Have you ever been invited to something that you thought would be boring, but you went anyway and had a great time?
Read Mark 4:1-25
- What measure is Jesus referring to?
- The more effort you put into something, the more you will get out of it. The more you invest your heart and time into Jesus, the more you will get out of your relationship with him. Jesus promises to give to you way more than you can give to Him: that is the measure that is "pressed down".
- The Soils
- In this passage, Jesus paints a picture, and asks you to look at it.
- What you see here is Jesus's view of the world.
- The measure with which you retain this worldview blesses you more than you expect.
- The words and conversations of Jesus are kinetic and full of life. They grow and shape the world apart from your own efforts.
- At any time in our lives, we can switch from one soil type to the next
- We don’t have to remain in the condition of bad soils, we can put work into changing our soil
- Good news, we can weed the paths, beat the paths to make it better soil
- Good news, we have a whole lifetime to learn learn different lessons
- Good news, the farmer already put the seeds in the soil, so we can make effort to change our situation, even if it takes time
- When I engage with Jesus and put effort into it, I will get so much more out of my relationship with Jesus
- God is generous and gives us the ability to make good judgements to strengthen our convictions about how we should live and allows us to take time to investigate Jesus further
- God perseveres with us and helps us in every situation. We don’t have to quit because God is super generous with his love
- Hosea 10:12- reminds us to take time to prepare in my life now. God uses every moment we are weak to strengthen us
- Hearing Jesus’s Words
- John 5:25- We live by hearing Christ and making sense of what He says.
- Ephesians 3:2-6: How did the Jews learn about the mystery of the past? Jesus revealed it to them
- Romans 16: 25-27: the mystery of Jesus was revealed to some, and not to others
- Psalms 78:1-2: Mysteries from old will be revealed, some will hear and some will not hear
- Mark 4: 11-12:He spoke in parables to allow those who really wanted to hear, will hear
- In order to understand what Jesus was saying, you would have to go ask questions
- Mark 4: 21-22: When we put effort into something, it shows
- Although Jesus’s teachings are a mystery, he wants everyone to know what he has to say. He wants to proclaim who He is. He wants to have a strong relationship with each of us.
- His foot is always on the gas, ours is on the brake.