© By Danna Shirley
#41 - HOW IS YOUR
SOIL
Meaning: “. . . Satan comes immediately and takes
away the word that was sown in their hearts.” (Mark 4:15)
“Some
[seed] fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and
immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was
up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.” (Mark 4:5-6)
Meaning: “. . .
when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time…when
tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.” (Mark 4:16-17)
“And some seed fell among thorns;
and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.” (Mark 4:7)
Meaning: “. . . they
are the ones who hear the word, and the cares
of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires
for other things entering in choke the
word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark 18-19)
“But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and
produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” (Mark 4:8)
Meaning: “. . . these
are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept
it, and bear fruit:
some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” (Mark 4:20)
The SEED is the WORD OF GOD . . .
YOU are the SOIL . . .
Do you find yourself as soil by the
wayside? Then Satan tries to come and take the Word from your heart!
Do you find yourself as stony ground?
Then the Word can take no root in you and you stumble!
Do you find
yourself surrounded by thorns? Then the cares of the world and worldly desires have
choked the Word!
But when you
find yourself as good ground, you can produce a crop yielding one-hundred times
more!
Take
particular note of the effect on the seed by the wayside versus all the other
seed. The seed by the wayside was devoured by the birds (Satan) before it ever
took root, but all the other seed was lost due to the condition of the soil
(heart of man).
How much of
our own crop production is our responsibility and how much is to be laid at the
feet of others? A certain amount belongs to the “sower” who sows the seed, but
the soil is responsible for its own rich, fertile, fruitful condition.
Are we fallow
ground or will we cultivate our soil to receive God’s Word and produce a
fruitful crop?
Only we can
know the condition of our own soil (heart) and only we can cultivate it and
prepare it for the planting of the Word.
Props: Use
four shallow pans each representing the wayside, thorns, stony ground, and good
ground. Have each containing what you might consider the wayside, thorns,
stones, good soil, etc. Choose four people to come up and try to plant in each
of the pans. Demonstrate how difficult it is in the first three pans and how
easy it is in the good soil. Show the
result of how the Word will or will not
survive in each type of soil.
#42 - HEARTCRY
“Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (Psalm 119:11)
Psalm 119
encourages us to keep God’s Ways, Commands, Statutes, Precepts, and Ordinances.
These are not requests; these are directives.
Here are just a
few: Blessed are those . . .
. . . who keep His testimonies (v 2)
. . . walk in His ways (v 3)
. . . keep His precepts diligently (v 4)
. . . keep His statutes (v 5)
. . . look into all His commandments (v 6)
. . . learn His righteous judgments (v 7)
. . . take heed according to His Word (v 9)
. . . not wander from His commandments (v
10)
. . . teach His statutes (v 12)
. . . meditate on His precepts and contemplate His ways (v 15)
. . . delight in His statutes; forget not
His Word (v 16)
. . . and the list goes on and on . . .
First you must have
God’s Word hidden in your heart! His Word guides and directs your footsteps so
that you do not stumble and fall.
God’s Word is for
all of us at all times . . .
. . . sometimes, however, He gives a
particular Word
. . . to a particular person
. . . for a particular time.
Don’t miss what He
wants to tell you . . .BE IN HIS WORD!
Props: A heart
(either a Valentine, a heart-shaped balloon, a cutout poster of a heart, etc).
#43 - KEYS
I had my
purse stolen recently. I didn’t realize how much I depended on the contents
until everything was gone. Of course the thief took pictures of my husband and
granddaughter (irreplaceable) and cash and checkbook (replaceable) but an
unexpected loss was my set of keys. I
had no car keys to even drive home.
Technology is
great until you must have your car towed to a dealership and hooked up to their
computer before a new set of keys can be programmed . . . and I had to do that
for my car AND my truck! I also had
all the locks changed on my house! A necessity due to the thief having my
address as well.
MY KEYS . . . limited . . . for transportation
and security purposes!
But God’s
keys are spiritual. They reach into Heaven to lock and unlock, to bind and
loose.
God gives us
His “keys” and instructs us that we can bind whatsoever and loose whatsoever.
GOD’s KEYS . . . limitless . . . for binding the assignment of the enemy against us and
loosing the power of God for us!
Props: Set of keys.
#44 - IT ONLY
TAKES A SPARK
A spark, though often thought of as very
insignificant, can and has brought life and death to a variety of situations
and people.
It was a spark of sorts that caused the great Chicago fire.
It is a spark that determines whether your car
will start each morning.
A spark in a darkened room can bring light
into an otherwise frightening or very dreary experience.
Jesus desires to
baptize us with the Holy Spirit and Fire
. . . to ignite the spark within us
and set us on fire for Him . . . WHY? Because He warns us that if we are
lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, He will vomit us out of His mouth (Revelation
3:16).
Desire to be red hot and aglow for God . . .
. . . let the SPARK
of God set you on fire.
Let the FIRE of God lead you into
His will . . .
. . . let God be
glorified in all you say and do!
Props: It would be helpful to be in a dark or unlit
room. Use a candle lighter or matches and every time you say the word spark or light or red hot or aglow, strike a match and expound on Jesus
baptizing us with the Holy Spirit and Fire. Point out the darkness of the room
and then the spark (God’s presence) that brings light to the room.
#45 - ROCKS
“Then, as He [Jesus] was drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives , the whole multitude of the disciples
began to rejoice and praise God with
a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the
name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ And some of the
Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ But
He answered and said to them, ‘I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.’” (Luke 19:37-40)
I am so
thankful that I don’t have to have the most beautiful voice in the world in
order to please God . . . to sing praises unto Him. I can lift up my song and
my hands in the sanctuary and praise His Holy Name. I choose to do this in
surrender.
Now if I were
to look at the people standing around me, fearful of what they might think of
my unashamed chorus, concerned about their judgment of my open expression of love
and worship, and I were to quench my spirit from praising God, I would be most
miserable.
WHY?
Because if I
do not raise my voice in praise to God, He can easily raise up stones to praise
Him. Aren’t I am better than a stone!
Props: Pile of stones.
#46 - CHOSEN
INSTRUMENT
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim
the praises of Him who called you
out of darkness into His marvelous light . . .”
(1 Peter 2:9)
Every one of us is
a solo individual . . . chosen by God and precious in His sight. How beautiful
we would sound if we proclaimed our praises unto Him . . . together?
Consider the sound
of a solo performance by . . .
. . . a piano or organ
. . . a trombone or a trumpet
. . . a clarinet or a flute
. . . or a DRUM!
How beautiful! Then
compare that solo performance to the sound of a symphony orchestra.
We may be just one
note in God’s symphony but we are a chosen
instrument to play that one note. Every note we play for Him is important. Every
instrument in His orchestra is chosen.
He tells us we are CHOSEN, ROYAL, HOLY, SPECIAL, and CALLED to proclaim praises unto Him . .
. whether it is as a solo performance or in an orchestra.
WE ARE CALLED . . . WE ARE HIS!!!
Props:
An instrument. If possible, have someone play one instrument and then
all the praise team together.
#47 - COME GO TO
THE HOUSE
“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am,
there you may be also.” (John 14:2-3)
As a newlywed
and a Yankee just entering my husband’s southern family, there were many
expressions I was hearing for the first time. One of them was,
“Ya’ll
come and go to the house with me!”
I didn’t
understand the invitation because the visitor had been with us all afternoon
and was now inviting us to go with him to his house . . . strange! I learned it meant that he didn’t want the visit to end
even though he had to go home . . .
“Come
go with me!”
That is
Christ’s invitation to all of mankind as well. He is preparing a home for us in
heaven and even though He is our Resident Visitor (Colossians 1:27) here on
earth, He wants us to . . .
Come
and go to the house (mansion) with Him.
Are you preparing yourself to go
just as He is preparing a place to receive you? Don’t be left behind!
Prop: Dollhouse. Possibly develop a scenario with
two dolls.
#48 - SURRENDER
“Therefore humble yourselves under
the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your
care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1
Peter 5:6)
God
does not delight in making us humble
. . .
. . . He instructs us to humble ourselves
. . . freely, willingly, voluntarily,
. . . eagerly, cheerfully, enthusiastically.
We
can be a pretty stubborn people, however. So proud that the phrase “humble
yourself” tends to make us resistant. If we let pride rise up in us to the
point of handling our cares alone and don’t allow God to exalt us out of them, then
He may put us in a situation where we are made
to be humble and that, dear one, can
be humiliating.
Do we
want to obey the scripture that
instructs us to humble ourselves?
OR
Do we
want to fall under the scripture that
warns . . .
“Pride goes before destruction . . .”
(Proverbs 16:18).
God
desires that we humbly come to Him casting our cares upon Him because if our
pride gets in His way, He will remove it.
Therefore, humble yourself and say to Him . . . “I surrender all!”
Prop: White flag.
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