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[WW] Sowing Seeds · The Wesley Word

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Wesley Word.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to read our scripture today.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: It comes from the Gospel of Luke.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: This is perhaps a familiar passage.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've never heard it, but I invite you to hear these words anew, even if you have heard them before.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: This comes from Luke 8, starting in the fourth verse.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: When a great cat crowd gathered, and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Some fell on the rock, and as it grew up it withered for lack of moisture.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Some fell into good soil, and when it grew it produced a hundredfold.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: And as he said this he called out, Let any one who has ears listen.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant, and he said, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others I speak in parables, so that looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now the parable is this The seed is the Word of God, the ones on the path are those who have heard, then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: But these have no root.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: They believe only for a while, and at a time of testing fall away.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience, with patient endurance.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: This is the word of God for the people of God.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks be to God.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: They like that one.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's this is a fairly straightforward parable if you read this, and this is one of the few parables that Jesus actually explains in the scripture.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, yo, what's this mean?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is like, well, actually, this is this, right?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And those out throws out the list for him, right?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: But there's there's three things that I think we can take from this that if we don't just let ourselves off the hook, that we there's some things that we can learn from this in our everyday life.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so I wanted to share this parable with you and sort of three things that we can glean from that.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been thinking about this parable often because one, I uh there's one thing I've been wanting to do for like uh okay, like 17 years now, and I forget every year, but this is the year I'm gonna do it.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: You'll hold me to this, right?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: I've always wanted to plant the bulbs in the fall, right?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like the tulip bulbs and that sort of stuff, so that come spring I can have like some pretty flowers out at my house, right?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: I plans to do this every single year, but every year I talk about it and I never get it done, right?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've actually got to plant those bulbs in the ground.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so today, what I want to talk about, the point one, sort of things that we can pull from this parable of the sower, is that sort of the main thrust of this of this parable, what we're called to do, is our job is to sow seeds, right?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Our job is to plant seeds.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: And at the risk of sound like Captain Obvious, that's what this parable is about.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: That we are called to sow seeds and to sow those seeds with reckless abandon, right?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: To sow the seeds of the of the gospel, to sow the seeds of grace and of good news, right?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And as we think about, and we look at the parable, right?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I tried to, this is as artsy as I get, folks, right?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: But try to like lay it out for you, right?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: You think about that the sower went out and they said like he was even dropping some seeds along the way, right?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: He had so many, but he's they go and they say, you know, you take some and you drop them along the drop some along the path, right?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Our maintenance guys are gonna love me for having seed everywhere, right?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: But they said some falls on the on the rocky soil, right, or on the path, and the birds trample it, right?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Or we trample it and the birds eat it up or it dries up on the rocks.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: But yet we're called to sow seeds no matter where we're at, right?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it says that, you know, sometimes you you sow seed and and you think something's gone, but but before you know it, um, you know, it gets choked out by the vines and these other things that are happening in our lives and it isn't able to grow.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then they say, you know, oh, but there's this good soil, right?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: There's this awesome soil, and we're called to plant seeds in that.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, sounds beautiful up there.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Not like hitting the rocks and stuff, right?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: But that you put this good soil and it grows like hundredfold as it begins to grow.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you're sitting here thinking and you're looking at this and you're like me, and you want to be efficient, because I absolutely hate inefficiency, right?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you're thinking, well, why am I gonna waste my time on this rocky soil?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, may produce may not probably gonna dry up, right?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I gonna waste my time on these this thorny soil as I try to spread this seed and sow this seed of grace and love and this word of God, when I know that this is the good soil, right?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is the stuff that will be returning a hundredfold, right?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the truth is, like we can see up here, right?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: This is pretty this is like miracle, this is the good stuff, right?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like eight dollars a bag, right?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: So this is the good soil here.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: We can see that this is supposed to be some vines and this is some rocks, but the truth in life, when we're actually talking about people, right?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because this is a parable that's about people, not about the actual soils and such, we don't know whose soil is rocky.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know who is a hard path right now.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know who is a fertile soil or who is uh has vines and stuff all wrapped around them.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: All we know that our job is to scatter seeds like crazy, to have some in here and some over there and some out there, and I'm tempted to throw them out there, but Eddie's gonna kill me, so I'm not gonna throw them at you, right?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: But we're just called to throw and throw these seeds, right?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And what we mean by seeds is to cast and to spread the love of God, to spread the love and the word of grace around, because we never know what soil we're going to encounter in somebody and what fruit that might produce a hundredfold.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think about my own life, right?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: The cool thing about this parable is it tells us that we don't have to decide, and also we don't get to decide who is worthy of receiving the seeds of grace and who isn't worthy of receiving the seeds of grace, right?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, as sower, you just spread it, right?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think in my life, I wouldn't be here where I am today, working, serving for a church, being in ministry, had it not been for people who continually spread seed.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: There were times in my life when this was me, right?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Remember this dude when I lived in Texas, this was definitely me, and that dude tried to act like he had a jackhammer trying to get into that soil, right, and throw some seeds in there, and it just didn't happen, right?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: But he kept scattering seeds and planting seeds, and lo and behold, there was actually a seed that took place in my life when I was a little like a real rocky place.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: There was a little seed that took place in Germany that started coming up, and eventually my soil started looking like this.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: But if they'd have given up on me when I looked like this, I'd have never become this and where I am here and today.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Goal number one, as we think about this parable, is to spread that seed, right?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that seed again, the word of God, the grace, the love of Jesus, and to spread that throughout everyone and to not have to worry about who gets what, who decide who is what, or try to figure out where we're trying to do this, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: But just to spread seed with reckless abandon.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, quick time out.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's different nuances here, right?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you're in like a super toxic relationship, you don't have to stay in that trying to like, you know, make that work, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: But in a general sense, we just spread that love, we spread that grace, and we just do it like crazy because we never know what is going to take.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, point one, very simple, Captain Obvious, you gotta spread the seed, right?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Number two is a little more important, this is sort of something I was thinking about as well, is um Jesus says that these seeds are the word of God, right?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: Not the Bible thumping word of God, right?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I don't know who I'm not gonna call anybody out, right?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: But come up here and let me smack you on the head with the Bible, right?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And get this through your thick skull to love Jesus.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: But it says to spread the grace, spread the gospel.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Gospel should be good news, should be graceful, should be loving.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so the question that asks for us to think about point number two is what types of seed are we spreading?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because while it's important to always be spreading seed, it's equally as important to make sure that the seeds we're spreading are are seeds of hope, our seeds of grace, our seeds of love.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because whether we know it or not, or want to admit it or not, every interaction that we have with another human being, we are planting seeds.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: They could be seeds of grace, or they could be seeds of hate, they could be seeds of doubt and question and inferiority, they could be seeds of good stuff.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: But what type of seeds are we planting?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think about when I built my house about seven, eight years ago, and um, I don't know if you care about this, but I I never built a house before.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Who knew you had to like budget in landscaping, right?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Did you know that, right?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you got to have a good call, uh, Bryce, you weren't around then, right?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so I had this red dirt, and they wouldn't allow me to move into my house until I had grass in the front yard.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I don't think you know, like I have no money, like I can't do grass.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, Well, you gotta cover it up.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, fine, I'll go put some straw out there, right?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so I went out there and I got some straw from the big, like, I went to like the feed and supply store.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: I really fit in there.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't at all.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I brought this straw and I had some recipe out there helping me shake straw all out on my um red clay, beautiful front lawn.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't know it, but I was spreading seed and I was spreading the wrong kind of seed.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: I thought straw was seedless.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: No, there's seeds in there, and they grow these big, tall, um, like green things to just take over your yard.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it took me like two years, even after I'd planted sod, the beautiful, pretty expensive sod in my yard, to get this, these, these straw stalks out of my yard.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Unknowingly, I had planted bad seed and it took a while for them to come up, but they had they had messed up what I was trying to make happen.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd think about think about what are the seeds that you're spreading?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: What are the seeds that you're planting, right?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And as you're doing that, right, what are the things that you're posting?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: What are the things that you're saying with friends or behind friends or in front of friends?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: What are the things that you are doing?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: What type of seeds are you planting for others?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: What are you teaching those around you, maybe new believers or older believers, by the things that you say and the things that you do?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: What are the seeds that you are planting?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Think back this week, the conversations that you had, both in front and maybe behind closed doors.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: And are these seeds things that are gonna bear the fruit of the Spirit?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Are these things gonna bear goodness and joy and kindness and patience and goodness, right?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Are the seeds that I'm planting leading to us living out the great commandment that God has given us to love God and love neighbor as ourselves, right?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I encourage you one to throw seeds like with reckless abandon, right?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Wearing that of God, but also be sure to think about what are the seeds that we're planting, right?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was gonna buy some nice, fancy grass seed, right?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: But that's expensive, right?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is bird seed, right?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: You don't be planting this and expect nice grass to come up.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna end up with a whole bunch of squirrels taking over your yard if you plant this, right?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: But what are the seeds that you're planting?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Are they building up or are they tearing down?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: And lastly, right, so you gotta spread seeds, what type of seeds are we doing?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: The last thing to think about is this sometimes is also called the parable of the soils, right?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Mitch, on the first hand, when we're looking at casting the soil or casting the seed, we don't get to say who has what soil, right?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um we can't be like, look, Steve's real rocky, you know, Andrew's kind of viney, right?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Zach's all good soil, right?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we'll figure that out, right?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, we don't we don't want to judge other people what soil they are.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: But we can also look at this parable and begin to ask internally, though, what does my soil look like?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: What are the areas in my life where maybe it's not rocky, maybe it's just been beaten down so much that it's just a hard pan clay and there's nothing getting in there, right?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Or what is it, I like how they talked about the vines that they've sort of taken on the pleasures and things of the world and there's no room for the word of God in there because all these other things are choking out our faith life.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: What does our soil look like?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Or are we this this beautiful, awesome, miracle-grow soil where we just plant the seeds in there and we get hundredfold fruits coming out?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you've ever spent much time in the garden, more than likely we're somewhere in between, right?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: I try to keep my house nice outside, but my landscape's a mess, I'll admit it, right?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: But when I go to plant bushes, right, I know I gotta amend the soil a little bit.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And even though I think I have the garden perfect, there's always little weeds that start to sprout out.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: There are no rocks in my yard, but there are always rocks in my yard.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know where they come from.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think the squirrels got mad at me for taking my pecan tree down and they put rocks in my yard now, right?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: But what I'm saying is, like, there's always every time in your in your life, there's gonna be a little bit of here and there.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: The soil of your life is always gonna need amending.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'd encourage you, as you're casting seed and you're spreading seed out and you're giving the grace of God out to everybody and anybody that you know, you're making sure that you're spreading seed that is building up and not tearing down, to also take moments throughout your time, you know, throughout the year, to sort of check yourself and to say, what's going on in my life?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of soil am I about?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Am I being receptive when God places a seed in my life through through maybe a prayer or a song or a friend or a word that I'm being receptive to it because I'm allowing my soil to cultivate and to grow and to bear this fruit that God has called me to do?
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Or is there too much clutter in my life?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: There are too many things that are that are maybe they're not toxic now, it's just a couple of weeds, but I let it go for another couple months, and before I know it, I can't even get out of the weeds because they're so thick and they're choking me out.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: What does your soil look like?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: And hear this good news as we sort of wrap it up is to know that God doesn't leave you as rocky soil.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: God doesn't want to leave you as full of vines, that this is what God has in store for you, and God wants you to be transformed by your with your heart and renewing of your mind and to be this type of soil.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're not there, allow God's grace to work within you and to shape and to reshape you as you seek to become a fertile land so that God can indeed grow within you.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned at the beginning, I don't know that I'm ever this this this pure and this this fruitful, right?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: I know there are many times that this feels like it's been me, and sometimes over there, but a lot of times I'm here.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, nah, I don't know things.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: But it's amazing when you look like you know, a bunch of concrete, and all of a sudden there's this big um plant growing up from it, right?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's probably not the best way to keep your concrete, but it happens, right?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing the places that seeds will take and grow because God can take any soil, even if you're rocky, even if you're full of thorns, or maybe this thing, and God can still work good.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Our goal is to get to this soil, but also to not doubt that God can work in any of these places, and God can work in any of us, no matter where we are and who we are.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that is the power of grace and the power of God.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I invite you to think through as we wrap up, and I'm gonna pray in just a second, to think about give me the power to cast these seeds, right?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: And to cast good seeds.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And Lord, if my soil isn't quite good enough, I pray, oh God, that you would pour your grace out upon me that we might move towards a more fertile soil and bearing fruit for you.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Let us pray.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks, oh Lord, that you've not given up on us.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: God, that when we are hard as a rock, when we are have vines growing like crazy and we feel like we're being choked out, oh God, that you continue to pour out your grace upon us.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: You continue to put people in our lives, oh Lord, who spread those seeds of hope and grace.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we give you thanks, oh God, and we pray that you would work on our hearts, work on our minds, transform and renew us, Lord, day by day, step by step, just inch by inch, that we might become a fertile soil, that we can bear the fruit that you have called us to be.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh God, we give you thanks that you also meet us in the transitions.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we also give you thanks, oh God, that you use us, that you allow us to be in ministry with us, that you have called us to be sowers, to spread your light, your hope, and your grace to this world.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Give us the courage to do so, oh God.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: And also, Lord, give us the discernment, Lord, to know what it is that we're spreading.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: That we might check ourselves and be sure that we are in all things, spreading hope, spreading mercy, spreading light, spreading things that lift up your name, that allow us to love you and love our neighbors more fully.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: God, it's a simple prayer, but it's one that we know that we need your help to complete.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so we ask it now in your name.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: We love you, we praise you.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Ask all this in Christ's holy name.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: The Wesley Word is a production of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Clemson Wesley, check out our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, get out there and love your neighbor.