The Sower Sows the Word

Mark 4: The Sower Sows the Word.  The whole Kingdom of God works this way. How you hear and how you receive the Word of God in your life, determines your harvest.

Intro

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:43

Amen. You are not limited by what I know, thank God, because that'll be about five minutes, right? But you are limited only by the Holy Spirit. And so you receive today as if it's God Himself talking to you, because He is. Amen? Through this Word. This is God right here, right? And every time you come to church, come with that heart and come with that attitude, and you'll receive. And I'll preach above myself. You'll be like, man, you brought it today. But it's because you guys are pulling. Amen? Amen. So, hallelujah. So, in Mark 4, now, I want to talk about this from a couple perspectives. First, I want you to understand that, number one, understanding is key, right? He mentions... hearing about 10 times from around verse 14 through the end of the book, or end of that chapter rather. So hearing is very critical to this parable, right? Hearing is very critical, period. But he says in Mark 4.13, and he said to them, do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all parables? Do you get that? He's saying if you get this one, you can get the whole word of God. The whole kingdom works like this. Right now, what I'll probably do is bring all this and then I'll come back and I love to tie it in a neat little bow. So if you don't know where I'm going, I don't know where I'm going. So just stay with me and it'll turn out all right. But the whole kingdom works this way. The sower sows the word is the subject. How to receive a hundredfold return. is what we're after. So he said, if you don't understand this one, you won't understand the rest of them. I want that to sink in because we can get caught up in side issues instead of the key issue, which is the Word of God and how you receive the Word of God determines your harvest every time. Now, the other key issue here is that he said a sower went out to sow seed. What is a sower? A sower is not somebody that's trying this, right? Kim has a few plants, but she wouldn't say she's a farmer or a sower, right? What does a professional sower do? It's what they do for a living. So if we were to line up 25, 25, 25, and 25 people right here, according to this, only 25 are going to receive from that word. So you got to make a decision today and every day. Am I part of this 25 or am I part of this 75? Because it's not up to God. It's not up to me. It's not up to pastor. It's up to you. Right? Because later on he says in Mark 4, yeah, Mark 4, 24, and he said to them, Take heed what you hear. With the measure you meet, it shall be measured unto you. And to you that hear, more will be given. So who is it up to whether we receive? Us, right? I'm not just talking about this morning. I'm talking about period. Every time you open this book, it's your choice what you will receive and how you will receive. So what you receive and how you receive is just as important. But he says, so the sower sows the word. Now, it talks about the four types of ground. So again, think about the four, four, and four. So every time the word is sown, we determine what type of ground we're going to be. That's good, Lord. By the way, we hear. We determine. Right? Now, the first group, it says right here, Mark 4, 14. He says, 13, and know ye not this parable. I'm reading from King James. Then, how will you know all parables? The sower sows the word. Now again, what's the subject of this parable? The word of God. I'm going to be real repetitious because I learned this from Keith. I'd rather you have one or two things that you bring home with you than to just have all this knowledge and it's like, great, you've got nine pages of notes, but what do you do with it? That's why you notice when Brother Josiah or Pastor Dave or whoever ministers up here, there's three or four points. It's not that we're so dumb we can't handle anymore. It's that we want to take that home and act on those points because you want to get it in you so you can use it and apply it, right? So they used to get on Dad Hague and say, why don't you preach something else? Mark 11, 23, 24. He said, when you get this, we'll go on to something else. Right? That's all of us, right? So he says, and then he says, so the sower sows the word. And these are they by the, this is the first type of ground, wayside, where the word is sowed. Oh, yeah, thank you, Lord. Now, all four grounds heard the word. You've got to get that. They all heard. So this isn't, well, you don't understand what I've been through. I don't know about all that, but you can hear today. Do you realize that? No, no matter where you're at, you can go on from here to success. It doesn't matter what you've been through. It doesn't matter where you've been. You could be a success from this day forward. If you make a decision, this is my day, this is my year, and I'm going to receive this today, then nothing will stop you. Amen? So he said, and these are they by the wayside. where the word is sown. Now, he says, and when they have heard, Satan taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. The word did its job, but the question is not why did Satan steal the word from their heart? Because we know John 10, 10, the thief comes to what? Steal, kill, and destroy. But I've come that you might have life and life more abundant. So the key is not that Satan came to steal the word. That's what he does. It's nothing personal, like my Italian people say. It's nothing personal. It's just business, right? It is personal. But Satan's not after you. He's after that word. He could care less about you. Let's just be real. He don't care if you go to heaven or hell. He just wants you out of his way. Because this is all he got. So if you understand that, that he's going to come to try to steal the word. So what's our job? Keep the word. Protect it, right? You'll see that later. But why... was Satan able to come and steal the Word? Because in Matthew 13 it says, because they did not understand. So if you don't understand it, there's that Italian again, if you don't understand it, he's going to come steal it from you. Right? So what do you do? Don't let him steal it. Right? So, what happened here? They heard the word and nothing. Literally, it was stolen before they even walked out the door. Heard a great message, awesome, and nothing. It was stolen before they even got it. So, whoop, you can just lop off 25 people and say, go sit down. You got nothing. Right? The second group of people... Now, again, that's the first type. The second group says... And these are they likewise, verse 16, which are sown among... Do you have the notes, John, or did I miss something? Are they not working? All right. So it says, and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who when they heard, again, they heard, and it says the word, immediately receive it with gladness. What? You mean I can be healed? What? You mean like Corey's offering message? You mean I can be blessed? What? Man, whoo! And they got excited and ran around the room and did the kangaroo hop. And then it said, and so endure. Well, let me back up. He said, receive a gladness and have no root in themselves. Now in Ephesians, don't turn there please, but it says in Ephesians, it talks about that prayer that we always pray. It said in you being rooted and grounded in love. So if you're not rooted and grounded in love, you have no root. Right? You have to be rooted and grounded in faith as well. But there is no rooting and grounding in faith if you're not rooted and grounded in love. So he says they have no root in their heart or in themselves. So they heard the word. Same word. I'm going to say that over and over and over again because we live in this victim mentality. Right? It's not my fault. I'm going to pay some counselor$200 an hour or$300 an hour or whatever it is to tell me I'm okay and to tell me that I'm okay. It's not my fault. I was just born this way. No, no, no. We decide, right? We decide. We determine the outcome by how we hear and what we hear. And what we do, that's good with what we hear, right? I teach myself up here, right? That's good, man. Go, boy, yeah. So he says that have no root in themselves and so endure for a time. So they went a little bit longer. Right? Just for a little bit longer. They got excited and they went for a little bit longer, but then something happened. Two things happened. It says, but when affliction or persecution ariseth for the what? Word's sake. Oh no, it arose because you're such a threat to the kingdom. Didn't say that. It said it arose for the word's sake. Well, no, no, it arose because you went to church every Sunday for 150 years. No. It arose for the Word's sake. So if you understand that, that these things are coming to steal the Word, you'll guard your heart and say, you're not doing that up in here. Right?