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0:20 All right, welcome to the Daily Blade. 0:22 We are going to study basically Matthew 13. 0:24 Jesus tells seven different parables in this chapter, and we're going to walk through uh the teaching ministry of Jesus here. 0:30 What begins to happen in the first, not all of the first twelve chapters of Matthew, but the beginning of Matthew, Jesus is teaching just in plain talk. 0:38 He's just telling us what the kingdom of heaven is. 0:40 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 0:42 But the Pharisees are rejecting his plain talk, and so he begins to shift the way he teaches, and he begins to teach him parables. 0:49 The middle of chapter 13 will say this. 0:52 And the first one that he gives is called the Parable of the Sower, and it's actually a parable about parables. 0:57 We'll read it and then he unpacks it. 0:59 Goes this way. 1:00 That same day Jesus went out from the house and he sat beside the sea, and great crowds gathered around him, so that he got into a boat and he sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things and parables, saying, A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the 1:15 birds came and devoured them, and other seed fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, and since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. 1:29 Some seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them, and other seeds fell on the good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 1:38 He who has ears, let him hear. 1:40 And then after this, for the next several verses, the the disciples come and they're like, Hey, boss, why are you teaching him parables? 1:46 And I used to think that the reason Jesus taught him parables was so that everybody could understand these complex biblical truths with a simple story. 1:55 That's not actually what Jesus says. 1:56 He basically is going to say in the next bunch of verses that the reason I teach him parables is to conceal and reveal. 2:03 So if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, you will be able to hear the deep spiritual truths. 2:08 But if you do not, it's actually a punishment and the truth of God will be concealed. 2:13 He said, Lest people see and surrender. 2:17 And you think, well, I thought that was the whole point. 2:18 And basically what Jesus is saying is, hey, I'm not a math problem to be figured out. 2:23 I am a God to be loved. 2:26 And so the disciples don't understand the meaning of this parable, so he explains the parable. 2:31 In verse 18, he says, Here then the parable of the sower. 2:34 When anyone hears the words of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. 2:41 This is what was sown along the path. 2:44 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 2:59 And as for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 3:10 As for what was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. 3:15 He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, and another sixty, and in another thirty. 3:22 You see, what Jesus is explaining here is why parables exist. 3:27 So let me ask you, which soil are you? 3:30 Because a part of the brilliance of the teaching and ministry of Jesus is they did not have the New Testament. 3:37 It was happening real time. 3:38 So they couldn't take Jesus' sermon home and re-watch it and back up the YouTube and watch it again. 3:45 They didn't have a copy of it to study over every word. 3:48 So as they were out throwing seed, they would be reminded of this parable. 3:53 My question is, which soil is your heart? 3:56 Be honest. 3:57 Do you have a hard heart? 3:58 Do you have a hard heart? 4:00 Are there things that you hear? 4:01 And this means even if you were a believer in God, because some of you have been walking with Jesus for a while, but your heart towards him has grown hard. 4:09 Well, in order to soften that, it must be broken. 4:13 Like in order for good soil to be good soil, you gotta take a tiller to it and turn that thing over. 4:19 And so if you have had a hard time, if you've been going to church or you've been listening to stuff that used to the seed of God would go deep down in your heart and it has become hard, I dare you to ask God to soften it. 4:31 It is vital to your life. 4:33 J.I. 4:34 Packer says it this way He says, and still he seeks the fellowship of his people, and he will bring them both joy or sorrow that they may detach their hands from the things of this world to grab only onto him. 4:46 So if you have a hard heart, grab onto him, ask God to soften it. 4:51 Or maybe you've got a shallow heart. 4:52 Maybe you hear the word of God and you get all excited, you know, like you did at youth camp, and you promise Jesus you're gonna follow him forever, but it doesn't last. 5:00 And the reason it doesn't last is because you're not rooted in the word and you're not rooted in the faith family. 5:06 So is that you? 5:08 Are you rooted in God's word? 5:10 You need to get rooted. 5:11 The daily blade is not enough. 5:12 This is like an appetizer. 5:13 May you dive into the word and root yourself in the word so when the pressure of this world begins to bake you, your roots are deep in the world so that you may live. 5:22 Or maybe you have a divided heart. 5:24 You got one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of God. 5:27 If you've ever seen a guy try to get out of a boat onto a dock too slow, you know he's got one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock. 5:34 He ain't gonna stay there long. 5:35 This is you. 5:37 Jesus specifically says that you're gonna be taken out by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. 5:43 Listen, Jesus is not, he's not something to just kind of be an accent or an add-on to your life. 5:49 You can't build your life on the deceitfulness of riches, the cares of this world, and then use some Jesus stuff to just kind of decorate your house. 5:55 No, no, no, no. 5:56 You gotta take that thing all the way to the foundation, and he has to be the foundation. 6:01 Or do you have good soil? 6:02 Is your heart good soil? 6:04 This will never happen by accident. 6:06 You have to abide in him and he will abide in you. 6:08 You have to do your part. 6:09 So before you go to church this week, I want you to do the kind of things that prepare your heart to hear the word of God, to receive the word of God. 6:18 And what God wants to do in and through you is infinitely more than you could ever hope or dream of. 6:23 What kind of heart do you have?