Parable of the sower
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18 "Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:
19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil
one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and
at once receives it with joy.
21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes
because of the word, he quickly falls away.
22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word,
but the worries of this life and the de-ceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and
understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Every time you are confronted with God’s Word, there is the pos-sibility of positive change in
your life. Whenever you hear a ser-mon, or open your Bible, you have an opportunity to benefit
from God’s wisdom and from His life giving Word.
God’s Word is the seed. You are the soil. You determine what kind of soil you are. You can be
the kind that rejects the seed, or you can be the kind that lets the seed take root and grow.
The unreceptive soil
19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil
one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
· Come to church, hear some of the sermon, and think, “Oh, I don’t need this one. This
applies to someone else.” (I wish my neighbor was here to hear this one.)
· Or maybe sit in church and have mind on something else.
· Or read the Bible but just do it out of duty and not really hear what it says. (You know how
you can talk to someone but they are not really listening.)
The hard ground
20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and
at once receives it with joy.
21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes
because of the word, he quickly falls away.
· They hear the sermon, or read a passage of scripture and get ex-cited about it, and think it
is the greatest thing they ever heard. But soon they have gone on to something else because
they didn’t let it get deep enough into their spirit.
· The Bible words are not just good ideas – they are words from God – instruction and
inspiration from the Creator. They should be considered with care and treated as essential.
· Don’t let your heart get hard. If it does, you will not receive God’s life giving Word.
· Illus. - (Friend who wouldn’t pray because he didn’t want to hear what God had to say.)
The soil with weeds
22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word,
but the worries of this life and the de-ceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
· They hear it, they accept it, but then they forget it or dismiss it because they have too
many other things on their minds. The Word gets put aside and soon forgotten. They probably
intend to go back to it and do something with it, but it is not a priority.
· If God’s Word is not top priority, it will be too late when you fi-nally get around to it. If you
do not act on it immediately, it will fade from your mind and you will forget it.
· Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, de-ceiving your own selves.
(AV)
· The real danger here is that if you keep hearing the Word, but do not act on it and follow it,
you will think you are doing it when you are not. You will deceive yourself into thinking that, just
because you heard the Word, you are doing it.
The good soil
23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and
understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Comes to church, takes notes, thinks about the sermon later, stud-ies to apply it to their life.
Prayer – repentance for careless attitude toward God’s Word.
19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil
one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and
at once receives it with joy.
21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes
because of the word, he quickly falls away.
22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word,
but the worries of this life and the de-ceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and
understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Every time you are confronted with God’s Word, there is the pos-sibility of positive change in
your life. Whenever you hear a ser-mon, or open your Bible, you have an opportunity to benefit
from God’s wisdom and from His life giving Word.
God’s Word is the seed. You are the soil. You determine what kind of soil you are. You can be
the kind that rejects the seed, or you can be the kind that lets the seed take root and grow.
The unreceptive soil
19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil
one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
· Come to church, hear some of the sermon, and think, “Oh, I don’t need this one. This
applies to someone else.” (I wish my neighbor was here to hear this one.)
· Or maybe sit in church and have mind on something else.
· Or read the Bible but just do it out of duty and not really hear what it says. (You know how
you can talk to someone but they are not really listening.)
The hard ground
20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and
at once receives it with joy.
21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes
because of the word, he quickly falls away.
· They hear the sermon, or read a passage of scripture and get ex-cited about it, and think it
is the greatest thing they ever heard. But soon they have gone on to something else because
they didn’t let it get deep enough into their spirit.
· The Bible words are not just good ideas – they are words from God – instruction and
inspiration from the Creator. They should be considered with care and treated as essential.
· Don’t let your heart get hard. If it does, you will not receive God’s life giving Word.
· Illus. - (Friend who wouldn’t pray because he didn’t want to hear what God had to say.)
The soil with weeds
22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word,
but the worries of this life and the de-ceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
· They hear it, they accept it, but then they forget it or dismiss it because they have too
many other things on their minds. The Word gets put aside and soon forgotten. They probably
intend to go back to it and do something with it, but it is not a priority.
· If God’s Word is not top priority, it will be too late when you fi-nally get around to it. If you
do not act on it immediately, it will fade from your mind and you will forget it.
· Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, de-ceiving your own selves.
(AV)
· The real danger here is that if you keep hearing the Word, but do not act on it and follow it,
you will think you are doing it when you are not. You will deceive yourself into thinking that, just
because you heard the Word, you are doing it.
The good soil
23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and
understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Comes to church, takes notes, thinks about the sermon later, stud-ies to apply it to their life.
Prayer – repentance for careless attitude toward God’s Word.