Latest / Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms / #203. The Parables of Jesus: Praying for Good Soil in Our Children’s Hearts | Matthew 13, Luke 8,11

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#203. The Parables of Jesus: Praying for Good Soil in Our Children’s Hearts | Matthew 13, Luke 8,11 · Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms

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  This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.
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  I'm Stephanie Hickox.
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  Our reading for today was Matthew 13, Luke 8, and Luke 11.
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  And we'll be focusing our time on Matthew 13 and eight different parables that Jesus told including my favorite one to pray for myself and for those I love.
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  In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus definitively told the scribes and Pharisees How bad it would be on judgment day for them because they had rejected him So what does the Kingdom of Heaven look like when its king has been
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  rejected?
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  The Old Testament was full of prophecies of how Messiah would come, and He would reign Unequivocally But as Jesus' disciples follow him, it's becoming more and more clear That His kingdom might not be exactly what they expected.
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  Jesus is revealing That the kingdom of heaven they had imagined is different than the one that he came to bring at this time i'll read the chapter in its entirety, then I'll explain the purpose behind each parable.
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  Beginning in verse one.
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  That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
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  And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down.
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  And the whole crowd Stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables, saying, A sower went out to sow.
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  And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
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  Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil.
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  But when the sun rose, they were scorched.
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  And since they had no root, they withered away.
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  Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
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  Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30.
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  He who has ears, let him hear."
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  Then the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables?"
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  And he answered them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
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  For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.
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  But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
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  This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
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  indeed in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.'
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  For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear.
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  And their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them."
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  But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
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  For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
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  Hear then the parable of the sower.
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  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.
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  This is what was sown along the path.
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  As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while.
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  And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
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  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.
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  As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.
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  He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty He put another parable before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in
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  his field.
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  But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
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  So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
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  And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
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  Why then does it have weeds?
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  He said to them, An enemy has done this.
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  So the servant said to him, Then do you want us to go and gather them?
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  But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
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  Let both grow together until the harvest.
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  And at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.
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  He put another parable before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
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  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.
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  He told them another parable.
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  The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened.
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  All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables.
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  Indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.
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  This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet.
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  I will open my mouth in parables.
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  I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.
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  Then he left the crowds and went into the house.
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  And his disciples came to him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
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  He answered, The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
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  The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.
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  The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.
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  The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
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  Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
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  The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers and throw them into the fiery furnace.
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  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
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  He who has ears, let him hear.
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  The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.
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  Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
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  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant In search of fine pearls: who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
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  net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
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  When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers, but threw away the bad.
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  So it will be at the end of the age.
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  The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace.
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  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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  Have you understood all these things?
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  They said to him, "Yes."
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  And he said to them, Therefore, every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."
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  And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there.
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  And coming to his hometown, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
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  Is not this the carpenter's son?
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  Is not his mother called Mary?
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  Are not his brothers James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas?
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  And are not all his sisters with us?
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  Where then did this man get all these things?"
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  And they took offense at him.
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  But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."
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  And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief All right.
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  the first parable we read was the parable of the sower I love to pray that I would be good soil and that my kids would be good soil In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul wrote, I planted, Apollos watered, but
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  God gave the growth" So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth In Entrusted With a Child's Heart, our founder and director, talks a lot about the partnership that we
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  have with God.
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  she says God's part is way bigger and more important than ours, but that He calls us to faithfulness.
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  So yes, we are to bring the Word of God before our kids.
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  We're to give, we're to talk about it with them when we sit, when we lie, when we stand, when we walk upon the way We're to focus on the testimonies and the faithfulness of God in our lives But
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  we need to acknowledge that not all these seeds that we try to plant Get deeply rooted.
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  We have an enemy, that is actively working against all of these seeds being planted there are also the pleasures and comforts of this earth, and also the trials of this earth that can prevent the seeds from being planted
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  Sometimes people just want a life free from the trials or a life filled with comfort, and that prevents them from submitting their lives to Christ And this parable acknowledges that even though some will reject Jesus as king of
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  the kingdom God is still working This parable acknowledges that some will reject the king George Eldon Ladd wrote a book called The Presence of the Future: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism, And he acknowledges that in the Old Testament
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  The kingdom came in apocalyptic power like in Daniel But through this parable, Jesus also reveals that the kingdom of God can come in a hidden form to work secretly within and among men And it challenges us to not
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  dismiss what we do not see once again to walk by faith you might wonder which of these types of soil represent a believer that is truly saved And it seems like it's probably only the good soil But if
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  you're finding that people you love are falling into those other categories, Keep praying and trust the Lord for the harvest Continuing with the theme of the unseen, the parable of the wheat and tares, it's often called, talked about
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  how an enemy had planted weeds among the wheat.
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  That tells us that sometimes there are people that look like believers, and it's hard to tell them, it's hard to tell them apart from a true believer but eventually God will bring the truth to light at the final
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  judgment When I read about the parable of the mustard seed, it reminds me of my mom.
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  She has the gift of faith, and despite walking through many, many trials She has not wavered in her trust or loyalty to the Lord She's, kept a mustard seed in her kitchen for years to remind her to have
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  faith in all circumstances apparently a tiny mustard seed in a single season can grow about 10 feet tall It shows us that God can turn that small bit of faith into something incredible that we could barely anticipate bread
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  making is a pretty popular phenomenon right now.
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  And the leaven here isn't a negative thing that stirs up trouble.
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  It's saying that this small amount can make a huge impact and the amount of leaven Jesus mentions would've been enough to feed 100 to 150 people Jesus started with a few followers But the Lord transformed this small group
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  of people into a revolutionary force that could not be stopped We also have the parables of the buried treasure and the pearl of great price.
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  During biblical times, they prized pearls a lot more than we do now And Jesus was saying the value of the kingdom in comparison to everything else The parable of the net is much like the parable of the wheat
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  and the tares, though I hate to see Jesus being rejected once again in the synagogue, Wasn't it fun to see some of his family members named?
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  Did you catch that he had sisters as well?
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  This is pretty exciting until you realize how come we haven't heard more?
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  about his sisters and brothers it confirms that not everyone is good soil.
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  Not everyone who heard Jesus' words submitted to them.
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  That doesn't mean that they didn't ever But we're not really given anything in scripture to tell us that his siblings supported his earthly ministry It reminds us exactly of what we need to pray for ourselves and our families.
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  Heavenly Father, we praise you that you have given us the Holy Spirit We know and believe the fear of you is the beginning of wisdom And we're grateful for the parable of the four soils and the invitation it
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  is to be the good soil.
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  We also know that it's a warning to not allow the enemy, tribulation, or the pleasures of this world prevent us from being good soil.
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  So Jesus, We pray that you would guide us for how We could steward an environment that invites our kids, Where we're helping plant and water those seeds That we're providing our kids with plenty of opportunities to meditate on
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  your goodness, give us eyes to see and ears to hear what you are doing, And ultimately, Lord, we pray That you would cause growth both in us, in our husbands, and in our children.
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  We pray that this growth would not be stamped out by the enemy or the cares and fleeting comforts of this world Help us to trust you when those seeds are so far below the soil and we just don't
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  know if you're doing something may we be faithful to do our part, trusting you to cause the growth thank you, Jesus, for the invitation To enter into your kingdom.
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  It's in your name we pray.
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  Amen