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LEARN & GROW
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Week of January 18, 2009
KEY VERSE
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16b)
CENTRAL TRUTH
Because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, those who have eyes to see and ears to hear are to pay close attention to His teachings and to follow them.
DEVOTION
In His parable in Matthew 13 about a farmer scattering seed, Jesus taught an important lesson. In those days farmers lived in a village and took footpaths out to their plots, which explains why some seed fell on the pathways that divided their farms. As the farmer broadcast the seed, it fell on various kinds of soil. Perplexed by what spiritual truth this story contained, the disciples needed an explanation. Jesus, the Master Teacher, identified the seed as the Word or the Good News about the kingdom, and the various soils as the hearts of those who hear it. Soil cannot do anything about whether it is beaten hard by the passing and re-passing of people's feet or whether it is rocky or infested with thorns, but people can determine whether they will be good soil or not. We can decide what heart-hardening thoughts we entertain. We can choose whether to allow the devil to snatch away the good news from our hearts. We can "break up the fallow grounds" of our hearts. (Jeremiah 4:3) There is also a decision to be made by those who possess the seed, the Good News about the kingdom. Matthew 13:3 says that a farmer went out to plant some seed. I suppose since God has given us the Word, and since all around us there are hearts that can produce a harvest, the Lord of the harvest expects us to go out and plant the seed. Paul reminded the Corinthians that the farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop." (2 Corinthians 9:6) Recently, I gave out over 200 Spanish language Gospel tracts, along with a bottle of Gatorade, to construction workers in our area. I am looking for good soil. Let's make like farmers and go out to plant some, no, much seed.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Can I know who is "good soil," or do I just scatter the seed everywhere?
- How does Matthew 7:6, which tells us not to cast our pearls before swine, apply to scattering the Word everywhere?
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