LUKE 8:4-8 

“GUARDING SOIL

LUKE 8:9-10

Assumptions block connection. 

If you don’t understand the key to the parable, you don’t understand it at all. We can imagine what different people in Jesus’ audience might have thought when He taught this parable with no explanation. The farmer thought, “He’s telling me that I have to be more careful in the way I cast my seed. I guess I have wasted an awful lot.” The politician thought, “He’s telling me that I need to begin a farm education program to help farmers more efficiently cast their seed. This will be a big boost in my reelection campaign.” The newspaper reporter thought, “He’s telling me that there is a big story here about the bird problem and how it affects the farming community. That’s a great idea for a series in the newspaper.” The salesman thought, “He’s encouraging me in my fertilizer sales. Why, I could help that farmer more than he knows if he only used my product.” But none of them could understand the spiritual meaning until Jesus explained the key to them. If you miss the key, you miss the whole parable. If you think the seed represent money, you miss the parable. If you think the seed represents love, you miss the parable. If you think the seed represents hard work, you miss the parable. You can only understand it by understanding the key

WE ROB OURSELVES FROM A CONNECTION WITH GOD WHEN WE ASSUME THE MEANING OF HIS WORD.

‘When they look, they won’t really see.
     When they hear, they won’t understand.”

“Every moment in God’s word is an opportunity to connect” Do you see God’s word in that way or do you see it as a chore or a mystery that you have to figure out on your own. The motivation of our heart towards God’s word is important because Jesus literally tells us it’s the posture of our heart that opens the door to understanding God’s word. Amen?

LUKE 8:11-15 

Every single seed has the ability to produce a huge harvest. 

THE ISSUE IS NOT WITH THE SEED; IT’S WITH THE SOIL. 

THE FOOTPATH

GOD’S WORD + HARD HEART = NO UNDERSTANDING 

THE ROCK

“There was something that they did not have in connection with the spirit of God, who waters the word. When we speak of spiritual dew, we refer to the operation of the Holy Spirit. When we talk of the river of the water of life, we mean those sacred things which come streaming down to us from the throne of God through the working of the Spirit of God.”

GOD’S WORD + STRIVING HEART = NO POWER

THE THORNS

GOD’S WORD + DISTRACTED HEART = STUNTED GROWTH

THE GOOD GROUND

GOD’S WORD + PURE HEART = GROWTH 

GOD’S WORD GROWS IN GUARDED HEART

PROVERBS 4:23 

Check-Heart Status

• Is my heart hard or soft? (Do I really want to understand?) 

• Is my heart dry? (Am I relying on the Holy Spirit’s help or my own?)

• Is my heart choked out? (Am I distracted?) 

• Is my heart pure? (Am I willing to hear, trust, obey, and be patient?)