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Mark 4:1-20
Chapter 4
The Parable of the Sower
1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. In this parable Jesus explains that growth comes from the operation of the word of god in your life, but you have to guard your heart because Satan will try to prevent you from receiving or retaining the word. The first thing Jesus says you need to guard against is in verse 15 where he says Satan comes immediately to take the word. There are several ways that this is done. In the book of Luke it says that when you don't understand the word Satan steals the word. Another way he steals the word is through distractions, for example when you're sitting in church paying attention to something other than what is being preached or letting your mind wander instead of paying attention. Or falling asleep. The second thing he warns us about is being stony ground or taking offences. Some examples of this are when I was growing up we would go to church and on the way home my mother would always get mad at us. I would always try to be quiet and blend into the back seat but she would always ask a question and if I spoke up she would get mad at me for yelling or if I talked quietly she would yell at me for mumbling. She didn't understand that the word she heard was just being stolen from her. The offence doesn't have to be a big thing to cause you to get offended and loose the word that was spoken into your heart. When I was in Oklahoma I went to a very large church so big that it had traffic cops directing traffic when the service let out. I usually rode my motorcycle because it was much easier to get around. One day after church I decided to take the center line and pass all that traffic when I did I noticed one driver that got upset and gave me the one finger salute. Now I don't know if this is something that would normally upset that person or if it was just that time. Allowing them self to get upset just scorched the word out of their heart. Not justifying my driving but if they knew that Satan was using the incident to steal the word of god that was just sown in their heart I bet they would have a much different response. Offences are a big thing you need to guard your heart against. I am sure that we have all met the christian that looses his cool at every little thing, he hasn't learned to guard against offences yet . The offences will come in order to stop the word from producing in your life, it is a matter of not receiving them. After this Jesus warns us that the cares of this world. the deceitfulness of riches and lusts of other things will choke the word out of us so that it doesn't produce in our lives. The cares of this world I think we all understand. Don't go around worrying about things. In another place the word of god says to "cast your cares on him because he cares for you". You don't have to take the care because Jesus will. I know for most of us it seems like we drive a ford focus and our care drives a Ferrari. We cast our cares on Jesus and before we get home our cares are there waiting on us but if we continue to cast them on Jesus we can eventually leave them with him. In Matthew 6:34 it puts it like this: Take no thought for the morrow: for the morrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Now that doesnt mean don't think at all about tomorrow we all need to make plans for our future, what Jesus is saying here is take no fretful thought or in other words don't worry. Next is the deceitfulness of riches. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that it is wrong to have riches just don't put your trust in them. Jesus said it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. This is because a rich man has the tendency to trust in their riches instead of trusting in god. Riches will tell you that they are the answer to all of your problems in order to get you to chase after them but Jesus said that no man can serve two masters for you will either love thew one and hate the other or you will hold to one and despise the other you cannot serve god and mammon . It is not wrong to be rich just don't serve the riches. Another misconception is to think you have to be rich to serve riches but most poor people serve riches as much as rich people. Is money telling you what to do, its better to have money so that when god tells you to do something money wont be able to say don't do that you cant afford it. So don't be deceived and put your trust in money put your trust in god and he will give you the wisdom to get wealth. The next thing Jesus mentions is the lusts of other things, this goes right along with the deceitfulness of riches and the love of money. In 1 Timothy 6:10 it says For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Again the problem here is not having money or things it's the money and things having you or your heart. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also. In other words guard your heart from coveteousness because these things will choke out the production of the word of god in your life and having it become unfruitful. Then after you have guarded against these things then you can be good ground if you here the word and receive it you can bring forth fruit thirty, sixty and an hundred fold depending on the degree that you have meditated it. In Joshua 1:8 it says it this way: this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou might observe to do according to all that is written therein: For then shalt thou make your way prosperous, and the shalt thou have good success. We see in this verse that the doing of the word comes from the meditating of the word and so does the ability to make your self prosperous and have success.
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