“Planting the Good Seed”
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Introduction: The Bible talks about the idea of how God gives us a seed as a gift. Along with the seed that He plants in us, He sends the water to nurture it, and causes the seed to grow. This seed is God’s word, the Bible, that is given to us for our own growth, but also to share with others. As we share it, and nurture it with our love and support, God is the One who will take it and cause growth.
As we look at the “Parable of the Sower,” this morning, we need to understand that this is a profound story about real life; your life, my life, and the lives of all those around us. It reminds us that while we are to share the seed of God’s word, God’s truth, God’s love, not all people are at a place where they will receive it and use it.
Jesus helps us to understand this by likening people’s hearts to soil. Not all soil is conducive to growing a seed; not every heart is ready to grow the seed of God’s word. So let us take a little time to understand this concept of seed and soil; God’s word and people’s hearts.
I. Seed on the Path- (Matthew 13:4, 19)
a. The seed planted- Jesus here talks about a sower, who went out to sow
some seeds. It seems that he wasn’t too particular about where he sowed the seed; he simply threw them out as he went along the path. The first place the seeds went is the path. This is just a natural road where people would regularly walk. So if we think about this, we could easily understand that a path where people walked would be beaten down and hard. Not the most likely place to plant seeds. Because of the hard ground, the seed would not be able to penetrate the soil and thus would sit on top of the ground.
Now if you were to put this into personal terms, what kind of person might Jesus be talking about here? Well, it could first of all be a person with a closed mind. I’m sure we’ve all encountered such a person. As you talk to them and the subject comes around to God, you can see their defenses immediately go up. You can tell that they do not want to hear anything you have to say about God. They are closed, hard hearted on this matter. Maybe it is because something terrible has happened in their life and they can’t believe in God. Or maybe they have great intelligence and can’t see a way to reason out who God is. Or maybe they seem to have all they think they need, and don’t see how God can fit into their lives. Or it could even be a person with a shallow mind; someone who doesn’t think things through; Someone who jumps onto the newest craze while its hot, but then moves on when it doesn’t seem to be working any more. But whatever reason it is, they don’t want to even hear about God.
b. The seed snatched- It doesn’t take too much thought to understand
that this is not the kind of heart of someone who is ready to accept Jesus. It doesn’t take too much thought to realize that the seed will not take root here. Instead, the seed will just stay on the surface, ready to be swept away by wind, or foot traffic, or the birds that come along and see it as food. And isn’t this what Jesus said, that because this person doesn’t understand the kingdom, the evil one, Satan himself will come along and take the seed.
Example- Story of Portland Trailblazer basketball fan and tickets.
There is a story of a man who was a fan of the Portland Trailblazers, who was waiting at the Portland airport waiting for the arrival of the Trailblazers after a game they had in Los Angeles against the Lakers which they won. He was hoping to get a couple of tickets for the next game. As he approached a scalper, the scalper offered him 2 tickets for $150. The man replied: “Do you realize that you are talking to a plain clothes officer. I’m going to turn you in.” The scalper began to backpedal, talking about how he had a family and didn’t want to get in trouble. The man then said: “Just hand over the tickets and we’ll forget about it… Now get out of here and I don’t want to catch you here again.” The kicker of the story is that the man was not an officer, but just thought fast on his feet of a way to get 2 free tickets to the next playoff game. The scalper had been ripped off!! (Swindoll, “Come Before Winter,” p. 126-127.)
Satan’s strategy is as crafty as this well-dressed man. Satan does not want us in any way to come to know Jesus, and so he waits for his opportunity to pounce on us and keep the seed of God’s word from planting itself in our hearts!
II. Seed on Rocky Ground- (Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21)
a. The seed planted- But there is a second kind of ground on which the
sower casts his seeds, and that is the rocky ground. Now with the rocky ground there is some similarities, and some differences from the path. The similarities: it is hard and not real conducive to growing seeds. The differences: while the path had much soil (even though the soil was hard) the rocky ground, we are told, has little soil. Now planting 101 tells us that you have to have soil to grow seeds. So by simple deduction we can understand that the rocky ground is not the place you want to plant your seeds. You want to have plenty of soil so that as the seed goes into the ground, it will be able to send its roots deep into the ground. When you have shallow soil, you have no place for the roots to go.
Jesus tells us that this kind of person is one who “hears the word and immediately receives it with joy…but it only endures for a while.” Do you know anyone like this? Do you know the kind of people that immerse themselves in something, but get over committed and burned out, and then can’t continue? I know that we all have this tendency in us, but some have a habit of living their lives like this. And so when it comes to receiving the seed of God’s word, they joyfully receive it, the desire is there it seems, they have good intentions, but they just have no long term commitment; they don’t let God’s word root itself in their lives.
Now understand, this is not talking about Christians who get stretched thin doing church work. The people Jesus is talking about here, are non-believers. They aren’t Christians. They might have acted like they believed for a time, but they no longer believe. Jesus Christ has no meaning in their life any more.
b. The seed scorched- Jesus really takes us to the crux of the issue here
in verse 21, where he says, “Yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.”/ I have to tell you that I have seen this happen so many times in regards to our Alpha class. Alpha is our class where we get back to the basics of the Christian faith. It is designed for those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ or who are looking to deepen their understanding. It is designed for people like this because it casually takes you through the important aspects of the Christian faith (Who is Jesus? Why did Jesus have to die? How can I overcome evil? And so on.). So many times people have come 1 or 2 times, and then all these challenges come into their lives. Satan is throwing roadblocks in front of them to keep them from coming back. And unfortunately we see that often times they stop coming!!
Jesus never told us that believing would be easy, or that the Christian life would take away all the troubles of the world. What Jesus did tell us is that He would be with us in the midst of all things. What Jesus did tells us is that He would give us the strength to endure. What Jesus did tell us is that He would work good, out of the bad in our lives. What Jesus did tell us is that He would use us to do great things. But to do all this, we have to stay faithful and we have to endure.
T. F. Buxton once said: “… with ordinary talent and extraordinary
perseverance, all things are attainable.” (Illus. Unlimited, p. 169)
Those whose hearts are like the rocky ground don’t stick around long enough to receive the presence, power, and protection of Jesus, but bail as soon as things don’t go well for them. Because of this, we see them falling away from Jesus. What seemed to be faith is scorched away.
III. Seed among thorns- (Matthew 13:7, 22)
a. The seed planted- The sower continues on/ in Jesus’ story to plant
some more seeds, this time in ground that has many thorns. Now, we all know that sowing seeds in an area of weeds and thorns is not smart; and we will talk about this more in a couple of weeks when we talk about the parable of the wheat and weeds. As little about planting as I know, I still know this much: don’t plant seeds where there are weeds. So to not sell the sower short, we must understand this more. The thorns are not obvious in the ground. It is ground that has probably been weeded, or turned over, but the ground was not fully picked clean of the weeds and thorns. So because of this, in time, the thorns will return, and when they do, they will make it difficult for the seeds to grow. And what is worse, is that weeds and thorns grow quicker than seeds. And so as they grow together, the weeds are so strong that they inhibit the growth of the seeds.
Jesus takes us to the next issue that is challenging to faith. It might surprise us that this issue was even a problem in Jesus’ day, but we can definitely see how it is a problem in our day. It is the issue of caring for the things of the world. It is the issue of caring about the wealth of the world. It is the issue of caring about the material things of the world.
Example- If you have ever watched the show, “Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition,” you know that it is a wonderful show in many ways, because the families they choose to build a new home for are usually families who have suffered a lot. And so by coming and building them a new home, they are showing love, and compassion, and good old fashioned caring. They are trying to bring encouragement and hope back into these people’s lives….At the end of the show when the family comes home to see their newly built house, there is tears, and excitement, and gratitude!! One Sunday as my family was watching, it just struck me that what was bringing them hope was the material aspect of a new home, and it made me wonder if that might give people a false perspective; a false hope. Their hope is in something material, a home, that cannot meet so many other needs that they have.
b. The seed choked- In this case, the word of God, the truth of God, is
coming to the person whose heart is like that of thorny ground. Their heart is like thorny ground because they still have thorns in their heart; they still carry around the sin of the past and the pain of the past and the mindset of the past. They can’t let themselves get past their past (their mind hasn’t been renewed). Their enthusiasm as they receive the word of God is like the turning over of the ground. But the weeds are still there. So as God’s word comes to them, it comes to them in the midst of all the other turmoil that exists in their mind, and so it is hard for them to really hear God’s word and process God’s word.
Now in the first two illustrations, we were talking about non-Christians; people who never gave themselves over to Jesus Christ. But in this case, we are talking about Christians who are right on the verge of bearing fruit, but the thorns keep them from being fruitful. They hear the truth of God, but they can’t fully accept the truth and put into practice the truth because they are still being guided by the sin and the pain of their past. Or they are people who have bought into the idea of the way of the world, going after the wealth and materialism of the world, and thus are taken away from God by these things.
Unfortunately they haven’t trusted Christ enough to give Him their sinful desires, and their pain. They haven’t trusted Christ enough to give Him their worries. They haven’t trusted Christ enough to believe that the things of God (learning how to love unconditionally, being an encouraging person, forgiving others, learning how to praise God with their life), that these things are more meaningful than the wealth of the world. And so these thorns in their life choke out their opportunity to grow and bear fruit for God.
IV. Seed in Good Soil- (Matthew 13:8, 23)
a. The seed planted- Finally in verse 8 the sower’s seed gets to the good
soil. I say finally, because if you are like me, as you listen to this parable, it is disheartening to hear story after story, person after person who is not getting it. And isn’t that true in real life. We attempt to share Jesus with another, and they seem to be hard hearted, or they seem to be shallow, or they seem to be too preoccupied with other things. And yet, we must remind ourselves that there is hope; there are hearts of good soil waiting to hear God’s word and be changed by God’s word. And even more, we must believe that there is a way of preparing the hearts of people, so that they can be moved from hard soil, rocky soil, or thorny soil, and have a heart of good soil. If we don’t believe this, then we don’t believe in the power of God to change a life.
The person who has a heart of good soil is one who understands that he or she doesn’t have it all together. It is the person who understands that life as we know it isn’t an accident, or didn’t happen by chance, but happens by design. It is the person who doesn’t let himself or herself get deceived by the many things of our world that seem satisfying, but their satisfaction is only short-lived. It is the person who understands that worry and stress do us no good, and in fact they actually affect our health and our lives negatively. It is the person who understands that when you are always wanting more, you can never be happy with who you are and what you have now, and therefore you will never be happy. It is the person who understands that there is a creator to all that exists, and that this creator cares about us personally. It is the person who is willing to believe/ even when they don’t understand, because they have experienced, or know people who have experienced God coming through time and time again!!!
b. The seed bears fruit- And what of this person? This person, Jesus says
in verse 23, “… hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” If you have ever had the desire at all to make a difference with your life, Jesus tells us the formula right here: believe the word of God, seek to understand it, and apply it to your life, and you will bear fruit. You will make a difference!! This is the promise of God to you and to me.
This message then is a message of hope. It is a message of hope because it tells us that the harvest is sure. We should never get discouraged, because if we are faithful to plant the seed of God’s word, then in time it will reach the heart of good soil. And even more, by loving others, helping others, befriending others, encouraging others, being there for others, we can cultivate people’s hearts/ so that they will become good soil/ ready to have the seed of God’s word planted in them.
Example- Whenever we have done our Alpha class, the Alpha leaders would meet a couple weeks prior to the start of the class to plan, prepare, and pray. One of the ways we prayed was for the people we believed God would lead us to/ so that we might invite them to the class. I always challenged every one, including myself, to put names on the list of people we want to invite to the class; people God puts on our hearts; whether or not we believe we will have an opportunity to ask them.. I don’t know why I was amazed, because I do believe in prayer, and I do believe that God answers prayer, but I was always amazed at how God brought me to the people on my list. He just gave me one opportunity after another to invite the people on my list!! Now, they didn’t all come, but the point is God gave me opportunities to plant His seeds!!
No farmer expects every seed he plants to germinate and bring forth fruit. However, if the possibility of the seed not producing caused the farmer to get frustrated, then the farmer wouldn’t plant any seeds, and the farmer would have no crop. We can’t let Satan frustrate us by what seems to be unfruitful seeds. We must faithfully, and diligently share the truth of God and the love of God with others, whenever we have the opportunity!
Conclusion: So what should we take away from this parable, this lesson that Jesus lays before us? Well, in verse 9 Jesus says: “Let anyone with ears, listen.” Meaning, that as the people of God, we need to hear these words of Jesus, and put them into practice. When we come across someone who doesn’t know Jesus, or who isn’t faithfully following Jesus, we need to share God’s love with them, and encourage them, and pray that God would mold their hearts into good soil, so that they will hear, believe, follow, and bear fruit. Amen.
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Introduction: The Bible talks about the idea of how God gives us a seed as a gift. Along with the seed that He plants in us, He sends the water to nurture it, and causes the seed to grow. This seed is God’s word, the Bible, that is given to us for our own growth, but also to share with others. As we share it, and nurture it with our love and support, God is the One who will take it and cause growth.
As we look at the “Parable of the Sower,” this morning, we need to understand that this is a profound story about real life; your life, my life, and the lives of all those around us. It reminds us that while we are to share the seed of God’s word, God’s truth, God’s love, not all people are at a place where they will receive it and use it.
Jesus helps us to understand this by likening people’s hearts to soil. Not all soil is conducive to growing a seed; not every heart is ready to grow the seed of God’s word. So let us take a little time to understand this concept of seed and soil; God’s word and people’s hearts.
I. Seed on the Path- (Matthew 13:4, 19)
a. The seed planted- Jesus here talks about a sower, who went out to sow
some seeds. It seems that he wasn’t too particular about where he sowed the seed; he simply threw them out as he went along the path. The first place the seeds went is the path. This is just a natural road where people would regularly walk. So if we think about this, we could easily understand that a path where people walked would be beaten down and hard. Not the most likely place to plant seeds. Because of the hard ground, the seed would not be able to penetrate the soil and thus would sit on top of the ground.
Now if you were to put this into personal terms, what kind of person might Jesus be talking about here? Well, it could first of all be a person with a closed mind. I’m sure we’ve all encountered such a person. As you talk to them and the subject comes around to God, you can see their defenses immediately go up. You can tell that they do not want to hear anything you have to say about God. They are closed, hard hearted on this matter. Maybe it is because something terrible has happened in their life and they can’t believe in God. Or maybe they have great intelligence and can’t see a way to reason out who God is. Or maybe they seem to have all they think they need, and don’t see how God can fit into their lives. Or it could even be a person with a shallow mind; someone who doesn’t think things through; Someone who jumps onto the newest craze while its hot, but then moves on when it doesn’t seem to be working any more. But whatever reason it is, they don’t want to even hear about God.
b. The seed snatched- It doesn’t take too much thought to understand
that this is not the kind of heart of someone who is ready to accept Jesus. It doesn’t take too much thought to realize that the seed will not take root here. Instead, the seed will just stay on the surface, ready to be swept away by wind, or foot traffic, or the birds that come along and see it as food. And isn’t this what Jesus said, that because this person doesn’t understand the kingdom, the evil one, Satan himself will come along and take the seed.
Example- Story of Portland Trailblazer basketball fan and tickets.
There is a story of a man who was a fan of the Portland Trailblazers, who was waiting at the Portland airport waiting for the arrival of the Trailblazers after a game they had in Los Angeles against the Lakers which they won. He was hoping to get a couple of tickets for the next game. As he approached a scalper, the scalper offered him 2 tickets for $150. The man replied: “Do you realize that you are talking to a plain clothes officer. I’m going to turn you in.” The scalper began to backpedal, talking about how he had a family and didn’t want to get in trouble. The man then said: “Just hand over the tickets and we’ll forget about it… Now get out of here and I don’t want to catch you here again.” The kicker of the story is that the man was not an officer, but just thought fast on his feet of a way to get 2 free tickets to the next playoff game. The scalper had been ripped off!! (Swindoll, “Come Before Winter,” p. 126-127.)
Satan’s strategy is as crafty as this well-dressed man. Satan does not want us in any way to come to know Jesus, and so he waits for his opportunity to pounce on us and keep the seed of God’s word from planting itself in our hearts!
II. Seed on Rocky Ground- (Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21)
a. The seed planted- But there is a second kind of ground on which the
sower casts his seeds, and that is the rocky ground. Now with the rocky ground there is some similarities, and some differences from the path. The similarities: it is hard and not real conducive to growing seeds. The differences: while the path had much soil (even though the soil was hard) the rocky ground, we are told, has little soil. Now planting 101 tells us that you have to have soil to grow seeds. So by simple deduction we can understand that the rocky ground is not the place you want to plant your seeds. You want to have plenty of soil so that as the seed goes into the ground, it will be able to send its roots deep into the ground. When you have shallow soil, you have no place for the roots to go.
Jesus tells us that this kind of person is one who “hears the word and immediately receives it with joy…but it only endures for a while.” Do you know anyone like this? Do you know the kind of people that immerse themselves in something, but get over committed and burned out, and then can’t continue? I know that we all have this tendency in us, but some have a habit of living their lives like this. And so when it comes to receiving the seed of God’s word, they joyfully receive it, the desire is there it seems, they have good intentions, but they just have no long term commitment; they don’t let God’s word root itself in their lives.
Now understand, this is not talking about Christians who get stretched thin doing church work. The people Jesus is talking about here, are non-believers. They aren’t Christians. They might have acted like they believed for a time, but they no longer believe. Jesus Christ has no meaning in their life any more.
b. The seed scorched- Jesus really takes us to the crux of the issue here
in verse 21, where he says, “Yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.”/ I have to tell you that I have seen this happen so many times in regards to our Alpha class. Alpha is our class where we get back to the basics of the Christian faith. It is designed for those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ or who are looking to deepen their understanding. It is designed for people like this because it casually takes you through the important aspects of the Christian faith (Who is Jesus? Why did Jesus have to die? How can I overcome evil? And so on.). So many times people have come 1 or 2 times, and then all these challenges come into their lives. Satan is throwing roadblocks in front of them to keep them from coming back. And unfortunately we see that often times they stop coming!!
Jesus never told us that believing would be easy, or that the Christian life would take away all the troubles of the world. What Jesus did tell us is that He would be with us in the midst of all things. What Jesus did tells us is that He would give us the strength to endure. What Jesus did tell us is that He would work good, out of the bad in our lives. What Jesus did tell us is that He would use us to do great things. But to do all this, we have to stay faithful and we have to endure.
T. F. Buxton once said: “… with ordinary talent and extraordinary
perseverance, all things are attainable.” (Illus. Unlimited, p. 169)
Those whose hearts are like the rocky ground don’t stick around long enough to receive the presence, power, and protection of Jesus, but bail as soon as things don’t go well for them. Because of this, we see them falling away from Jesus. What seemed to be faith is scorched away.
III. Seed among thorns- (Matthew 13:7, 22)
a. The seed planted- The sower continues on/ in Jesus’ story to plant
some more seeds, this time in ground that has many thorns. Now, we all know that sowing seeds in an area of weeds and thorns is not smart; and we will talk about this more in a couple of weeks when we talk about the parable of the wheat and weeds. As little about planting as I know, I still know this much: don’t plant seeds where there are weeds. So to not sell the sower short, we must understand this more. The thorns are not obvious in the ground. It is ground that has probably been weeded, or turned over, but the ground was not fully picked clean of the weeds and thorns. So because of this, in time, the thorns will return, and when they do, they will make it difficult for the seeds to grow. And what is worse, is that weeds and thorns grow quicker than seeds. And so as they grow together, the weeds are so strong that they inhibit the growth of the seeds.
Jesus takes us to the next issue that is challenging to faith. It might surprise us that this issue was even a problem in Jesus’ day, but we can definitely see how it is a problem in our day. It is the issue of caring for the things of the world. It is the issue of caring about the wealth of the world. It is the issue of caring about the material things of the world.
Example- If you have ever watched the show, “Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition,” you know that it is a wonderful show in many ways, because the families they choose to build a new home for are usually families who have suffered a lot. And so by coming and building them a new home, they are showing love, and compassion, and good old fashioned caring. They are trying to bring encouragement and hope back into these people’s lives….At the end of the show when the family comes home to see their newly built house, there is tears, and excitement, and gratitude!! One Sunday as my family was watching, it just struck me that what was bringing them hope was the material aspect of a new home, and it made me wonder if that might give people a false perspective; a false hope. Their hope is in something material, a home, that cannot meet so many other needs that they have.
b. The seed choked- In this case, the word of God, the truth of God, is
coming to the person whose heart is like that of thorny ground. Their heart is like thorny ground because they still have thorns in their heart; they still carry around the sin of the past and the pain of the past and the mindset of the past. They can’t let themselves get past their past (their mind hasn’t been renewed). Their enthusiasm as they receive the word of God is like the turning over of the ground. But the weeds are still there. So as God’s word comes to them, it comes to them in the midst of all the other turmoil that exists in their mind, and so it is hard for them to really hear God’s word and process God’s word.
Now in the first two illustrations, we were talking about non-Christians; people who never gave themselves over to Jesus Christ. But in this case, we are talking about Christians who are right on the verge of bearing fruit, but the thorns keep them from being fruitful. They hear the truth of God, but they can’t fully accept the truth and put into practice the truth because they are still being guided by the sin and the pain of their past. Or they are people who have bought into the idea of the way of the world, going after the wealth and materialism of the world, and thus are taken away from God by these things.
Unfortunately they haven’t trusted Christ enough to give Him their sinful desires, and their pain. They haven’t trusted Christ enough to give Him their worries. They haven’t trusted Christ enough to believe that the things of God (learning how to love unconditionally, being an encouraging person, forgiving others, learning how to praise God with their life), that these things are more meaningful than the wealth of the world. And so these thorns in their life choke out their opportunity to grow and bear fruit for God.
IV. Seed in Good Soil- (Matthew 13:8, 23)
a. The seed planted- Finally in verse 8 the sower’s seed gets to the good
soil. I say finally, because if you are like me, as you listen to this parable, it is disheartening to hear story after story, person after person who is not getting it. And isn’t that true in real life. We attempt to share Jesus with another, and they seem to be hard hearted, or they seem to be shallow, or they seem to be too preoccupied with other things. And yet, we must remind ourselves that there is hope; there are hearts of good soil waiting to hear God’s word and be changed by God’s word. And even more, we must believe that there is a way of preparing the hearts of people, so that they can be moved from hard soil, rocky soil, or thorny soil, and have a heart of good soil. If we don’t believe this, then we don’t believe in the power of God to change a life.
The person who has a heart of good soil is one who understands that he or she doesn’t have it all together. It is the person who understands that life as we know it isn’t an accident, or didn’t happen by chance, but happens by design. It is the person who doesn’t let himself or herself get deceived by the many things of our world that seem satisfying, but their satisfaction is only short-lived. It is the person who understands that worry and stress do us no good, and in fact they actually affect our health and our lives negatively. It is the person who understands that when you are always wanting more, you can never be happy with who you are and what you have now, and therefore you will never be happy. It is the person who understands that there is a creator to all that exists, and that this creator cares about us personally. It is the person who is willing to believe/ even when they don’t understand, because they have experienced, or know people who have experienced God coming through time and time again!!!
b. The seed bears fruit- And what of this person? This person, Jesus says
in verse 23, “… hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” If you have ever had the desire at all to make a difference with your life, Jesus tells us the formula right here: believe the word of God, seek to understand it, and apply it to your life, and you will bear fruit. You will make a difference!! This is the promise of God to you and to me.
This message then is a message of hope. It is a message of hope because it tells us that the harvest is sure. We should never get discouraged, because if we are faithful to plant the seed of God’s word, then in time it will reach the heart of good soil. And even more, by loving others, helping others, befriending others, encouraging others, being there for others, we can cultivate people’s hearts/ so that they will become good soil/ ready to have the seed of God’s word planted in them.
Example- Whenever we have done our Alpha class, the Alpha leaders would meet a couple weeks prior to the start of the class to plan, prepare, and pray. One of the ways we prayed was for the people we believed God would lead us to/ so that we might invite them to the class. I always challenged every one, including myself, to put names on the list of people we want to invite to the class; people God puts on our hearts; whether or not we believe we will have an opportunity to ask them.. I don’t know why I was amazed, because I do believe in prayer, and I do believe that God answers prayer, but I was always amazed at how God brought me to the people on my list. He just gave me one opportunity after another to invite the people on my list!! Now, they didn’t all come, but the point is God gave me opportunities to plant His seeds!!
No farmer expects every seed he plants to germinate and bring forth fruit. However, if the possibility of the seed not producing caused the farmer to get frustrated, then the farmer wouldn’t plant any seeds, and the farmer would have no crop. We can’t let Satan frustrate us by what seems to be unfruitful seeds. We must faithfully, and diligently share the truth of God and the love of God with others, whenever we have the opportunity!
Conclusion: So what should we take away from this parable, this lesson that Jesus lays before us? Well, in verse 9 Jesus says: “Let anyone with ears, listen.” Meaning, that as the people of God, we need to hear these words of Jesus, and put them into practice. When we come across someone who doesn’t know Jesus, or who isn’t faithfully following Jesus, we need to share God’s love with them, and encourage them, and pray that God would mold their hearts into good soil, so that they will hear, believe, follow, and bear fruit. Amen.
posted by Logan's Blog at 11:34 PM
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