•3:44 PM
by Bro. Richard Washington ]
The text was taken from Mark 4:13-20:
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
There are four types of hearts:
Rejectful Heart
Retractful Heart
Restricted Heart
and
Reproductive Heart
- Rejectful Heart: word of God went on it but didn't go in it (v. 15)
- II Corinthians 4:3-4 -> 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- I Corinthians 4:6 -> 6 Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.
- Retractful Heart: obeyed the word and then turned their back on God (v. 16 & 17)
- II Peter 2:20-22 -> 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”[a] and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
- Restricted Heart: word of God went on it, in it, down, but didn't come back up (v. 18 & 19)
- Luke 10:38-40 -> 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
- We have to be careful not to get caught up in what we have or it will have us. We can't allow duties, dollars and evil desires to stop us from being and becoming who God wants us to be.
- Reproductive Heart: word fell on good ground; went on, in, down and came up (v. 20)
Now that we know the different kinds of hearts, I have a question for you...
What kind of heart do YOU have?
We have to be honest with ourselves.
If we don't have a Reproductive Heart, it's about time for us to allow God to perform
a spiritual heart transplant on us...wouldn't you agree?
Think about it...
- B.
