Pastor Richard Waialeale
October 7, 2018 - W1840

I was in England for my Master’s residency and spent some time in Oxford and London, England. It’s great to see God moving around the globe, but nothing like being back home!

A few years ago, Starbucks released a pumpkin spice latte for Halloween to drive people to their stores. There was such a profit margin that Starbucks started releasing the spice latte earlier every year—this year they released it in mid-August! Companies are doing this so people will look at their product in a different way; and research shows that over $500 million was made over this pumpkin spice latte craze!

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro points out, “People aren’t tired of the gospel—they’re tired of tired presentations of the gospel; and New Hope is dedicated to creating different ways of presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Jesus did the same thing! Every time He spoke, Jesus told a different story using things and language that the people understood; He brought the truths of heaven down to us on earth.

For instance, on one occasion, Jesus was trying to reach the soul of every listener there; and told the parable of a sower to speak to farmers, who spent their lives planting and sowing their fields:

Luke 8:4-5 NIV says: “⁴ While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: ^5’A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.’”

Jesus immediately had everybody's attention because he was teaching spiritual truth in a way that they could instantly relate to—everybody understood the different types of soils that Jesus would be talking about.

In the 1800s, England was the epicenter of many churches—I got to go along with our cohort, to visit and walk in places where the churches started hundreds of years ago!

One of the most influential churches is the Metropolitan Tabernacle, a massive amazing church, where revival began with Charles Spurgeon, known as the prince of preachers. Spurgeon’s heart burned with passion as he preached and proclaimed the gospel to all people.

He preached some of the best sermons on the parable of the soil. Crowds began to gather to 20,000 people every Sunday for 20 years, and it was necessary to build the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Some people resisted the teaching; those seeds might fall on hard ground, but Spurgeon’s heart was not to give up—no matter what!

We met one of the elders, Elder Chris, at Spurgeon’s church. He talked about England being on its last legs, that the church was becoming anonymous. He talked about the hardness of the soil in England, but he wasn’t giving up or giving in. They were still dedicated to preaching the gospel. Still, he had a list of people that he felt was beyond reach of his church: young people, agnostics, atheists, Muslims, and churches that played any instrument except the organ (none of us got defensive because we could see his heart was good). I was grieved that he seemed tired of fighting the war for souls and sees the cultural slide.

Later, I did some research and Elder Chris was not exaggerating. In past years, the census shows a collapse of religion to be the biggest single trend in Britain. Atheism and apathy combined, 70% of 16-29 year olds identify with no religion; 7% are Anglican. Although he was talking about the hardness of the soil in England, he wasn't giving up or giving in! They were dedicated to the gospel.

As I went to the top of St. Charles Cathedral overlooking London, I could feel God’s heart breaking for this hard ground. And I realized we are at war! If we’re not careful, we could be at war with the wrong enemy!

1. We Are At War For Sinners, Not With Sinners.

We are at war against the devil and what he wants to do—he wants us to fight the wrong enemy! Let scripture interpret scripture; Jesus explains to his disciples…

Matthew 13:18-19 NIV says: “¹⁸ Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 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 represents the scriptures or the Word of God

The SOWER represents the Savior or anyone used to sow the seeds

The SOIL represents our Souls

In the parable, the birds see the seeds on the hard soil. Easy pickings. Jesus is telling His disciples the birds represent the evil one; the soil represents those that didn’t understand what was being said. Jesus spent time with the hard ground to get them to understand the gospel. When they did not understand, they were vulnerable to the devil.We're at war! 

Ephesians 6:11-12 NIV says: “¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

We’ve been fighting against the ones we’re supposed to be fighting for! We should be fighting against the devil’s schemes: deceit, craftiness/sleight of hand, and the focus on the wrong thing. The words stand against is literally to face the right direction; we've been facing the wrong enemy. 

The enemy’s scheme is to get us to fight people; but the Bible tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil. They are birds of the air coming down and snatching the seed of the gospel from the hard soil. 

As a child of God, we should be fighting on behalf of the hard soil, not pounding it down—that will not make them more receptive to the gospel—it will actually make it harder!

The ones who seem hardened against God and seem far from ever coming to know Jesus Christ are not beyond His reach.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

2. The War For Souls Won’t Be Won In A Day, But It Will Be Won Daily.

God has called us to a long?term fight. I've been frustrated that people aren't coming to know Christ faster; and God is showing me that He has been working nonstop for centuries to see as many people as possible come to know Him—it will happen because we are fighting the right battle!

Ephesians 6:13NIV says, ^“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Stand your ground! And after you've done everything, everything you can think of to get this hard ground to understand how much Jesus loves them, no matter how difficult it seems, to share your faith with your friends or aunties and uncles, co-workers, neighbors, sisters and brothers. Stand your ground. After you’ve done everything you can think of to get this hard ground to understand how much Jesus loves them, keep standing. Shoo away the birds and evil things that would convince them otherwise. We stand because someone fought and refused to give up on us—Jesus fought for us! 

*Our Hearts Grow Hard Through Impatience

James 5:7-9 NIV says, “⁷ Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. ⁸ You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. ⁹ Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!”

In 1977, Holy Trinity Brompton Church launched a program called Alpha. It is a ten-week long program that is British Christianity’s biggest success story. At the present, 100 countries, 100 languages, over 24 million people have taken the Alpha course: Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic churches have all used it in their churches to reach the hardest of ground.

This course is specifically for all the people that Elder Chris said were unreachable—the atheists, agnostics, those of different religions, and see no reason for it in their life now. The first session: the people are invited into a room, eat together, and the first session is Christianity. Boring? Let’s talk.I see this as the answer to the elder’s problem at Spurgeon’s church that we would have patience with those that we are working with; and understand it won’t happen overnight or in a day—but it will happen daily!

*The War Is Won Through Prayer And Praise.

James 5:13-15,20 NIV says: “¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven…whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”

We will battle for everyone that has given up. As we praise God in the middle of our circumstances and sing the songs of victory and pray, God will soften the hard soil. And the seeds that are being picked up by the devil (with temptation and sin) will go deep and bear fruit.

God has called us to take up the weapons of warfare for tearing down of strongholds.   Praise softens and prayer deepens the soil so that we can see people come to Christ. Sinners are not our enemy—they are the ones we’re supposed to be fighting for, not against.

We’ll pray together and share prayer requests so that we can go to battle for those that need to know Christ. Over this month, we will be sharing praise reports, about how God is moving and answering prayers in your life so our faith will be built up. Not only will the soil of the soul of the hardest hearts be softened, but our hearts, as well.

Study Questions

1. Who was that someone who never gave up to lead you to Christ?

2. Have you seen the fruits of worship and praise?

3. Who do you feel is on hard soil?

4. Who can you encourage today?