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Sow the Word of God

Jesus knows that God’s word is not always received well. The seeds on the road are those who hear the Word of God, but no sooner do they hear it than the Devil snatches it from them, so they will not believe and be saved. It is hard to understand all of this. The Disciples struggled as well.

    • We don’t have to understand how or even why the Devil snatches up God’s Word but we know, from Jesus, it happens.
    • We must be careful.
    • This message is for us not someone else. Jesus said this to His disciples.
    • He said it to give us insight.
    • We need to take care with God’s word.

We are challenged by Jesus to have good hearts. He wants us to seize the Word. We need to hold on no matter what, sticking with it until there is a harvest. That is how it is in God’s world (Kingdom).

And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

English Standard Version. (2016). (Luke 8:4–8). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

This soil is the person who hears the Word but at once allows the devil to snatch the seed away.

    • How did the heart become hard?
    • The “wayside” was the path that ran through the common field, separating the plots; and the foot traffic hardened the soil.
    • Whatever goes into the ear or eye finally enters the heart, so be careful who is allowed to “walk on your heart.”

This parable shows that Jesus was not impressed by the great crowds that followed Him. He knew that most of the people did not really “hear” the Word and receive it in their hearts.

    • He gave this story to encourage the disciples in their future ministry, and to encourage us today.
    • When you consider how much teaching, preaching, and witnessing goes on in the course of a month or a year, you wonder why there is such a small harvest.
    • The fault does not lie with the sower or the seed.
    • The problem is with the soil.
    • The human heart will not submit to God, repent and receive the Word, and be saved.

“Faith comes first to the hearing ear, not to the cogitating mind,” said A.W. Tozer, the much-quoted pastor and author.

    • Faith is not a matter of IQ or education; it is a matter of humbly preparing the heart to receive God’s truth.
    • The wise and prudent are blind to truths that are easy for the babes to understand.

God’s Goal: God wants us to prepare our heart to hear the word of God. God wants us to grow in our faith. God wants us to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit.