The Soil of our Hearts.........

How's the Soil of Your Heart?

Scriptures:

Matthew 13: 1-23                                    Matthew 13:37-43

Matthew 13:23-30                                    Matthew 12:33-37

Colossians 2:6-7                                    Jeremiah 17:9

Seeds, Roots & Plants

Seeds are planted into the soil.  As the seed is watered roots begin to grow down and take hold of the soil and a plant begins to grow upward above the soil.  In order for the roots to take hold, the seeds

must be planted deep enough in the soil.  The roots are what transport the nutrients from the soil to

the plant.  If the plant cannot get the nutrients it needs, it will die.

The Heart

According to the medical dictionary:

The heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood to all parts of the body.

 It is positioned in the chest behind the sternum (breastplate).

The normal heart is about the size of a closed fist, and weighs about 10.5 ounces.

When our heart stops beating, we die.

According to the Bible,:

The heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations

of human life. (Deut. 6:5; 26:16; comp. Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33),  

The heart is the "home of the personal life," we are designated, according to our heart,s.

 wise (1 Kings 3:12, etc.), pure (Ps. 24:4; Matt. 5:8,), upright and righteous (Gen. 20:5, 6; Ps. 11:2; 78:72) pious and good (Luke 8:15),  

The heart is also the seat of the conscience (Rom. 2:15). It is naturally wicked (Gen. 8:21), and hence it contaminates the whole life and character (Matt. 12:34; 15:18; comp. Eccl. 8:11; Ps. 73:7).

The heart must be changed, regenerated (Ezek. 36:26; 11:19; Ps. 51:10-14), before a man can willingly

obey God.

Salvation begins in the heart by the believing reception of the testimony of God, while

the rejection of that testimony hardens the heart (Ps. 95:8; Prov. 28:14; 2 Chr. 36:13).