I want to say welcome to week number four of our series Remain. We're learning this year that if we start our year with Jesus, if we learn how to remain, how to abide in Him, it changes everything. We believe with everything in our hearts that this will be the best year of your life if you put God first in your life. Can I get a good amen? And that is not my opinion. That's Jesus' opinion.

Literally, John 15:5, our theme verse for the series, says this: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you," there's our word, say "remain," "you will bear much fruit." That's a promise: if we remain in God, we will bear much fruit. "Apart from me you can do nothing."

So Lord God, we want to be fruitful. We pray that as we remain in You this year, as we're planted in You, which is our word for the year, Lord, this will be a year of fruitfulness. We love You, Lord. We praise You. In Jesus' name. And everybody said amen.

I'm so thankful for every one of you. I was praying this week as we came out of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. This is the final week of our series Remain, and I was trying to figure out, "God, what is it that I should speak about this week?" I had some ideas. I had some direction I felt like I needed to go. But God started shifting some things in my heart.

The very first week, kind of a prequel to the series, we talked about fasting. Then we talked about remaining in God through a daily devotion, spending time with Him. In week two, we talked about prayer, remaining in God through prayer, and we focused on the tabernacle prayer as a model. And last week, we talked about something we're all so bad at: rest. Actually taking a Sabbath. Actually taking a break.

How do you remain in Jesus?

And today I was praying, "Okay, God, what is it that You want me to speak about?" There are a couple of practices we could talk about this week as our final week. And I thought, maybe we need to talk about obedience. That word we all don't like. Because it's literally one of the ways that we remain.

In fact, John 15:10 is a couple of verses after our theme verse. Jesus says, "If you keep my commands," what is that? Obedience. "If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love." Some of you are like, "Okay, how am I going to remain? What do I need to do?" You need to obey. Obedience to Jesus is actually one of the primary ways that we remain.

So Jesus is saying, if you remain, if you abide, and remember, that word has to do with almost living with someone, rooming with someone, what He's saying is, "If you live with Me, you're under My house. There are some guidelines I want you to follow. And when you follow those things, you're living here. You're in here." But when we go our own way and do our own thing, He's like, "You are away from Me. You have run out." And the end of that will ultimately lead to death. We're not remaining.

Why do Christians have a casual relationship with sin?

The thing I've realized is that if you look at Christians all around the world, I think we have an incredibly casual relationship with sin. And we forget about John 10:10, which says that we have a thief, and he comes to steal and kill and destroy. Man, he is trying to steal your destiny. He's trying to kill your future. He is trying to destroy your present. He's trying to destroy your marriage. He's trying to destroy your family. He's trying to destroy your calling. And if you're not careful, you'll let him.

These last couple of weeks, we've been going through 21 Days of Prayer, and it's been beautiful. But I don't know if y'all remember the very first week, as we started, I said, "Y'all need to be prayed up, because during 21 days of prayer, things can happen. It's spiritual warfare." Why? Because the enemy doesn't want you to do it. Literally last week, I had both my kids in the hospital with RSV, breathing tubes, the whole nine yards, as we're approaching the weekend. And I'm like, "I don't even know how we're going to make church work." And then this week, I found out my dog has a chronic illness. What is that? It is an attack.

Every time, the enemy is just there watching. We see it in the wilderness. Jesus is fasting and praying for 40 days, and Satan's just there watching. And the second He's done, Satan comes and starts tempting Him.

I think it's so crazy. So often we're trying to run to the things of God. We wake up and we're like, "I'm going to do my quiet time, my daily devotion." We grab our favorite mug. You know the mug. The mug you love. Yeah, that one. We go sit out on the patio, because Phoenix is so beautiful right now, and we're like, "I'm just going to bask in His presence." And we go to spend time with God, and then we're surprised when Satan shows up. He's there waiting. Why? He doesn't want you to do it.

It's what he did in Genesis with Adam and Eve. He appears as a snake, and he says, "Did God really say?" In order for him to repeat what God said, it means he was there when God said it. He was waiting. And then, when he had his moment, he came as a snake. "Did God really say?"

God, I hate snakes. I hear about these people who have pet snakes, and I'm like, "Why? Literally, why?" My father-in-law had a pet snake, and one day the snake went missing. I was like, "Burn the house down. Get out." I learned this disturbing fact about snakes: do y'all know snakes don't blink? They're just like this. That's literally what they do. Why would you want that? But that's the enemy. He doesn't blink. He's just waiting, while we're being so casual, as if he's not a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

I heard this story about a girl who had a pet python. Again, why? She loves this python, and every now and then she lets it out of its cage. Every now and then the python would come and actually sleep in her bed. And then it came to a point where she was like, "It's crazy. My python isn't eating. I don't know why this is happening."

So she takes it to the doctor and says, "My pet python isn't eating. I'm trying to feed it rodents. I'm trying to feed it rats. I'm trying to do all these things, and the python's not eating." So the doctor is inspecting it, and he gets to a point where he's like, "Hey, can I ask you a couple of questions? Do you ever sleep with your snake?" She goes, "Yeah, all the time. I just let it slither out. It comes and lays next to me. It's so sweet." And he goes, "Okay. Whenever you wake up, do you ever find that the snake is right next to you, elongated?" And she goes, "This week, it happens all the time. It just wants to cuddle up. He's a snuggly little snake." I'm like, "What?"

And he says, "Ma'am, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is your snake's not sick." Praise God. "The bad news is your snake's going to eat you. The reason it's not eating is that it's trying to digest everything that's in its stomach. And the reason it elongates itself next to you is that it is measuring you up, to see how much bigger it needs to grow so it can swallow you whole."

Y'all, what are the things we're sleeping next to? What are we allowing into our space, where the thing we are cuddling up to is trying to kill us? "It's just one text. It's just one thing. No one's going to see. It's just one look. I can send it and delete it." We have a casual relationship with sin. And meanwhile, the enemy is just there, watching, trying to destroy everything that exists in our lives.

What we need to do is be like Jesus. When the enemy wanted to tempt Him, He said, "No, no, no. You're trying to tempt Me with that? Great. I'll respond with the Word. 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" We have to be focused.

Many ways to remain

So I was like, "Man, we should do obedience. We could talk the paint off the walls talking about obedience." And then I was like, "I'm not going to preach on that."

Then I thought, "Okay, maybe we can talk about remaining through community." That's important: groups, confession, accountability, doing life together. We abide personally, but we remain with each other. We remain in community. Side note, if y'all didn't know, the Spirit Group directory launches today. What does that mean? Go on our website, find yourself a group, and get connected. Groups launch next Sunday, so you have an entire week to pick your group. We're doing a group leader training tonight. If anyone wants to be a part of that, sign up for the training. We would love for you to do it.

So I thought I could talk about community. But we're starting a series next week about that, since groups are launching, called Better Together. Y'all, we're talking about friendships, relationships, all those things that just make you mad. It's going to be like group counseling. It's going to be fantastic. I need it.

I thought, "We could talk about worship." That's one of the ways we remain. Silence and solitude, that's one of the ways we remain. In fact, there are many ways we can remain. We can remain by receiving from God through things like Scripture, which we talked about, prayer, which we talked about, and Communion, which we did last week. We remain by responding to God through obedience, and through generosity, putting God first in our finances. It's one of the best things Paige and I do. We don't wait until the end of the month to see what's left. No, we say, "God, I'm going to trust You with the first." It is a response. It is an act of faith. We respond to Him through repentance: "God, I'm sorry. Forgive me." We can rest in God through Sabbath, silence, and solitude. And we can remain with God's people: community, joining a group, confession, worship, church attendance. We've talked about those in the past, and we'll talk about them in the future.

How does the enemy use distraction?

But as I was praying, "Okay, God, what is it I need to talk about?" I felt God say to me, "Brad, what you need to talk about is the thing that will keep them from doing all those other things."

Because I've never met someone who didn't know they need to pray. I'm like, "Hey Christians, pray." And y'all are like, "Wow, I haven't heard that one. I'm writing that down." "You should read your Bible." "Wow, Brad. Wow." Most of the time, it's not that we don't know what to do. It's that something is keeping us from doing the things we need to do.

So God said, "No, no, no. We need to talk about the thing that, as you come out of this series, will stop you from doing everything you learned in this series." And that is one word, and that word is distraction.

I think sometimes we think Satan's going to show up with a pitchfork and red horns: "Surprise, I'm here." He doesn't show up like that. He shows up in ways you don't even notice. Distraction. That way he can keep doing it, and you do not know it's him. I want to talk about the distractions in your life that are keeping you from God's best for your life. The distractions that are keeping you from remaining. Because we have the best intentions, but so often we mess it up.

How did Jesus stay focused?

If you have your Bibles, by the way, you can turn to Matthew chapter 13. If you don't have a Bible, we'll have it on the screens, and you can also grab one from Connections right after the service. We'd love to give you one.

One of my favorite things about Jesus is His focus. We don't often talk about Jesus' focus. We talk about the fact that He is loving, which He is, and merciful, which He is, and kind and generous and compassionate. We talk about all those things. But very rarely do you hear a sermon about the focus of Jesus. Meanwhile, it is a massive subtheme of the entire Gospels. Jesus was not someone who was distracted.

You get to see it with Jesus in the wilderness at the start of His ministry. The enemy comes and tries to distract Him from fulfilling His calling. What was the distraction? Take a shortcut before sacrifice. But Jesus sees it.

He calls His first disciples, and then He walks into the synagogue. This is Mark 1:21. And a man possessed by a demon shouts, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are." And Jesus says, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" Why did He say, "Be quiet"? Later you'll read that it wasn't time. This man was trying to declare something that could get people to kill Him before it was time. What's the distraction? Right truth, but wrong time.

Jesus heals many people, and then He withdraws. Mark 1:35: He gets up early in the morning to pray. The disciples come up to Him and say, "Jesus, they love You, bro. They're everywhere. They're looking for You. Let's go keep healing people. This ground is great." And He's like, "Let's go to another city, because I haven't just come for them. I've come for the people who haven't been found yet." He was focused on His mission.

In Mark 3:20, He's doing all these miracles. He gets into a house, and it's so crowded that His disciples aren't even able to eat. And His family is like, "Jesus is whack." I'm joking. It doesn't say He's whack. They say He's out of His mind, and they want to take charge of Him. They actually want to remove Him, because they think He's going crazy. So they go to find Him. And someone comes up to Jesus while He's teaching these crowds and says, "Your mother and brothers are outside." And He says, "Who are my mother and my brothers? These people in front of Me, they are My mother and brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father is My mother and brother."

He wasn't even distracted by family. Sometimes family, with the best intentions, can distract you from something God is calling you to do. "Babe, I was praying, and I really felt like God was telling me to lead a group." "Man, that means we'll only have six free nights a week instead of seven." I'm teasing. It's not always like that. But sometimes we allow a voice so close to us to actually distract us from the things God is calling us to do. A familiar voice that's trying to pull you off mission.

He feeds the 5,000, and people want to make Him king by force, and He withdraws to the mountain. Or, of course, the most famous one: when He tells Peter He's going to die and be raised again, Peter says, "Never. Not on my watch." And Jesus says, in Matthew 16:23, "Get behind me, Satan!" That was brutal. Now, He wasn't calling him Satan. He was saying that what is motivating him, what is behind that statement, is satanic. Why? "You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns." Jesus was focused.

When good things pull you apart

I admire that about Jesus, and it's something I try to emulate, because I consider myself a pretty focused guy sometimes. What I mean by that is, I like to be focused on the things I want to be focused on. Y'all get that?

I remember when we moved out here and needed to launch this church. I was like, "Man, I've moved my family out here. This has to work." I didn't know anyone. I was fundraising like crazy, trying to make the whole thing work, burning the candle at both ends, saying yes to every single opportunity, because it has to work. And then people start moving out here because they want to help us do this thing, and now I feel responsible for them. What is that? Fear. A really bad motivator. But there are also good things. We want to make a difference. We actually want to see people saved and baptized.

And the challenge was, all of this is happening, and I'm burning the candle at both ends, and I get to a place where I realize I'm pacifying my kids instead of playing with them. Why? I'm just distracted. God had to correct me. Anyone ever felt like that? It's not like you're always distracted by bad things. Sometimes it's a good thing and a good thing. "I need to respond to this email. I need to go visit the hospital, because someone's there. I need to prepare a sermon." But my kid wants a dad.

In fact, in Europe in the Middle Ages, they had a brutal way of torturing people. They would take a person and tie a rope to every one of their limbs, and tie the other end of each rope to a horse. And on the count of three, the horses would all go in separate directions and rip the person apart. What's crazy is that the Latin word they used to describe that is distrahere. It's the Latin word we get distraction from. Isn't that what it feels like? "This thing is so good, but then I also have this." And before I know it, I'm trying to be focused, but I'm not. Today, if you've ever felt like that, I feel like Jesus has some beautiful words He wants to share with you.

What is the meaning of the parable of the sower?

Matthew 13:1: "That same day," what day? The same day Jesus said, "Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?" That same day, "Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables." What is a parable? It's a spiritual story, a story that illustrates a spiritual truth.

"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed," and I'm like, praise God, that sounds like my life. Scattered. I'm trying to organize my life, but life be lifing. Anyone? You hate it when life just lifes? "Life, why do you life?"

"Some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly," so excited, excited little plant, "because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop, a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear."

So His disciples are confused, and they're like, "Jesus, can You explain that? Can You just make that easier?" And He does, in verse 19: "When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 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. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Whenever I've heard this, I've always heard it and taught it as four separate kinds of people. You get the people who are just the path. They hear the gospel, and the enemy comes and snatches it, and it never goes anywhere. You get the people who hear it and receive it, and they're so excited. "Okay, I'm going to get baptized." By the way, we are baptizing next week. Shameless plug. "I'm going to do it. I'm going to join a group." But the second stuff gets hard, they're like, "I'm out." There are people who receive it, and it goes down, and they're trying to make it work, but the worries of life choke them out. And then there are the people who fall on good soil and produce all this beautiful fruit.

And whenever I've heard this, I'm like, "And that's me. I'm number four." Has anyone ever read this and said, "I'm number one. Yeah, I'm the path, guys"? No one's ever done that.

Your heart is the soil

That is a primary interpretation of the text. But if I'm honest, I find that sometimes I'm all four. Because Jesus isn't saying this is the parable of the people. It's the parable of the soil. And the soil is what? Your heart.

Because sometimes I wake up on Sunday, and I'm good soil. "Praise Jesus. I receive it with gladness. Let's go." But then Monday comes, and by Wednesday I feel like I'm choked out. And on Friday I'm like, "What's even going on?" We can actually be all of those different heart postures. God can tell us to do something, and that's why the Bible says in Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

Same seed, different hearts, different fruit. It gets snatched by distraction, choked by anxiety, neutralized by busyness, and forgotten by Monday. You're like, "This is amazing. I'm going to fast. I'm going to pray." You hit Arizona Avenue, someone cuts you off, and you're like, "I'm out. None of this is happening. God, I'm done." What happened? It got snatched. It got choked out. It got strangled. And that's not because you're bad soil. It's because in that moment, your heart was unguarded.

How does the enemy steal God's Word from your heart?

So I want to quickly show you a couple of ways the enemy tries to steal things from us, and what you can do about it. There are a couple of things that happen with these different kinds of soil.

1. Snatched

The first is the kind that gets snatched. Say "snatched." The enemy wants to snatch what God is trying to do in your life before it ever has a chance to take root. We hear the Word, but we don't really get it. We don't dig deeper. We don't try to figure out what it is. And the next thing we know, it's gone.

Anyone ever had something snatched by distraction? It's like you walk into a room and you're like, "Why am I here?" Everyone's done that. It's almost like you're playing The Sims and you canceled all the actions, and they're like, "What am I doing here?" Millennials. Anyone played The Sims? Y'all know what I'm talking about. I just dated myself right there. Praise God. I'm 33 now.

Or the other day, Friday, my wife was like, "Hey Brad, can you respond to that one message?" I'm like, "Yeah, babe. Got it." And two minutes later she's like, "What are you doing?" I'm like, "Huh?" "What are you doing?" "Oh, Instagram." "Did you respond to that message?" "Forgot." What happened? It got snatched. We got distracted.

And that can happen with the Word of God. All last week, seed was scattered. "Hey, you should go talk to that person. You should encourage that person. You should go speak words of life. That person needs that from you right now." And if we're not careful, it gets snatched. The enemy will use a distraction to snatch it from you. And the worst thing about that is that you never even knew what it could have become, because it was only ever a seed. You never got to see the fruit that could have come, because you never acted on the thing God called you to do. Why? Because it got snatched. The potential got snatched. The conversation I want to have with my wife in the car gets snatched. The game you want to attend for your kid gets snatched. Students, the person you want to encourage in your class, but it gets snatched.

2. Scorched

The second is the type that gets scorched. Say "scorched." Matthew 13:5–6: "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."

We are living life at such a shallow level. We're busy, but we're not bearing fruit. We're occupied, but we're not fruitful. We're crowded with activity, but we're empty of life. We're in constant conversation, but there's no real connection. LOL. We're just texting, but we feel so alone, because we're not actually in deep, physical community. Get in a group. That's the problem.

We're consuming constant content, but we're never changed. Podcasts, YouTube, TikTok, even sermon reels and theology clips. We're in a place where we know more about God than ever, but we know God less than ever. "Oh yeah, I know about Him. I can talk about Him." Beautiful. Have you been with Him? Have we been with Him? Or am I so distracted by the work of God that I forget the God of the work?

We have information without incarnation, input without output, revelation without formation. We're emotionally processing, but there's no repentance. "Hey, can I tell you about Sally? It's crazy." We'll process our trauma. We'll process the stuff that happened. But you know what we won't do? Confess sin, forgive people, change our habits.

We're stimulated digitally, but we're spiritually numb. We fill every gap with phone, music, podcasts, scrolling, notifications. We live in a culture where there's no boredom. Do y'all remember boredom? So 2000s, y'all. I haven't been bored in years, kids. When I got bored, I went to my mom and said, "I'm bored." You know what she said? "Go play outside." My son hasn't been bored a day in his life. We have no boredom, no hunger, no aching, no longing.

The challenge is that spiritual fruit grows in space: silence, solitude, prayer, waiting. Our lives are full, but our souls are shallow. So we're unrooted, and we're easily distracted. It's why we need the Word. It's why we need to pray. It's why we need to spend time with God in Sabbath. It's why we need to trust God with our finances. It's why we need to be in community: get in a group. It's why we need to go public with our faith: get baptized next week. Why? We have to be rooted. We have to be planted. It's our word for the year: planted. We want to be planted in the house of the Lord. Why? So that we can flourish.

3. Strangled

So some seed gets snatched. Some gets scorched; there was no deep root, because we're so distracted by so many things. And some gets strangled. "The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life," say "worries," "and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful." Mark 4:19 is a parallel verse: "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."

The worries of this life. Notice, not the responsibilities of this life. The worries choke it out. What does that mean? All the stuff I'm worrying about that never even happened. Y'all ever worry about something that never even happened? You spend so much time worrying about that thing, but it was never actually going to happen. And the enemy was using it as a distraction.

That person didn't look at you right. "How dare she look at me with that tone of voice? You see the way she looks at me? In fact, I don't even like the way she speaks about me. In fact, I don't even know if I like Sally." You come to church next week and she's like, "Hey!" And you're like, "Hi." What? You allowed a seed to form, the wrong kind of seed, and it got strangled. The worries of this life. The chronic stress. So the Word gets heard, but it never gets held. It's not that we're rejecting God. It's just that we're so crowded by other kinds of concerns.

The deceitfulness of wealth. Thinking money will stabilize me, success will validate me, comfort will satisfy me, and options will save me. So God becomes our consultant, a supplement, a backup plan, but not our source. Parents, you're running all around to provide for your kids, but what they actually want, and what they need, is you. They're down for a smaller house. They just want you. That gift is great, but they want you at their game. They're only six once. You can always make more money. You can't get six back. You can't get seven back. It's a good thing keeping you from a great thing, and the enemy will use it.

Jim Carrey said this, and I think it's profound: "I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer." And of course, my man the Notorious B.I.G. said it this way: "Mo money, mo problems."

The desires for other things. And it's not always bad things. It's the desire for too many good things: relationships, platforms, dreams, goals, hobbies, opportunities. None of them are evil. They're just loud, and they're keeping you away from 15 minutes with God. They are strangling you. So you're breathing, but not deeply. You're living, but not fully. You're producing some fruit, but not all the fruit.

4. Sabotaged

The final one is this: you're good soil. But Jesus shares a parallel story right after that. Matthew 13:24–26: "Jesus told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.'"

What is that? It's spiritual interference. That's the seed that gets sabotaged. The enemy is trying to do everything he can to plant seeds of division. There is a purpose God has placed in your life. Ephesians 2:10: "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." The challenge is that weeds are sometimes going to grow alongside, and they're trying to steal your nutrients. They're trying to steal your life. That pornography thing is trying to steal your life. It's trying to take everything out of you. It's trying to choke you. What is that? It's sabotage.

The weeds block the light. Weeds often grow quicker than the plant. "I can't get any light, because I have all kinds of things around me." And what we have to do, through the Holy Spirit, is find freedom. That's why you need to join a Freedom group. We need to find freedom so we can get these weeds out of our lives, so we can receive what God has for us, and say, "Okay, there's the sun again. I'm getting my nutrients again. Oh yeah, that's the life I was supposed to lead." It gets sabotaged.

How do you guard your heart from distraction?

So what do we need to do? You have to cultivate the soil. I can be all those kinds of soil, but what I have to do is cultivate it. The seed wasn't bad. It was always good. It's not fewer enemies. It's better soil.

Luke 8:15: "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it," what is that? Remain. "And by persevering produce a crop."

1. When the seed is snatched, guard your heart

So what do you do when the seed is snatched? I need you to guard your heart. Slow down. Remove distractions. Spend time with God. Don't allow bitterness to come in. Ask God to search your heart. Psalm 139:23–24: "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts," and "lead me in the way everlasting." When it's going to get snatched, you need to guard your heart.

2. When the seed is scorched, grow roots

When it's going to get scorched, grow roots. Go deeper. That's the solution: go deeper. What does that look like? Scripture beyond Sunday. Can I get a good amen? Attend church. My entire life, my parents were like, "It's Sunday. We're going to church." Pray. Obey. Get into community. Get in a group. Go deep. Get planted.

3. When the seed is strangled, weed the garden

When the seed is strangled, weed the garden. How do you do that? Fasting. Sabbath. Silence. Saying no. Y'all know you don't need to explain your noes? That was revelation for me. My wife was like, "Hey, you don't need to explain your noes." I'm like, "Really? Where's that in the Bible? I like that." I was giving paragraphs on why I was saying no. She's like, "It's okay to just say no." Now I'm a pro. My son is like, "Dad, can I...?" "No." And he's waiting for the why. And I'm like, "Son, that is a complete sentence. No."

Get some margin in your life. Can I get a good amen? It's not abandoning your life. It's removing what competes.

4. When the seed is sabotaged, stay alert

And finally, when the seed gets sabotaged, you need to stay alert. 1 Peter 5:8–9 says, "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith," because there are people going through the same things you're going through. Resist him. What does that look like? Confession, discernment, accountability, which happens through groups, and submission. Matthew 26:41: "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Snatched, you need to listen. Scorched, you need to go deeper. Strangled, you need to simplify. Sabotaged, you need to stay awake. The goal is not to avoid bad soil. The goal is to become good soil. And the way we do that is through remaining. Can I get a good amen?

Throw off everything that hinders

Lord God, we love You. I want to thank You for what You're doing. Lord, I pray that You will help us see what the enemy is trying to do, so we can resist him, so we can come up against him. Lord, I pray that even right now, we'll be so aware of the weeds growing alongside us. They've been there for some time. You've been speaking to us about it for some time. But Lord, I pray that today is the day we make a commitment and say, "Today it leaves. Today it leaves."

With every head still bowed and eyes closed: Hebrews 12 is one of my favorite verses. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes," what is that? Focusing. "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross."

Some of you might be here today, and you actually relate to some of those soils. You heard about God once, and it got snatched. Others of you tried. You made an emotional decision, and then life got hard, and you were like, "I'm out." For others, the worries of this life started choking it out, and you're like, "Man, I'm done." If you're here today and you just want to say yes to Jesus, if you're like, "Okay, I'm coming back," that's beautiful. Or you're saying, "Man, I'm going all in with Him. Today is the day. I've been running long enough. I feel far away from God, and it's time for me to come close to Him again."

Pray this prayer after me. Just whisper it: "Lord Jesus, I believe that You're the Son of God and the Savior of the world. I know You came to this earth, You died on a cross, and You were raised so that I can have life. And right now, I make You my Lord. I make You my Savior. In Jesus' name."