Can we be very close, at home every day, in marriage, in church, and yet very far away at the same time? This sermon takes us to the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus tells the crowd the parable of the sower (Mark 4), not to teach farming, but to diagnose our hearts. It turns out we are not any one soil forever, we become one every time we decide how we listen to God’s word. Listen and answer for yourself: what will you do with what you hear?
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Jesus tells of a sower who scatters seed everywhere: on the path, on rocky ground, and among thorns. What does this seemingly careless sowing reveal about God's heart, and why might it have provoked the first listeners?
- The large crowd hears the parable and leaves, while the Twelve and those around Jesus come with questions (Mark 4:10-12). How do their attitudes differ, and what does this teach us about what to do when we don't understand something?
- The sermon said we are never permanently one kind of soil; we become a soil every time we listen. How does that change the way you see this parable and yourself?
- Which person from the sermon do you relate to most right now: Jonathan, preoccupied with his affairs; Eliezer, building faith on emotions; Nathanael, trying to fit everything in; or Joanna, steadily obedient? Why?
- The speaker said God's word often loses not to sin but to an excess of important, even good, things. What tends to crowd out God's word in your life?
- Where in your life does God not yet have access with His word, and what specifically could you remove this week to make room for Him?
