Living Hope Fellowship Church

FOUR KINDS OF DIRT

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

FOUR KINDS OF DIRT

Preface

(we are dirt, clay on the potter’s wheel, overcoming carnality)

          Genesis 2:7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” 

          Man is made of dirt!  The highest position that you are ever going to get in this world is a pile of dirt.

          Mark 4:3-8 gives us a parable that tells us about four kinds of dirt.  They are wayside dirt, stony dirt, thorn infested dirt, and good dirt.  Find out which kind your heart is and let God fashion you till you are good ground, and you become fashioned like His Son, Jesus.

FOUR KINDS OF DIRT

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

          Go to Genesis 2:7 which says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”           

          What was man made out of?  Dirt!  You are dirt, and that is the highest position that you are ever going to get in this world, a pile of dirt!  So, what is man doing, strutting around looking like he knows something?  This will take a lot a wind out of sails!  Some of us have a little bigger pile than others, but you are still made out of one main ingredient, dirt. 

          About the time you think that you are hot stuff, just remember what you really are.  The Bible says that God formed Adam out of dirt.  Women can’t get too high and mighty, because they were formed out of the side of a man.  Man was made out of dirt, so a woman was made out of dirt also.  If you make an earthen vessel out of another earthen vessel it is still earthen! 

          The Bible declares Jesus went up to a blind man one day and spat on the ground and made clay, and he used it to anoint his eyes.  John 9:6-7 says, “When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”  John 9:1 tells us that this man had been blind from his birth.  Jesus, the Creator of all things, finished the work in that man, and God received the glory! 

          That lets us know that God can take dirt and do something with it!  He can set us free and do something with us; He can do anything!  We are made of this earth, and that is why we are so attached to this world!  That is why we have so much trouble getting our minds off of the things of this world.  We are created from the dust of this earth, and we have a kindred connection.  Look at the beasts of the field.  When they die, they return to the dust from whence they came, because they are dirt.  In that aspect of natural things we are no better than anything else on this planet.  We are just a dirt pile.  The earth is filled with the same dirt. 

          God created us out of the lowest substance of the earth so that we might not exalt ourselves as Satan did in days gone by.  However, Satan had a little plan worked out, and man fell for it.  Then Jesus came to the earth and was made out of the same dirt and did a glorious work!  John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

          God created man out of dirt, and made a living soul out of him.  To redeem man, He sent the Word of God, His Son, in an earthen vessel.  God showed the devil that Jesus, in an earthen vessel, has power over dirt, even over all flesh, and power over the world, death, hell, and the grave!  (See Matthew 28:18.)

          Don’t let your pride get you up too high, because, frankly, all you are is dirt!  I heard it once said that our bodies were worth around $2.50 in fertilizer.  However, I want you to know that you can’t put a dollar value on your eternal soul!  It is priceless.  Only one thing can buy a soul, and that is the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God.  Our soul is priceless, but our body is not worth much, so why do we spend nearly all of our effort, and money, and time to care for it?  We ought to be working on the priceless part of us, our soul.  Jesus sets us free, and puts our feet on the rock. Hallelujah!

          The highest point that we can ever come to is a dirt pile, but we need to see what Christ has ordained us to be.

          Mark 4:3-8 gives us a parable.  It says, “Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.”

          That lists four kinds of dirt.  What four kinds do we see?

                    1.   wayside dirt

                    2.   stony dirt

                    3.   thorn infested dirt

                    4.   good dirt

          Look at Mark 4:14-20:  “The sower soweth the word.  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.  And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.  And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.  And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.”   

          Luke 8:15 says, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

          There are four kinds of dirt — four kinds of people.  First you have the way-siders.  These people are curious, and that is about it.  As they pass through, they hear the Word of God, but it doesn’t take much for the devil to steal from them.  We’ve had people come and go, and many were just curious about our new building, and perhaps they were curious about the doctrine we preach. 

          Some get offended just because I say that they are nothing but dirt.  That’s because they’ve got pride.  We primp and we groom, when we are nothing but a dirt ball!  Good grooming is good and right, but look at it again in about 70 years!  Some people feel like they have to dress like a million dollars.  Even if you look filthy rich, you still only have the looks of a million bucks worth of dirt!

          The second kind of dirt is that of stony ground.  Stony ground looks pretty good on top.  It might grow fungus or a little grass or weeds, but try to plow it.  You have to stir it up to get a good soil bed in there.  You have to plant the Word of God in people.  They have to have deep roots to sustain the plant that grows up out of the earth.  However, this ground is so hard and stony, that the heart isn’t going to change.  People say, That preacher isn’t talking to me!  I was raised this way, and I not changing for a little pip-squeak preacher!  He is preaching down my throat, and I’m not going to have anything to do with what he said, just because he said it. 

          That is like somebody writing them a check for a million dollars, and they won’t take it, because they say that the penmanship is bad.  It is a real check, and it would not bounce.  They could have a million bucks, but they wouldn’t take it because it was written kind of sloppy! 

          Jesus asked the multitudes about John the Baptist.  He said in Matthew 11:7-8, “And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?  But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.”  Some are looking for a man who is smooth talking and has considerable education.  Jesus said in Matthew 11:11, “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

          People who are stony ground only want to hear a certain amount.  It won’t get any further, because there is stone there, and they aren’t going to give it up for anything.  Ezekiel 11:19 says, “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:” A stony heart won’t pump blood, nor the blood of Jesus. 

          Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”  However, a stony heart is cold and set.  Some are like granite, and they look just like a monument that is set over the dead.  They are rock hard.  God says they are stony ground, and if you do get the Word into them it doesn’t last long.  People who are hard hearted are stony ground.  They are going to do the sins they like, and they will come to God only if He doesn’t require them to remove that sin. 

          Some will come forward and receive Christ, but the Bible declares that when the sun starts getting hot, and when affliction or persecution starts coming against them, they will be offended.  They wither away.

          The third kind of dirt is thorn infested dirt.  Generally these are business men or anybody who is busy doing their daily tasks.  The Bible declares that you are thorny ground if you let the pressures of day to day living hound you so much that you don’t bear fruit for God.  You are stony ground if you let the deceitfulness of riches comfort you falsely. 

          Because we are physically and spiritually building the church of the Living God, we wrestle a transition period between the physical and the spiritual aspects.  We have to labor, but you can get into an excessive amount of that in the natural part.  You can get into excessive work or excessive pleasure.  Many excessively pursue leisure activities, when they should be seeking out the things of God.  I have nothing against recreation and rest, but if it gets in the way of the Word of God, you sin and let the devil in.  That is a thorn growing up in your ground.

          Have you seen a bean field taken over by cockle burrs?  Try parting the weeds and thorns and look for a bean!  Seed was planted there, and it was growing.  It had a good stand, and it had roots.  However, when those cockle burrs came up and got thick enough, it totally destroyed the beans. 

          Someone let the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches come in.  They said, Not now, Lord, I’ve got to go do something else.  I’ll pray in a minute, Lord.  I’ve got to do this.  I’ve got to go do that.  At the end of the day, after you kept promising God that you would pray, He is still knocking and telling you that it is time to pray.  It gets late, and you say, All right, Lord.  Dear Lord, bless me . . . and then you fall asleep.  Right? 

          There are four kinds of dirt.  The fourth kind of dirt is good ground.  Which one are you?  Are you bearing thirty fold?  Are you bearing sixty fold?  Are you bearing a hundred fold?  That is the good ground that Jesus was talking about.  Do you know what it takes to get a hundred fold?  You will find out if you read the Bible.

          In Mark, Chapter 10, it says that Peter was complaining to Jesus.  Mark 10:28-30 says, “Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.  And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”

          Genesis 2:7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”  Man can stand, but we must bend our knees to the Living God.  God will exalt man in due time when he humbles himself before the Lord his God, One whom he has not seen, yet he knows is real.

          God created man out of the dust of the earth.  We can say, God, dirt is all that I am, but whatever I can be, Lord, You make it out of me.  I am the clay, and You are the potter.  Have you ever seen a potter’s wheel, and how a potter treats an old lump of clay?  He hits on it, and then he cranks up the wheel, and it starts going around and around.  We are just a dirt pile on a wheel, and God is trying to mold and make us to be like Jesus!

          Some of us get mad and ask God why He made us the way we are!  Have you ever noticed that no two earthen vessels are exactly alike?  The potter gets his hands on that vessel, and he puts some water on it, and the mud will fly.  It will just be a mess all over.  It’s a painful process sometimes.  Do you understand what I’m talking about?  God is molding and making you, because you are a dirt pile.  He can easily get you out of the troubles, and trials, and persecutions that you are in, but God is trying to mold you into something. 

          Even a piece of dirt can be made into a vessel of honor, and you can be a container for the Water of Life.  How precious that vessel is to a man who is dying of thirst!  He will grab that vessel and see if there is something in it to quench his thirst.  What if it is empty?  I have preached to some stony hearts before.  In the Spirit I have seen God pick up their soul and shake them out, and I saw bats and rats fly out!  There wasn’t any Water of Life in them.  They were just full of religion.  They don’t have anything to say for God.  There is no anointing, or oil, or water. 

          God wants a vessel that doesn’t leak, so He will work, and work, and work on it.  You may tell Him, . . . But, God, that is my favorite vent. Don’t you understand?  I have to have a vent to let off some steam, Lord, because there is too much pressure on me, and I vent it that way.  He tells you that your vessel won’t hold water; that vent has made a hole.  For some, that vent is temper, and for others it is lust, or covetousness, or something else.

          Some vessels won’t hold water, because they are busy about much doing like Martha was.  Mary had the better idea.  Luke 10:39 says, “. . . Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.”  If you are too busy to do God’s will, it becomes a hole in your cistern.  It can’t hold anything of God.  You have to have your vessel sanctified. 

          God is working on a lot of vessels at the same time.  Some of us are looking at another wheel and saying, Hey, Lord, you aren’t spinning him nearly as hard as you are me, or, I’ve got a load, so I can’t carry that much.  God will stretch you out more.  The more He stretches that vessel, and the more He pulls on that vessel, working and wrestling the material of that vessel, the bigger it gets, and the more it will hold!  The more tribulation we go through victoriously now, means He will bless us with greater glory!

          Romans 8:18 says, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”  This is if you are walking for God.  I’m not talking about sin that has made you fall.  I’m talking about tribulation that worketh patience.  God is working a perfect work in you.  There isn’t any way that He can make a square vessel on a round wheel!  There are no corners to hide secrets in that vessel.  It is circular.  He makes it where everything is seen and open.  Then He fills it, as soon as it is ready.  He has to fire it first.  What is that vessel?  It is still a dirt ball, but God has molded it.

          The Bible says that the Word of God will grow in good ground and have an abundant harvest.  It will have an awesome and glorious harvest in that ground that God provided. 

          2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”  God finds the good ground.  He gets the seed to grow in it, and then He begins to mold and make it grow the way He wants.  The glory belongs to God.  Anything that you did good, God had a hand in it.  Anything that ever prospered in your life, God had a hand in it. By God’s Spirit you are brought closer to Jesus.

          God uses earthen vessels to do the work that He commanded to be done.  You can be a vessel unto honor in the house of God.  We have a treasure in earthen vessels.  It is made up from that good ground, that fourth kind of dirt.  This is that good ground after God has worked on it.      

          Look at 2 Corinthians 4:11 which says, “For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”  This is the trouble and hassle that you go through as a Christian and the warfare that you are delivered to, “. . . that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”  You can have the treasure of God in your earthen vessel out of the good soil that God planted a seed in.  If that thing grows up into a holy covenant with God, the Bible decrees that He will be made manifest in that vessel. 

          This is yet another reason for holiness preaching and for a walk in perfection.  It is attainable. 

          2 Corinthians 4:16 says.  “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”  Verse 17-18 says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 

          That thing which you cannot see is working in you and convicting you.  God is dealing with you and speaks with you to crucify your outward man.  He has picked you up out of the miry clay.  He has made you good soil and put His seed in you.  He is going to bring forth a vessel of honor out of you, but He is going to work on you until He gets you in the image of Jesus Christ. 

          Sometimes when I’ve prayed, I’ve realized how far removed I was from the image of Christ.  The Bible has 66 books written for our admonition, so that we would be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.  We can become like the Lord Jesus, and as we follow Him, His life will rise up in us. 

          It is possible to walk like the Lord.  This is the only way that we are going to see signs, wonders, and miracles when we pray.  God does not honor the prayers of sinners and backsliders, except the prayer of repentance from a convicted and contrite heart.  Then that one can go on in Christ.  God is looking for earthen vessels who are not of the old ground of wayside hearts, stony hearts, or hearts grown up in thorns. 

          As a child did you ever try to make a vessel out of play dough that got dirty?  Have you poured concrete and seen some clay in it?  We used to get gravel out of the river and mix it with sand and cement for our concrete.  When we got a big slug of dirty gravel, it messed up the entire operation!  We had to get that impurity out before we could develop a rock solid foundation! 

          God does the same thing in you.  Whenever He sees that your ground has thorns, He tries to pluck them out, and some of the dirt goes with them.  It may feel like some of your life goes with them.  Really, some of your self will goes out the window when you yield to God. 

          When God is dealing with you, He is trying to get you to conform to the image of His Son.  The world doesn’t have any respect for that, but when they see the power of God manifested, they are going to respect it!

          2 Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 

          Verse 4 says, “For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”

          Verse 17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  Jesus can make something new out a dirt ball!

          Jesus became flesh and took on the number four kind of dirt, good ground.  When we hear His voice, God puts us on the potter’s wheel, and works on us, and molds us.  It seems like our nature is against all the things of God, but we have to continually say, Not my will, but thine be done, O Lord.  Mold me into the vessel that you want. 

          As God continues to mold us, sometimes we will holler out, God, don’t you think that you are about done?  God, this is it!  I can’t take any more!   However, we aren’t any good like we are.  We are just a big blob of clay right there on the wheel.  Isn’t that attractive?  Do you want Him to fire you like that?  Imagine handing Jesus a trophy full of rocks, and sticks, and impurities!  It looks like a blob that somebody just threw on the wheel and then quit.  If you fire it like that, it is set like that forever.  You do not want that!  You want to be a vessel unto honor for the glory of God.

          Luke 9:29 says, “And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.”  This happened to Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration.  God is molding and fashioning us to be just like Jesus!  We have to pray and read God’s Word!  Ephesians 5:25-27 in part says, “. . . Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

           Do you feel like God is working you over?  Have you had a horrible wrestle lately with faith?  Has the devil been hounding you?  You aren’t alone.  1 Peter 5:9 says, “Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”  God is raising up an army!  He wants a bunch of vessels that can be filled, whom He can trust to stay filled with His anointing.  Remember, we throw aside vessels that leak!

          I want to be full of something that gives victory!  I want to be a vessel that God can trust in any kind of weather, condition, or battle.  God wants to fill us up to the brim and then pour it out on others!  At the feast of Cana Jesus told them to fill the water pots to the brim.  When they got filled to the brim, they were changed!  When we get filled to the brim with God, we get changed too!  When you get filled with the Holy Ghost, you begin to change.  Then, when persecution comes, and the devil taunts you, you will realize what it is and get the victory. 

          We had a piece of ground one time that would not grow anything!  Finally we let the woods have it.  The dirt was no good, even though it looked the same as the field right beside it.  We planted it, but it would burn up when the summer sun scorched it.  It was too shallow, because it was too stony.  The fowls of the air picked up all the seed.  Crows came in and got the stuff.  It was always something, and one year everything got it.  We had all these problems, and then the cockle burrs come and finished it off!

          That is what a lot of “so called Christians” look like today.  I’m reminded of the parable found in Luke 13:6-9 which says, “. . . A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.  Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?  And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:  And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”

          A lot of junk may be thrown at you.  It could be that God is dunging around you.  One more time He is going to try to get some fruit to grow through you.  He’s been dealing with you, but if your tree doesn’t bear fruit this time he will cut it down.

          Consider yourself the tree He was talking about.  God has put some dung around you for your admonition.  It helps to make good soil.  Now is the time to grow.  Let Him raise up in your life!

          Father, make us to know that we are nothing more than dirt, but because of your anointing you can mold us into something worthwhile.  Don’t let us take our salvation lightly. 

          Satan, I bind you off of everyone who reads this message, in Jesus’ name.  I command you to loose every one of them. 

          God, let us know that though we are not any more than dirt, You can use dirt, and we can grow a crop.  Make us good ground so that the devil cannot steal the Word, and so that the cares of this life cannot choke it out, and that the ways of this world will not destroy us.  Let us be a fertile soil for you to plant your seed in.  In the name of Jesus I ask it.  Amen.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail  livinghope@hughes.net

www.livinghopefellowshipchurch.org

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.