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THE CONDITION OF THE HEART — PART 3
Matthew 13:18–19
Bible Teaching with Pastor Tommy Pope Sr.
Watch the Teaching
Watch Part 3 of The Condition of the Heart as Pastor Tommy Pope Sr. teaches from Matthew 13:18–19 and reveals what the seed represents, why understanding God’s Word matters, and how the enemy seeks to steal the Word before it takes root in the heart.
About This Teaching
In Matthew 13:18–19, Jesus begins explaining the meaning of the Parable of the Sower. The seed represents the Word of the Kingdom, but Jesus reveals that hearing the Word is not the same as understanding and receiving it.
In Part 3 of The Condition of the Heart, Pastor Tommy Pope Sr. examines what happens when God’s Word reaches the heart but is not understood. Jesus warns that the wicked one seeks to snatch away what was sown in the heart. This teaching challenges us not only to hear God’s Word, but to understand it, receive it, and allow it to take root in our lives.
Key Scripture
Matthew 13:18–19
Matthew 13:18–19 Passage Overview
Matthew 13:18 — Hear the Parable of the Sower
Jesus calls His disciples to listen as He begins revealing the spiritual meaning behind the parable.
Matthew 13:19 — The Seed by the Wayside
Jesus explains that when someone hears the Word of the Kingdom but does not understand it, the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in the heart.
Understanding the Parable of the Sower
The Seed Is Good — The Question Is the Soil
When Jesus begins the Parable of the Sower, He draws His listeners into a scene they would immediately understand. A sower goes out into the field carrying seed, and as he sows, that seed falls on different kinds of ground.
But Jesus is teaching us something much deeper than farming.
The seed represents the Word of God, and the different soils reveal the different ways the human heart can respond when God’s Word is heard. The problem in this parable is never the quality of the seed. The seed is good. The Word is powerful. The question is: What condition is the heart that receives it?
That is why this parable requires personal examination. Before we look at somebody else’s heart, Jesus calls us to examine our own.
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
The same Word can be preached to everybody, but what happens next depends upon the condition of the heart receiving it.
Jesus Says, “Hear the Parable”
Matthew 13:18
Jesus now begins to explain what the parable means. Notice the first word He uses: “Hear.”
Jesus had already told the crowd the Parable of the Sower, but now He turns to His disciples and begins to reveal the spiritual truth behind what they had heard.
There is a difference between hearing the Word with your ears and receiving the Word with your heart.
Church, we can sit in a service. We can hear the preacher. We can read our Bible. We can listen to teaching week after week—and still miss what God is trying to say to us.
Jesus is saying, in effect, “Don’t just hear the story. Understand the truth behind the story.”
The parable is not ultimately about a farmer throwing seed on the ground. Jesus is teaching us about God’s Word and the condition of the human heart.
Before Jesus explains the different kinds of soil, He first calls His disciples to pay attention. That tells us something important: understanding the Word requires a heart that is willing to listen.
Sometimes the problem is not that God has stopped speaking. The problem is that our hearts have become so crowded with other things that we are no longer listening.
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
Don’t be satisfied with simply hearing God’s Word. Ask God to give you a heart that understands it, receives it, and is ready to obey it.
The Seed by the Wayside
Matthew 13:19
Jesus now explains the first kind of soil:
the wayside.
The wayside represents the person who hears the Word of the Kingdom but does not understand it.
Notice something important: the Word was sown.
The problem was not with the seed. The problem was not with the Sower. The problem was that the seed never took root in the heart.
The wayside was hard ground. It was ground that had been walked on until the surface became packed and resistant. The seed could fall upon it, but it could not penetrate it.
And church, the same thing can happen to the human heart.
A person can hear preaching. They can hear Scripture. They can sit under sound Bible teaching. They can even agree with what they hear.
But if the Word never moves from the ears into the heart, it remains exposed.
Jesus says that when someone hears the Word and does not understand it, “the wicked one” comes and snatches away what was sown in the heart.
That means there is a spiritual battle taking place whenever God’s Word is being received.
The enemy understands something that we must understand:
If the Word takes root, the Word can change your life.
That is why the enemy wants to steal the Word before it has an opportunity to become established in your heart.
He wants distraction before understanding.
He wants confusion before revelation.
He wants you to forget on Monday what God spoke to you on Sunday.
But church, we cannot allow the Word of God to remain on the surface.
We must meditate on it. We must pray over it. We must study it. We must ask the Holy Spirit to give us understanding.
Because when the Word gets down into good soil, the enemy cannot simply snatch away what has taken root.
This is why Bible teaching is about more than hearing information.
God wants His Word planted in us.
And when His Word becomes rooted in the heart, it begins changing the way we think, the way we live, the way we respond, and the way we walk with God.
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
Don’t just hear God’s Word and walk away. Guard what God has planted in your heart. Seek understanding, meditate on the Word, and give it time to take root—because the enemy cannot steal what you allow God to establish deep within you.
Closing Reflection — Guard the Seed
Jesus has shown us that hearing the Word is only the beginning. The seed of God’s Word must be understood, received, and allowed to take root in the heart.
The enemy would love for us to hear the Word and walk away unchanged. But when we receive what God is saying, meditate on it, and obey it, His Word begins producing transformation in our lives.
Church, guard what God has planted in you.
Don’t allow distraction, confusion, or the pressures of life to steal the Word before it takes root.
The seed is good. The Word is powerful. The question is: What will we do with what God has spoken?
Is the Word Taking Root in Your Heart?
Jesus has shown us that hearing God’s Word is not the same as understanding God’s Word. The seed can be good, the message can be true, and the Word can be preached clearly—but what happens next depends upon how the heart receives it.
In Matthew 13:18–19, Jesus warns us about a heart that hears the Word of the Kingdom but does not understand it. Before that Word has an opportunity to become established, the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in the heart.
That means we must do more than simply hear the Word. We must give God’s Word our attention, seek understanding, meditate upon what God has spoken, and allow His truth to take root within us.
Church, the question is not simply, “Did I hear the Word?”
The deeper question is:
“Is the Word taking root in my heart?”
God does not give us His Word merely to inform us. He gives us His Word to transform us. And transformation begins when what we hear moves from our ears into our hearts and begins changing the way we think, believe, live, and obey.
The Heart Check
Matthew 13:19 — The Seed by the Wayside
When the Word of God reaches my heart, do I take time to understand what God is saying, or do I allow the Word to remain on the surface?
The enemy looks for an opportunity to steal what God has spoken before it becomes established within us. That is why we must guard the Word, meditate upon it, pray over it, and put it into practice.
Ask Yourself:
- Am I giving God’s Word my full attention?
- Am I asking God to help me understand what I hear?
- Is there anything distracting me from receiving what God is saying?
- What has God spoken to me that I need to obey?
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
Don’t let the Word stop at your ears. Let it enter your heart, take root in your life, and produce the change God intended.
How to Prepare Your Heart to Receive God’s Word
The Parable of the Sower does more than reveal the condition of the heart. It calls us to prepare our hearts to receive what God is speaking. We cannot control every circumstance around us, but we can choose how we respond when the Word of God reaches us.
A fruitful heart is cultivated through humility, obedience, spiritual discipline, and a willingness to allow God to change us.
1. Ask God to Search Your Heart
Scripture: Psalm 139:23–24
Teaching:
Before we can prepare our hearts to receive God’s Word, we must be willing to let God show us what is already there. David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” That prayer requires humility because we are inviting God to reveal attitudes, distractions, wounds, desires, or habits that may be interfering with our ability to hear Him clearly.
Application:
Before reading Scripture or listening to the Word, take a moment to pray: “Lord, show me anything in my heart that could keep me from receiving what You want to say to me.”
2. Seek Understanding Before You Walk Away
Scripture: Proverbs 2:2–5
Teaching:
Jesus identifies the problem in Matthew 13:19 very clearly: the person hears the Word of the Kingdom but does not understand it. That teaches us that we should never become satisfied merely because we heard a sermon, read a Scripture, or attended a Bible study.
When something in God’s Word is difficult to understand, don’t simply walk away from it. Seek understanding. Pray about it. Study it. Read the surrounding verses. Ask what God is revealing about Himself, about you, and about how He wants you to live.
Understanding does not mean we will immediately know everything about Scripture. It means we have a heart willing to remain before God long enough for His truth to become clear.
Application:
When you hear or read God’s Word, ask yourself: “What is God saying to me through this passage, and what should I do with what I have heard?”
Don’t rush away from the seed before it has an opportunity to enter your heart.
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
Don’t just hear the Word and move on. Stay with it. Pray over it. Study it. Ask God for understanding—because the Word you understand and receive is the Word you can begin to live.
3. Remove What Is Crowding the Word
Scripture: Matthew 6:33
Teaching:
Jesus teaches us to “seek first the kingdom of God.” A heart can genuinely receive God’s Word and still become crowded by other priorities. Responsibilities, ambitions, worries, relationships, possessions, and even good things can begin occupying space that belongs to God.
This is what Jesus showed us through the seed that fell among the thorns. The Word was growing, but something else was growing alongside it. Eventually, the competing growth began to choke what God was producing.
Sometimes the greatest threat to spiritual fruitfulness is not something obviously sinful. It can simply be too many things competing for our attention, affection, time, and priorities.
Preparing our hearts means regularly examining what has become important to us and asking whether anything has quietly moved ahead of God. Whatever continually receives our attention will eventually influence the direction of our heart.
Application:
Look honestly at what has been receiving most of your time, attention, energy, and affection. Ask God to show you anything that has begun competing with His Word and His purposes for your life.
Then ask yourself:
“Is anything becoming more important to me than what God is trying to produce in my life?”
4. Receive the Word and Put It Into Practice
Scripture: James 1:22
Teaching:
Preparing our hearts is not complete until we are willing to respond to what God says. Scripture tells us, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” God does not give us His Word simply to increase what we know. He gives us His Word to transform how we live.
Receiving the Word means allowing what God has spoken to move beyond our hearing and begin shaping our lives. When we understand what God is saying and respond in obedience, His Word begins becoming established within us. The evidence that we have truly received the Word is not merely that we heard a sermon, read a Scripture, or understood a biblical truth. The evidence is that what God said begins changing us.
Sometimes obedience requires changing a habit. Sometimes it means forgiving someone, surrendering something, beginning something God has told us to do, or trusting Him in an area where we have been afraid.
A receptive heart does not merely ask, “What did God say?” It also asks, “What am I going to do with what God said?”
Application:
After reading Scripture, hearing a teaching, or sensing God speaking to your heart through His Word, identify one specific action you can take in response.
Then pray:
“Lord, give me a heart that not only hears Your Word but receives it, obeys it, and produces fruit through it.”
Guard What God Has Spoken
Closing Teaching:
Jesus has shown us something powerful in Matthew 13:18–19: the enemy is interested in what God is planting in your heart.
The wicked one does not come because the seed has no power. He comes because the seed does have power. He wants to remove the Word before it becomes established in your heart and begins transforming your life.
That is why hearing the Word cannot be the end of our responsibility.
When God speaks through His Word, pay attention to it. Seek understanding. Meditate upon it. Pray over it. Obey it. Guard it.
Church, there are some things God has spoken to you that you cannot afford to allow the enemy to steal.
There are promises you need to remember.
There are instructions you need to obey.
There are truths you need to believe.
And there are Scriptures you need to hold onto when circumstances try to convince you otherwise.
The enemy wants the seed removed. God wants the seed rooted.
The question is not simply, “Did I hear the Word?”
The question is:
“What am I doing with the Word God has given me?”
Key Takeaway
God’s Word has not lost its power. Guard what God has planted in your heart. Seek understanding, receive the Word, and give it room to become established in your life.
Final Reflection
Ask yourself:
What has God been speaking to me that I need to guard more carefully?
Is there a Word from God that I have heard but have not taken time to understand?
What can I do today to keep God’s Word before me until it becomes established in my heart?
Then end with this strong line:
Don’t just hear the seed. Guard the seed. Understand the seed. Receive the seed. And let the Word of God take root in your life.
CONTINUE THE SERIES
Part 4 — Rooted for the Storm
Matthew 13:20–21
Jesus now turns from the seed by the wayside to the seed that fell on stony places. This person hears the Word and receives it with joy, but something is missing beneath the surface — there is no depth of root.
In Part 4 of The Condition of the Heart, Pastor Tommy Pope Sr. examines why receiving the Word emotionally is not enough. Jesus teaches us that when tribulation or persecution comes because of the Word, a faith without roots will struggle to stand.
Continue with Part 4 and discover why God wants His Word to grow deeper than our emotions and become firmly rooted in our hearts.