Sermon Reflection Questions for January 26, 2020

According to Jesus, our hearts, like soil, are only able to sustain and feed one living organism, either thorns or corn;  the priorities of the words of Jesus or the values of the world. We can’t sustain both.

Many types of suffocating thorns will grow strong and deep in the soil of our hearts if we don’t actively make efforts to dig them up and remove them.  Jesus identifies some of those thorn plants: the worries and anxieties of life, the love of money, and the pleasures of life. These little gods, these thorns, suck the nutrients out of the soil of our hearts, leaving it fallow and parched. 

For the seed of the Word of God to flourish, endure, and produce a harvest—which is God’s intention for each of us—it must find a heart that is receptive, able to focus, with time and attention to consider, think deeply, ponder, meditate.  

The apostle uses a different analogy, telling us to intentionally “set the affections of our hearts”. 
“If therefore, you have been raised up together with Christ, keep setting your affections on things above, not on the things on the earth, for you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3

• Read Matthew 6:19-34.  

• What do these verses tell us about a heart prepared for God’s word?  

• What are some evidences that our affections—the things we really love and crave—are set on Heavenly values? 

• What are some sights and sounds that the seed of God’s word is being choked in our hearts? 

• What are some fruits that the seed of God’s Word has produced in my life?