The Sower and The Seed

 
The Sower and The Seed By Pastor Dan Kennedy © August 25, 2013 www.pastorkennedy.com We, in our generations, have become our own “Creator” • We build our homes from designs that our minds have imagined, from materials that we have fabricated. • We drive ourselves to work, to our high-rise office buildings, which human architects have constructed, commuting in vehicles riveted and welded together by robots that we have manufactured to do our bidding. • We grow hybrid food that we have manipulated to resist disease and become more attractive to our particular specifications. • We interact digitally with others through wireless, computerized communication and social media that we have “discovered” and have triumphantly manipulated for our own personal and financial gain. Our Generations have become the “Masters of our own Fate” and the demigods of our own fantasized, conceptualized and digitized universe. In recent generations we have enjoyed all of our assets, private dwellings, intuitive businesses, innovations, inventions, institutions, wealth, clubs, and digital social societies. But, we have all but forgotten and critically diminished The One who is the Original Creator of the immensely complex and living Universe around us…The One who gave us our wealth and digital highways. Our Creator is often no longer a valuable – or even necessary part, of our world, our “modern” society, and our own intimate lives, when we “swaddle” ourselves in our own creations. Whether or not we recognize the reality and Person of our Creator is inconsequential to the reality of His Existence – we don’t have to acknowledge His Existence. He is there whether we want Him to be, or not! He is the One who gave us our life. “He is there, and He is not Silent.” Creation calls to us in the silent universal language of God Himself! “I am Here!” His Creation declares! We counter His Voice with, “No, You are not here; we are alone on this fantastic, amazing planet – that originated from itself, from “nothing”! We are our own creator!” “Creation Calls”: an excellent video http://vimeo.com/17507512 How Excellent and Universal is the Incomparable Speech of God’s
Awesome Creation! Creation is God’s Language! Creation is God’s Language revealed clearly to every person in the world! Those with eyes to see and ears to hear, revel in the Glory of their Creator’s Majestic Beauty and Undeniable Voice. Those, whose minds become calloused and hardened through selfish, willful and carnal choice, find their eyes become blind and their ears deafened to no longer hear 
 God’s obvious Creation Voice calling them to spiritual sanity, faith and Salvation. These will not always have the luxury of choosing to be blind and deaf. They will one day see very clearly and hear every word when they meet He who is their Sovereign Maker, not as Savior, but as Judge.
 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1:19–20 ESV Four Reasons Why We Reach Out To Others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ: 1. There is an Almighty and All-Powerful God, • Who Created all things, • Who knows all things, • Who will justly Judge everyone, and • Who is the One to whom everyone is accountable. 2. All of mankind have rejected God’s Laws and have sinned against Him. We must be reconciled to God before we can truly know Him, have fellowship with Him, and live with Him eternally in Heaven. 3. God has provided a way whereby sinful mankind can be reconciled with Him – through the extreme Sacrifice of Jesus’ atoning Blood.  4. Those who receive God’s gift of Eternal Life and are born into His Spiritual Family, have been reconciled to God and are commissioned by God to share with others, His Message of Salvation and Reconciliation through Jesus Christ. (Following Christ’s Resurrection from the dead) Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18–20 Today, we are reviewing the parable that Jesus spoke to the crowds, but explained to His disciples. These four examples reveal to us the four types of people with whom we will be sharing the Gospel of Christ. The Parable of the Sower - Matthew 13:1–23 • The Hardened Path – the place where a majority of people were walking caused the ground to be unreceptive to God’s seed…the Seed was snatched away (Matt. 13:3-4). o The birds stole the Seed. • The Rocky Ground – the Seed was critically inhibited from growth because of the shallow soil (Matt. 13:5-6). o The plant sprang up quickly because of the shallow soil, but when the sun came out it scorched the plant and it withered quickly because of lack of depth of soil. • The Thorny Ground – the Seed was critically inhibited from growth because it was choked out (Matt. 13:7). o The thorns overtook the tender plants and choked them out taking vital nutrients from the soil, while viciously competing for the rain and sunshine leaving (as weeds do) little for the plant to produce a vital crop. • The “Miracle Grow” Top Soil, well-prepared Ground – the Seed produces a great productive harvest as a result of being planted in good fertile soil (Matt. 13:8). o An amazingly good harvest – some 100 times what was planted, some 60, and some 30! Matthew 13:1–23 13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” 10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” 11 He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. 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 deceitfulness 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.” Christ’s Explanation of the Parable of the Sower • The Hardened Path – the Seed snatched away. o “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.” v. 19 • The Rocky Ground – the Seed critically inhibited from growth because of the shallow soil. o “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. 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.” vs. 20-21 • The Thorny Ground – the Seed critically inhibited from growth because of being choked out. o “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 deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” v. 22 • The “Miracle Grow” Top Soil, well-prepared Ground – the Seed produces amazingly productive harvest as a result of being planted in good fertile soil. o “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.” v. 23 Conclusion • On this wide, well trodden, hardened path of life many people see and hear, but they do not understand; instead, they avoid perceiving God’s Voice in Creation and hearing God’s Word when it is presented to them. Then Satan snatches away the good Seed before it can even take root. (The Hardened Path) • Some people “believe in God”, but when they face testing, pressure and trial, because of the shallowness of their newly found faith, it causes them to discard what they, for a moment, have spiritually comprehended to be true. (The Rocky Ground) • The Seed of some people’s faith is crowded out by worry, anxiety and the deceitfulness of riches, which choke out the growth of their faith making it unfruitful. (The Thorny Ground) • Some people hear and understand God’s Word and it becomes a deep and abiding life to them, and through their testimony, the Seed of the Word of God also becomes a great and abundant life and hope for many. (The Well-Prepared Ground) In our desire to reach out to others, we must remember the parable of The Sower and The Seed. As we grow in our Christian life, we also grow in vital reality with God and in our ability to sow the Seed of God’s Word in the lives of others. As we sow, Jesus reveals to us the four types of individuals who respond to The Seed: The Hardened Path The Rocky Soil The Weed-infested Soil The Good Soil http://www.pastorkennedy.comhttp://vimeo.com/17507512shapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1