Introduction

Hello Church! Did you know that according to the book, The Millionaire Next Door, most millionaires are neither flashy nor drive expensive cars? They tend to shop at JC Penney and live below their means.

Also, not long ago, a study showed that 95% of millionaires are first-generation wealthy, meaning they did not inherit their wealth or millionaire status. They weren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They started in the low or middle class and over time worked their way into the millionaire category.

Millionaire status is a transitory status. A large number of millionaires this year will not be millionaires next year, due to changes in their employment, their business, market conditions, or personal financial decisions. In other words, there are great fluctuations in the millionaire category. People are mobile. They move in and out of this category. It’s not “once you’re in, you’re in forever.” Not at all. It’s transitory, not permanent.

Over the long term, depending on financial habits, education, discipline, and situations, a lot of people can attain millionaire status, and a lot of people can lose their millionaire status.

But we are not talking about money today! So why do I mention this? I want to emphasize the point that we “normal” people are also transitory. Our life situations fluctuate, from our finances to our relationships to our impact on the world around us.

All of us go through different seasons and we shouldn’t permanently label ourselves because of one bad season. And, we shouldn’t categorize other people if they have one bad chapter (or more) in their life story either. The hope of the gospel is that God seeks us until we are found. He redeems our mistakes. He heals our brokenness. He forgives our sins. He meets us in one chapter of our lives and then starts a brand new chapter.

We’re going to look at a teaching of Jesus today called The Parable of the Sower, found in Matthew 13. In this parable Jesus describes four types of responses to the message of the kingdom of God. Four types of responses, four types of people, four things to expect.

And I want to make clear, right off the bat, that there is great hope for everyone in this parable. There is great hope for everyone no matter what chapter they are currently in. No matter what they believe about God today. No matter how hard-hearted they are or how busy and distracted they are. No matter how much sin has damaged their life. That might describe their season today, but that doesn’t have to be their season tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be the next chapter of their life. Their status today is a transitory status.

And of course I’m not just talking about “them” but I’m talking about us, too. There is great hope for you today if you are stuck in some sin or addiction. If you are angry at God, or have been wounded by someone who calls themselves a Christian. Or if you’re just doubtful that God even exists or maybe even if you’re bored with church and Christianity. There is hope for all of us today. None of us are beyond the reach of God’s truth and love. Jesus Christ meets us in one chapter of our lives and then starts a brand new chapter.

There is great hope for everyone no matter what chapter they are currently in.

Main Teaching

Read Matthew 13:1-9

The first thing we notice here is that Jesus is talking about four types of soil. That is, four types of responses to the message of the kingdom. Four types of people.

Some people are like the path (13:4), where they hear the message of the kingdom but they don’t understand it (13:19).

Other people are like the rocky soil, where they hear the message and they receive it with joy, but when trouble or persecution comes, they fall away (13:20-21).

Other people are like the weed and thorn-infested soil (13:7), who hear the word, receive it, but are so choked by the worries of this life that the message becomes unfruitful (13:22).

And finally, some people are like “good soil” and hear the message of the kingdom, understand it, and “produce a crop yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown” (13:8) ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium