Sunday is my favorite day of the week. Every Christian should recognize Sunday as the Lord’s Day primarily because Jesus, the Son of God, arose from death and the grave on that day, the first day of the week.   The Lord’s  church  meets  on  Sunday  to  worship  God  together just as He has directed (1 Corinthians 16:1, Acts 20:7, Matthew 28:1).  We focus on Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection on this day through the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:24-26).  We offer the “fruit of our lips” in song as well as in prayer to tell the Lord of our gratitude for all His rich blessings.  We give money to the ministry of Christ freely, generously, and without reservation.  We receive instruction through the preaching and teaching of God’s word. Sunday is a time of fellowship together with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We laugh together.   We cry together.   We give and receive.   We discuss life’s questions.   We share burdens.   We get “reconnected.”   We desire to have a close walk with Christ.  Yet, the world has a way of disconnecting us from our goal.  In Jesus’ explanation of the parable of the sower, the seed, and the soil in Matthew 13 we find several lessons to help us understand the value of God’s word in our lives and the constant bombardment of the evil one in his striving to keep God’s word from achieving its purpose for us. In order for God’s word to be effective in our lives, we must hear it and understand it.  When we hear God’ s  word  and  do not  understand it,  the evil one (the birds/verse 4 and 19) is there to snatch away that  which  has  been  sown in our hearts.   We must “shoo away”  whatever  could  keep us  from our understanding of God’s word. When we joyfully hear and understand God’s word, affliction and persecution (the stones/verse 5 and 21) often come to us  because of our  determination to live the Christian life.  “Oh, I forgot that you are a Christian, a goody goody who tries to take the fun out of life,” some might say about you or me when we try to remind  our friends  and family  of our  responsibility to God.   We must not “shy away”  from the negatives of life. As we live through the negatives of life, we must allow God’s word to accomplish in us strength and might to overcome these obstacles. Daily we live with the “cares of life” and the “deceitfulness of riches” (the thorns/verse 7 and 22), which could tempt  us to turn away from God’s truths.   We must not allow life’s successes and/or failures to turn us from  our commitment to Christ.   We can enjoy the riches of life while at the same time understanding that riches are deceitful and can often “take up wings” and fly away.  Our trust must remain in Christ. Our  task and  privilege  are to  hear  and understand  God’s word,  withstand  and  overcome  the distractions and temptations of life, and through it all bear fruit producing abundantly in Christ.  We can, and we will through Christ! Last Sunday we talked about bearing “spiritual fruit” and God’s standard for a strong Christian and a strong congregation.  Take a look at 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8, Galatians 5:22-26, 1 Timothy 4:12-16, and 2 Peter 1:5-10  to help  you remember our lesson.   This Sunday morning we will continue in our series, “What Makes a Church Strong – Man’s Standard versus God’s Standard.” On Sunday evening we will take the next three points in “Becoming a Great Church” – 1. A strong pulpit and education program, 2. A mind to work, and 3. Unity. Sunday is my favorite day of the week!  What a joy it is to look forward all week to our time together in worship and fellowship on the Lord’s Day!