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THE CONDITION OF THE HEART — PART 4
Matthew 13:20–21
Bible Teaching with Pastor Tommy Pope Sr.
Watch the Teaching
Watch Part 4 of The Condition of the Heart as Pastor Tommy Pope Sr. teaches from Matthew 13:20–21 and reveals why receiving God’s Word with joy is not enough—we must allow the Word to develop deep roots that can withstand the storms of life.
About This Teaching
In Matthew 13:20–21, Jesus explains the seed that fell on stony places. The person hears the Word and immediately 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 what happens when God’s Word touches our emotions but is never allowed to become deeply established within us.
Jesus teaches us that receiving the Word with joy is not the same as becoming rooted in the Word. When tribulation, pressure, or persecution comes because of the Word, shallow faith struggles to endure.
God does not merely want His Word to excite us for a moment. He wants His Word to take root deeply enough to sustain us when the storms of life come.
Key Scripture
Matthew 13:20–21
Matthew 13:20–21 — Passage Overview
Matthew 13:20
Jesus explains the seed that was sown on stony places. This person hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy. There is an initial response. There is excitement. Something has begun—but the condition beneath the surface has not yet been addressed.
Matthew 13:21
Jesus reveals the problem: “Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while.” The Word has been received, but it has not developed deep roots.
Then Jesus says that when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, the person becomes offended and falls away.
The storm did not destroy a deeply rooted faith. The storm revealed that the roots had never grown deep enough.
Central Truth:
God wants more than an emotional response to His Word. He wants His Word rooted deeply within us so that what we believe in peaceful seasons will sustain us in difficult seasons.
Understanding the Parable of the Sower
The Problem Is Not What You Received — It Is What Never Took Root
Jesus makes something very important clear in Matthew 13:20–21: this person actually received the Word.
They did not reject it. They did not walk away uninterested. Jesus says they heard the Word and “anon with joy receiveth it.”
There was excitement. There was an emotional response. There may even have been an immediate desire to change.
But Jesus shows us that a strong beginning does not always mean there is a strong foundation.
Something was happening above the surface, but there was not enough happening beneath the surface.
Church, this is where we have to examine ourselves.
It is possible to be moved by a sermon without becoming rooted in the truth of that sermon. We can shout over the Word, agree with the Word, share the Word, and even tell somebody how powerful the Word was—and still fail to allow that Word to develop roots in our lives.
Emotion can respond immediately. Roots require time.
Roots grow as we continue in the Word, meditate on it, obey it, pray over it, and allow God to change areas of our lives that nobody else can see.
That is why Jesus does not merely want us to ask, “Did the Word move me?”
The deeper question is:
“Did the Word get deep enough inside of me to change me?”
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
Don’t measure the strength of your faith by how excited you are when you receive the Word. Measure it by whether that Word is still holding you when life becomes difficult.
Receiving the Word With Joy
Matthew 13:20
“But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;”
Jesus now brings our attention to the stony heart. Notice that this person does not reject the Word. They hear it. They receive it. And Jesus says they receive it with joy.
There is excitement. There is emotion. There may even be an immediate desire to change.
But church, receiving the Word emotionally is not the same thing as becoming rooted in the Word spiritually.
A person can shout over the Word, agree with the Word, be encouraged by the Word, and still never allow that Word to develop roots within their life.
The problem is not the seed. The seed is good. The problem is what lies beneath the surface.
That is why we cannot judge our spiritual condition only by how we feel when we hear God’s Word. The greater question is:
What happens to the Word after the emotion is gone?
Application:
When God speaks to us through His Word, we must give that Word somewhere to grow. We meditate upon it. We pray over it. We obey it. We continue believing it even after the excitement of the moment has passed.
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
Don’t measure the strength of your faith by how excited you are when you receive the Word. Measure it by whether that Word is still holding you when life becomes difficult.
When the Storm Tests the Roots
Matthew 13:21
“Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.”
Jesus now shows us why roots matter.
The person received the Word with joy, but Jesus says, “Yet hath he not root in himself.” Something happened above the surface, but nothing became established beneath the surface.
Church, what is visible in good weather will be tested when the storm comes.
Jesus says this person “dureth for a while.” For a season, everything appears strong. They believe. They rejoice. They may even testify about what God is doing.
But then Jesus says, “when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word…”
Notice that Jesus does not say if difficulty comes. He says when it comes.
There are times when obeying God’s Word will cost us something. Faith will be tested. Pressure will come. People may not understand our obedience. Circumstances may challenge what God has spoken.
And this is where we discover the difference between a faith that was merely excited and a faith that has become rooted.
The storm does not create the condition of the roots. The storm reveals the condition of the roots.
A tree with deep roots may bend in the wind, but it remains planted.
And church, that is what God wants for us.
God doesn’t promise that following Him means there will never be a storm. He develops roots within us so that when the storm comes, we can still stand.
Application:
Don’t wait until the storm arrives to develop your roots. Build your relationship with God now. Study His Word. Pray when things are going well. Obey Him in the small things. Remember what He has already brought you through.
Then when difficulty comes, you won’t have to search for something to hold onto. The Word will already be rooted within you.
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
The strength of your faith is not proven when everything is going well. It is revealed when the storm comes and you are still standing on what God said.
Heart Check: Are My Roots Deep Enough?
Jesus’ words in Matthew 13:20–21 call us to examine more than how we initially respond to the Word. We must examine what happens when that Word is tested.
It is possible to receive God’s Word with joy and still fail to develop the spiritual roots necessary to endure difficult seasons.
The question is not simply, “Did I receive the Word?”
The deeper question is:
“Has the Word taken root deeply enough in me to hold me when the storm comes?”
Ask Yourself:
- Am I building my faith on God’s Word or primarily on how I feel?
- Do I continue trusting God when circumstances become difficult?
- Am I praying and studying God’s Word consistently, even when everything is going well?
- When God’s Word challenges me, do I obey it or pull away?
- Is there an area of my life where pressure has revealed that my spiritual roots need to grow deeper?
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
Don’t be afraid when God reveals a shallow place in your spiritual life. Let Him use that revelation to grow your roots deeper.
How to Develop Deep Spiritual Roots
Spiritual roots do not grow by accident. They develop as we consistently remain in God’s Word, spend time in prayer, walk in obedience, and trust God through every season. Jesus warns us in Matthew 13:20–21 that faith without depth may endure for a while, but pressure exposes what has been established beneath the surface. If we want to stand when the storms come, we must develop our roots before the storm arrives.
1. Go Deeper in God’s Word
Scripture: Colossians 2:6–7
Teaching:
Deep spiritual roots begin with a consistent relationship with the Word of God. Paul tells believers to be “rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith.”
Roots grow beneath the surface where no one sees them. In the same way, spiritual depth is developed during those private moments when we open Scripture, study what God has said, meditate upon it, and allow His truth to shape our thinking.
Church, we cannot expect Sunday’s Word alone to carry us through every storm we will face during the week. We must learn to feed ourselves from God’s Word.
The more God’s Word becomes established within us, the less dependent our faith becomes upon changing circumstances. When trouble comes, we have something deeper than our emotions to stand upon. We have what God has already spoken.
Application:
Set aside consistent time to read and study Scripture. Don’t only ask, “What does this verse say?” Ask, “What is God teaching me, and how should this change the way I live?”
Take what God shows you and carry it with you throughout the day. Meditate upon it. Pray over it. Speak it when circumstances challenge your faith.
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
You don’t grow deep roots during the storm by accident. You grow them before the storm by spending time in God’s Word when nobody is watching.
2. Develop a Consistent Prayer Life
Scripture: Colossians 4:2
Teaching:
Paul tells us, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.”
Deep roots do not develop through occasional contact with God. They develop through a consistent relationship with God.
Prayer is more than something we do when trouble comes. Prayer is where we learn to depend upon God before trouble ever arrives. It is where we bring our concerns to Him, listen for His direction, strengthen our faith, and learn to trust His presence.
Church, if we only pray when the storm comes, we will spend the storm trying to develop a relationship that should have been growing before the winds ever started blowing.
Jesus teaches us in Matthew 13 that the shallow-rooted person struggles when tribulation and persecution arise. That is why our prayer life matters. Prayer helps the Word we have received become part of the life we are living.
The more consistently we spend time with God, the deeper our dependence upon Him becomes.
Application:
Develop a regular time of prayer—not only when you need something, but because you desire fellowship with God.
Talk to Him when life is peaceful. Thank Him for what He has already done. Pray over the Scriptures you are studying. Bring your decisions before Him. And when pressure comes, continue praying instead of allowing the pressure to pull you away from God.
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
Don’t wait until the storm comes to start talking to God. Build your prayer life while the sun is shining, so when the storm comes, you already know where your help comes from.
3. Practice What God Has Spoken
Scripture: James 1:22
Teaching:
James tells us, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
Spiritual roots do not grow simply because we hear more sermons, read more Scriptures, or learn more biblical truth. The Word develops roots in our lives when we begin to obey what God has spoken.
It is possible to hear the Word, agree with the Word, become encouraged by the Word—and still walk away without allowing the Word to change how we live.
Church, God did not give us His Word merely to inform us. He gave us His Word to transform us.
Every time we obey what God has spoken, our spiritual roots grow deeper. Forgiving when God tells us to forgive, trusting when circumstances tell us to worry, giving when God tells us to give, serving when God calls us to serve, and standing when pressure tells us to quit—these are the places where faith becomes more than something we say we believe.
This connects directly with Rooted for the Storm. The person Jesus describes in Matthew 13 received the Word with joy, but the Word never developed deep roots. When pressure came, there was nothing beneath the surface strong enough to hold them.
Application:
Ask yourself: “What has God already spoken to me through His Word that I need to put into practice?”
Do not keep waiting for another Word while ignoring the Word God has already given you. Take one truth from Scripture and begin living it. Obedience turns biblical knowledge into spiritual maturity.
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
The Word you hear can encourage you, but the Word you obey will change you. If you want deeper roots, start living what God has already spoken.
4. Trust God Through the Storm
Scripture: James 1:22
Teaching:
The psalmist declares, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Notice that Scripture does not tell us that God’s people will never experience trouble. Instead, it tells us where to stand when trouble comes.
Church, deep roots do not prevent the storm. Deep roots help us remain standing in the storm.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 13:21 that tribulation and persecution arose because of the Word. The pressure came, and because there was no root, the person became offended and fell away.
But when our faith has become deeply rooted in God, the storm does not have to determine our response.
Circumstances may change, but God has not changed.
People may disappoint us, but God remains faithful.
The answer may not come when we expected it, but God is still our refuge.
The wind may blow and the ground around us may shake, but we can continue trusting what God has spoken.
Psalm 46 says that even if the earth is removed, the mountains are carried into the sea, and the waters roar and are troubled, “therefore will not we fear.”
That is rooted faith.
Rooted faith does not say, “There is no storm.”
Rooted faith says, “There is a storm, but my God is still greater than what I am facing.”
Application:
When difficulty comes, resist the temptation to make decisions based only on what you see or feel.
Go back to God’s Word. Remember what He has spoken. Pray. Worship. Remind yourself of His faithfulness. Surround yourself with people who will strengthen your faith rather than feed your fear.
Ask yourself:
“What truth from God’s Word am I standing on in this storm?”
Pastor Tommy’s Life Lesson:
The storm may shake what is around you, but it does not have to uproot what God has established within you. Stay in the Word, stay in prayer, keep obeying God, and trust Him until the storm passes.
Deep Roots Will Hold You in the Storm
Closing Teaching:
Jesus shows us in Matthew 13:20–21 that it is possible to hear the Word, receive the Word with joy, and still never allow the Word to develop deep roots.
For a while, everything may look good. There may be excitement. There may be enthusiasm. There may even be visible change.
But then Jesus says, “when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word,” something happens. The pressure reveals what has—or has not—been developing beneath the surface.
Church, the storm did not create the shallow roots. The storm exposed them.
That is why God is calling us deeper.
We need more than a Sunday experience. We need more than an emotional response. We need more than knowing what the Bible says.
We need God’s Word rooted so deeply within us that when life changes, what we believe does not change with it.
The storm may come against your family.
The storm may come against your finances.
The storm may come against your ministry.
The storm may come against your plans.
But when your roots are deep in Christ, you can say:
“I may be going through a storm, but I am still standing on what God said.”
Key Takeaway:
Deep roots are developed before the storm arrives.
Jesus did not say that receiving the Word with joy was the problem. The problem was that the Word never developed roots deep enough to endure the pressure that followed.
Church, we cannot control when the storms of life will come, but we can determine what we are doing with God’s Word before they arrive.
Stay in the Word.
Stay in prayer.
Practice what God has spoken.
Keep trusting God when circumstances change.
The deeper your roots grow in Christ, the harder it becomes for the storms of life to move you away from what God has spoken.
When trouble comes, don’t abandon the Word that carried you before the trouble began. Hold on to it. Stand on it. Live by it.
Because rooted faith does not mean the storm will never come.
Rooted faith means the storm does not get the final word. God does.
Final Reflection:
Before we finish, take a moment and ask yourself:
How deep are my roots?
It is easy to trust God when everything is going well. It is easy to receive the Word with joy when the message encourages us and life is peaceful.
But what happens when the pressure comes?
What happens when the prayer has not been answered yet?
What happens when people disappoint you?
What happens when circumstances suddenly change?
What happens when obeying God’s Word becomes difficult?
Jesus teaches us that the condition of our roots is revealed when our faith comes under pressure.
So don’t wait until the storm arrives to discover whether your roots are deep enough.
Get into God’s Word now.
Build your prayer life now.
Practice what God has spoken now.
Learn to trust Him now.
And if you recognize that your roots have been shallow, don’t be discouraged—go deeper. Allow God to strengthen those places in your life that have not yet become firmly established in Him.
Make this your prayer:
“Lord, let Your Word take root deeply within my heart. Strengthen my faith, teach me to obey You, and help me remain faithful when the storms of life come. Let me be rooted in You so that no matter what happens around me, I will continue standing on Your Word.”
Church, storms will come—but when your roots are deep in Christ, you can remain standing.
CONTINUE THE SERIES
Part 5 — When Life Chokes the Word
Matthew 13:22
Jesus now turns our attention to another condition of the heart—the seed that falls among the thorns.
The Word is heard, and growth begins, but something else is growing alongside it. Jesus warns us about “the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,” which can choke the Word and cause it to become unfruitful.
In Part 5, we will examine how worry, distractions, competing priorities, and the pursuit of other things can gradually crowd God’s Word out of our lives.
Continue with Part 5 and discover how to guard your heart from the things that compete with God’s Word.