Giving
Welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
This week we start a new study focusing on some of Jesus’ great parables, it is titled The Parables of Jesus Continue to Speak.
Today we are talking about The Parable of the Sower.
Text
Luke 8:8 AMP
8 And some fell into good soil, and grew up and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.”
Scripture Reading
Luke 8:4-15 AMP
Parable of the Sower
4 When a large crowd was gathering together, and people from city after city were coming to Him, He spoke [to them] using a parable:
5 “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road and it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the sky ate it up.
6 And some seed fell on [shallow soil covering] the rocks, and as soon as it sprouted, it withered away, because it had no moisture.
7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out.
8 And some fell into good soil, and grew up and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.”
9 Now His disciples began asking Him what this parable meant.
10 And He said, “To you [who have been chosen] it has been granted to know and recognize the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that though seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.
11 “Now [the meaning of] the parable is this: The seed is the word of God [concerning eternal salvation].
12 Those beside the road are the people who have heard; then the devil comes and takes the message [of God] away from their hearts, so that they will not believe [in Me as the Messiah] and be saved.
13 Those on the rocky soil are the people who, when they hear, receive and welcome the word with joy; but these have no firmly grounded root. They believe for a while, and in time of trial and temptation they fall away [from Me and abandon their faith].
14 The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, but as they go on their way they are suffocated with the anxieties and riches and pleasures of this life, and they bring no fruit to maturity.
15 But as for that seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word with a good and noble heart, and hold on to it tightly, and bear fruit with patience.
Prayer
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
Our understanding of the parable of the sower will be largely determined by our background.
Those with an agricultural background have a real advantage.
Jesus is describing a man sowing seed in a relatively small field.
He plants the seeds a handful at a time by throwing them over the field.
Thus he does not have complete control over every seed, and the seeds fall in various places with differing kinds of soil.
Jesus sets forth two major emphases.
- The first emphases is placed on the Word of God.
In Luke 8:11 Jesus said, “The seed is the word of God”.
- We notice throughout the parable that the seeds are all the same kind.
They are all the Word of God.
The only difference is the kind of soil on which they fall.
To grasp this idea, it is necessary for us to fix in our mind the description of the sower as presented in the introduction.
B. We also notice throughout the parable that the same person is doing the sowing.
In the Scripture passage, the sower is Jesus.
In modern times, the sower is anyone who proclaims the Word.
2. The second emphasis is placed on hearing the Word of God.
- The parable places responsibility on the one who hears.
In modern times, far too much emphasis is placed on the one who proclaims and not enough on the one who hears.
B. Jesus describes four types of people who respond to the Word.
- The first group are those who are illustrated by the seeds falling on a trodden path.
Here the solution is given in a nutshell.
Hear!
Believe!
Be saved!
This type of people can hear with the physical ear, but that is the extent of their hearing.
Satan immediately takes the Word away so that they may not believe and be saved.
2. The second group are those illustrated by the seeds falling on the shallow soil.
The shallow soil is that which has rock a few centimetres below the top soil.
The seeds sprout quickly but have no place to put down strong roots.
Jesus used these words to describe those who receive the Word with emotional excitement and superficial enthusiasm but shortly thereafter fall away to outside testing and temptations.
3. The third group are those that are illustrated by the seeds falling among thorns.
This is a description of people who hear the Word and give the appearance that everything is great and in a short time are distracted by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures and do not mature.
4. The fourth group are those who are illustrated by the seeds falling on good soil.
The soil told about here is well prepared.
Such people hear the Word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Jesus wants the Word to fall on this kind of soil.
Conclusion.
Verse 8 says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.”
We need to take responsibility for what we do with God’s Word.
We need to be faithful in seeing that it produces a good crop within us, and we also need to be diligent in sowing the Word so that others may receive it.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
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Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
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