20 Feb Mark 09: Gospel seed

Mark 4:1-20

Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰ And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹² so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” ¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Many of you know that I take my sermon preparation very seriously. I spend about 20 hours preparing each sermon. I take my sermon preparation seriously because I take what the Bible said seriously. James said that those who teach the Bible will be judged with greater strictness. It means that I can be a good communicator but if I don’t preach the Bible correctly, God will judge me. I feel the weight of it and that’s why I am very strict not just with my own sermon preparation but also with the preaching interns in our church. Let me tell you the process they must go through before they preach their sermon from this pulpit. I don’t tell them, “You pray and ask God what to preach, and the Holy Spirit will give you a fresh word from heaven for us.” I am charismatic but not that charismatic. So, they start preparing their sermon 6 to 8 weeks in advance. I am not kidding. I assign them a text to preach, and they have to meditate and pray on it for two weeks and write a personal reflection on the text. Then they send it to me for me to comment on, and I give them a few commentaries for them to study and digest. And then they have three weeks to write the first draft manuscript and I give feedback on it. And then they have another week to finalize their manuscript and another week to pray for God to saturate their heart with his word before they preach it on Sunday. It is a long process. And that’s not the end. After they preach their sermon, we do sermon evaluation. One of them told me, “I am more nervous and scared about meeting you for sermon evaluation than meeting my boss for performance review.” I put a massive weight on the preacher because the Bible puts a massive weight on preaching the word of God correctly.

However, the Bible is fair. The Bible not only puts a massive weight on the preacher, but the Bible also puts a massive weight on the hearer. Our passage for today gives warning and weight that Jesus puts on you as the hearer. This passage will answer the question: Why do some people hear the gospel and are radically changed by it, while others hear the same gospel and are unmoved by it? Imagine this. Two people sit next to each other every Sunday and listen to the same sermon. One is growing in the gospel. He loves Jesus more and more and his life is producing more and more fruits. While the other person is not growing. He is not growing in his love for Jesus, and he is not producing any fruit in his life. Same sermon, same preacher, same church, but two very different outcomes. One says, “I saw the glory of Christ through the sermon.” Another says, “I dreamt I saw the glory of Christ during the sermon.” So close yet so far. How can two people who hear the same sermon produce a very different result? This passage is going to explain why some of you are having such a hard time paying attention to my sermon and why some of you love to take a nap during my sermon. And everyone is immediately awake.

This parable is one of the most important parables in the Bible. It is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Some scholars called it the parable of all parables. Jesus doesn’t usually explain the meaning of his parables and he has a reason for it as we will see. But this parable is extremely important that Jesus explains the meaning of it to his disciples. He doesn’t want his disciples to miss the warning in this parable. And this is the warning. You can hear the gospel and not benefit from it at all. You can hear the gospel and feel joyful, but it makes no difference in your life. You can hear the gospel and still love other gods. Or you can hear the gospel and bear fruit. The difference is not in the power of the gospel but in how you hear the gospel.

Let’s get into the text. I separate this sermon into three parts: The parable; The secret; The meaning.

The parable

Mark 4:1-9 – Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

At this time, wherever Jesus goes, he is surrounded by a very large crowd. But let’s think about the crowd for a minute. There are many kinds of people in the crowd. I can think of four different kinds of people in the crowd. First, there are Pharisees who reject Jesus and want to destroy Jesus. Second, there are Jesus’ family members who think that Jesus is crazy. Third, there are people who are amazed at Jesus and want something from Jesus. And fourth, there are disciples of Jesus. Not everyone gathers around Jesus for the right reason. Jesus knows it. And to these people, Jesus tells a parable that explains why their response to Jesus is very different from one another. So, Jesus gets into a boat and sits in the boat, while the crowd is standing on the shore. That’s how they do it in Jesus’ days. The teacher would sit while the disciples would stand. We have it backwards today. Maybe we should practice Jesus’ way every now and then. I sit while I preach, and you stand while you listen. That way no one can fall asleep during my sermon.

But pay attention to how Jesus begins his teaching. He says, “Listen!” And this is a strong word in Greek. This is not a suggestion but a command. And look at the way Jesus ends his teaching. Mark 4:9 – And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus puts a strong emphasis on listening and hearing. In other words, Jesus is saying, “I want you to listen carefully to what I have to say. I want you to give your utmost attention to hear me.” Why? Because it is possible to hear what Jesus says and not hear what Jesus says at the same time. Let me explain. One of my favourite things to do when I drive is to listen to a sermon. So, on my way to and from work, which takes about 15 minutes, I would listen to a sermon. I choose a sermon, I click play, and I start driving. But there are many times when I get to my destination, and I thought, “I don’t remember what I just heard.” Confession time. Raise your hand if you know what I am talking about. Every husband and boyfriend should have their hands up. What happened? I hear but I do not hear. I hear the sermon, but I did not process the sermon. And this is the point that Jesus makes. There are many people in the crowd who hear Jesus but do not hear Jesus at the same time. And to explain his point, he gives this parable.

There is a sower who sows seed on different grounds. Some seed falls on the path and it is eaten by birds. Some seed falls on rocky ground and it immediately pops up. But it quickly withers because it has no depth of soil. Other seed falls among the weeds and the weeds suck the life out of the seed, so it produces no grain. And other seed falls into good soil, and it produces grains. Usually, a seed will produce about eightfold. But in this parable, it produces thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold. It means that it is not a common growth but a supernatural growth. And Jesus ends the parable by telling the people who have ears to hear to listen to him.

But here is what’s interesting about this parable. Usually, a farmer will only sow seed in fertile soil. A good farmer will not waste his seed in places where he knows the seed can’t grow. But the sower in this parable let the seed falls in many different places. It seems almost wasteful. Here is what Jesus is trying to say. There are many kinds of people who gather around Jesus and listen to Jesus. And Jesus let his words fall on different places. Jesus’ words are heard by different kinds of people. But not everyone has the ears to hear Jesus. Yet Jesus sows the seed anyway. It seems almost wasteful to sow seeds in those places. Jesus knows that many people who hear him will reject him. But he also knows that there are some who listen to him who have the ears to hear. And for these people, the seed that Jesus sows will have supernatural growth and bear fruit.

Here is what it means for us. God wants to use every Christian as a spiritual farmer. We are called to sow the gospel seed to all kinds of people. Just like Jesus sow the seed to all kinds of people, we must sow the gospel seed wherever we are and to whoever around us. Here is the bad news. The response of the people will vary. I don’t think this is the exact ratio but 3 out of 4 soils in this parable are bad soils. It means that there are more people who hear the gospel and do not respond rightly. And we do not like that. When we sow the gospel seed, we want a guaranteed result. We want a 100% success rate with a money-back guarantee. But that’s not how it works. We are not called to produce the harvest. We are not responsible for the harvest. We are called to sow seeds and let the seed do its work. The bad news is we cannot control the result. But the good news is the gospel can produce a supernatural result in the life of people who hear it. The power to produce fruit is in the seed. The gospel is the power of God for salvation. Not us. This is such an encouragement for me as a preacher and all of us who share the gospel with other people. People’s salvation is not up to us. It is the work of God alone. And God will not fail to save his people. So, let us sow the gospel seed wherever we are, trusting that God will not fail to do his supernatural work. Which lead me to the next point.

The secret

Mark 4:10-12 – ¹⁰ And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹² so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

In these verses, Jesus explains why he likes to teach using parables. What is a parable? A parable is not simply a sermon illustration. We often think of the parables as stories Jesus tells to help people understand his teaching. And sometimes that is what parables do. But that is not their usual purpose. Most of the time, Jesus speaks using parables to prevent people from understanding his teaching. The story in the parables is easy to follow, but its meaning is very hard to understand. It seems counterintuitive to us. Why speak in parables if it only makes it harder for people to understand? And listen to what Jesus says to his disciples. It is shocking. So, the disciples themselves do not understand the parable and they ask Jesus about it. And Jesus replies, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God.” What is a secret? A secret is an information that only a few selective people know. If everyone knows it, it is not a secret. And this secret is not something that they know by themselves. Jesus says that the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to them. It means that if they can understand Jesus’ teachings, it is because Jesus has revealed it to them. It is a gift, not an achievement. To the disciples, Jesus has given them the secret of the kingdom of God. He will explain the meaning of the parables to them.

But for everyone else, everything is in parables. Why? And listen to Jesus’ word carefully. This is one of the hardest sayings of Jesus in the Bible. Mark 4:12 – ¹² so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” In other words, Jesus does not tell the secret of the kingdom of God to everyone. The same parable that gives the disciples the secret of the kingdom of God also keeps some people from knowing the kingdom of God. Listen to the way Phillip Ryken puts it. “The parables have a twofold purpose: they teach spiritual truth to people who believe in Jesus, and at the same time they deliberately harden unbelievers in their unbelief. The same parable has different effects on different people, and what makes the difference is the grace of God and faith in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.” Another way of saying it is that the parables separate disciples of Jesus from the crowd. They create a distinction between the insiders and the outsiders. The parables reveal the difference between those who seek Jesus for Jesus and those who seek Jesus for their own gain. Those who seek Jesus for Jesus want to know what the parables mean. They ask Jesus to help them understand the meaning of the parables. But those who only seek Jesus for their own gain does not care about the meaning of the parables. They only care that Jesus gives them what they want.

I know this is hard to take but this is the truth. Listen. The same gospel that saves people from sins is the same gospel that keeps people from coming to Jesus. The gospel always produces results. Not a single word that comes out of God’s mouth will return empty. Every word of God produces results. But it does not mean that the result is always good. Just as the sun that hardens the clay also melts the wax, the gospel either soften the heart or harden the heart. The same truth that opens a person’s eyes, blinds another. I have heard it put this way. The gospel is like durian. You either love it or hate it. The same durian that smells heavenly delicious to some, smells like armpit mixed with dead rats to others. And this is a strong warning to all of us. Whenever we hear the gospel preached, something happens in us. And it is dangerous. Our hearts are either being softened or hardened every time we hear the gospel. So, the question is, how can we be sure that we are those who have been given the secret of the kingdom of God? I’m glad you asked. Look at the next point.

The meaning

Mark 4:13-20 – ¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

This is crucial. Jesus says that if we understand this parable, we have the key to understanding everything else Jesus teaches. And the key is on how we hear Jesus’ words. Look at the parable. The sower in the parable is Jesus. But it can also refer to anyone who sows the seed. The seed is the word. The word is the term Mark uses to express the gospel. And in each scenario, we have the same sower and the same seed. What is different in each scenario is the soil. Each soil represents a different condition of the heart, a different way to hear and respond to the gospel. And whether the seed grows or not depends on where it falls. There are four kinds of hearts and only one bears fruit. Let’s look at the four different hearts.

First, the hard heart. These are the seeds that fall on the path and are eaten by the birds. Jesus says that this represents those who hear the gospel and are unresponsive to the gospel. These are those who hear the gospel with one ear, and the gospel immediately bounces back through the same ear. They hear but they do not hear. And here is what we must understand. Every time the gospel is preached, there is spiritual warfare. We have an enemy who does not want us to hear the gospel. Jesus says that Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown. We must get this. Satan will do everything in his power to keep us from hearing the gospel. He is working overtime to make sure that we do not get the gospel. He does not wait a day or two before he takes the gospel away. He immediately does it. Why? Because he understands that if he allows time for the gospel to sink in, it has the potential to radically change our lives. Satan knows how powerful the gospel is. That is why he wastes no time in taking the gospel away from us. And he is right now at work in the church distracting us from hearing the gospel.

Let me give you a few different ways how he does it. He does it by making sure you come to church with a lack of sleep. So, when you come to church, you are sleepy already. You need to know that the fight to hear the gospel does not begin when you step inside the church on Sunday but on Saturday night. If you stay up late on Saturday night, watching Netflix, playing games, or hanging out with friends, and you don’t have enough rest because of it, it will affect the way you hear the gospel on Sunday. If you do many activities on Sunday morning and you are tired because of it, your heart is not ready to hear the word of God on Sunday afternoon. It is as simple as that. Satan is taking the gospel away from you by making you too tired to hear the gospel. Another way he does it is through the distracted mind. If you do not plan your time well, you end up rushing everything and you arrive at church 20 minutes late. And your minds are distracted. You are at church, but you are thinking if you remember to turn on the alarm when you leave the house, if you turn off the stove, did you bring the kids’ diaper etc. You think it is okay to come late to church and miss gospel liturgy, as long as you are not late for the sermon. But you forget that the reason why we do gospel liturgy is to remind us of the story of the gospel and prepare our hearts to be instructed by the word of God. Because you are in a rush, you are distracted. So, you hear but you do not hear the gospel. And what about this one. I believe one of Satan’s best tools of distraction is your phone. I have nothing against electronic Bibles. But I also know that every time you see a new notification on your phone, it whispers to you, “Open me, open me. You know you want to see me.” Right? And you know how to do it so well that it looks as if you are reading verses or taking notes on your phone while the truth is you are checking Instagram and replying to WhatsApp messages. How do I know? Because some of you accidentally liked my Instagram post and replied to the WhatsApp group chat during RSI time. You forgot that I am in the group. And I feel the same urge whenever I look at my phone. That is why I intentionally put my phone away during worship. I am not strong enough to stare at those notifications and do nothing. These are just a few of the many ways Satan keeps us from hearing the gospel.

Second, the shallow heart. These are the seeds that fall on rocky ground. It represents those who hear the gospel and immediately receive it with joy. They are excited about the gospel, but they have no root. The gospel does not grow deep. And because of it, they don’t have the depth in the root for them to get the nutrients and life they need. So, when times of trouble come, when things do not work according to their expectation, they walk away from their faith. They fail the test of adversity. They only want Jesus as an insurance policy. They want Jesus as a security blanket in life. If Jesus gives them what they want, they are in. If Jesus does not give them what they want, they are out.

And I have seen this play out time and time again. This type of people treats the church as a hobby. So, you might be raised in a Christian family. Going to church every Sunday is part of your norm. Or you might come to one of the church services and walk up the aisle during the altar call to give your life to Jesus. And you know how to play the church game very well. So, you dress nice every Sunday, put on the church face, meet lots of church people, and pretend that everything is okay. Then you sing about how God loves you and you shed a few tears. You know all the church’s rhythm. You know when to lift your hand and you know when to say praise be to God. Then you listen to me yell at you on how sinful you are and the good news of the gospel that calls you to repentance. You feel guilty and you say sorry to God. So, you empty your sin bucket for that week, say amen to the gospel, you go home, and nothing change. You have no intention to obey God. So, you fill-up the sin bucket for another week before you empty it again the following Sunday. There is no depth in you and there is no desire to grow. Going to church is simply a hobby. What a terrible hobby. It’s a waste of time. Just stop. Because it is only a matter of time before trouble comes. And when it does, those who are deeply rooted will grow stronger while you will be gone with the wind. Hear me. I am not saying that Christians should be perfect. But I am saying that true Christians grow.

Third, the divided heart. These are the seeds that are sown among thorns. It represents those who hear the gospel, accepts the gospel, wants to follow Jesus, but their hearts are divided. They want both the blessing of the gospel and the pleasure of the world. These are the miserable Christians. There are many Christians today who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord but worship idols with their life. And by idols, I do not only mean statues. Idols can also be anything that you love more than God. And most of the time they are not bad things. Idols are good things that get in the way of our spiritual growth. This is the test of prosperity. And good things in life can be more dangerous than bad things. It is like a young girl that has a divided heart. A young man is pursuing her, loves her and proposes to her. He says to her, “Babe, I want you to know that I love you more than anything in this world. There is nothing that can make me happier than to spend every single day of my life with you. I may not have a private plane like Bob. I may not have a mansion like Bob. But I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me?” And the young girl replies, “I love you with all my heart as well. But tell me more about Bob.” The young girl has a divided heart. She loves the young man, but she wants to keep her option open. And this is a picture of many Christians.

The point is you can’t have both Jesus and idol. Choose one over the other. If money is what makes you feel important, then do whatever it takes to have more money. Leave Jesus out of the making money equation. It’s not going to work. If family happiness is what satisfy you, then do whatever you can to make your family happy. Don’t worry about skipping church. Go to that family holiday and soccer practice every weekend. Don’t use Jesus to make you have guilty conscience only to continue to put your family above him. If people’s approval is what gives you value, then sell your soul to please people. Do whatever you must to win their approval. Don’t use Jesus to increase your self-esteem when you desire the approval of others. If success is your goal, then run hard after it. Don’t look to the right and left and worry about how your decision affects others. Many Christians try to have both. They want a little bit of God and a little bit of the world. It is exhausting. Because you do not have the joy of following Jesus, but you also do not have the full pleasure of sin. No wonder you are miserable. No wonder you are not growing. Jesus is simply a means for what you want in life. You have a divided heart.

Fourth, the receptive heart. These are the seeds that are sown on good soil. It represents those who hear the gospel, accepts the gospel, and bear fruit of the gospel. And the fruit being produced is 30, 60 and 100 times what is sown. It is supernatural and miraculous. But do you know what makes this soil different from the other three soils? The depth. The difference between good soil and all other soils is in the depth of the soil. The problem with the other soils is there is no depth. We understand this. In every seed, there is a huge potential for growth. One little seed can produce a mighty tree. But for a seed to release its power, it needs to go deep. The seed must be deeply rooted. The first soil does not produce any fruit because the seed does not go in at all. The second soil does not produce fruit because the seed does not go in deep enough. The third soil does not produce fruit because the seed goes in deep but only at the level of weeds. It does not go deep enough.

So, how can the gospel grow deeply rooted in you? Here is how. The gospel grows deep in you by the active hearing of the gospel. Look at Mark 4:20 – ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” We can’t see it in English but in Greek, the tense used to describe the kind of hearing in this verse is different from all other kinds of hearing in other soils. The first three soils use aorist tense, which is something that is done once. That kind of hearing is superficial. But in the good soil, it uses present tense. It means that it is a responsive hearing. It is continual, ongoing, attentive hearing. It is active and not passive. In other words, this is what Jesus is saying. Listen. The way the gospel seed releases its power in your life is by you listening to the gospel, thinking about the gospel, reflecting on the gospel, discussing the gospel, and applying the gospel over and over again. It is not something that you listen to once and move away from. It is something that you continue to come back and meditate upon again and again. This is how the gospel grows deep in you. This is how the incredible power of the gospel is released in your life. This is how you bear fruit thirty, sixty and hundredfold. Are you with me?

And if that is how the gospel grows deep in you, you need to have a lot of patience with yourself. The gospel doesn’t grow in you overnight. For the seed to grow deep and bear fruit, it takes time. It is not immediate. Those who pop up immediately are not deeply rooted and will fall away. But if you want the gospel to be deeply rooted, it is going to take time. And most of the work is unseen. People cannot see what is happening inside the soil. But it does not mean you are not growing. When a farmer plants a seed inside good soil, he does not become discouraged when the seed disappears. He knows that the seed is alive and well underneath the soil. And it is only a matter of time before the harvest comes. This is how the gospel grows in you. The bottom line is this. If you are good soil, if you have a receptive heart, the gospel will bear fruit in your life. True disciples of Jesus will grow. There is no such thing as a fruitless Christian. It might take time, but you will bear fruit. But if you have been a Christian for many years and you do not bear fruit, then maybe you don’t have good soil. And today, Jesus is calling you to repent of your sins and hear the gospel. The Holy Spirit is awakening you to the power of the gospel that is at work in you right now.

But here is the question. Why does Jesus characterize the word of God, the gospel, as a seed? Why not characterize the gospel as a bomb that creates a big explosion? Why not a sharp sword that cut anything in front of it? Why a weak and small seed? Here is why. Because the seed represents who Jesus is and what he came to do. If Jesus had come as a bomb or a sword, all of us would die. But if Jesus came as a seed, then we could live. Listen to what Jesus says in John 12:24 – Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Jesus is talking about himself. He is the ultimate seed. Think about it. Jesus, the sovereign king with all authority and power, became voluntarily weak for us. He became a small seed that went into the ground and died. But because of it, we can live. This is the power of the gospel seed. And if we see Jesus did that for us, if we see the beauty of the all-powerful king who became weak for us, this is the power that radically changes us and makes us grow. Nothing else will change us like seeing Jesus as the ultimate seed who became weak and died for us. As we continue to hear the gospel, think about the gospel, discuss the gospel, and apply the gospel, the gospel is growing deep in us. And it will produce supernatural fruit at its time.

Let me close with this. How are you hearing the gospel today? Because the way you hear has an eternal consequence. The way you respond to the gospel being preached shows the condition of your hearts. Good preaching is absolutely important. It is my responsibility that you hear good preaching week in and week out. But good hearing is just as important as good preaching. So, the question is, which soil are you? Because only one out of the four will bear fruit. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. It is possible to hear and not hear at the same time. Can you give some daily life examples?
2. Share some practical ways we can sow the gospel seed wherever we are and to whoever around us.
3. Read Mark 4:10-12. What strikes you the most about these verses?
4. Out of the three bad soils (hard heart; shallow heart; distracted heart), which one are you most prone toward? Why?
5. What step(s) you need to take to cultivate the active hearing of the gospel in your own life?
6. How does the gospel seed change us?