Passage
Mark 4:1-20 (ESV)
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
Acts 8:26-40
Key Verse: 8:35
The Parable of the Sower
Date: Jan. 27, 2016
Daily Bread
Key Verse: 4:11a
First, the parable told (1-9). He told the crowd many parables. The first was about a farmer who sowed seed in different kinds of soil. Most of the seed would not grow because it was eaten by birds, or wouldn't take firm root or were choked by other plants. But some seed feel on good, fruitful soil. That seed sprang up and produced a crop, one hundred times what was sown.
Second, the secret of the kingdom of God (10-12). The Twelve asked Jesus about the parable. Jesus told them they had been blessed with the secret of the kingdom of God. They were given the word of God and were blessed to understand it. To others, Jesus spoke in parables that they would never perceive, understand or repent.
Third, the parable explained (13-20). Jesus explained that the seed is the word of God. The different kinds of soil are different kinds of hearts. Many hearts don't except the word because they allow Satan, or the worries of this world to take it away. Only in hearts that thirst for the word of God and hold it dear will the seed bear a hundred-fold fruit.
Prayer: Father, thank you for the secret of the kingdom of God, given to us! Help my heart to listen to you.
One Word: Have a heart that thirsts for God's word.
