Matthew 13:1-23 (NKJV)
This chapter contains 7 parables about the kingdom of God.
*******
After the Lord Jesus Christ had told the parable of the sower, He told the 12 and a wider group of disciples the reason that He spoke in parables.
*******
He told these stories not with the intention to make His message clearer to the hearers.
It was to conceal the meaning of His message from them as a judgment from God.
*******
The Lord Jesus Christ explained the meaning of the parables to His disciples, but not to the crowds.
*******
In the parable of the sower, the crucial factor is not the seed.
It is the ground in which the seed is sown.
The state of the ground determines the fate of the seed.
*******
In this parable, the seed is the word of God.
*******
The preaching and teaching of God's word must take first place in the work of the kingdom.
*******
If we neglect our private reading and meditation of God's word, or if we attend a church where the Bible is not faithfully taught, we will be weak and unstable in our Christian life.
*******
The word of God falls on different types of heart.
*******
The 'wayside' hearers does not understand God's word and Satan snatches it away from his heart.
*******
The 'stony places' hearer has a shallow heart.
Though there is an appearance of new life in Christ, there is no depth and his profession of faith soon evaporates when trouble comes.
*******
The 'thorns' hearer has a worldly heart that chokes the word of God so that it becomes unfruitful.
*******
The 'good ground' hearer is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces.
*******
What kind of ground do your heart provide for the word of God as you hear it taught week by week?
Do you seek to understand it?
Are you shallow or worldly?
*******
If we want to bear precious spiritual fruit in our lives, we must make every effort to prepare ourselves to hear God's word each Lord' Day.
*******
To obtain the best from preaching, we must come to services fresh in body and in mind.
We must come with a prayerful and submissive heart.
This chapter contains 7 parables about the kingdom of God.
*******
After the Lord Jesus Christ had told the parable of the sower, He told the 12 and a wider group of disciples the reason that He spoke in parables.
*******
He told these stories not with the intention to make His message clearer to the hearers.
It was to conceal the meaning of His message from them as a judgment from God.
*******
The Lord Jesus Christ explained the meaning of the parables to His disciples, but not to the crowds.
*******
In the parable of the sower, the crucial factor is not the seed.
It is the ground in which the seed is sown.
The state of the ground determines the fate of the seed.
*******
In this parable, the seed is the word of God.
*******
The preaching and teaching of God's word must take first place in the work of the kingdom.
*******
If we neglect our private reading and meditation of God's word, or if we attend a church where the Bible is not faithfully taught, we will be weak and unstable in our Christian life.
*******
The word of God falls on different types of heart.
*******
The 'wayside' hearers does not understand God's word and Satan snatches it away from his heart.
*******
The 'stony places' hearer has a shallow heart.
Though there is an appearance of new life in Christ, there is no depth and his profession of faith soon evaporates when trouble comes.
*******
The 'thorns' hearer has a worldly heart that chokes the word of God so that it becomes unfruitful.
*******
The 'good ground' hearer is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces.
*******
What kind of ground do your heart provide for the word of God as you hear it taught week by week?
Do you seek to understand it?
Are you shallow or worldly?
*******
If we want to bear precious spiritual fruit in our lives, we must make every effort to prepare ourselves to hear God's word each Lord' Day.
*******
To obtain the best from preaching, we must come to services fresh in body and in mind.
We must come with a prayerful and submissive heart.
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