The Sower, The Seed and The Hearts of Men: Practical Helps in Sanctification, #4

By Zacharias Tanee Fomum

This book is to be read through and studied for a radical change of heart and a fruitful evangelism ministry!

Inspired by the Parable of the Sower, Professor Fomum teaches about the different types of hearts. There is

• the wayside heart,
• the stony heart,
• the thorny heart, and
• the good heart which is symbolised by good soil.

The author identifies the importance of the heart and gives the characteristics of each heart while showing that each man is responsible for the type of heart he has. To have the heart that is good soil, ready for planting, you have to overthrow the self in you and rid your heart of all forms of idols.

Why does the author dwell so much on the heart as soil? Because

• it is good soil that bears good fruit.
• It is good soil that bears great fruit.
• It is good soil that bears abundant fruit.

That's why he goes on to speak extensively about ways to bear fruit in abundance.

This book is to be read through and studied for a radical change of heart and a fruitful evangelism ministry, because as the author says, ''It is ripe fruit that produces ripe fruit!"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books4revival
• Release date: Mar 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781507035665

Zacharias Tanee Fomum

For FREE books from Zacharias Tanee Fomum: https://books.bookfunnel.com/ztf-free-ebooks. Professor Zacharias Tanee FOMUM was a man of uncommon spirituality, a leading voice for revival, a workaholic, a prophet-teacher, and a world-shaping spiritual genius. He was a bestselling Christian author (with over 350 books, over 10 million copies in circulation in over 100 languages) and a professor of Organic Chemistry (with over 160 published scientific works of high distinction (earning him the award of a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Durham, Great Britain). His books and the millions of people he influenced in more than 40 years of Christian ministry continue to impact the world with the Gospel today. He founded Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMFI), a missionary movement that has planted churches in more than 120 nations on all continents. He believed in a life of simplicity and with the support and dedication of his wife and their seven children, his all—time, money, heart, and soul— was dedicated to spreading the Gospel. He carried out exploits for God through the making of disciples for Christ, planting of churches, building spiritual leaders according to the model of the Bible, and serving the body of Christ, especially as a teacher on prayer. Learn more and read exclusive excerpts at: https://ztfomum.org

Book preview

The Sower, the Seed, and the Hearts of Men

THE SOWER, THE SEED, AND THE HEARTS OF MEN

PRACTICAL HELPS IN SANCTIFICATION

BOOK 4

ZACHARIAS TANEE FOMUM

Books4revival

Copyright © 1986 by Zacharias Tanee Fomum

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version.

Published by

A division of the Book Ministry of Christian Missionary Fellowship International

[e-mail]

CONTENTS

Prologue

Introduction

1. The Importance of The Heart

2. The Wayside of The World And The Wayside in The Church

3. The Stony Heart

The Seed on The Stony Soil

4. The Worldly Heart

The Seed on Thorny Soil

5. The Honest And Good Heart

The Seed on The Good Soil

Back Matters

PROLOGUE

(Mark 4:3-20)

Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. And he said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. And he said to them, To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven. And he said to them, Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away (or stumble). And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold".

INTRODUCTION

This parable of the sower was the first recorded parable that the Lord spoke. It must have been on His heart in a special way. Three of the gospel writers - Matthew, Mark and Luke - recorded it in detail. I think that its message was one that the Lord very much wanted to communicate to those who came after Him, and also to us today.

The parable talks of a sower who went out to sow. The sower was one person. In fact, the Sower is God. The seed is the gospel. We can at once see that the Sower did not vary and the seed did not vary. Only one thing varied, and that was the type of soil that received the perfect seed that was sown by the Lord.

Because there is one Sower and He sowed the same seed on all the four grounds, all differences as to what happened to the seed that was sown must be attributed to one thing only, and that one thing is the condition of the soil that received the Word.

The different soils represent different conditions of the heart. There are therefore, four conditions of the heart among the sons of men. These are:

The wayside heart,

The stony heart,

The thorny heart,

The good heart.

Whether a person’s heart is wayside, stony, thorny or good, is not decided by the Lord but by each one. God has given each one a heart that can be good, if the person so desires. However, if people prefer to have the other conditions of the heart, God, in His sovereignty, gives them the right to self-determination. God, in His love for man, has decided that He will let man exercise his sovereign right as a morally responsible being, to choose the type of heart that he wants. This is one of the greatest manifestations of God’s love for man; for true love can never impose or force an undesired thing on the object of love.

As we study the different heart conditions, bear in mind that your heart is what it is because you have made it so. However, you can alter it. You can make your heart into a condition that is different from what it is today. If the condition of your heart is what you do not want it to be, do something about it today and things will be different!

God bless you!

21st November 1986.

Prof. Zacharias TANEE FOMUM,

B.P. 6090 Yaounde,

Cameroon.

1

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART

Man is tripartite. He has a spirit, a soul and a body:

a spirit,

a soul and

a body

For simplicity, we shall simply equate the heart of man to the spirit of man. Throughout this message, it should be understood that the heart is the innermost part of a person.

The soul of man has three parts or functions. These are the will, the mind, and the emotions. These three constitute the soul. As we can readily see, people vary very much in their will capacities. Some are strong-willed and others are weak-willed. They also differ very much in their mind capacities. Some are so clever that they are called geniuses, others are fairly clever, and others are more or less foolish. People also vary in their emotional capacities. Some are warm and others are cold.

Although people differ in their will, mind and emotional capacities, the most important thing about a man before God is his heart. We also acknowledge that there are great variations in body builds. Some people are tall while others are short. Some are fat while others are thin. Some are black while others are white. Some are attractive while others are not considered so attractive. Some are physically healthy while others are sick or crippled, and so on.

Although man worships physical attributes, i.e. the physical looks and the capacities of the soul, these are only of secondary importance to God.

To God, man is a spirit that has a soul and lives in a body. The heart of man is all-important to God. While man concentrates on looking at the soulish as well as the physical attributes, God is focusing somewhere else. The Bible says,

But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart‘ (1 Samuel 16:7).

Keep your heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the springs (the issues) of life (Proverbs 4:23).

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man (Mark 7:21-23).

Because of the importance of the heart of man, God searches and tries it. The Bible says,

And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever (1 Chronicles 28:9).

"I know, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness; in the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these