Good Soil
Full text: Mark 4:1-20
Main foci: Mark 4:3-9, 15-20
Preaching Outline, by Sterling C. Franklin
Introduction – Some people are more fertile than others...in receiving the Word. In Mark 4:1-20, Jesus presents four different types of soils, or audiences to the Word of God, with only one type being preferable – the Good Soil.
Proposition – Learning from Jesus' Parable of the Sower, our hearts ought to be as Good Soil, causing the Word of God to bear much fruit through our lives.
Organizational Sentence – Jesus lists four types of soil in the Parable of the Sower and His explanation of it, and we are to model only one – the Good Soil – which bears much fruit.
I. Seeds Falling Alongside the Path [little to no soil] (4)
----- A. Earthly Explanation – Birds came and ate the seeds up (4).
----- B. Spiritual Explanation
---------- 1. Human response: Hearing but not receiving (15).
---------- 2. Result: Satan steals the Word away (15).
II. Seeds Falling on Rocky Soil (5-6)
----- A. Earthly Explanation
---------- 1. The plant sprang up quickly (5).
---------- 2. The plant was scorched by the sun, causing it to wither (6).
----- B. Spiritual Explanation
---------- 1. Human response: Joyfully receiving the Word with shallow roots (16).
---------- 2. Result: They fall away due to troubles and trials (17).
III. Seeds Falling Among Thorns (7)
----- A. Earthly Explanation – The plant is choked by the thorns (7).
----- B. Spiritual Explanation
---------- 1. Human response: Worrying and focusing on earthly matters (19).
---------- 2. Result: The Word is choked by worldly things (19).
IV. Seeds Falling on Good Soil (
----- A. Earthly Explanation – The seeds produced a massive crop (.
----- B. Spiritual Explanation
---------- 1. Human response: Hearing the Word and accepting it (20).
---------- 2. Result: The Word bears much fruit (20).
Application
What type of soil are you? We are to strive to make the Word fruitful by being open to the Word and accepting it. Thus, we need to model the Good Soil. Possible responses – checking the Word as the Bereans (Acts 18), hearing and doing the Word (James 1:22), spreading the Word to all nations (Matthew 28:19-20), and even taking notes in church.
