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- The sower is Jesus Christ Matthew 13:37
- The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11; Matt. 13:19)
- The ground is the heart of the hearer (Matthew 13:18; Luke 8:12)
The Wayside Heart
- Doesn’t understand, disinterested, devilish activity
- fowls are devils in each parable
- Revelation 18:2 birds attract birds
- No understanding because the traffic is uncontrolled – no filter – busy
- Heart is not applied to know wisdom as Proverbs 2-3 instruct
- its the wayside, constant activity in this area
- A very RELIGIOUS heart sometimes
- words of God of none effect by your tradition.
- Satan (Mark), the wicked one (Matthew), devil (Luke)
- 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2-3
- Complete Bible ignorance: You will run into this VERY often these days if you do any amount of witnessing.
- Pilate, Herod, Pharisees are good examples of this heart
- Saved or unsaved?
- Separate & Protect – If I want to raise a garden, I will dedicate a certain piece of land to it, protect that area, spend time in that area and plant the seeds that I want to harvest.
- Unfortunately, this wayside scattering is the approach of most Christian parents.
- Scatter a little Bible on Sunday morning and cross your fingers hoping something comes of it.
- Dad, control the traffic
The Stony Heart
- Emotional response to the words of God without any change of heart or desire for true righteousness
- Generating and manipulating emotional responses yield these types of false conversions. Why you may see a hundred people go forward at a concert or a pressured service, but you’ll notice that it is the words of God that will cause the split from this group
- this problem is NOT at the surface
- Received with joy and lost when tribulation “for the word’s sake” comes (Matthew & Mark record this phrase)
- What was the problem? No root. (Revelation 5:5, 22:16; Isaiah 11:10; Romans 15:12)
- Jews that welcomed Christ entering Jerusalem then said Crucify him later that week. Simon the Sorcerer would fall into this category too. 1 John 2:18-19; Acts 13:6
- No Root – Jesus Christ not present – Jesus Christ is the root – Isaiah 11:10, Romans 15:12, Revelation 5:5, Revelation 22:16
- Trial, tribulations, temptations weren’t the problem, they just revealed the truth.
The Heart in the Weeds
- The words choked out with worldliness – influences
- Cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches, pleasures of this life, worldly lusts.
- It “becometh unfruitful” indicating that it had the opportunity to bear fruit (Mark 4:19, Luke 8:14). Bearing fruit is its natural state. If a farmer sees his crop not bearing fruit he will try to figure out what is wrong with it because it is natural to bear fruit.
- The soil here is good, but there is competition in the heart
- Common education these days will compete with the words of God
- Bad music will compete with the words of God
- Sports, Celebrity will compete with the words of God
- Demas. 2 Timothy 4:10
- Your time is valuable – particularly as kids get older when the flesh “wakes up” in the teen years and there are more battles your child will be fighting.
The Good Ground
- the soil is well prepared when the seed is planted and fulfills the purpose God has for them
- it takes root, grows and bears fruit in three categories: 30, 60, 100x
- 30x — the 12 disciples
- 60x — Peter, James and John
- 100x — Genesis 26:12 Isaac, this would be John, the closest disciple to the Lord on the earth. Paul would also fall into this.
- the only factor in levels of fruit is the watering and care of the seed and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. (John 15:5)