Matthew 13 (VOICE)
That same day, Jesus left the house and went to sit by
the sea. 2 Large crowds gathered around Him, and He got into a boat
on the sea and sat there. The crowd stood on the shore waiting for His
teaching.
This next sermon series, the third of Jesus’ five
Mosaic-like sermons, is filled with parables or stories with a deeper meaning
about the kingdom of heaven.
3 And so Jesus began to teach. On this day, He
spoke in parables. Here is His first parable:
Jesus: Once there was a sower who scattered seeds. 4 One day he walked in a field scattering seeds as he went. Some seeds fell beside a road, and a flock of birds came and ate all those seeds. 5 So the sower scattered seeds in a field, one with shallow soil and strewn with rocks. But the seeds grew quickly amid all the rocks, 6 without rooting themselves in the shallow soil. Their roots got tangled up in all the stones. The sun scorched these seeds, and they died. 7 And so the sower scattered seeds near a path, this one covered with thorny vines. The seeds fared no better there—the thorns choked them, and they died. 8 And so finally the sower scattered his seeds in a patch of good earth. At home in the good earth, the seeds grew and grew. Eventually the seeds bore fruit, and the fruit grew ripe and was harvested. The harvest was immense—30, 60, 100 times what was sown.
9 He who has ears to hear let him hear.
QUESTION AND ANSWER TIME
Disciples: 10 Why do You speak to the people in
parables?
Jesus: 11 The knowledge of the secrets of heaven
has been given to you, but it has not been given to them. 12 Those
who have something will be given more—and they will have abundance. Those who
have nothing will lose what they have—they will be destitute. 13 I teach in parables
so the people may look but not see, listen but not hear or understand. 14 They
are fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy:
You will listen,
but you will not understand;
you will look, but you will not see.
15 The people’s hearts have turned to flab;
their ears are clogged;
their eyes are shut.
They will try to see, but they will not see;
they will try to hear, but they will not hear;
they will try to understand, but they will not comprehend.
If they, with their blindness and deafness, so choose, then I will heal them.
WAYSIDE
you will look, but you will not see.
15 The people’s hearts have turned to flab;
their ears are clogged;
their eyes are shut.
They will try to see, but they will not see;
they will try to hear, but they will not hear;
they will try to understand, but they will not comprehend.
If they, with their blindness and deafness, so choose, then I will heal them.
WAYSIDE
This is like the seeds sown beside the road, people who hear the word of God and receive it
joyfully—but then, somehow, the word fails to take root in their hearts.
What is the condition of your heart? Please examine it now in order to receive help from Him (JESUS).
What is the condition of your heart? Please examine it now in order to receive help from Him (JESUS).
ROCKY
SOIL
It is temporary. As soon as there is trouble for these
people, they trip.
22 And you know people who hear the word, but it is
choked inside them because they constantly worry and prefer the wealth and
pleasures of the world: they prefer drunken dinner parties to prayer, power
to piety, and riches to righteousness. Those people are like the seeds sown
among thorns.
Have you tended your heart's soil as you should? Or have you allowed something else to compete with the seed?
Have you tended your heart's soil as you should? Or have you allowed something else to compete with the seed?
GOOD SOIL
23 The people who hear the word and receive it and grow
in it—those are like the seeds sown on good soil. They produce a bumper crop,
30 or 60 or 100 times what was sown.
Jesus is still sowing His Word (seed) in ALL hearts thereby giving ALL the opportunity. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God - John 3:18 NKJV.
Those outside the group are not meant to understand the complete Word of God. Thus, one must already be committed to following Jesus to fully understand His message. Without that commitment, one will never fully understand Him or be helped.
I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me for they are Yours John 17:9 NKJV.
PRAYER
Let us pray for God to deliver our hearts from growing dull.
Let us pray for open eyes to see.
Lord, please take away heavy and difficult hearing from us.
Lord, please take away heavy and difficult hearing from us.
Open my understanding and bring about a change of heart, life and relocation
from darkness to light.
We present people on the Calvary ABC1 platform to You for healing and relocation in Jesus' name.
Deliver me from superficial faith of a stony heart that glorifies God in good times but withers under trials.
We present people on the Calvary ABC1 platform to You for healing and relocation in Jesus' name.
Deliver me from superficial faith of a stony heart that glorifies God in good times but withers under trials.
Help me to examine my heart and fully surrender it to
Christ for healing and for taking on His own heart in Jesus' name.
Pray that God will give you a heart of flesh that is tender
to receive the Word, instructions and rebuke from God.
Pray for God to root out all the thorns sharing the nutrients meant for God’s Words in our life.
O God, please come as Gardener and root out every form of thorns that are in competition with your words in my life.
Pray for God to root out all the thorns sharing the nutrients meant for God’s Words in our life.
O God, please come as Gardener and root out every form of thorns that are in competition with your words in my life.
