Phil continued our series on the Kingdom of God, looking at the familiar parable of the Sower.
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Jesus Disciples asked, “Why do you speak in parables?”
Jesus replied “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you and not to them”
i.e. secrets of the kingdom are the nature of the rule of God over individuals and the community of God
Sometimes Jesus spoke in code and he used parables to do this not only to reveal truth but also to conceal it
Matthew 13 v 1- 9 Parable of the sower
Of course the disciples do not understand so Jesus has to explain
Part 1 the sower and his seed
1. The Sower
Represents Jesus but also every faithful preacher/sharer of the Good news of the kingdom
2. The seed
The good word of the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven
• Its Gods seed
• Its Good seed
• Nothing wrong with the message
Our responsibility
• Sow seed everywhere
• Not the seed it’s self, although we must not dilute the message of the kingdom to make it more attractive
• Not the ground it falls on
How
• Our own story, what difference has the message of the kingdom made in your live
• Can you do it in 3 minutes?
• Jesus story
• The diagram Carly taught to us
• A bible story of hope
• Offering to pray
Phil Moore – “Unless we sow what Gods Gives us we will never reap what God Promises us”
What we preach is what we get superficial or a selective Gospel only produces superficial or partial converts, initially they respond quickly with joy, but soon will fall away and in future much less likely to respond to the true Gospel.
Part 2 – The ground
When this parable is preach most concentrate on the types of ground in the story, I want to briefly look at this from Mark 4 v 14 - 20
Various soils represent the human hearts of people
Inhospitable Hearts in the story gradually become more receptive
I. The Path
Hard hearts
Seed cannot germinate
Its taken away and eaten by the birds
II. Rocky Ground
Immediately received with Joy
But no root
Seem to do well for a while
When difficulties come, trials, tribulation or persecution on account of the word they fall away
III. The Thorns
They have heard the word, and responded
Soon the cares of this world
The deceitfulness of riches
The lusts and desires of the flesh
All goes to choke the words and leads to unfruitfulness
IV. The Good soil
Hear the word
Accept the word
Bear fruit of the word
So which one are you?
What's your soil like?
You cannot share what you have not got
Col 3 v 16 - Let the word of God dwell in you richly
Phil 2 v 16 – Holding fast to the word of Life
1 Jn 2 v 14 – and the word of God abides in you
Conclusion
We have good seed to sow both in our own lives and the lives of others, let’s not waste what wonderful truth and we have been given
In this secular world where every truth of the word is being challenged we must know the truth, live by the truth, be set free by the truth to share the truth when and where ever we can
Questions
1) How confident are you at sharing the Good News of the kingdom?
2) What hinders you and how can you overcome it? Some things that may be issues Disappointment, fear, not sure how to do it,
3) Can you share your story in 3 minutes? (1 minute before you knew Jesus, 1 minute what God did, 1 minute what's changed in your life). Will need lots of practice, maybe you could have a go at this over the next few weeks with one another.
4) How do you know if the word of God is bearing fruit in you, what are the signs of fruitfulness and growing in knowledge and experience of the truth? If it's not what do you think the cause maybe?
