SPEAKER_00 0:35

Good morning. My name is Emma Newton. I'm a junior at Benisha High School, and today I will be reading to you Mark chapter 4. Again, Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in and out on the lake while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. He taught them many things by the parables, and in his and in his teaching said, Listen, a farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times. Then Jesus said, Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear. When he was alone, the twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is said in parables, so that they may ever be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding, otherwise they might turn and be forgiven. But Jesus said to them, Don't you understand this parable? How will you understand any parable? A farmer sells the word. Some people are like seed along the path where the word is sound. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky plains, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 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. Still others, like seeds sown among thorns, hear the word. But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and does and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seeds sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred times that was sown. He said to them, Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on at on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear. Consider carefully what you hear, he continued. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more. Whoever has will be given more, whoever does does not have, whoever does not have, even what they will have, will be taken from them. He also said, This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters a seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain, first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come. Again he says, What shall what shall we say the kingdom of God is like? Or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds come and perch in its shade. With many similar parables, Jesus spoke the word to them, as many as he could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything. This is the word of the Lord.

Parables As A Mirror

Four Soils And Four Responses

Why Parables Reveal The Heart

Lamp On A Stand And Attention

The Seed Grows While You Sleep

Mustard Seed And Small Beginnings

Your One Takeaway Cultivate The Soil

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Girlfriend. Some of you guys are like, We're gonna get out of here by dinner, I promise. Like, this dude's about to try to knock out 34 verses. Yes, I have less than 60 seconds per verse. Um, my name is Lawrence. We're walking through uh the Gospel of Mark. Welcome to chapter four. Um, you can go back and listen to any of this. You can also watch any of this online if you want to catch up, uh, verse by verse, teaching every bit of the Bible we can out of this. Um, speaking of listening to something, um, just to recognize like a quick moment, and I think a lot of you guys are carrying a lot of stuff, but we had uh a friend of mine went to college together. He was here actually one year ago, March 10th. Uh, he was here, gave a message that was battling uh brain cancer. And on Friday he lost his fight. Uh, but he uh we can be praying for his young daughter, Hero, and his wife Natalie. Um, but he gave a tremendous message. He was actually up here uh going to UCSF um for some treatment uh for that stuff. But he gave a great message just in the midst of suffering uh and what that looks like in God's goodness. It was called I Am Weak, I Am Strong. There's actually a documentary on Amazon Prime, all kinds of stuff about him. Um, but also for those of you who've been wondering, you know, what you haven't seen, maybe for now a little over a month, uh, our pastor of care, Megan Friedman. Um, unfortunately, uh her cancer came back, and so she's been actually in treatment fighting that stuff. So there's just a lot. And I know we've dealt with a lot. We've actually lost some um really close members here due to just disease, and there's just always grief. You guys know this. And uh, as I'm giving this message today, I'll tell you in my own study, I was actually surprised as uh some of that kind of was um helpful for me. And so, in just a little bit, I'll make sure I point that out uh and what that looks like. And hopefully you can find some comfort uh in the midst of that as well. Um, I don't know if this has happened to you, but have you ever had somebody tell you a story that felt harmless at first, but then later you actually realized it was actually about you? Like when you're in a grocery store and you see a child absolutely melting down on aisle seven, you know, like the full body protest screaming, lying flat on the floor like gravity betrayed them, and you think, like, wow, someone needs to parent that child, right? And then the storyteller says, You know, that's you. If you've ever said, When I have kids, they won't act like that, right? Funny. And the room laughs just like that. And then they add, and you really know it's you if you now have kids and you've negotiated with a three-year-old using snacks like it's a hostage situation, right? Been there, right? And then just like that, louder, louder laughter, and then comes the punch. And you know it's you if the reason your kid is melting down is because they're exactly like you, right? Because some of us need snacks in the middle of our meltdowns. And suddenly it's not about parenting technique, it's about pride, it's about how easy it is to diagnose behavior in other people until you recognize it in yourself. Like nobody called your name, but something landed, and the story does the work. It starts general, it feels safe, and then suddenly it isn't. And that's our verses today in Mark 4. Jesus starts telling a story about a farmer throwing seed around. No religious bud with buzzwords, no dramatic tone, just like everyday imagery for this dirt and seed and birds and sun, and it feels harmless. But as the story unfolds, where there's this hard ground and shallow ground and crowded ground, good soil, something uncomfortable begins to happen. That you start to realize he's not describing land, he's describing people, and not just people out there, people that are standing right in front of him, and maybe people in this room. And at some point, it stops being about agriculture and it becomes about you. That's the brilliance of how Jesus teaches. Uh, he doesn't uh attack, uh he doesn't single anyone out, he just narrates. And somewhere in between the first sentence and the last, you realize this story isn't sitting in front of you as an illustration anymore. It's literally now holding up a mirror. And that's when Mark tells us how this moment unfolds. Let's hop in, verse one. Again, he began to teach beside the sea, and a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and he sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside him, the sea and the land. So, right here you get this picture. This crowd is massive, and expectations are rising, and momentum is building. And so Mark continues, and so he was teaching many things in parables. So parables are not cute illustrations, they're spiritual diagnostics. They don't just explain truth, they reveal posture. So two people can hear the same story and walk away with something entirely different. And then Jesus begins with this urgency. He says, Listen, behold, a sower went out to sow. So that word listen right here isn't just filler. This is a warning. Like this is, hey, hey, pay attention right here. This is going to land somewhere. In first century fields, a farmer scattered seed broadly. Uh, pass cut throughout the land, and rock layers hid beneath the soil, thorns, roots were already present under the surface, and the seed would fall everywhere. And so Jesus continues as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and they devoured it. So the seed never penetrates. Uh, the ground is hardened from constant traffic. It's impenetrable. Next, he says, 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. But this is what happens when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. So here it looked alive, it looked promising, but there was no depth. Then other seed fell along thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. So now the plant survives, it grows, but it never ends up producing. And then finally, other seeds fell onto good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding 30fold and 60fold and 100fold. Okay, so that yield would have shocked the crowd that was listening. A hundredfold harvest was extraordinary. And then Jesus says, He who has ears to hear, let them hear. In other words, this story is doing something to you right now. Then later, away from the crowd, after this moment, when he was alone, says, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. So the crowds hear the stories, the disciples lean in, curiosity now separates listeners from followers. And so Jesus replies in verse 11, he says, To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables. So the secret is not hidden information for spiritual elites, it's revealed uh truth for receptive hearts. The kingdom isn't cracked like a code, it's received like a gift. And so then what he does, he actually quotes something from the Old Testament from Isaiah. He said, so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and they may indeed hear but not understand, least they should turn and be forgiven. So this isn't right here, this is this is important. This isn't Jesus hiding truth. It's Jesus acknowledging that some hearts resist what they hear. Let me put it this way: the same sun melts wax and hardens clay. The difference isn't the sun, it's the surface. And then he says something weighty. Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? Now, this is foundational. Miss this, and you'll misunderstand how the kingdom works entirely. He explains that the sower sows the word. The seed is the word. This is the announcement of God's reign. That the seed doesn't change, the soil does. First, he says, 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. That word immediately, not debated, not wrestled with, it's just removed. And the issue isn't ignorance, it's hardness, truth that lands but never actually sinks in. Whether it's uh distraction, cynicism, uh, emotional walls, the word never penetrates, and the enemy doesn't need to fight whatever rooted. Next, he says, and these are the ones sown on rocky ground, the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. Now, joy isn't the problem here, depth is because he says, and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while. Then when tribulation and persecution arises on account of the world, immediately they fall away. So the heat reveals what was always underneath. The soil loves the feeling of inspiration, but it resists formation of endurance. When following Jesus costs something, the roots prove shallow. And so Jesus says, and then others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things enter in and choke out the word, and it proves unfruitful. So notice what chokes out growth, worry, uh, illusion of security, um, competing desires, not dramatic rebellion, not just overcrowding. Um, this is slow suffocation, the slow suffocation of distraction. The plant is alive, it just never multiplies. And then finally, he says, But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit. Thirtyfold, sixty-fold, a hundredfold. So we see that that they hear, they accept, they bear fruit. The good soil isn't perfect soil. Here's the key it's receptive soil. It lets the word go deep, it endures the heat, it survives uh competition, and over time it produces beyond expectation. So here you have four soils that hear the same word and only one changes. And the story that started as agriculture ends as a question: not do you understand farming, but what kind of soil are you becoming? Because the sower is still sowing. So what kind of soil are you becoming? Jesus continues. This new idea says to them, it's a lamp. Is a lamp brought and put under a basket or under a bed? Not just on a stand? Well, the answer is obvious to us, right? Of course not. In the ancient world, a lamp is a small clay vessel filled with oil. And when you lit it, it was because darkness was real, right? Didn't have electricity. This is the way you saw things, this is you lived under this space. You didn't light it to hide it. You lit it because you needed to see. And Jesus is saying something profound here. The kingdom may feel hidden right now, but hidden doesn't mean absent. And temporary concealment does not mean permanent obscurity. And he continues, for anything that's hidden except to be made manifest, nor is anything secret except to be come to light. The mystery of the kingdom is not meant to stay a mysterious forever. What looks small and quiet, even unimpressive in the moment, will eventually be revealed in clarity. Then he repeats this line that should make everybody lean in. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. Again, this is a pay attention. This is about more than just information. Then Jesus adds a warning that feels almost uncomfortable. He says, pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. The measure here isn't about money, it's about receptivity. The posture that you bring determines the depth in which you actually receive. If you lean in deeply, depth increases. The kingdom does not force itself on anyone, it responds to hunger, and then he sharpens it further. Says, for anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Now that sounds severe until you understand the principle here. Spiritual responsiveness compounds and so does spiritual indifference. Lean toward the light and clarity grows. Resist the light, and even what you think you understand begins to fade. Neutrality is not neutral. It is movement in a direction. And then Jesus shifts metaphors on us again. And then he said, The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. So now we're back to agriculture out of nowhere. But this time the focus changes. It's no longer about the soil's condition, it's about the mystery of growth. So as he sleeps and rises, he sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows. He knows not how. That line is almost humorous. The farmer sleeps, growth happens. He doesn't understand the mechanism, the mechanism of it. He can't manufacture the miracle. He scatters, he waits, he rests, and something unseen begins to move beneath the service surface. In a culture obsessed with control, that is deeply unsettling. Jesus continues, the earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain, in the ear. Notice the progression here. You have blade, ear, full grain, which is process. The kingdom grows in stages. And we live in a world allergic to process. We want visible results immediately. We want blade to harvest in a weekend. So there will be a harvest. There will be a culmination, but not rushed, not forced, and not engineered. Then Jesus presses even further here and he said, With what can we compare the kingdom of God? Or what parable shall we use for it? He almost invites the imagination to stretch here. He said it's like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. So in Jewish speech, the mustard seed represented extreme smallness, uh, insignificance, overlooked beginnings. And the kingdom doesn't begin with spectacle, no throne, no army, there's not a palace involved, just a teacher right here and a boat telling stories. And then comes the surprise. Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. A mustard bush wasn't a towering cedar. It was more like an invasive shrub that spread wildly. And that's the point that the kingdom does not grow neatly, but it grows persistently. What becomes is a small shelter, this is the image of birds nesting. This echoes the Old Testament pictures of nations finding refuge in a great kingdom. And Jesus is quietly saying that what Looks insignificant on the shoreline will one day extend far beyond it. And then Mark continues, with many such parables, he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. So Jesus teaches progressively, he doesn't overwhelm their capacity. There's this revelation that matches their readiness. And then finally in verse 34, he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples, he explained everything. Okay, so the crowds hear the story. The disciples stay around for clarity. And then proximity to him produces understanding of what this all means. The kingdom is available to all, and depth belongs to those who actually remain. So let's just step back and see the whole picture. First, Jesus exposes the soil. Then he explains growth. That the kingdom doesn't advance through hype, it advances through hidden faithfulness. It doesn't explode through spectacle. It expands through small, steady obedience. It grows while you sleep. It unfolds in stages. It starts smaller than you expect and then ends larger than you imagined. And for some of you, maybe in the room, maybe that's for you. You just feel like nothing is happening, like you're just in blade stage, barely visible. Some of you are frustrated because your life doesn't look dramatic. And Jesus says, that's not failure, that's process. And some of us can feel insignificant, like a mustard seed in a world obsessed with scale. And Jesus says, small beginnings do not predict small endings. The only real danger in this chapter was hardened soil. Once the soil was receptive, growth belongs to God. You scatter, you receive, you stay, and the kingdom grows in ways that you cannot manufacture. That's how it works. Quietly, gradually, unstoppably. And if you have ears to hear, let it grow. So here's where Mark chapter 4, verses 1 through 34 leaves us. Some of you, I'm just gonna say this, I know this. Some of you in this room love clarity. You're like, I want a takeaway. Come on, just give me a takeaway, a framework, something actionable. What do I do with this? So here it is. You cannot control the growth of the kingdom, but you can cultivate the condition of your heart. That's your lane. Not the harvest, not the timeline, the soil. So who is in the room right now? I think there's a lot of different personalities that live in here. And let's talk about that. Because some of you in the room right here, you're wired for action. When there is a problem, you want to solve it. When someone is hurting, you want to fix it. When someone is sick, you want to pray hard enough, believe strong enough, and declare boldly enough until something shifts. And when it doesn't, when the diagnosis doesn't change, when the pain doesn't leave, and when the outcome isn't what you asked for, it can feel like failure. Like maybe you didn't have enough faith. Maybe you missed something. Maybe God didn't come through. In these verses in Mark chapter 4, gently confronts that pressure. Jesus says the kingdom is like a farmer who scatters seed and then sleeps. The seed grows. He knows not how. That phrase is both comforting and maddening. He knows not how. The farmer does not control the internal mechanics of growth. He can't force germination. He can't command its timing. He participates, but he does not produce. And that matters when you've prayed for someone you love and the healing didn't happen the way you had hoped. It matters when you've asked for God to intervene in the outcome feels delayed or different. The kingdom is not hustle. It's not a vending machine. It doesn't respond to volume or formulas or spiritual intensity. It grows in mystery. And mystery is uncomfortable because it means we're not in control. But here's the hope inside of the mystery. The farmer's lack of control doesn't mean that the seed isn't working. It means that the work is happening beneath the surface in ways we cannot see and do not understand. First blade, then ear, then full grain. There's process even when there's silence. When you pray for the sick, and the answer doesn't look like the miracle that you imagined, that does not mean that the kingdom failed. It means that you're not the engine. You're the sower. You're the one who scatters in faith and growth, visible or invisible, immediate or eternal, belongs to God. Some healings are physical, some are spiritual, some are delayed, some are ultimate. And the mystery is not evidence of absence, it's evidence of a kingdom that works deeper than we can measure. And that, my friends, is hard because we want outcomes, we want closure, we want resolution. But Jesus describes a kingdom that grows while we sleep, a kingdom where faithfulness is our assignment and the unseen work is God's. So if you're tired from praying, or you're confused from waiting, or you're frustrated or undone in grief because the outcome wasn't what you asked for, Mark chapter four says this. Now, some of you in the room are just skeptical. You're analytical, you don't get swept up in emotion easily, you're listening, but you're measuring. And the warning for you is the path, not because you're rebellious, but because constant evaluation can actually harden into distance. The question isn't whether you understand every detail, the question is whether you're open. That's the invitation. Now, listening to this parable from Jesus, some of you feel exposed right now because you've been on rocky soil. Like you've had moments, you felt inspired, you started strong, and then life got complicated, and heat came, pressure came. You're not evil, you just never melt depth. Well, here's the good news roots grow underground before they show up above ground, and depth can begin today. That's your invitation. And then I think some of you in the room are tired because you see yourself in the thorns. You're not rebellious, you're just busy, constant notifications, endless responsibilities, anxiety humming in the background, and you don't hate God, you're just crowded. And thorns don't have to be cut down all at once, but they have to be noticed and removed intentionally. Space can be reclaimed. That's my invitation to you. And some of you are quiet and faithful. You don't make noise, you don't need applause, you just keep showing up. And you may feel unseen, but blade, ear, full grain. Growth takes time. Mustard seeds don't look impressive at first, and neither do faithful lives. But the kingdom has never depended on spectacle, it only depends on surrender. And then finally, some of you aren't sure what you believe yet. You're here because somebody invited you. You're curious, maybe cautious. Well, Mark chapter four is good news for you. Jesus does not force himself on anyone, he tells stories and invites response. The door is not kicked in, it is opened from the inside. So here's the landing for today. The sower is still sowing, the word is still going out, the kingdom is still growing quietly, steadily, often invisibly. And the question is not whether God is working, the question is whether your heart is open. You don't have to manufacture fruit today. You don't have to promise dramatic change. You don't have to feel something overwhelming. You just have to soften, break up the path, go deeper than emotions, clear some thorns, and stay receptive. Because when the soil is ready, growth is not your burden, it's God's work. And that kind of kingdom, quiet, patient, unstoppable, is already taking root. Grace and peace to you, my friends. You are dearly loved.