Luke 8:4-15 - The sower parable.
A parable is a story based on eaert that has a heavenly meaning.
"And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: 'A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit and hundrefold.' And when he had said these things, he cried, 'He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.' And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, ' Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The see is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell mong thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring not fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."
Vrs 4 - I think of this as a church, so many people from all over gatherd together to hear Him. I'm going to ask you to pay attention to what God has to say to us today. I want you to focus on that.
Vrs 5 - The sowing of the seed is the word of God. He wants us to sow our seed- witness to others, share your testimony. You might meet someone who has never heard anything that has to do with the word of God. It's up to us to lead them to God and help them find their way to God by sharing your testimony with the lost. When you come to know Jesus and become saved, it's a life changing event.
We need to tell everyone we come in contact with about our testimony with Jesus. It's up to us to sow the seed of God's word. God prepares the ground when we go to witness to someone. He's already cultivated that ground in their heart to accept your "seed." But there's those that won't allow that 'seed' to grow. It's not up to us to save anyone, because we can't save anyone, only Jesus can.
Not everyone understands the parable but Jesus explains it starting in verse 10.
You don't ahve to share the word of God to people overseas. There's a missionfield right here in our town. That's our ground that God has prepared for us to sow our seeds.
Vrs 12 - There's those that will hear the word, will believe, but just before they get sowed, satan comes and takes their word from their hearts to keep the seed from growing. He wants you to fall short of the glory and to not be saved. How many times has that happened to us? How many times have you listened to the preacher on Sundays but the next day can't remember what the title of the message even was. I've been guilty of that. That's what the devil does. He doesn't want people to be saved and come to know Jesus Christ. He won't bother you at all if you're not doing God's will.
Vrs 13 - These people hear the word, gain small roots, and will believe for a while, but will lose their way. This happens to a lot of christians today. We should work dilligently to help those who hear and believe, help to grow their roots and stay in Jesus. They want to keep the joy in their hearts, but need help. Don't let your heart by hardened, make sure there's moisture to grow the word of God
We need to be helping these new christians, praying without ceasing for them, bringing them to church, etc., so that their ground can be tilled and their roots can grow.
Vrs 14 - Have you ever tried to do the lord's work in some way and all of a sudden, the world pounces on you and all of a sudden you lose the drive to continue on that path? The world will make you wealthy on the outside but starving on the inside. We have to help bring forth fruit with these people. If you let the world take over your life, you'll be choked out of living a christain life. Don't let the world determine how your relationship with Jesus is suppose to be. It's not up to the world. It's ukp to you and Jesus. You have to seek Him.
Vrs 15 - They struggled, fought the fight, ran the race, but always brought forth fruit. When you bring forth fruit for Jesus it's not the quantity it's the quality. Even if it's only one person that found Jesus because of your relationship with Him, then you have earned His blessings.
We serve a king, He's prepared a mansion for you. There should be joy and excitement in your heart. Don't let the world take your joy out of your heart.
God can make good ground anywhere He wants to.