Seeds

Seeds

PPT 1 Message Title

PPT 2 main text

Mr 4:26 And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;

Mr 4:27 and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows — how, he himself does not know.

Mr 4:28 "The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

Mark 4 3 parables about seeds.

The first is about human responsibility. The second is about the divine power inside the seed, and the third is about the incredible increase of the seed.

I am only going to go over two, and not talk about the third today.

A parable is a story that is used to illustrate a truth.

For example the truth Jesus is teaching in the first parable is that not everyone responds to the bible in the same way. To illustrate that truth He tells the parable of the sower.

Jesus talks about the type of soil in which the seed is received will determine the effectiveness and yield of the crop.

In this parable there is no mention of plowing, no watering, no fertilizing. Because the emphasis is on the type of soil, not the care of the farmer.

Some places because the seed is unable to penetrate the soil there will be no crop at all (Explain), some places it will grow but because it is among the weeds, the weeds will steal the nutrients and kill it. (Explain) Some will grow on rocky soil, spring up quickly, but because there is little dirt under it, where there is little dirt, there is little moisture, the plant in the hot sun will die of dehydration. (Explain) The fourth type of seed is in good soil and grows and reproduces wonderfully. The overall message of that parable is what type of soil are you? The same seed produces different results, the difference is the soil.

PPT 3 text

Mr 4:20 "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

In Luke's gospel he further explains that the good soil is a good and noble heart.

But I can find a second message in there, and that is about the crazy farmer.

He threw seed everywhere seemingly wasting it, in the thorns, the rocks, by the walkway.

Who plants seeds in the thorns? On the rocky soil? - Jesus does, that's who.

He is not willing that any should perish.

(Note to pastor's at this point in the sermon I began throwing seeds around some of the corners and obscure places around the pulpit then from behind a corner I pulled out a plant and said, "will would you look at that, this seed grew in the most unlikely of places)

God will sow in places where there is no logical hope for growth. We should be like our heavenly Father and sow into lives that in the natural it seems like a waste of time. God's seed is capable of springing up anywhere

There is also a third message I can find in this parable:

Message to us: you don't need a Ph.D. in plant biology to plant seeds. Just scatter them.

Illus: $150,000 farm tractor with 4 migrant workers on the back dropping seeds. The machine can do it much better. The heavenly farmer doesn't really need us, He could do it better all by Himself, but He chooses to let us have a part. Not simply let but He has hired us = responsibility!

Does it really matter how good you are at throwing them? Do you have to be able spin them just so for them to grow? (Illus with fanciful seed throwing, ) No just throw them around. Throw them everywhere and anywhere!

Life is in the seed, and the soil, not the sower. Trust the seed. Stop worrying about how good a sower you are. Isn't that a liberating thought?

So the first parable is primarily about human responsibility, as shown in the different conditions of the soil.

The second parable is about the inherent power God has placed in a seed.

PPT 4 text

Mr 4:26 And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;

Mr 4:27 and goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts up and grows — how, he himself does not know.

Mr 4:28 "The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

When this parable was written man had no idea how a seed grows. We do know there are certain conditions that are necessary for seed growth and they are: