Tony Evans - Receiving the Word Implanted (12/30/2025)
Summary
In this sermon, the preacher uses the powerful analogy of popcorn popping under heat to illustrate how God’s Word transforms us when it penetrates the heart, causing inner growth and expansion that breaks through outer resistance. Drawing primarily from James 1:19–21, he explains that maturity comes when we bear visible, character-reflecting, beneficial fruit like Christ, and this requires good soil: being quick to hear God’s perspective, slow to speak our own, slow to anger when we disagree, and humbly receiving the Word by dealing with sin.
You can pick that popcorn with your teeth all day long, and you aren’t going to get popcorn, but when you heat it, you’re putting it in an environment where the inside expands. What God wants His word to do in our lives is for you and me to go «pop, pop, pop, pop,» where the inside is expanding because the outside can’t take it no more.
He says these are the mature seeds, and you know they’re mature seeds because of their fruit—hmm, they bear fruit, not a little tiny fruit, full fruit. This has to do with the productivity of your life. Okay, if you’re fruitful, three things happen with fruit.
The Three Characteristics of Fruit
Number one: Fruit always bears the character of the tree of which it is a part. You won’t find apples on orange trees; you won’t find oranges on apple trees. It will always reflect the character. So, the way you know you’re bearing fruit is that you’re looking more like Jesus this year than you did last year. Your actions and reactions are more consistently in line with how He would act and react because your character is a fruit of His tree.
The second aspect of fruit is that it is always visible. You’ve never seen invisible fruit. You know what kind of tree it is because you see what kind of fruit it is. Even if you’re not familiar with the bark of the tree, you can see the fruit. «Oh, that’s an orange tree,» «That’s an apple tree,» because it’s visible. You know you’re getting to maturity when you’re no longer a secret-agent Christian, when your commitment to Christ is visible. You’re not hiding it under a bushel; you’re not apologizing for your faith in Jesus Christ. You are visible and adherent to the truth of God. You’re visible; you’re not hidden; you’re not in the closet.
So, fruit reflects the character it is a part of, it’s visible, and it’s beneficial. The only fruit that eats itself is rotten fruit. Fruit is meant to benefit others; it’s rotten fruit that is only for itself. So, who is taking a bite out of your life? Who wants to be like you, follow you? Who wants you to disciple them? Who are you benefiting in the name of Christ? If you are only benefiting yourself, you are an immature Christian. If you want to be served but can never serve, if you want to be helped but can never be a helper, you’re not beneficial. You’re just a fruit hanging around, eating yourself, and if you are a selfish fruit, you will self-destruct.
How to Reach Maturity
He says, «But to the fruit that grows to maturity—well, how do I get there? I want to be there. How do I get there?» Well, there was nothing wrong with the seed. The problem is always with the soil. If God’s word isn’t working, it means He doesn’t have good soil to work with. If God’s word is not working, if it’s not doing in you what it says it can do because it is the life and DNA of God, there is either no soil, rocky soil, or choke soil—not good soil. It is the quality of the soil that determines the benefit of the seed because the seed is the word of God.
Just like the sperm has to reach the egg if you want new life, the word has to reach the heart if you want a transformed life. If the word does not get to the heart, just being in the vicinity doesn’t mean fertilization has occurred. It must penetrate the heart in order to birth the conception of divine benefits and life. So, the word of God must reach its destination.
All Scripture is absolutely true. You cannot return to God and ignore His word, and it is sufficient for life. The things that the Bible doesn’t specifically talk about must be made consistent with what the Bible does talk about. You cannot adopt them if they contradict or are in opposition to it.
So, I raise the question: How do you get better soil since there’s nothing wrong with the seed? Nothing wrong with the seed. It comes in seed form, which means it’s got to grow, but it needs the right environment in which to grow.
The Popcorn Analogy Explained
I’ve shared this before, but if you look at popcorn, you put popcorn in the microwave in seed form. But you don’t want to eat the seed as it is; you want it to pop. So, you put the popcorn in the microwave, put it in an environment. What many people don’t know is that every kernel of corn has moisture in it. So when you put it in the microwave and turn it on, the radiation from the microwave heats up the moisture that’s in every kernel of corn.
Well, the moisture in every kernel of corn gets hot because of the microwave, and it becomes steam. Steam rises. So when you turn the microwave on, the heat and the radiation of the microwave heat up the moisture in every kernel of corn. The steam begins to rise and press against the shell. When the shell can’t handle the pressure of the moisture rising, it releases it, and you hear what you’re hearing is the inside giving way to the outside, giving way to the inside because the inside can’t handle the expansion—the outside can’t handle the expansion of the inside. And all of this is happening because an environmental shift has occurred.
You can pick that popcorn with your teeth all day long, and you aren’t going to get popcorn because your teeth—that’s not the right environment. But when you heat it, you’ll get it. You’re putting it in an environment where the inside expands. What God wants His word to do in our lives is for you and me to go where the inside is expanding because the outside can’t take it anymore.
So, the question is, how do I change the soil so that it’s the right environment? Because it’s got to reach the heart; it can’t just reach the ears. Remember all the time Jesus says, «He that has an ear, let him hear.» He that has an external ear lets him hear with his internal ear—that is, internally take it in, not just externally.
Practical Steps from James 1
So we have a perfect seed, but we have imperfect soil, but we want to be better soil so that we can grow to maturity. The question is, how do we do that? James chapter one—I’ve got all kinds of scriptures about the word of God, and we could be on this all day, but this will give you a sense of what you need to do to get the word to work.
Verse 19 of James 1: «This you know, my beloved brethren, fellow Christians: Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.» Okay? Here are the key ideas: If you want to change the soil, you must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
Let me put it this way, as you’ll see when this unfolds: You must be quick to hear God’s point of view, slow to speak your point of view, and don’t get mad when you and God disagree. Be quick to hear what God thinks; be slow to say what you think and don’t get mad when what God thinks and what you think aren’t the same, because God’s way will tick you off and your soul will throw a temper tantrum.
So, I’m going to tell you that now: When you start with God, your soul is going to have issues because it’s not how you were raised, it’s not what you think, it’s not how you feel, it’s not what you want. Your soul is going to resist.
For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Like my father used to tell me when I got mad because I didn’t like something he said, «I’ll give you something to cry about.» The anger of man does not achieve the rightness of God. So, getting mad at God isn’t going to change anything, not going to change a thing because He’s not going to change His word to make you happy, or to make me happy, or to make us happy, or to make the world happy.
The Key to Good Soil
Therefore, in light of this, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your soul.
If you want the soil to be made right to receive the seed, we must be willing to address sin. If you are unwilling for Him to address sin, it has to be there because He says it’s there. But you must be willing to address it because He won’t do His work if you are refusing. That’s different than struggling; refusing to address sin. He says, «All that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your soul.»
Prayer
Father, thank You for Your perfect Word that never fails. Help us prepare our hearts as good soil—quick to hear You, slow to speak our own opinions, and slow to get angry when Your truth challenges us. Give us humility to deal with the sin in our lives and let Your Word penetrate deep, causing us to grow, pop, and bear visible, Christ-like fruit that benefits others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.