Help God! I want to change #4
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Discover how to break up hard-hearted soil, remove the thorns of this world, and enter the rest God has promised every born-again believer who will obey His voice.
Description
Help God Change Overview
In this fourth installment of the series Help God! I want to change, the pastor builds upon three previous messages to deepen the congregation’s understanding of what it truly means to enter into God’s rest. Drawing from Genesis 2, Hebrews 3 and 4, and Jeremiah, the message revisits the foundational truth that mankind was uniquely created from the earth, or adama, and therefore possesses the capacity to change in ways no other creature can. The pastor walks through the sobering example of the Israelites in the wilderness, who heard God’s voice yet hardened their hearts and never entered His rest. Key agricultural metaphors run throughout: fallow ground must be broken up, thorns must be removed, and good seed must be sown into soft soil. Using Peter’s miraculous catch of fish, the message illustrates what happens when believers cease striving in their own strength and simply obey God’s voice. The call throughout is urgent and personal: repentance, discipleship, and diligence are not optional for those who desire to see God’s promises active in their lives. This is a practical, doctrinally grounded message that challenges every believer to stop blaming others and start cultivating the soil of their own heart.
Help God Change Outline
- 00:00 – Series Recap and the Nature of Man: The pastor recaps the first three messages, revisiting the Hebrew word adama and how mankind’s creation from soil means we are uniquely built to change and to grow whatever is planted within us.
- 08:30 – Free Will, Sowing, and the Harvest of Your Life: God is in charge but not in control. Like a farmer who reaps exactly what was planted, believers are reaping the seeds they have sown. The pastor calls the congregation to guard their hearts and sow words of life.
- 18:00 – Born Again as a New Creation: Second Corinthians 5:17 is unpacked using the Greek distinction between neos and kainos, showing that salvation produces a brand-new creation never before seen, calling for ongoing transformation through the renewing of the mind.
- 27:00 – Entering God’s Rest, Lessons from Hebrews 3: A detailed walk through Hebrews 3:5-19 exposes the danger of an evil heart of unbelief. The pastor draws parallels between Israel’s failure in the wilderness and the stiff-necked hardness that keeps modern believers from God’s rest.
- 38:00 – Breaking Up the Fallow Ground: Using Jeremiah’s call to break up fallow ground and not sow among thorns, the pastor explains how hard and untilled hearts prevent the Word of God from bearing fruit, and why discipleship and repentance are the tools for softening the soil.
- 47:30 – Hebrews 4 and the Diligence Required to Rest: The pastor moves through Hebrews 4:1-13, emphasizing that a promise of rest still remains for believers who will mix faith with the Word and act on it diligently, ceasing from their own striving as God ceased from His works.
- 56:00 – Pray, Obey, and Cast the Net: Peter’s miraculous catch illustrates the contrast between exhausting human effort and the effortless abundance that follows simple obedience. The congregation is challenged to begin each day in the Word before anything else.
- 01:01:00 – Urgent Invitation to Surrender: The message closes with a direct salvation call, reminding listeners that no one is promised another moment and that willing obedience to God’s word is the only path to eating the good of the land.
Scripture References
1 Peter 1:23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 12:2, Proverbs 4:23, Genesis 3:17-19, Hebrews 3:5-19, Genesis 2:1-3, Hebrews 4:1-13, Jeremiah 4:3, Matthew 13, Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 24:30-34, John 6:63
Key Takeaways
- Because man was created from the ground, adama, we are like soil, and whatever seed is consistently sown into our hearts will inevitably grow and produce a harvest in our lives.
- Being born again makes you a brand-new creation, kainos, never before existing, but that new birth is only the beginning of a lifelong process of renewing the mind and entering God’s rest.
- The Israelites who left Egypt heard the same gospel we hear, yet they never entered God’s rest because they hardened their hearts through unbelief and disobedience, and the same danger exists for believers today.
- Fallow ground, the hardened, untilled heart that has never submitted to God’s Word, must be deliberately broken up through repentance and discipleship before good seed can take root and produce fruit.
- Faith without a corresponding action is dead: knowing the Word intellectually while refusing to act on it is the same as never having heard it at all.
- God is not withholding His rest or His blessings; the works were finished from the foundation of the world, and the only thing preventing believers from entering in is their own disobedience and hard-heartedness.
- Entering God’s rest is not passive vacation; it requires diligence, the willingness to say forgive me, and the daily choice to obey His voice before leaning on your own understanding.
Help God Change Notes
Man Created to Change, Soil Metaphor
The Hebrew word for man, adam, shares its root with adama, meaning ground or soil. This is not incidental. God fashioned man by hand from the earth, spoke over him, and breathed life into him, a process unlike any other act of creation. Because we are like soil, we grow whatever is planted in us. Sow seeds of corruption and corruption rises; sow the incorruptible seed of God’s Word and eternal life comes up. This foundational truth means no human being is locked into their current condition. Change is not only possible, it is built into the very nature of what we are.
Why Hardness of Heart Blocks God’s Rest
Hebrews 3 records God’s grief over a generation that saw His miracles for forty years yet always went astray in their hearts. The pastor is direct: people do not go astray because of their skin color, social standing, or upbringing. They go astray in their heart. A hard heart is one that has decided its own understanding is more reliable than God’s Word. The result is that the Word, though preached clearly, cannot take root and therefore produces no transformation. The antidote is not more information but a willingness to say, out loud and sincerely, God forgive me.
Fallow Ground and the Cost of Discipleship
Jeremiah’s command to break up fallow ground captures the effort required to prepare a heart for lasting change. Fallow ground is soil that has never been tilled: dense, full of hidden rocks, resistant to the plow. Breaking it up is hard work, far harder than maintaining ground already cultivated. Yet once broken and cleared of thorns, that same ground becomes the most productive. Jesus identified the thorns as the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things. These do not have to be sinful in themselves; they simply crowd out the Word until it is choked and produces nothing.
Entering Rest Means Ceasing From Self-Effort
Hebrews 4:10 says that the one who enters God’s rest ceases from his own works as God ceased from His. This is the paradox of the Christian life: diligent effort is required to enter a rest defined by stopping. Peter fished all night using every skill he possessed and caught nothing. One word from Jesus, cast the net on the other side, produced a catch so large it nearly sank two boats. The pastor holds this up as the model: pray, obey, and stop trying to engineer outcomes through the corrupt systems of this world. God’s way consistently outperforms human striving.
Discipleship Is Not Optional for Believers
The Great Commission commands making disciples, not merely converts. A disciple submits to correction, maintains consistent spiritual disciplines, and applies the Word to daily life rather than merely accumulating knowledge about it. The pastor draws on thirty years of ministry school experience, observing that students who applied the same teaching produced dramatically different outcomes based solely on their willingness to be disciplined by the Word. Believers who refuse discipleship, insisting they will live the Christian life on their own terms, are sowing among thorns and should not be surprised when their spiritual growth stagnates or reverses.
The Urgency of Today’s Response
The message closes with the recognition that no one is guaranteed another opportunity to respond. The pastor points to the acceleration of global events, persecution of believers worldwide, and the increasing hostility toward the church as evidence that the window for change is narrowing. Drawing on 2 Corinthians 6:2, today is the acceptable time. Whether a listener has grown up in church, attended catechism, or is hearing the gospel for the first time, willing obedience, beginning with a simple act of repentance, is what separates those who eat the good of the land from those who toil and never find rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to enter into God’s rest according to Hebrews 4?
Entering God’s rest, as described in Hebrews 4:1-11, means ceasing from reliance on your own striving and trusting fully in what God has already accomplished. It is not physical rest or vacation but a state of heart in which the believer obeys God’s Word consistently, mixes faith with action, and stops trying to engineer life through self-effort. The works were finished from the foundation of the world; our part is diligent obedience to enter what has already been provided.
Why did the Israelites in the wilderness fail to enter God’s rest?
Hebrews 3:19 states plainly that Israel could not enter because of unbelief, which manifested as disobedience and a hardened heart. They heard the same gospel and witnessed miracles for forty years, yet they always went astray in their hearts rather than submitting to God’s ways. Their failure serves as a direct warning to New Testament believers: hearing the Word without acting on it in faith produces no lasting fruit and forfeits the promised rest.
How is man uniquely created to change compared to the rest of creation?
Every other created thing was spoken into existence, but man was both spoken over and fashioned by hand from the ground, adama, which shares its root with adam. This unique origin gives humanity a soil-like nature: whatever is consistently sown in the heart will grow. Animals are fixed in their nature, but humans, especially those born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word, can experience genuine transformation at every level of life.
What is fallow ground in the Bible and how does it apply to believers?
Fallow ground in Jeremiah 4:3 refers to soil that has never been plowed, hard, compacted, and full of rocks and roots. Spiritually it represents a heart that has never been surrendered to God’s Word through repentance and discipleship. Jesus taught in Matthew 13 that seed sown among thorns, the cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches, gets choked before it can bear fruit. Breaking up fallow ground means actively removing those thorns through honest repentance and consistent obedience.
What is the difference between neos and kainos in 2 Corinthians 5:17?
In the original Greek, neos means something renewed or refurbished, like reupholstering old furniture, while kainos describes something that has never existed before. Second Corinthians 5:17 uses kainos, meaning the believer in Christ is not merely improved but is an entirely new creation with no prior existence. This distinction underscores the radical nature of salvation and the reason believers must not return to old patterns but pursue ongoing transformation through the renewing of their minds.
Why is discipleship so important for spiritual growth?
Jesus commanded making disciples, not simply converts, because lasting transformation requires consistent application of the Word under accountable guidance. The word disciple shares its root with discipline, meaning being trained into new patterns of thought and behavior. Without discipleship, the Word remains intellectual knowledge that never becomes active life. The pastor observed over three decades that students who applied the same biblical instruction produced vastly different outcomes based purely on their willingness to be corrected and disciplined by the Word.
How does the story of Peter’s catch of fish illustrate entering God’s rest?
Peter, a professional fisherman, had toiled all night using his best skill and knowledge and caught nothing. When Jesus, who had been spending time in prayer, told him to cast the net on the other side, Peter obeyed despite his own reasoning. The result was a catch so large it nearly sank two boats. This illustrates that exhausting human effort under the corrupt system of this fallen world produces toil, while simple obedience to God’s voice produces abundant, unexpected harvest, the essence of entering His rest.
Can someone be born again and still not have entered God’s rest?
Yes. Hebrews 4:1 is addressed to believers and states that a promise of entering His rest still remains, implying many who are saved have not yet entered it. Being born again is the essential beginning, but it does not automatically produce the rest God intends. That rest comes progressively as the believer breaks up the fallow ground of their heart, removes thorns, sows the Word consistently, and acts in obedience, ceasing from the striving and self-reliance that characterize life outside of God’s ways.
