Transcript of a published sermon by Dan MacLeod, transcribed from the podcast recording. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
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Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
A Parable of Potential
- The capture opens mid-sermon, on the fragment 'potential.' — the opening honour and the reading of the parable precede the capture; the exposition that stands is complete in itself and is what this record carries.
- The parable is not about agriculture: God uses familiar things to teach the greater things of life and the kingdom, and what He is talking about is our potential. A seed's capacity can never be known until it gets in the right atmosphere — you cannot control the seed, that is up to God, but you can control the atmosphere.
- In Matthew 17 Jesus spoke of faith as a grain of mustard seed: the measure of faith is not volume or size but health — not quantity, quality. A reading that startled him makes the point in soil: at 45 degrees a mustard seed germinates in five to ten days; five degrees lower adds five days; two degrees lower still and the seed lies dormant another season. Seven degrees of adjustment can decide whether the seed ever discovers its potential.
Scriptures: Matthew 17:20
The First Soil: A Relationship with the Word
- The wayside soil is the one who hears the word but does not understand it — by extension, the person with no personal relationship with the word of God: in class when the Bible is talked about, in church when the pastor preaches, but never given to the work of understanding the word of the kingdom. The fowl comes and takes the seed away; the potential is lost undiscovered.
- The first course of action: a daily relationship with the word of God — listening to it, reading it, studying it — more than classroom lectures and homework assignments.
The Second Soil: A Relationship with the Spirit
- The stony ground received the word with joy but had no root in himself: the soil was too shallow for the roots when trouble and persecution came. This is the person who does not pray — no depth, no time made for a relationship with the Spirit of God.
- In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus teaches with assumed behaviours: 'when you pray... when you fast and when you give' — He does not argue why they should pray; prayer, fasting, and giving done in secret are simply what followers of Jesus do.
- A practice anyone can begin: take the Lord's Prayer section by section, one minute per section — six or seven minutes a day talking to God about how awesome He is, then His direction, provision, forgiveness — and build from there. It is sad how many talk about God as much as they talk to Him; that is not the same thing.
Scriptures: Matthew 6
The Third Soil: Do Not Love the World
- The thorny ground heard the word, but the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choked it and he became unfruitful: value measured by abundance or lack of possessions is a lie — some of the most fulfilled people he has met were kids in remote African villages playing soccer with an empty milk jug.
- Lust is redefined as unrestrained want, not a merely moral category, and the world's concepts arrive in seed form through modern media — the critique of the Miley Cyrus 'Flowers' concept is made to the students directly: the question is never the cuss word, it is the concept the seed carries.
- Holiness is set-apart-unto, not merely different-from: 'the Bible tells us that we are to be holy, for He is holy.' And Paul's charge governs the soil: 'in Romans 12 and 2 — be not conformed to this world' (the conformed word is syschematizō: do not buy your blueprint from the world) 'but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.'
Scriptures: Romans 12:2
Good Soil — and an Apple
- The good soil is simply the person who deals with the issues of the first three soils — a relationship with the word, prayer, and a back turned on the world — bringing forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
- The apple makes potential visible: five to eight seeds in an average apple; a tree yielding 300 apples a season, each with five more seeds — 1,500 seeds a season, 450,000 apples, 2.25 million seeds. 'In my hand today I hold an apple, but I also hold undiscovered potential.'
- His own testimony is the warrant: 35 years old, bald, twenty-five countries, back to the Middle East in April and preaching the UPC of Italy's national conference in Rome in August — not earned, but discovered by giving himself to the process and cultivating the right atmosphere.
- The challenge to the chapel and the closing prayer: live for more than a summer job, a vehicle, a team — it could be you planting a church, teaching the Sunday school class, standing on the camp-meeting platform. 'Lord, I don't see teenagers; I see greatness in this room' — the word sealed into their hearts, and the congregation practises prayer aloud before the amen.
Scripture index: Matthew 17:20; Matthew 6; Romans 12:2.
Transcript
potential. I know when we read these verses we may think well this is it's about a sower, it's about seed, it's about soil, but this is a parable which means God is using things that are familiar to them and to us, not simply to teach us about agriculture or farming, but to use this to teach us about the greater things of life and the kingdom. Ultimately what he's trying to talk to us about is our potential and so I speak to you today about a parable of potential. A seed is an incredible thing to think that something so small can be something so large and to think that something so small can produce something and so much that can bless so many people. The fact is that the capacity of a single seed can never be known until it gets in the right atmosphere. That seed has to be planted in soil and not just any soil, it has to be put in
good soil. It has to stay faithful to the process and so this parable is speaking to us of the atmosphere that the seed gets put in. The atmosphere doesn't change the seed, but it does take the right atmosphere to discover what God put inside the seed. You can't control the seed, that's up to God, but you can control the atmosphere. In Matthew 17 Jesus spoke of faith that he said is like a grain of mustard seed. A mustard seed so small that you could literally pinch it between your two fingers and it would be hidden in your hand. It's not large so he's not speaking to them to say you need more faith. He's telling them that the power or that the measure of your faith is not measured in volume or size but in the health of it. It's not the quantity, it's the quality and so it's with this frame of thinking that I read something some time ago that startled
me, I thought it was quite profound. The man said that a mustard seed will germinate in cool soil. If the temperature of that soil is 45 degrees, the elements are right and the soil is moist, that that seed can germinate in as little as 5 to 10 days. If that temperature of the soil was only 5 degrees lower, so it's now 40 degrees, that that seed will take an additional 5 days to discover its potential into sprout life. If the temperature of that soil is only 2 degrees lower, so it's now 38 degrees, that seed will lay dormant in the soil for another season. Something as little as 7 degrees temperature adjustment can determine if that seed ever discovers its potential and gives birth to what God put in it. Now I've not really come here today to talk to you about seed, I don't know anything about farming. You know as a kid my grandfather would make us pull weeds in his
garden and at that age I thought it was torture but I've lived to tell the tale. I don't know anything about farming but what I do know is that we all have a measure of potential that God has put in us and this is not true simply of a seed, it is true of you and I. So I come today to look at these four soils and give you a course of action by which you can adjust the temperature of your life 7 degrees so you don't lose what God put inside of you. The first soil he said is the wayside. He said this is the one that hears the word but they do not understand the word. By extension I would submit to you this is the person that does not have a relationship with the word of God. Oh they hear pastor preach, they're in class when the Bible's being talked about but they have personally not given themselves to the
work of understanding the word of the kingdom and Jesus said it's this person that even though they received the seed it was put in their heart he said the foul came and takes it away. They lose it. They never discover their potential because they have no relationship with the word of God. If you're gonna if you're gonna adjust the temperature of your life 7 degrees to make sure you don't lose what God put inside of you you're gonna have to have a relationship with the word of God. You're gonna have to have a daily time where you are listening to the word of God and where you are reading the word of God and your relationship with the word of God has to be more than classroom lectures and homework assignments. You need a relationship with the word of God. The second thing he said was the stony ground the rocky ground. They received it he said with joy they were excited to
hear the word so this tells me they probably had a relationship with the word of God. They were excited this this wasn't homework to them it wasn't a burden to go to chapel. They weren't upset about going to church they with joy received the word and it just endures for just a little while the Bible says because they had no root in himself. What he's saying is the soil was too shallow there was no ground for the the roots that came out of that seed that when potential began to be discovered there was no soil for those roots to get in and now when trouble and persecution and opposition shows up it couldn't draw the nutrients from the soil. Now this person they had a relationship with the word they received it with joy but they had no depth of soil which is to say they were shallow. This is the person that doesn't pray. This is the person that that doesn't make
time for God in their thoughts and in their words they just get caught up in life and they never make time to have a relationship with the spirit of God. So that first soil is to say I must have a relationship with the word of God. The second soil is to say I must have a relationship with the spirit of God. The first soil is to say I must spend time in my Bible. I must read my Bible. I must study my Bible. I have to understand the word of the kingdom. The second soil is to say that I must be a person of prayer. When Jesus is teaching his disciples in Matthew chapter 6 he says this, when you pray, which is so profound to me, because he didn't talk to them about why they should pray, he just said when you pray. Because there are assumed behaviors of people that follow Jesus. He said when you pray, when you fast and
when you give. This is to say that if we don't pray we're not followers of Jesus. We can have the logo on our shirt. We can call new life home. But if we don't pray we're not followers of Jesus. Now I'm not I'm not so naive and I wouldn't put the burden of expectation on on some of you at your age and season of life that I would put on me or adults in this room or leaders of this church. But I've been around long enough to know that that many people don't know how to pray. They don't know where to start. They can sing songs and they can worship. But the parable of potential is teaching us that unless we pray we'll lose the seed that God put in there. So let me let me offer something to you that I think all of us can do that's really easy that you can start. But just just if you did this every
day one minute per section that would give you six or seven minutes of prayer and then you could build it and start to do two minutes and then three minutes. But go to the Lord's prayer and you break that down into sections and just just set a goal create a habit of discipline to say OK I'm going to I'm going to break the Lord's prayer down into sections and I'm going to talk to God for one minute about each section of this prayer. Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name you just for the next 60 seconds whether you're going to lay on your bed sit in a chair walk back and forth in your bedroom for 60 seconds you're going to talk to God about how awesome he is. God you're so awesome God you're so good Lord I thank you for filling me with the Holy Ghost. Thank you for bringing my family to new life. Thank you for
making a way that I can be part of Life Academy. And thank you for feeling your spirit as we felt it here this morning when you just start talking to God about how good he is and all the things he's done for you 60 seconds goes by real quick and you can you can work your way through the Lord's prayer. There's there's there's all the things you can ask for God's direction God's provision God's forgiveness if you just set the goal to take every section of the Lord's prayer 60 seconds we're talking six or seven minutes a day. But it's sad how many of us never talk to God as much as we talk about him that's not the same as talking to him the person who never discovered their potential because the soil was rocky was the person that didn't pray and I'm burdened because there's people that love God I think they believe the word they want to do what's right
but they just don't pray and if we don't pray we'll never discover our potential the third soil he said was that thorny ground I heard the word but the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches he said choked the word and he becomes unfruitful this is to say that this person just loves the world they will never discover their potential because they have given themselves to the cares of this world they have been deceived by the deceitfulness of riches they think that that their life and the success of their future is in the abundance or maybe the lack of their material possessions that their value is what they have or what they don't have and that is a lie some of the most fulfilled people I have ever met in my life were kids in the villages of remote Africa who are using an empty gallon milk jug to play soccer in a field who have no concept of materialism like
we do they're not asking for more and more they're not caught up in the pursuit of stuff and money there is a contentment and I would challenge us today that so much of our ideologies so much of the concepts that we are being conditioned by in the world today though they seem harmless they are not harmless you say well well preacher you're just old yeah no I'm 35 now and I'm bald but let me tell you something we talk about lust as if lust is limited to something moral it's not lust is simply unrestrained want and so lust is not to be limited to the concept of morality or immorality it's just the drive of your human nature to want want want well do you know why people want want want want because they have not found the one who brings contentment to their soul it's the ideas of the world and he's telling us in this parable of potential God can put
seed in you he can put potential in you he can put promise and calling in you but if you love the world you will never discover it the Bible tells us that we are to be holy like he is holy the word holy simply means to be set apart but we're not I'm not talking about we're not just we're not just different from the world for the sake of being different from the world it means to be set apart and set unto so if you decide that you're going to live different than the world but you're not going to be set apart unto God you're not holy holy is saying I'm going to be different than the world but it's because I'm close to Jesus I live different than the world because I have a relationship with Jesus I'm holy I'm set apart from the world because I have a relationship with the word of God in a relationship with the Spirit of
God because I read my Bible I pray I live by a different set of values I learned very early in my relationship with the Lord that I had to stop seeking the affirmation and validation of people who knew nothing about the kingdom but the longer I live for the Lord and even in the work of ministry I have found many who even in the busyness of the church and in the work of the ministry have concepts ways of living that are built by the world well why would you sell everything and move around the world why would you go there why would you do this well Jesus told me to well that doesn't make very much sense that doesn't provide you financial security that's not a very comfortable decision well are we following Jesus or are we following materialism are we building our future for this world or the world to come if we will ever discover our potential we cannot love the
world we cannot love the things of the world and I'm not simply meaning today the the dark sinful things of the world I'm just talking about the way the world lives lives for this life for possessions for stuff for comfort so I Paul said in Romans 12 and 2 and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God he said the only way you can accomplish or prove the will of God is first to decide I'm not going to be conformed to the world that word conformed a syschematysio it means schematic or blueprint Paul was telling them hey when you decide that you're going to build your life don't don't buy your blueprint from the world but because so many of you have you have to renew your mind which means to renovate you've got to take the wrong way of thinking
out this is the problem with a lot of modern media let me just say 47 I'm going to take my liberty here for a minute I'm troubled I'm troubled young people at the songs that I see shared on Instagram videos and in the lyrics that I see endorsed well why it's just you know there's no cuss word in the song well there may not be a cuss word but what's the concept you know let me just go kick the horse real hard right now sister Tammy can I'm submiss she can rebuke me but yeah okay you're all right Miley you go buy yourself flowers let's this is not bad what do you mean it's not bad what's the concept behind the song the concept is this individualistic unsubmissive feminist thought who has been hurt by several immoral relationships and now there's this self-righteous I'm just I'm gonna do my I don't who cares that the Bible teaches about marriage who cares at
the Bible this is what I'm talking about the concepts of the world being propagated through the avenue of modern media and we just we just tolerate that's not that bad yeah you think it's not that bad but he talked to us about agriculture because he was telling us how things grow it always comes in seed form whether it comes from the world or it comes from God it comes in seed form and you may dismiss it because it comes in seed form but it won't stay a seed if we want God's potential we cannot love the world we cannot love the things of the world I'm not talking we're not we don't have to be weird we're not outdated we can be modern we can be relevant thank God but we cannot love the ways of the world and I'm troubled because I look at people everywhere I go I've preached 12 times in the last two weeks and I walk at a
church service sometimes a bang my head on the wall I'm like God if people could only grasp the potential that God put inside them and I just determined a long time ago I will live my entire life I will make every decision in my life on the basis of that potential and that seed that I feel like God put in the soil of my life it's not about money it's not about comfort it's not about stuff it's about potential but there was a good soil and that good soil heard the word they understood it he said some brought a hundred fold some 60 and some 30 good soil is simply the person who deals with the issues of the first three soils so this means good soil is the person that has a relationship with the word a person that does pray in a person that doesn't love the world that person will be good soil and that good soil will cause them
to discover the potential God put in that seed and they may they may they're 30-fold or 60-fold or huh but you never know what's inside of you unless you're good soil and so this morning I have an apple who likes apples and apple a day will keep the doctor away that's what my I was told I don't know if it's true or not but but you know that the average apple has five to eight seeds inside of it typically and if that seed stays faithful to the process and is put in the right environment in the right atmosphere in five years time it'll start being a fruit bearing tree and that the average apple tree can yield up to 300 apples per growing season and every one of those 300 apples could have five more seeds in it that means that per growing season that one tree will produce 1500 or more more seeds which in turn could be 450,000
apples or another 2.25 million seeds but but Dan that's just an apple oh that's what it looks like right now but I'm not talking about what's in my hand I'm talking about the potential so yes in my hand today I hold an apple but I also hold undiscovered potential of 2.25 million apple seeds or 450,000 apples I'm holding 450,000 apples in my hand right now oh it just looks like one apple yeah because I'm not talking about what you see I'm talking about the potential that is yet to be discovered and I really haven't even come today to talk to you about just a parable of a soul or about an apple I've kind of talked to you about you because that's what this is about about the seed of potential the seed of God's word that he has invested in you oh you know brother Dan you're just too extreme about that stuff I'm just a teenager in
Tarot Indiana listen Tarot's a 35 year old man I'd have been in 25 different countries and in April I'm going back to the Middle East and in August I'll be privileged to be in Rome and preach the National Conference for the United Pentecostal Church of Italy and listen I'm not so naive I don't deserve this I did nothing to earn this but what I did I had an encounter with God where I discovered God made an investment in my life and that if I would ever discover the potential I had to give myself to the process and cultivate the right kind of atmosphere and so I challenging you today to live for more than a summer job live for more than a new vehicle or new clothes or a basketball team or whatever your interest and hobby may be give yourself to the discovery of God's potential because it could be you one day that's getting on a plane to go to the
other side of the world it could be you one day that goes to a city that doesn't have a church and plants a church it could be you one day that's teaching kids in a Sunday school room and watching them receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit it could be you one day standing on platforms preaching camp meetings and and youth conventions and conferences you don't know but the only way you will know is to give yourself to the process it is a parable of potential and the only way potential is ever discovered is if you create the atmosphere for what God put in the seed to get out and in the kingdom that atmosphere requires a relationship with the word of God a relationship with the spirit of God and to turn your back on the world and pursue God and His kingdom with everything you have stand together with me it looks like one apple right now but through the perspective
of potential there's 450,000 apples in my hand this morning oh it's just this it's just a few does it's just a hundred or so kids and teenagers there that's what it looks like but when you put on the perspective of potential would you close your eyes and let's lift our hands Lord Jesus I pray today the spirit of God would seal the word of the Lord into our hearts I pray Lord that there would be a conviction and a challenge and also an encouragement by the word of the Lord to give ourselves to the word of God to give ourselves to prayer to turn our back on the world and pursue you with all that we have Lord there is so much potential in this room today there is so much potential in these kids and these teenagers and I want to see the potential be discovered I want to see the investment of your potential in their lives to be fulfilled
acknowledged and I won't want to see the purpose of God incomplete and I don't want to see the will of God never accomplished and I'm asking you today stir the hearts of these people today God stir the thoughts of their mind towards you I pray Lord that you would give us a keen sensitivity to the voice of the Spirit that you would give us a sensitivity to those gentle impressions when you were speaking to us and you were drawing us closer and when we feel it God I pray that you would give us courage to forsake all that we must forsake and pursue you with passion and consecration in the name of Jesus that's it would you just lift your voice we're almost done but just for a minute let's practice that right now practice cultivating that prayer I know it's a little bit awkward to hear yourself talk it's a little bit awkward to let let other people hear you talk but
you got to press past that you got to give yourself to prayer so you can discover your potential in the name of Jesus Lord I believe that there's apostles and prophets God I believe that there's evangelists and pastors and teachers in this room there's going to be prayer warriors and Sunday school teachers in the name of Jesus Lord there's people of great influence in the kingdom of God here today I don't see teenagers Lord I don't just see children because I'm looking for potential I see greatness in this room I see power and gifts in this room and I pray Lord that you would help us see ourselves as you see us to reject the lies of mediocrity the lies of insecurity we are not what the world says we are what you say I pray today God that you would help us be faithful to the process so we might discover our potential in Jesus name I pray and everybody said amen
Scripture references as spoken: Matthew 17:20; Matthew 6; Romans 12:2.