24.131 | What Kind Of Heart Do You Have? | Mark 4:1-20 | God’s Word for Today with Pastor Nazario Sinon

God’s Word For Today

Text: Mark 4:1-20 ESV

1 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.”

-Mark 4:1-20 ESV

WHAT KIND OF HEART DO YOU HAVE?

This parable as a story is easy to understand. The sower with seeds sowing to different kinds of soil are so familiar to the audience. But, what are the implications in this story are hard to comprehend. No wonder, the disciples asked Jesus what does this mean when they were alone with Him.

Jesus assured them by saying, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” The quote Jesus gives is a paraphrase of Isaiah 6:9–10. Jesus is willing to give the twelve and the other disciples a special understanding of how God is working at that moment while it is a secret[mystery] to others.

There are four kinds of soils [referring to hearts] that respond to the seed[word or gospel], namely the hard path, rocky, thorny, and good soil. There are four different reactions to the Word of God: the hard heart, the shallow heart, the crowded heart, and the fruitful heart, respectively. What kind of heart do you have?

May God break our hearts of stone and transform us to have a humble and meek heart. Let us seek God for He is the only one who can do so. “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”[Ezek 36:26,27]

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