SLIDE: Growth on Purpose.

SLIDE: Taking Faith Personally   

SLIDE: The Parable of the Sower and the Seed.

 

SLIDE:  Matthew 13:3-8 – Verbally share the parable 

 

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ 

 

1. path, and the birds came and ate it up.

 

2. Rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, the plants were scorched, and they had no root.⁷ 

 

3. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

 

4. 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.”

 

Jesus explains his parable:

SLIDE: Matthew 13:18-23  (on the large screens)

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 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.”

 

SLIDE: God as a farmer

 

OLDER TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE

 

Psalm 65:9-13   (on the large screens)

⁹ You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.^{[a] 10} You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. ¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. ¹² The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. ¹³ The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.

 

God provides Day and Night, The sky for rain, and dry ground for crops.

 

Genesis 1:12-13 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

 

Adam and Eve – “GARDEN of Eden”

 

The Setting : Jesus in a boat sees farmer

 

Parables in the ancient world.

 

Explaining the parable

 

person by person reality. (taking faith personally)

 

1. Jesus

 

2. – feelings oriented faith

 

JOY!  – emotion.

NO ROOT – all surface. No depth.

 

Trouble or Persecution comes – because of the word.

When I am not “feeling it”!

 

3. The fruitless life

 

SLIDE: 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.”

Matthew 13:23

 

SLIDE: The seed on good soil.

 

SLIDE: Soil Prep  on our farm

 

SLIDE: teachings of Jesus are inseparable from him.

 

SLIDE: Jesus often withdrew to a lonely place to pray

Corporate worship, Fellowship…

 

JESUS TOOK PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD

 

Matthew 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.

 

Mark 6:46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

 

Luke 6:12. One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God

 

Mark 1:35   Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

you cannot separate the teachings of Jesus from who he was and how he lived

 

SLIDE: But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.     Luke 5:16

 

Jesus had “environments” for prayer

 

 

SLIDE: Sundays, Life Groups & Growth Track!

 

Matthew 26:37-42

³⁷ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

⁴⁰ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.  (one hour)

 

SLIDE: Matthew 26:40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.

 

SLIDE: EVEN YOUR BEST FAITH FRIENDS

 

SLIDE: Feet to your Faith

 

SLIDE: FIRST 15 a daily devotional

 

Word for Today devotionals

SLIDE: A.C.T.S. Adore, Confess, Thanksgiving Supplication/Pray

 

 

COMMUNION = environment for prayer

 

We never abandon the basics

Revisiting them prepares the soil and allows us to be deeply rooted