Guide<\/em>, Volume A, General Conference Ministerial Association. Reprinted with permission. Visit the Ministerial Resource Center,<\/span>\u00a0GC Ministerial Association<\/a>\u00a0to purchase this\u00a0and other\u00a0helpful resources. Better Sermons \u00a9 2005-2008. Click here for\u00a0<\/span>usage guidelines<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Objects:\u00a0A rock and a large seed (sunflower) Lesson:\u00a0God’s love grows in a receptive life. Outline: 1.\u00a0A seed cannot grow in a rock; it cannot break the hard rock. 2.\u00a0God\u2019s love …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}