Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good
morning. It is Sunday, July twenty one, twenty twenty four. Hello,
my name is Elle David Harris. I am your host, and this
is your Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day and today
has no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson study series through the Book
of Mark, and our caption for today is the Parable of the Sower,
The Parable of the Sower. We'll get into that in just the moment,
but first I'd like to say welcome to you and ask you to please go
over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community, pick
up the Your Daily Portioned book and let us know where you are in the
world at your Daily Portion dot com. This is a way that we continue
to build faith and fellowship. Good morning. Yeah, let's go ahead and
pray, and then we will get underway. Father and Heaven. Thank you
for giving us this new morning and for the workweek that is ahead of us.
Father, these moments are uncharted, these waters uncharted, untested, but
you have seen everything from before there was a beginning. Please help us to
only walk in the paths of righteousness, navigate the waters as you see fit.
And Father, give us understanding concerning your parables, because really and truly
you only intended to speak clearly to us, but because of the hardness of
people's hearts, we have these parables. Please give us your wisdom today in
Jesus, they might pray, Amen and Amen again. Okay. And so
we are going to begin this week with the parable of the Sewer, and
let me just read it clearly, and then we'll jump into some lessons that
we can learn. Okay. And so from Mark chapter four, beginning at
verse one, the Bible reads again he began to teach by the lake.
If you notice, Jesus had a habit of just popping up teachings. There
were times that he would just you know, we're going along our journey,
and he would just begin teaching. It wasn't like how we do today where
we stage these things at all times, like Okay, we're going to be
meeting at this place at this time, and then we're going to have this
series or these teachings. There were times that he's just walking along the way,
he is in a boat, he is in the mountain range, and
he begins teaching. And this is one of those cases, such a large
crowd gap that around him, that he got into a boat on the lake
and sat there while the whole crowd was on the seashore by the lake,
not the seashore, by the shore of the lake. He taught them many
things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them, listen.
Now, if Jesus says, listen, what should we do, go ahead
and type it in the chat. Yeah, it seems self explanatory. Yes,
listen, listen. A sower went forth to sow. And for people
like me who grew up in a big city, who don't know what that
means. Naturally, he's saying that there was somebody who's about to plant some
seeds. They're going to sow or plant seeds broadly, okay verse four.
And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds
came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did
not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not
deep, and the sun came up, and when the sun came up,
it was scorched. And because it did not have sufficient root, it withered.
Other seed fell among the thorns they which grew up, and they grew
up it and choked it and did not produce grain. But other seed fell
on good soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing, some yielding thirty times
as much, some sixty, and some a hundred times. And he said,
whoever has ears to hear, let them hear. You better listen,
you better listen. And so God is teaching us something very very key here
at the very end of that part of the parable, that the Bible is
teaching us straight out of Jesus's mouth, that there is good soil, and
the people who become, by God's grace good soil will have the optimal outcome,
the ultimate result of growth. For some of us, it multiplies.
What is the it God's word. The seed that God sols into our lives
is his truth, everything that He wants for us, His truth, His
word is truth in our lives. And those who are good soil, whose
lives and hearts and minds are good soil, It grows and it continues to
grow. And it says that it grows in multiplication, some thirtyfold, some
sixtyfold, some one hundred times. Whoever has ears, listen, so let
me ask you a question. We see the other types of soil and what
went wrong with them, But let me ask you a question. Is there
anything in your way today? I'm talking about right now, almost six minutes
after the hour, right now, that is holding you up from becoming good
soil. God wants your life and your heart to become fertile, to be
receptive to His will. Is there anything that you are putting up as a
barrier to having your life become great soil for the growth of His word in
your life, for the benefit of others, and for connection with God.
It's something that we need, with which we need to contend. And so
what we want to do is look for just a few of some life lessons.
I'm not going to necessarily interpret every detail. But today we are going
to focus on life lessons. Let's go with five from this parable. The
first one is be receptive to God's word. I already preempted myself here,
and I'm going again to verse eight. But the other seed fell on good
soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing, some yielding thirty times as much,
some sixty, and some one hundred times. So the lesson here is
that we should be preparing our hearts to be receptive to God's word like good
soil, so that the word can take root. It won't stay on the
surface, but it will take root and then begin to grow. How we
treat people will be a manifestation of whether this truth is growing in our lives.
How we respond to God's truth, whether we will yield our will and
do his words, or we'll explain them away as if they're not important,
that we will explain away our responsibilities. It will be an indicator of whether
we are accepting of God's word, and if it is growing. Here's another
one, gard against superficial acceptance from verses five and six. And some fell
on stony ground where it had not much earth, and immediately sprang up because
it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it
was scorched because it had no root, and it withered away. So we
shouldn't be okay with surface understanding, surface acceptance, doing the bare minimum.
Some people live at the bare minimum status quo. Where God is concerned,
He's saying, no, I'm giving you the privilege to be fertile, receptive
soil, so that the status quo will not be good enough, that everything
that I desire for you will become fruitful in your life. Number three,
Resist distractions and temptation. Verse seven. And some fell on thorns, and
thorns among thorns, and thorns grew up and choked it and yielded no fruit.
And so we are to resist, by God's grace, by yielding our
will to God, submitting ourselves therefore unto God, and resisting the devil,
resisting temptation, and he will flee from us. So distractions and temptations.
Number four cultivate patience and perseverance from verse h and another and verse eight.
Again, another fell on good ground, and it yielded these increases. Yes,
and so there are times that we need to wait. The seed has
to germinate, it has to grow and only people who persevere will see the
outcome. And then, finally, the outcome is what we want to focus
on. Expect a rich harvest if we are fertile ground. Despite the risks
of potential failures. There is a promise that if we will yield our will
to God, then his word will yield much fruit. Peace. Thanks for
joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been
your daily portion with el David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,