Boys and girls, starting from today Commander would like to talk about a new topic – Jesus’ parables. Some of you may ask: what is parable? Simply speaking, parable is a simple fictitious story used to illustrate a truth. With a parable, the truth or a spiritual lesson will be illustrated in a scenario of which people may see in their living environment. “Who loves to listen to stories? Yeah, we all love to listen stories. The Lord Jesus taught the truth of God’s kingdom with many stories, which we call parables. In order to understand what the mystery of God’s kingdom is, we have to understand the parables Jesus said.
Today commander would like to talk about Jesus’ parable of “the sower and the soils.”
Well, before we read the Bible verses, commander would like to take you to meet my neighbor Farmer Sally and take a look at her seed planting in the soils.
(– video of Farmer Sally’s farm –)
Waah, from Farmer Sally’s farm, we found good soil makes seed grow healthily! Today Jesus’ parable “the sower and the soils” is written in Matthew 13:1-9, Now commander would like to ask Daniel to read the Bible verse for us:
“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Let’s watch a short video about this parable. (– video of the Soils –)
So what does the seed represent? Well, very simple, the seed is the word of God. Then who is the farmer or the sower? Well, someone just said it is Jesus, sure, Jesus is the sower who taught God’s word to many people. However, do you know that all the Sunday school teachers, your pastors are the sower, as well. Then, what do the four different kinds of soil represent? The four different type of soil are the four different ways people react to hearing the Gospel, the word of God. You are all the soil just with different kinds. When people hear God’s words or gospel, someone accept it joyfully, but someone reject it. Because people are not the same soil. Let’s look into the four different soils Jesus illustrated in the parable:
- The seed fell along the path or a sidewalk: the soil on the path is too hard to plant the seed at all, therefore, the seed cannot grow. When people hear the word of God, they don’t care, and don’t get it and don’t understand because they have made their hearts hardened toward God. they soon forget everything, because the Satan, comes and takes away the words, like a bird taking seeds off a sidewalk. Send a chat if you are such kind of student, then Commander need to pray for you.
- The second type of the soil is rocky soil. People may get very excited right away when they hear the words of God. They will try to follow Jesus, and obey God’s commands. However, they don’t have good foundation f, or the faith, just like the rocky soil, there isn’t enough good soil for the roots to get down good and deep. the seed grows up from it but not in deep root. When the sun comes out, quickly they will dry out and wither.
When difficulty arises, or persecution comes, they quickly give up their faith.
People who hear the word of God and get really excited right away don’t always have the deep roots, their heart is softer than the soil of the sidewalk, however, still not soft enough to grow God’s word healthily.
- The third type of soil: its soil is good but has a lot of thorns. The seed grows in a good shape, however, when they grow up, they are choked by the thorns surrounding them. Finally, they become ill without sufficient nutrition (because the nutrition is all taken up by the thorns).
Well, who can tell commander what the thorn represents? In our lives, we may have many worries, too many secular interests, activities, and desires, then we are living with the soil full of thorns. God’s words come to this type of soil, may grow, but cannot be fruitful. I know some students have many secular activities on Sunday, which cause him not able to attend the worship or Sunday class, commander need to pray for those students. Remember the verse we learned Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
- The last type of soil is the good soil just like we saw at Farmer Sally’s pumpkin pot. Whom does the good soil represent? If you know it, you can type in the chat. Yes, it is the people who really have pure and humble heart in learning God’s words, they are excited and diligent in learning, in addition, they have a solid faith and fully trust in God and they always put God first in their daily lives.
Therefore, the holy Spirit work in their heart watering their plants just like Farmer Sally did and surely the plants grow fruitfully, making 30 times, 60 times or even 100 times of the produce. Well, commander expect all of you are good soil, then what kind of fruits you can grow? How about bring friends to the church? Helping others? Showing good examples? Serving in the children church? Showing loving kindness, faithfulness in your life? Praying for others? Commander encourage you that there are a lot of ways to make fruit to glorify God.
Commander have an assignment for you: after the worship open your Bible and read Bible Matthew 13:18-23, with which Jesus explained this parable.
Let say the memory verse for today’s message: Matthew 13:23, “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”