What Is the Condition of Your Heart? - Matthew S4E6

Summary

Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin

Episode: What Is the Condition of Your Heart? - Matthew S4E6

Date: May 18, 2026
Host: Pastor Joby Martin
Key Participants: Caitlin, Female Church Leader/Guest

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Overview

This episode is a deep-dive conversation on one of Jesus’ most iconic teachings—the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13. Pastor Joby and his guests break down the nature and purpose of parables, discuss the four types of “soil” representing human hearts, and offer practical and spiritual insights on preparing oneself to hear from God—both as a new believer and a seasoned Christian. The discussion weaves together biblical interpretation, personal anecdotes, leadership, spiritual health, and community life.

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Main Themes & Key Insights

1. The Brilliance and Complexity of Parables

• Why parables?

  • Jesus used parables not only to reveal truths but to conceal them from those who were hard-hearted or unwilling to hear (08:04).
  • "The brilliance of it is they couldn't take the teaching home or rewatch it on YouTube… so I think a part of it is that it teaches and continuously reteaches." – Joby Martin (02:55)
  • Parables are not always intended to be instantly understood. They serve as spiritual filters, revealing the heart’s readiness for the message (09:04).

    “It’s not an illustration, it’s a filter.” – Caitlin (09:01)

• Difference between parable, proverb, and literal story

  • Reading the Bible “literary” versus “literally”: different genres require different approaches (04:38).
  • Importance of understanding context and genre (05:34).

• Parables: More Than One Meaning?

  • "All the people I like are like, 'every parable only has one point.' I'm excess who like, the Bible doesn't say that about the parables." – Joby Martin (02:55)
  • Parables are multifaceted; both nonbelievers and believers can find themselves in the depicted “soils,” even repeatedly through their lives (22:01).

2. Understanding & Heart Condition are Supernatural

• Spiritual insight isn’t intellectual

  • “Your understanding of God does not save you. You have to put trust in him.” – Joby Martin (11:44)
  • Real faith leads to an unlocking of understanding and spiritual “eyes to see and ears to hear.”
  • Salvation and spiritual insight are miraculous works of God, not academic exercises (10:07, 13:59).

• Parables as a Spiritual Divider

  • Jesus uses parables to reveal truth to those whose hearts are ready but to conceal it from the arrogant and self-righteous (08:04–09:35).
  • "If you are who you say you are, save yourself and us with you... What you're saying is I'm preeminent and if you'll do what I say, then I'll believe. And Jesus is like, it's not how it works." – Joby Martin (16:51)

• Supernatural Regeneration Required

  • The “softening” of a heart is God’s work—people cannot do it themselves (18:26).
  • Hard or defensive hearts prevent the seed (the Word) from taking root.

3. Parable of the Sower: Four Types of Soil / Four Heart Conditions

(Matthew 13: The Sower)

• 1. The Path / Hardened Heart (21:00)

  • The Word is heard but not understood; quickly snatched away by the enemy.
  • Even believers can temporarily have a “hard heart” where the Word does not penetrate.

• 2. Rocky Soil / Shallow, Offended Heart (19:31, 29:16)

  • Receives Word joyfully but lacks depth; wilts under trouble or offense.
  • “By the word. So you're not rooted…You get to some place in the Bible, and it's like, 'wait, I can't sleep with who I want. I'm out.'” – Joby Martin (19:39)
  • Many confuse emotional high for spiritual depth.

    “You were chasing goosebumps, not God.” – Joby Martin (31:58)

• 3. Thorny Soil / Divided Heart (Choked by Worldly Cares & Riches) (40:02)

  • Grows but is unfruitful because concerns and comforts of life, especially money, choke spiritual growth.
  • "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil...it lies to you." – Joby Martin (40:27)
  • This isn't about perfection: "So we're not saying baptism is for perfect people. It's actually for broken people." (42:55)

• 4. Good Soil / Receptive, Prepared Heart (43:18)

  • Bears abundant fruit; open and soft to God’s work.

• Key point:

  • "We can all be any of those soils at different times, even after salvation" (22:01, 27:52).
  • "Continuously go back through this. Where is [my heart] shallow? Where is it divided?...Would you till up some stuff? Would you turn it over so that I could receive what you had for me?" – Joby Martin (60:36)

4. How to Prepare Your Heart

• Self-examination

  • Constantly check: "How’s my heart? Do I have a judgmental or condemning heart?" (60:36)
  • Pray honest, uncensored prayers. “Hash it out with the Lord” – bring your real self, not just surface clichés (54:32, 55:21).
  • “If your heart’s growing hard towards the Lord, I dare you to ask him. Lord, soften my heart.” – Joby Martin (53:02)

• Practical preparation to hear God

  • Approach worship/services expectant and spiritually ready (49:17–50:52).
  • “If you had a big meeting, you wouldn’t [show up tired or distracted] ... The king of the universe wants to talk to you.” – Joby Martin (53:02)
  • Example: Athletes wouldn’t go into a game cold; Christians must prepare spiritually, not just “drift in” (49:17, 59:54).

    “What kind of soil am I going to be today?” – Caitlin (59:45)

• Role of Community

  • Surround yourself with believers who will pray for, support, and “carry the mat” for you in tough times (46:31).
  • “You fight the enemy in the dark, get your butt kicked. You just start saying that stuff out loud to some trusted people.” – Joby Martin (47:13)

5. The Fruit Is for the Farmer—Kingdom Perspective

• The fruit of spiritual growth isn’t ultimately for self-gratification but for God’s glory and the advance of His kingdom (28:06).
  • “The harvest is never for the plant…the harvest is for the farmer.” – Joby Martin (28:06)
  • Personal holiness, repentance, and transformation impact the wider body and the world (24:34).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Insight:

  “You can give two people the exact same information, and for one person, it changes their entire life... and the experience is like, whatever. Well, how do you explain that? Well, there’s the mystery.” – Joby Martin (10:08)

• On Genre in Scripture:

  “Do you read the Bible literally? And I say, I read it literary.” – Female Church Leader (04:38)
  “If you see that headline, if it’s in the local section, you’re like, okay, something happened at the zoo, huh? If you see it in the sports section, it’s really good. Right? So it matters.” (06:04)

• On Community and Leadership:

  “If the Christians don't get involved, the devil will be happy to run [society].” – Joby Martin (25:56)

• On Perfection vs. Progress:

  “If you can just stand and sleep good, you might want to check yourself…If you are cut to the heart, that’s really evidence of the work of the spirit in your life convicting you.” – Joby Martin (39:22)

• On Authentic Faith:

  "Do you renounce the sin, like my sin?...I pledge my allegiance to Christ and Christ alone." – Joby Martin (33:55)
  “If he’s your Savior, he is your Lord, and if he’s your Lord, he is your Savior.” (34:37)

• On Joy vs. Emotionalism:

  “You were chasing goosebumps, not God. That’s the difference, bro.” – Joby Martin (31:58)
  “He’s not condemning joy...He’s saying, you fall away immediately when it gets hard.” – Caitlin (36:43)

• On Spiritual Preparation:

  “You wouldn't even make the rest of the game right.” [on trying to put on football pads after kickoff; spiritual preparation matters] – Joby Martin (52:02)
  “Moderately delivered, exceptionally received.” – Joby Martin (60:06)

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Important Timestamps

• Parables and their function: 02:55–09:53
• Genre and biblical interpretation: 04:37–07:09
• Insider/outsider revelation through parables: 08:04–09:35
• Faith vs. understanding: 10:07–13:32
• How hearts are softened or hardened: 18:26–19:15
• Four soils, practical outworking: 19:15–24:34, 27:52–29:16, 40:02–43:18
• Community’s role in spiritual growth: 46:31–47:21
• Personal preparation for worship: 49:17–53:02
• Self-examination and spiritual readiness: 59:45–60:36

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Final Encouragement

Pastor Joby’s closing charge:

“Continuously go back through this. Where is [my heart] shallow? Where is it divided?...Would you till up some stuff? Would you turn it over so that I could receive what you had for me?” (60:36)

Prayer:
“God, we thank you for the tilling of our hard hearts that we might be able to receive the good news you have for us.” (61:21)

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Summary prepared for those seeking to grow deeper in their understanding of Jesus’ teaching and honest spiritual reflection.

Transcript

[Pastor Joby Martin]

Welcome to Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in.

[Joby Martin]

All right.

[Caitlin]

Welcome to Deepen. Welcome, Caitlin.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Thank you.

[Caitlin]

Fresh off a powerful women's encounter.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

That's right.

[Caitlin]

And go. Because I'm not a woman, but heard I went. All right.

[Joby Martin]

I was invited.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

There was more men there than ever. We had men. On serving in Nehemiah and setting up and all things.

[Joby Martin]

The week, like, the Thursday before that, I met, I don't know, half a dozen men that their wives were coming in from out of town. And so the men signed up to serve.

[Pastor Joby Martin]

Yes.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

I.

[Joby Martin]

They came in as couples, and the men were severing, like, parking and, you know, whatever. You can't really, like, out of town serve Nehemiah. You got to go through stuff. But.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

But some of the places you could just volunteer. Yeah, totally. Dude. I thought, dude, what a stud husband. Oh, to take your wife to 1122, 722. But, you know, and then just hang out throughout the weekend for the wife to go to the women's encounter. And you work in the parking lot of a church you don't go to.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

I love it.

[Joby Martin]

Me, too.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Sweet. Donnie was my Nehemiah on Friday, and he held my purse while I did the wobble.

[Joby Martin]

No, Sweet. Donnie didn't know.

[Caitlin]

He didn't know that was part of his.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

He did not know. He told Vic. He's like, I got to give her back her purse. I got to go, like. And just do it.

[Joby Martin]

Shout out to our Nehemiah. They're the best.

[Caitlin]

Awesome. Well, we're in Matthew 13, and this is kind of an iconic parable from Jesus, well known, and I'm surprised you didn't mention that. I think all commentators are like, yeah, he went in the boat because the acoustics of the water and the. You know.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah, I'm kind of getting over commentary.

[Caitlin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joby Martin]

But, yeah, they spent all of their one note. It's like, let me tell you, all of the least important things.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right? Right.

[Caitlin]

This will really help you.

[Joby Martin]

Right. It's all about, like, whatever first century currency. And, like, I'm like, okay. Oh, yeah. But the. But very little on, like, the implications and applications of what the text means and says. But God bless you, commentators.

[Caitlin]

Yes. Anyway, so we're going to get into all this, but do you think that this parable. So Jesus explains himself in this parable. Which is unusual. Like you mentioned, do you think people who hear us included don't have an easy, as easy of a time, like immediately getting into the picture of it, because we're not farmers or. You know what I mean, we don't live in agriculture.

[Joby Martin]

I meant to say this, but part of the brilliance of Jesus's teaching. So I am, I'm a little bit on an island here because all the people I like are like, every parable only has one point. I'm excess who like, the Bible doesn't say that about the parables. So I think the brilliance of it is they couldn't take the teaching home or rewatch it on YouTube four times. So I think a part of it is that it teaches and continuously reteaches. So for years after, this dude's out there scattering seed and he seeds it on the path. And I think even as a believer, he's like, I feel like my heart, my heart is hard now. You know what I mean? So I think that's a part of the brilliance because it continuously reteaches every single time. Jesus connected a spiritual reality with something, a common practice, and I think that's a part of what he's doing. But yeah, we don't. Do you know a lot about farming? I only do because I plant food plots.

[Caitlin]

Yeah, I don't. I don't. But I mean, like, he, he did that off. Jesus did that often. Like it was a sheep, you know, like, because a lot of people had sheep or, you know, correct the bread in your house or the.

[Joby Martin]

So it does help. Step one, when you read a parable is what did the original hearers hear?

[Caitlin]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

That's very, very important.

[Caitlin]

Well, you mentioned a little bit about what the word parable means, and I thought we could talk a little bit about that. How is it different than a proverb? And Caitlyn, you, you and I actually together years ago, did a thing where we talked about literary genres in the Bible. So maybe we could spend a little time talking about the different types of words and different types of sections in the Bible and how to, how to approach them.

[Joby Martin]

Go for it.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah. Whenever I teach how to study the Bible or Bible basics, that's one of the sections that I think a lot of people miss. It's like the question, you know, you get the question, do you read the Bible literally? And I say, I read it literary. And so there's different genres, just like how I would read a novel different than I would read a biography or I would read a book of poems different than I would read a textbook. And I think if we don't know those things and we're not. When. When we come to texts and we come to study them, if we don't get the context, which is. That is one of the things, right? Like the who, what, when, where, and why, and the genre of what we're talking about, then. Then we can. We. We can't interpret correctly. So there's, like, most of the Bible's historical narrative. And then, of course, the fun part is some books have, like, multiple genres all mixed in one, and even in one chapter, there can be multiple genres.

[Joby Martin]

But the good news is they tell you. I'm just kidding.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Exactly.

[Joby Martin]

And now for a time of poetry. Wait a minute.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Like, so Song of Solomon. Like, you're. You have to read that in a different way than you read Exodus.

[Joby Martin]

Yes.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

Or you'll tell your wife, literally, your belly is like a clump of wheat, like a mound of. Yeah. You're like, wait a minute.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Exactly.

[Joby Martin]

Your hair is like a flock of goats.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

So it's like. I use the example in, like, a newspaper. Is. What is it?

[Caitlin]

The.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

What is it? Was it Tigers massacre Indians? And it's like, you see that headline, if it's in the local section, you're like, okay, something happened at the zoo, huh? And somebody got hurt. If you see it in the sports section, it's really good. Right? So it matters.

[Joby Martin]

So part of the reason I have all of our teaching pastors stay away from the word story when it's an event is so that we can help people understand what's happening now is a story. Like, Jesus didn't actually go out and scatter seed. He's telling a story or a parable, and he's laying aside the story with spiritual reality. But when the two guys tear a hole in the roof, that's not a story. That's an actual event.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right?

[Joby Martin]

So I'm trying to move. I'm trying to get it in the right section of the paper.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

And I love what you said last weekend with Jonah is you're like, well, Jesus believes.

[Joby Martin]

Correct.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

So that is such a pivotal part where the Bible's interpreting itself. So when people say, well, how do I interpret Jonah? And the big fish? Is like, well, go to what Jesus says about it.

[Joby Martin]

And Jesus does both sometimes. The New Testament will often talk about historical events and say allegorically. This also means Y. I mean, Paul does that.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Y.

[Joby Martin]

And Jesus does it, too. He's like, so Jonah literally was in the belly of a fish. Big fish is what literally The Hebrew says, but Hebrew didn't have a word for whale. So that's the kind of thing, like a commentary will do two pages on that. And I'm like, oh, gosh. So anyway. But then Jesus also allegorically says, and like that. I'm going to be like that actual historical event also has the elements of a story with a point. And I'm gonna be like that too. Literally.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

So, yes.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

And those are the fun layers that you can uncover.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah, this one's important. I referenced it. Mark 4:13. I think it's Mark. Or is it Luke? I put Mark 413. But anyway, Mark 4, 413 says. And he said to them, how do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all parables? And so he's like, this is the parable that unlocks, like, basically, if you don't have a good heart, good soil. You won't get it if you don't know Jesus. Because I had a real misunderstanding of parables. I thought for the longest time, Jesus is trying to make it easier to understand for everybody, and it's not true. He's actually revealing and concealing. Like, this is it. Is it is punishment to the Pharisees.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah. I think that I had never thought of it that way.

[Caitlin]

No, it's a. It's not an illustration. It's a filter.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah, that's good.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah, yeah, it's good.

[Joby Martin]

It's kind of like, you know, when you tell an insider story and you're like, if you know, you know.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

That's what he's doing.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right. He's separating. He's filtering out.

[Joby Martin]

But what's crazy, they do understand sort of. But it drives them further away because. So they hear, like the parable of the. Like Luke 15 is a good example. They hear the parable of the lost son, and they're like, we're going to kill you. So they get it. They just don't get it.

[Caitlin]

Right. Yeah, they. They get it enough to know. Yeah, we're kind of. We're the butt end of this thing. Yeah, get madder. Well, and then you pointed this out. Jesus says, when they ask him, the disciples say, what? Tell us about this. He says to you, it's been given to know the secrets of the kingdom. And I love that you pointed out the word there. Like, what does he. What does he mean?

[Joby Martin]

Well, like, God is not a math problem. And Paul talks about that. God reveals the mystery of the gospel. And I mean, it really is mysterious, right?

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

Or sometimes hard to explain. Or however you want to say it. It's. It's not. It's hard to explain. I mean, it's hard to explain. Like, I could give. You can give two people the exact same information, and for one person, it changes their entire life. And their eyes are open and their ears hear and their heart is transformed and all of their eternal destiny changes forever. And the experience is like, whatever.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yep.

[Joby Martin]

Well, how do you explain that? Well, there's the mystery. There's the mystery.

[Caitlin]

It's also profound. It's deep. And that's. That's like. Has an element of mystery to it. Right. Like, will we ever plumb the full depths of it?

[Joby Martin]

No.

[Caitlin]

And also there's this aspect of exploration and hiddenness. Like, Paul uses the word mystery quite a bit as, like the thing that we didn't know yet until Jesus made it plain.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah.

[Caitlin]

You know, and even. Even he goes so far to say it had to be hidden so that the plan could be carried out.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Caitlin]

Like, it was hidden from even the power, the spiritual powers, otherwise they would have prevented it from happening. So it's wild. But I love that that's the word there. I didn't know that. It's the word mysterian. But, you know, he says, basically he's saying there's people who see, there's people who see and there's people that don't. And I love that you went into the. What can be confusing? Because I've thought that a bunch. When Je. When Jesus quotes those things from Isaiah and he's like, the point is, so they won't get it. I'm like, wait, what? You want them to get it? Right? Like, so. So talk a little bit more about that because that was so good.

[Joby Martin]

So I did a deep word study, study on the word list. And again, I hate to be dunking on commentators. There's people that are so uncomfortable with that. They're like, well, it could also mean. If you. Dude, here's what it means. Here's what I think the point is. Your understanding of God does not save you. You have to put trust in him. The way the Bible would say it, that we're saved by grace through faith. The demons understand it all. They just don't trust. And I mean, one of the examples I like to go to. So heresies begin to rise up in the church and church fathers and leaders get together and they start putting creeds together. I know the point of a creed is not to tell us to love God, but you can't. It's almost impossible to find an early creed that doesn't talk about loving God. And Jesus says that is the whole point. So you can have all the right now you can't rightly love God without truth. So that stuff's very important. Apologetics has its place and is very important. But even if you have all of the right apologetics, that's not the issue is do you trust him or do you not trust him? And what's crazy though, according to this parable, when you do have faith, the understanding begins to follow in an exponential supernatural way because now you have eyes to see and ears to hear. And Luke says, yeah, Luke, when he's talking about the, the good soil, he talks about the good heart. And you have to understand that is a post regenerated saved heart.

[Caitlin]

Because even on the surface, verse 11 or no. 12, when he says to the one who has more will be given and the one, and he'll have an abundance, but the one who has not even what he has will be taken away. Like, wait, what? You know, if, if that was talking about material things, it would be so weird. It was like, hey, you have some food, I'm going to give you some more. You don't have any. I'll take everything else you got away.

[Joby Martin]

But if you think do that in the parable of the talents too though, if you think about, check yourself.

[Caitlin]

If you think about, about understanding though, like what you're saying, it's like when you, when you have open eyes, that's going to grow and if you don't have it, even what you think you know will be taken away.

[Joby Martin]

So this is where like I'd go back to John 10:10 and we're actually all on a pathway that either lives leads to abundant life or it leads to death and destruction. We're not talking about right and wrong. We're talking about do you hear the voice of the good shepherd and trust him and following his ways. Especially when you don't understand. Yeah, you're going to have more understanding. I mean, one day you're going to have full and complete and total understanding. And if you don't, like, if you, if you're on a path of either religious pride or self actualization manifested in self fulfillment that leads to self destruction. You're on that path and it's all going to be taken away. You're going to be in darkness. You're going to be absent of all things good and lovely and pure. All of that's gone. There's nothing but pain and misery and torment. Those are your two paths.

[Caitlin]

Yeah, the truth is there's just nothing that can replace those supernaturally opened eyes. I mean, I'm sure you've had people in the line out here, or you talk to your one more or something and they're just like, well, I'm trying to get it, but I just can't quite get my mind. They're trying to get their mind around it somehow naturally.

[Joby Martin]

I've never heard the person that says, I'm trying to get it. Every person that says I'm trying to get it gets it.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

I've only heard the person that's like, no, I don't think so.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right. Well, I think. What is he saying in Sermon on the Mountains? You got to be poor in spirit. Right?

[Joby Martin]

That's the difference.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

That's the difference. So it's. It is when you're. When. And we know like there's that. I mean, we're talking about the mystery that happens, that we are called to teach the truth, to share our faith, but we can't change anyone's heart, and only God can do that. And we see the Apostle Paul testimony and we see this. There's this supernatural element that we just can't, we can't force it, we can't manufacture it.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah, it's kind of popular right now on podcasts for the, that the kind of curious atheists to say, well, if God wants to be known, why would he not make it more clear? And I'm like, how about, okay, how about predicting your death and resurrection, pulling it off, appearing to the people and they see that you were dead, now you're alive and then you like rocket man into the sky, Would that be enough? Because that actually happened and some worshiped and some doubted. So it's not, there's not a sign? No, the only sign will be the sign of Jonah. And what he means is that you would trust when he died on the cross accounted for you.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

If he wrote his name in the stars, then just Elon would try to explain it away or. You know what I mean, Right. So because what you're saying, you're the thief, you're the bad thief on the cross. If you are who you say you are, save yourself and us with you. Prove yourself to me. What you're saying is I'm preeminent and if you'll do what I say, then I'll believe. And Jesus is like, it's not how it works. You're coming to me full. Your hands are full. They're not empty handed. You're not poor in spirit. You're proud in spirit. So until you change that, it ain't going to happen now. And in reality is, you can't change that. He has to change it in you.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right? Right.

[Caitlin]

First Corinthians 2:14. The natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God for their folly to him. Yeah, like you can't get it.

[Joby Martin]

You know, I've told you before that my evangelism tactic is like, I do the opposite now. But you don't think you need a savior. Yeah, I can't help you.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

No, wait. What? Hold.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

What do you know that I don't know?

[Joby Martin]

I'm like, no, don't worry about it, man. When you realize, then we'll talk. But. And then I turn away questions. No, you don't. You just want to argue. I'm not into arguing.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

When you realize that you're a sinner and need a savior, I've got the greatest news ever. If you want to argue about, just watch YouTube. That's just full of people arguing about stuff. It's crazy, because I know salvation is the Lord's, and what. The thing I cannot do, I cannot unharden a heart.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

The thing about it. So we're gonna. We'll be planting food plots later this year, and no ground by itself is fertile. It's got to be broken, especially. Because what happens, especially down here, you get like. So the path is like, where people have been walking, and then the sun bakes it, and it creates almost like a concrete layer of topsoil. And even it. You know, and that thing's got to be turned upside down to get the seed down in there. And so that's what has to happen. The spirit of God has the. The, you know, theological terminologies begin to regenerate your heart, and that typically begins with a painful process of turning it upside down.

[Caitlin]

Want to spend some time in the soils? He explains four different kinds of hearers or four different soils. And I noticed something that the first two. Well, the first one snatched up, and then the second one falls away, and this is the third.

[Joby Martin]

That word means offended. Falls away in Greek means offended.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

By the word. So you're not rooted.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

Right. And so you get to some place in the Bible, and it's like, wait, I can't sleep with who I want. I'm out. That's what that means. You know what I mean? Or, oh, wait, it. Cash and prizes aren't at the end of this. People don't like me. I'm offended. Dude, I'm offended by the word. It tells me all kind of things that I'm not supposed to do. And my flesh is like, oh, no.

[Caitlin]

It's kind of an interesting way to think about offense coming at it from the opposite way. Like that picture of a plant wilting, you know, like there's something that has some potential to be something. And then offense causes it to just wither away, you know, kills it. I just wonder if the first two. If there's a delineation marker there, because the first one's snatched away, second one falls away, and then the third is, it grows, but it doesn't bear the fruit that it could bear. Know what I mean? And then the. The fourth one is the one that bears the most fruit. So I don't know if there's anything there. But the first one is the one snatched away by the evil one. Jesus says, this is somebody who hears it, but then doesn't understand. So unpack that a little bit. Like he says, well, they hear the words.

[Joby Martin]

Like, I'm sure anybody with like a, you know, eighth grade education could. It could parrot back what I've said. Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and if I would believe, then I would receive the right to become a child of God or some version of that.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

But it has not penetrated to the heart. And so the enemy just grabs that thing before it gets down and begins to do its work. And so you got to pay attention to that, too. So here's. I'm on an island again. I know Jesus is primarily talking about salvation here, but I think believers fall into all four categories over and over and over and over and over. And believers can just have this hard heart towards the Lord and show up to church and be like, I didn't get anything out of it. And it's because you don't have a soft, broken and contrite heart before the Lord. You have a. You. You show up and be like, what do you have for me? And then, you know, you get that text from somebody in the middle of the service, and all of a sudden somebody's made you mad. You're thinking about this. Your heart is hard, you're in a defensive posture. And the word of God has gone out, not just for salvation, but he says that the kingdom. And we're talking about kingdom, not just the gospel of salvation, the gospel of the kingdom. And then the enemy just snatches up this word that God had for you, like for your marriage or for you or that's it. Like, you show up to a service Right. And I'm preaching a sermon to men. And if your heart is like, when you go tell the women what to

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

do, bro, you've already missed it.

[Joby Martin]

You might be going to heaven. I'm not saying. You see what I mean? That's why I'm not in the camp that there's only one point of every parable. I think the beautiful part about stories is they're so multifaceted now. I don't think we need to try to turn stories into things they got. Jesus did not intend. But I do think that's something that the believer. You can't look at this and be like, I'm saved. So I'm only the good soil, because I can just like everybody else get. I can. My walk with Jesus can get choked out because of the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, or I could not be rooted in the Word in a season of my life. And all of a sudden, the applause of man gets way too loud in my life and matters too much, and I begin to wilt away from the word that God gave me. Was, you better teach this word and not just tickle people's ears. And if I'm not deeply rooted, I could do that, too. And I'm going to heaven. So that's why I think you got to keep doing laps around this stuff.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

I love how it says when anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and we know Matthew, like, his whole thing, the umbrella of it all is the kingdom of heaven. And just God has recently just opened my eyes to, like, a. A bigger picture. And I. I preached on it at the Women's Encounter of just how our sin and our holiness is not isolated. It affects the entire kingdom and the entire body of Christ. So our repentance matters so much, and our pursuit of holiness. And he just like. I mean, even in this, it's like. Like you're saying it is for the individual, but it's more than that. It's for the entire kingdom. It's for the transformation, for the. The. The way that citizens of the kingdom live, how they treat each other. And then it affects everything.

[Joby Martin]

And you're. Your husband's running for mayor of Jacksonville. I know this matters.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

This really matters.

[Joby Martin]

Like, he's literally trying to own earth as it is in heaven.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

I know politically, and we're coming up against evil forces.

[Joby Martin]

There ain't no doubt about it from all sides.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right? And that's why, you know, that changed for me, because this. That whole thing is not something I would have picked and and we believe that God has called us to. To this. And. And it's taken me a long time to kind of stop stiff arming it, but one of the things is, one of the impacts is when Charlie Kirk died, my mind kind of shifted from, like, politics isn't this thing over here that doesn't. It's. That it's separate from theology. You know, I'm like, you know how you see some things? You're like, I'm such a doofus. Like, how have I not seen this? And I mean, just read through the whole Old Testament where, where God has created a government and he set up rulers for the people. And so it just, like, it's been a. It's been a. Yeah. A progressive sanctification.

[Joby Martin]

The book of Proverbs says that a godly man will leave an inheritance to his children and children's children. You think that just means money in the bank?

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

No.

[Joby Martin]

Or do you think that means a godly society too?

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

If we. If the Christians don't get involved, the devil will be happy to run. Listen, Go all the way out of the Garden of Eden. The devil steps in. He's like, oh, Adam, you won't. You won't lead your wife. I'll do it.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

That's what happens. It happens in every realm. Happens in government. It happens in the home. It happens in the church. You let. So you let a church move away from the word of God. The enemy's like, no problem. I'll run this church.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yep.

[Joby Martin]

We'll just say, forget the word of God. We'll stand in authority over it.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

So because the devil can't create anything.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

No.

[Joby Martin]

So he just commandeers, he corrupts, he copies. Yeah. Yeah.

[Caitlin]

And I love you said what you said, like, pray that God would keep your heart soft, you know, like, oh,

[Joby Martin]

by the way, your husband's name is Ron Armstrong.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

That's right. Sign a petition.

[Joby Martin]

You should. Everybody should.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

We need 5,000 more.

[Joby Martin]

Let's go.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Come on.

[Joby Martin]

We got way more than that, listeners, than this.

[Caitlin]

Amen.

[Joby Martin]

The first thing I did when he came to me, I was like, what's Caitlyn think I did?

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Oh, I know.

[Joby Martin]

Well, I was just like you. You guys are one.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

And God is not a God of confusion or division. And she knows you better than anybody else. She loves you more than anybody else. And she is less than impressed than anybody else.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yep.

[Joby Martin]

And so, like, she's seen you sleeping, bro. You know what I mean? With your mouth open, nobody's impressive. And so you'll know the Lord's in it if he will bring her along.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

And I had just as of two weeks ago, I had to repent from partnering with fear because I had. This has made me die to myself in ways I never had. And that hurts. And I was becoming a, a victim of my own life.

[Joby Martin]

See, this is why I think this parable applies. You've been saved a time.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

And in this particular instance, you could still have a hard heart.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yep.

[Joby Martin]

You could have a not rooted heart.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Choked out by fear.

[Joby Martin]

100%. Yeah. Or good soil that God, regardless, whatever he produces. Here's the thing that's. I can't find anybody else that will join me in this view. But the, the harvest is never for the plant. So because we see we, because we see fruit, we just go, oh, that's fruit of the spirit. So be careful. Yes. God's going to do a thing in you that you can't do in you. Right? That is true. But the harvest is for the farmer. You know, like the corn. Like the corn stalk doesn't get an award because it had a bunch of head of corn. The, the. It's for the farmer. So like. And once again, this is like Matthew's theme through the whole thing. Bro, this isn't about you. You're going to be a conduit, not a culdesac of the blessing of God. Think what we see here is so Jesus keeps showing up in synagogue, synagogue, synagogues. Now he's going to go outside, push out on a boat and he's not doing the like direct doctrine anymore, as later it's going to say he only taught in parables and he's going to be a picture of what Israel was supposed to be. I'm taking this to the outsiders.

[Caitlin]

We said a lot about the, it was a very convicting word about the second one, the rocky soil, because of, you know, we have very moving services, you know, very powerful. And it's excellent stone with excellence. And so went after it pretty good on the one that's says immediately receives it with joy, but then there's no root. And he, when tribulation and persecution arise on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah. So we should celebrate. Listen, I mean, here's something. I have all these thoughts that can't make it in the sermon. Okay, so when did Peter get saved? Well, we know that when he dropped his nets and followed Jesus. He's a follower of Jesus. But the only way he know it is because of his perseverance. You know, his perseverance didn't save him. But his perseverance was evidence of his salvation. And then we know that on the outside it looked like Judas did the same thing. But time will tell you that he did not surrender to the lordship of Jesus when he did not get his way. And so we want to celebrate every positive step towards Jesus. And I want to step with the foot of. I believe that your joy is in the Lord. Now it is incumbent upon me, us, to help these people get rooted in the Word and rooted in godly relationships so that those roots are deep. And this is not just an emotional decision, but we are to love God with all of our heart. Like, we also aren't supposed to turn off our emotions, you know? So, I mean, I've heard a lot of guys, young guys now, talking about, well, I walked away for the faith because. And I used to go to church and. And then. And then, because I would. I thought I was experiencing the Holy Spirit. And then I went to a. I think the guy said, a One Direction concert. And then I was like, well, that's why I don't trust your testimony now. Right. That's literally what he said. And he said. But then they did the key change and I had the same goosebumps. And I was like, wait a minute. I was like, yeah, because you weren't rooted in the gospel. You were chasing goosebumps, not God. That's the difference, bro. And so we want to help these folks get rooted in the truth of the word of God. What it made me think of is like, I live off of Beach Boulevard, like, just a couple miles from here. And years ago, like 10 years ago, they just. They just installed or whatever, planted all of these palm trees down Beach Boulevard. You know, those are only about 10 years old. They used to not be there at all. And I was like, sweet. We live in Florida. We ought to have palm trees everywhere. It looks awesome. But at the bottom of them, they had to. They had to put these, like, wooden supports.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Races.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah, because those little baby palm trees, the first wind that blows, they're not deeply rooted and they'll just blow over. Well, you got to get rooted in the word of God and with God's people and a part of what God's people are doing. They're like those two by fours that they put around to support when the wind blows. They're like, all right, we got you. We're going to wrap our shields of faith around you a little bit right now as you get rooted in this word so that you don't wither away. But if you're just chasing a feeling, and it happens a lot, you know, like, I haven't felt God lately. I'm like, what does that feel like? What are you talking about? You know, hopefully you don't. A good, healthy relationship will have times of intense, immense feeling. And then there'll also be some times where you are, by the decision of the will, choosing to live up to the vows you made. That's normal and natural. The same thing is true with the Lord. So the question to ask then is just, okay. So, I mean, Jesus addresses this directly with the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation. He says, hey, man, you're doing okay, but you lost your first love. And then he tells them what to do. So do the things you did at first. Good news is you can go back to Acts 19 and see what they did. And it's just going to like, are you rooted? Is what it is, what he's asking them. And I'm. Listen, I don't know. Maybe we'll baptize less people this year. I don't care. I don't care. Someone. I'm not going to participate in people lying.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

And they think they're caught up in the excitement of this very exciting day. And I'm not going to tamper my excitement for what the Lord is doing. I just don't want to ask people this question and then lie. Like, do you renounce? That's the strongest word I can find. Renounce the sin, like my sin?

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

Do you renounce the ways of this world? Do you renounce anything darker, demonic? Like, I. I am choosing. I'm. I'm severing myself from that. And I pledge my allegiance to Christ and Christ alone. Does that mean I'm gonna still struggle? You know it. So if you're gonna. If you're gonna walk into the water and be like, I don't. I'm not gonna do anything different. I'm just gonna get baptized because I believe. Well, I think you may believe in the truth claims that have been made by Christ, but you're not pastuoing trusting in Jesus. And when we ask you who is Jesus to you? We put it on the shirt so you don't mess it up.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

That's right.

[Joby Martin]

Just look down Lord and Savior, and you don't get to divide those out. You don't. If he's your Savior, he is your Lord, and if he's your Lord, he is your Savior. So you can't look at the one that you call your Lord and say, I don't care what you tell me. I'm doing what I want. Sexuality is the. Probably the number one place this comes up. Dude, I just. I just read. Heard Tim Keller say this. He's a nice person. Was. He's in heaven now. And he, He. When people would say, well, I. Hey, I am deconstructing from Christianity. Tim Keller would say, who'd you start sleeping with? It's not 100% of the time that I haven't found the exception yet. But it's. They had an identity crisis and they decided their sexual decisions, impulses, urges, they decided that was their identity. Their identity was not in Christ.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

And so they've decided, I'm not going to do this thing. It's a big deal.

[Caitlin]

There's a great. I think one of the best books written recently is Confronting Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah.

[Caitlin]

And base. And she. She addresses all these different issues. And, you know, I could sum up. I've read all her books and she basically says, if you have a problem with Christianity, you have a problem with the wrong part of Christianity. Right. So. So it's kind of like what you're saying, like the guy with the One Direction concert, it's like, well, that actually doesn't tell you that. That God's not real. It tells you you were chasing emotion.

[Joby Martin]

Correct.

[Caitlin]

You know.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah. She says, what I always thought was a roadblock is actually a signpost to the reality of the gospel.

[Caitlin]

Yeah, it's fantastic. Well, I did think about deconstruction with that. But he's not. He's not condemning joy, to your point.

[Joby Martin]

Not at all.

[Caitlin]

He's saying. Because there's other parables in his joy. He found the thing and went and sold everything else.

[Joby Martin]

100.

[Caitlin]

So he's not condemning joy. He's saying, you fall away immediately when it gets hard.

[Joby Martin]

But I am count the cost, you know, for, like, if there's a big, strong, incredible structure, it can cast a really deep, long, dark shadow. And so we're not backing off of trying to worship God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

But I also understand that there could be. People get caught up in the emotion of all that God is doing here. I mean, dude, look at Palm Sunday. Like, yeah, literally, Bible's like, they're waving the things. There's. They're shouting the crowd. Like, the guy goes, hosanna, blessed is he whose name in the Lord. And then it's like, who is this?

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

That's what they say. That's word for word in the Bible. Dude, I mean, you've seen it before. You're at the Jags game, and there's some rando sitting next to you, and they're not even a fan. They're just there. I brought. I brought Wayne Barclay from Jamaica. He don't know anything about the Jags, and he's sitting with me. One time we were playing Pittsburgh on Monday Night Football. We won, like, nine, three. It was terrible. But by the end of the game, he's hugging, like, this lady, this drunk lady next to him, grabs him, and they're just jumping up and down going, we won. We won.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

He never seen American football in his life.

[Joby Martin]

He could not be a better person or worse person sitting next to him, but that's it. You know, you just kind of get caught up in the excitement of the thing, but you're not rooted in it.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

But I've also loved how you have never led with a skeptical heart when it comes to, like, you know, there's. To me, that's a big red flag when that's the first response out of Christians. Right. Well, did they really get saved?

[Joby Martin]

Yeah. You're playing Team Pharisee, you know.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right. And. And I just. I appreciate that you don't lead in that way at all.

[Joby Martin]

Golly, man. I mean, I look at my own sanctification process, so I put my. I know I put my trust in Christ. When I was in high school, there were several. You could take a snapshot of several moments of me in college and be like, you're not a Christian. You know, and one of the things that Bruce Frank said here that I think is great is we all check the sanctification boxes in different orders, man. You know?

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

And I felt deep conviction. Here's the thing that the Christian needs to check, though. The struggle is the evidence of your salvation.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yep.

[Joby Martin]

If you can just stand and sleep good. You might want to check yourself.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

If you are cut to the heart, that's really evidence of the work of the spirit in your life convicting you.

[Caitlin]

Yeah. And some people go so far to the point about excellence in the service or lights, or they go so far as to say, well, because we don't want anybody to get attached to emotions, we won't do any of that and make it very bright and boring. It's like, I'm not sure that's the way to do it either.

[Joby Martin]

You know, I'm sure it's not. Or whatever it is. I mean, it could be bell choirs and whatever. The style is irrelevant, you know.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

But, yeah.

[Caitlin]

The third One which you call the divided heart grows, but then is choked out, and, wow, the cares of the world and the deceitfulness, Deceitfulness of riches. I mean, and then you went on that list of, I hear some of the things that are really just stop you from hearing from God. You know, talk about that list again or if there's anything else you do.

[Joby Martin]

Well, you know, Jesus talks about money a lot. Specifically, he didn't, like, leave it to our imaginations to say, could money be a thing for me? And because the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, because what it does is it lies to you. I've said this a million times. The lie of money is, if you love me, I'll love you back. And by love, it means safety or security and satisfaction. And it just can't provide it. It can't provide it. And we're so dumb, because we think it will. We just do. All of us, we think. We think it will. We just had a little bit more be a little bit more satisfied, a little bit more secure, and it can't provide that. And so the number of people that, you know, like, they used to be all in and they were plugged into the church and they were growing in Jesus, then they got a boat. And there's nothing wrong with a boat until the days when you're like, well, I wanted to go out on Saturday, but it was raining, but Sunday's pretty. So now I'm. I'm. I'm gonna go on my boat and do boat stuff with boat people. And. And then before you know it, you're pun intended. You're just kind of drifting away from the Lord. And the thing is, man, when your life falls apart, guess who's going to be there? Your church and not your boat friends. It's just true. There's nothing wrong with the boat Jesus did. He gave the sermon on a boat. So that's the thing where people will get defensive. Fine, be defensive, but you're gonna get choked out, man. And then, you know, honestly, I just ran it through the filter of the. The lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life. I mean, if you begin to think about what will people think about me, That's a. That's a form of the pride of life. Lust of the flesh. So if I follow Jesus, I gotta stop sleeping with my girlfriend. Mm, you do not. In order to be saved. Right, but I'm just. I. I don't want to participate in the lies. Now, again, man, I am not trying to Give people some kind of loophole to do what they want. If you're fighting to pursue holiness and you stumble and fall, praise God, get baptized. If I forget, you gotta do what I want. You're not a Christian. Don't lie and say that you're going to renounce this, your sin, this world and the devil, because you're not renouncing it, you're gladly participating in it. The reality is there's a bunch of sins you don't even know you're about to be convicted of over the next few years. You know what I mean?

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

So we're not saying baptism is for perfect people.

[Caitlin]

Right.

[Joby Martin]

It's actually for broken people that say, I need to die. I need my flesh to be nailed with Christ to the cross and my sin and shame be nailed and the penalty of that be nailed to the cross. And like he was dead, I'm dead. This is Galatians 2:20. And like he was resurrected. I'm gonna live a new life and he's gonna actually live it in and through me.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah, yeah. I mean the, the simple prayer, God be merciful to me, a sinner. That's the heart posture.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah, that's why I used that. The example of that girl, that was, she was like, I'm addicted to weed, I'm addicted to marijuana. She's like, I love Jesus. I'm in disciple group. I'm. There's so many things in my life, chains have been broken. I've surrendered and I keep trying and I keep trying. It's just got a grip on me and I just. Bro, this is. She goes, I need help. I was like, okay, I'm going to pray for you for sure. You, we're going to pray and. But I'm also going to get you professional help and we're going to get some people around you. And then I'm also a 52 year old man and she was either a 25 or 30 year old small woman. And I was like, we're not going to beat you up. And she went, beat me up, do whatever it takes. And I thought, bro, you won. Yeah, you're going to have victory because you were, you were coming to Jesus, poor spirit. Now let's say she didn't smoke weed the next day and then she did the next day and she felt all convicted again. And the enemy starts with her lies. I want to celebrate every little step towards obedience she's taken and every little breath of fresh air freedom she gets to breathe. And like if that girl hadn't been Baptized. She's gonna get in that water. I hope she's in my line. I need to track her down. And I. I want to be the biggest cheerleader, you know? Chandler tells this illustration that we've all stolen because it's happened to every parent that when your kid starts walking, you don't curse the falls. I mean, their first walk isn't really a walk.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

It's more of just a fall forward.

[Joby Martin]

It's just a stumble to keep their massive head from crashing through your floor. And what do you do? You lose your mind. He's walking and we. I believe the heavenly Father's cheering on every step in the direction of the good shepherd. So I want to be that kind of church too.

[Caitlin]

Isn't it funny how the accusation, this, the enemy's accusation is always getting at identity? You know, he's trying to tell you the identity change that you're. That you're believing isn't real. He's saying you're still that other person. So he's trying to. He's trying to do the thing the, you know, the opposite of what is true. You know, he's. Because your identity has been changed, which leads to different activity. And he wants to use your struggle as evidence that your identity isn't.

[Joby Martin]

Oh, yeah. I mean, there were some serious times in college, and I'm like, ah, I might not be a Christian

[Caitlin]

because of

[Joby Martin]

some things that I was choosing to do, you know, and then I'd feel guilty and then I wouldn't do it for a while. Then I would do it for a while. I would also hear these. It was people like me now talking about how much they love their Bible study and stuff. And I was like, it's such a burden for me right now. But I also had this, like, duplicitous life I was trying to live. And I had one foot, you know what I mean? So I was not walking in the freedom that had already been purchased for me. The jail cell was wide open, and I'm just sitting in it thinking I might be a prisoner.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yep.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

Now it's easy looking back, but like,

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

to your point, we. We still have those times now for sure. You know, you follow the Lord for 20 years, 30 years, 40 years. There's still those. Those times where the enemy is having a heyday in your mind. And one of the biggest things for me is to have those women around me speaking truth and praying over where I can't see my own blind spots. And so we talk about that all the time. Having those mat carriers and asking for help, you know, so the fact that she said those words, that says it all.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah. It takes a lot of courage to just say that stuff out loud. That's the best thing you can do, man. You fight the enemy in the dark, get your butt kicked. You just start saying that stuff out loud to some trusted people.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yep.

[Joby Martin]

You know. Yeah. It's a big deal.

[Caitlin]

Yeah. And then the whole point, it would seem the point that he's making is, what do seeds do? They grow and they reproduce, and so the multiplication is the goal. And so I'm struck by when he says that the cares of the world and then the rich riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful. And it kind of makes me think of the thing that you say about, like, how many things are kind of left left on the table or, like, for. For the people that aren't getting in the game. Because he's like. He's saying there's potential fruit that's not being realized.

[Joby Martin]

Well, Matt Carter, in a sermon one time said something like, the only thing worse than not going to heaven is going to heaven and looking around and be like, I didn't bring anybody with me. You know, One of the things I do want to talk about, though, is I work very, very hard to be prepared to preach the word. If you're listening to this and you listen to the sermons anywhere, anybody's sermons anywhere, are you prepared? Because most people are not. So Kyle Thompson with undaunted life. I think, yeah, this Kyle, I've worn him out over worship over the last bunch of years, you know, and then he was. He was sharing on his podcast on Easter, they get up, their family prayed together. They get in the car, they listen to a Phil Wickham album the whole way in. And their oldest son, James, comes into the worship service with him. And it's like the first time, I think first time. And they start singing How Great Thou art. And James just reaches up and grabs Kyle's hands, and he just lost. Kyle. No tough guy thinks he's tough. He just lost it. And he was like, dude, this is what heaven is, you know? And I'm like, well, guess what, buddy? You actually prepared for church. Like you listening to Wickham on the way you prayed, your son's with you. And by the way, if your boy can move your heart, how much more is your heavenly father's heart moved? When we reach up in worship and be like, can I hold your hand, dad? You know what I mean? And then Kyle is pretty upset. He listens so he's gonna love it. And I'm talking about him. I was like, listen, dude, can you imagine he, he, he roles in jiu jitsu all the time. I mean, he is very committed to it. So can you imagine if you didn't prepare to roll to fight and you just walked in without your stuff on and the bell rang and a guy's fighting you, you would lose. Even if you're not, even if you could be him, you would lose. You got to stretch, you got to warm up, you got to be ready. Well, how much more important is it to be to do your part here of the word, to get that heart like tilled up really good, get that ph right and make sure it's fertilized and that you, you come in ready because you guys know, man, don't talk to me on Thursday afternoon because I'm getting ready. I'm. Do you heart. Do you ever see me on a Saturday night? Because Sunday morning begins for me about Saturday night.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

It.

[Joby Martin]

When the sun goes down, I'm down. Gretchen will even say, like people ask us to do something. She was like, nah, because he'll be there. But he won't be there because I'm preparing because I feel the pressure of all the things. Oh yeah. If you're a believer in Jesus and you want the word of God to land on fertile. So this is why, by the way, you'll do that. You remember this like we do these mission trips and then I'd let kids preach, you know, to our little group and they'd be like, oh my God, that was amazing. And it'd be some kid, It'd be some 8, 16 year old preaching. I was like, it wasn't good. But your heart is so tender to the Lord right now. Like a sea can kind of halfway land on the edge of that good soil. All you've been doing is serving Jesus and spend time with Jesus all week. Like this poorly delivered seed is going to have a hundred whole fold harvest in your life, man. That's what's happening. So if you're not getting anything out of it, ask yourself, what am I bringing to it?

[Caitlin]

I really do think somebody should try the football. That'd be so funny to watch where they have all their pads.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah.

[Caitlin]

The game starts and they have to try to put them on before they, you know.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah, the kickoff balls in the air. This ain't gonna go good. You wouldn't even make the rest of the game right.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Well, that's because I have such a, like a sports mind. I always think of that in like game time. Like it's game time. You have to, you're put me in, coach. Like, this is game time and there's many of us that just sit on the sidelines and we're not ready, we haven't practiced. We, we're not ready. And when coach says get up and get in, we can't, we can't do it because we're not ready.

[Caitlin]

And I. That's such a great point when you said, hey, listen, I prepare, I work hard. This part's actually not about that. It's not about me. It's about how do you listen.

[Joby Martin]

That's it.

[Caitlin]

And what are some other things that so somebody's like, man, I'm doing bad. I'm just strolling in casual. I don't not pay any attention to it at all. You know, listen to worship like you said. Maybe that's one example. Pray.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah. If your heart's growing heart towards the Lord, I dare you to ask him. Lord, soften my heart. Listen, if you're the dad, how about you want to be the leader? How about lead in preparing your family to come to church, you know, go to sat. Nobody told you to stay up that late on Saturday night. Quit drinking so much, especially on Saturday night, you know, I mean, I'm telling you and dude, I'm not a legalist when it comes to that stuff, you know, but like begin to prepare if something would cloud your mind on Sunday morning. Why would you do that if you're going to take this seriously? The king of the universe wants to talk to you. If you had a big meeting, you wouldn't do that. You know what I mean? Because, you know, we just kind of like try to fit it in as opposed to preparing to, to do the thing. Man, this is the thing. The first day of Adam and Eve's life is, would have been their Sabbath. And what we're saying, they connected with God. So they didn't rest from work, they weren't tired, they hadn't done anything. They rested for the assignment God had for them. And so if you begin to think about your life that way, that you know, we begin to prepare. We're going to gather with the saints. We're going to make much of God and worship him. Word. We're going to hear God's assignment. We're going to get filled up and encouraged with the word challenged, convicted, so that we can be about the kingdom business all week.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

I just taught on, I have like a talk called stop censoring your Prayers. I just taught it at Women's Encounter. And I, I, the, the language I use is hashing it out with the Lord. Because a lot of our prayers are just. I mean, you talk about this all the time. Let the food nourish our body, be with us. Give me a parking spot up front. Like, it's just, we're. It's just surface shallow. And for me, that's probably the biggest thing to prepare my heart is when I hash it out with the Lord. And that one of my favorite examples, well, King Hezekiah talks about it when he's in distress. It says he goes to the temple and he spreads it before the Lord. So he gets this letter that the Syrians are coming, they're going to take over. Right. And it says he spreads it before the Lord.

[Joby Martin]

He's like, have you read this?

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right, Right. And then the other one is David. And now I'm blanking on the actual psalm number, but David writes this psalm, and it is, it is God, take my enemies and wipe them out. Make their wives widows, make their children fatherless. Like, horrific. Right. And then he turned the tone, start shifting because he's hashing it out with the Lord. Then the Lord starts shifting his tone. Then he goes to, you know, revenge isn't mine, it's yours. I trust you. And he, I can't prove this, but I think that he did that before he prepared himself with the Lord, before he showed Saul mercy. And so I think there's a direct correlation. Like, if you want real fruit in your life, you've got to hash it out with the Lord. And he's not going to leave you in the same place he's going to. He's going to change you in the process.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah.

[Caitlin]

I mean, how many situations have you walked into? Like, have you ever had, like, a really busy day or you came out of a stressful situation and that affected the next situation? It happens a lot when we show up at home. At home, you know.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Right. It's how I'm talking to my kids, how I'm talking to my husband. Yep.

[Joby Martin]

A part of what I do on Mondays in my sermon prep time is I also go through my calendar, my whole calendar. You know, it's on my phone. And I'd say a quick prayer over. I try to get my mind around the week, and I just pray over all the things, like, hey, I got an elders meeting. Lord, pray that you'll lead us. I'm speaking at this event, God, I pray that it'll be fresh and new. Just Real quick. You know, sometimes some people's names kind of pop up in my mind. Oh, I got a date night with Gretchen. Lord, I pray that I'll just be sweet, you know, I mean, really, I do. And it's amazing. I mean, you run, right?

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

Can you imagine if you're just sitting on your couch and then like the gun goes off and you just gotta go, dude. Actually one time I was turkey hunting@d dot and you sit in the. You sit like I'm in a turkey chair and it's kind of like one of those low rider beach chairs that you can like be low and hide good, you know, whatever. And so you've been sitting there for a couple of hours, just completely not moving, you know. And this turkey comes out and long story short, I hit it and roll it, but it doesn't kill it. And it's running. And so I just. I missed two more. I hit it, it rolls it, but it just takes off running all like kind of what a gangster lean. So I know I got it, but I gotta like. But they don't bleed. It's not like you can blood trail like a deer. So I go from sitting completely still for two hours to in a sprint, it's.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

That's not a pretty sight.

[Joby Martin]

And there they have a. They had a hot wire around the fence and I knew it was there. It's only about knee high. It's just like keep the pigs from destroying the food plot. So I gotta like hurdle it and I run hurdle back out of it. And then I get to the road and I see the thing and then I eventually dispatch of the turkey with my hands.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

You did not pull a hamstring, bro.

[Joby Martin]

And then I'm standing there and I'm like, I can't walk. I totally pulled a hamstring because I went from. I. Dude. It still doesn't feel all the way normal. And that was probably six years ago. And I went from totally static.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Joby Martin]

To a full panic sprint to catch this bird.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

But let's be honest, even if you warmed up and you sprinted, it would have happened.

[Caitlin]

Maybe that's the classic dad injury though, because like you're hanging out and like your kids just like, dad, I can be like, nuh. And then you want to race, all sprint, and then all of a sudden you pull.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

I've seen all those videos of like the old, the uncles and everything. And they're out on this street racing.

[Joby Martin]

Oh yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

And they go down in half a second.

[Caitlin]

There's a great scene from Duck Dynasty, they're doing like some kind of thing. And Willie's like, I got you. I can still beat you. And then he just like rolls, cuz he pulls.

[Joby Martin]

So as opposed to if you go to a, if you go early to like a Jags game, these Soers warm up for like an hour, man.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Y yeah.

[Joby Martin]

You know, you don't just show up casually.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Yeah. Before running a race. I would run two miles before the race just to warm up.

[Joby Martin]

That would have been the race.

[Caitlin]

Wait, there's more. I thought that was the right. Yeah. It's like, what a great question to ask. Like, what kind of soil am I going to be today?

[Joby Martin]

Yeah.

[Caitlin]

You know, so.

[Joby Martin]

And watch how much better all the preachers get when you come in with a tender heart towards what God wants to say to you.

[Caitlin]

Yeah.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Ain't that the truth?

[Joby Martin]

Because moderately delivered, exceptionally received.

[Caitlin]

Yeah. You're listening through, trying to hear God.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Isn't it the best when people come up to you and they're like, you when you said this, you're like, never said that.

[Joby Martin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

But God changed their whole life, no doubt.

[Caitlin]

Oh, yeah. Well, thank you again, Pastor Joby, for bringing us this one. It was really amazing. Love seeing what God's doing. What, what else do we need to know before we close in prayer?

[Joby Martin]

I, I, I mean, I think that's it. But I, I would highly encourage us all, though, to con constantly ask oursel, how's my heart? Like, is it hard? Especially, you know, have there been times where it's been soft in an area and now it's hard? Like, do I have a judgmental heart? Do I have a condemning heart towards others? This is evidence of bad news in your life. So continuously go back through this. Where, where is it shallow? Where is it divided? And it's, it's not the thing. It's a hard thing to ask God, would you till up some stuff? Would you turn it over so that I could receive what you had for me?

[Caitlin]

Amen.

[Joby Martin]

That's it. Let's pray. Our good and gracious heavenly father God, we thank you for the tilling of our hard hearts that we might be able to receive the good news you have for us. Amen.

[Female Speaker (possibly a church leader or guest)]

Thank you for listening to the podcast.

[Joby Martin]

The end. You nailed it.

[Pastor Joby Martin]

The reality is everything already belongs. And when we give financially, we're acknowledging that we trust him. If you just watch this and feel led to make a donation, text the word donate to 441122 or visit COE22.com donate your generosity is not only an act of worship, but an investment so all people can discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus.