Good News Digest
Edition #74 - September 19, 2012 The Parable of the Sower - Mark 4:1-29 I grew up on a farm and I clearly remember my Dad sowing wheat into properly prepared fields. Most of the time he used a grain drill which ploughed a small furrow in the ground and then deposited a few grains  of wheat a few inches under the ground every few inches. At other times he would use a method called broadcasting which utilized a fertilizer spreader to fling the seeds out 15 or 20 feet in both directions. Click sowing for a comparison of these two ways of planting. In Jesus' time broadcasting was the only method available and in the "parable of the sower" He referred to this method to illustrate the sowing of the Word of God to that farm oriented society. The main point Jesus was making was that sowing the Word of God was exactly like sowing grain in the field. You can click on the link at the top to get the full story in context but I will start with Mark 4:14 - The Sower soweth the Word. In the same way a farmer broadcasts grain Jesus is generous in sowing the Word. He sows it everywhere and, like with the farmer, there are four types of ground into which the seed falls: 1) By the wayside 2) Stony ground 3) Thorny ground & 4) Good ground. The Word seed sown by the wayside represents people who are not committed to hearing the Word and so it is easy for Satan to come and steal the Word from them so it has no affect. Seed sown on thorny ground represents people whose hearts are stony or  hardened and they have no depth of receptivity and the Word does not take root and soon dies. Seed sown among thorns represents people who hear the Word but are too involved in worldly things and they are deceived by the pursuit of riches which chokes out the Word and it becomes "unfruitful". Seed sown in good ground represents people who are hungry for the Word and receive it eagerly and, just like in good soil, their hearts have been prepared ahead of time so it immediately "germinates" and produces fruit, "some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold". Mark 4:20. Jesus further adds, in MK. 4:23-25, that you should take heed how you hear the Word because how well you hear it will determine how much you receive from Him and the more you receive the more you will get but if you won't receive His teaching even what you already know about His ways will be taken from you. Jesus concludes in MK. 4:26-29, with the fact that in the Kingdom of God is just like a farmer sowing seed in the ground. He sows it and then goes about his other business while the seed springs up and grows but he doesn't know how because the earth grows things by itself. First there is a little blade, then there's the stalk, and finally the grain appears. Then the farmer gets out his combine and harvests the wheat because it is harvest time. So it is with the Word of God. Listen carefully. Hal Mitchell Ready Writer Ministries PS Don't forget to click on Great is Thy Faithfulness in the sidebar on the left for a wonderful rendition by Cece Wynans. You will be blessed! | 
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