The Soils

This past Sunday, our executive pastor at LifePoint Church preached a message on Luke 8:1-18. It is the parable of the sower, in which Jesus tells about the seed of the Gospel-

Some seed that falls upon those who first receive it, but it is taken away by Satan.

Some seed is received with joy, but since there is no root because it falls upon the hard hearted, or the rocky soil it withers away.

Another is where the seed of the Gospel falls among the thorns and was choked out- the worries of the world choke God's word out of them and they go back to the way they were.

Then, the Gospel that falls upon the good soil, or the prepared soil that is soft and allows the seed to grow yields a crop. That crop produces 100 times more than what was sown- it produces fruit that lasts and then regenerates more seed for more crop and more harvest.

But this does not just happen automatically- all the soils have trouble with the seed. Even the good soil, as Jesus says in verse 15 "receive the word, retain it and by persevering produce a crop." Even though some are good soil, they still must persevere through trouble- through life in order to produce fruit.

The sower has the responsibility to sow seed broadly. Sowers of the Gospel cannot worry about whether or not the soil is good or bad. It is not up to the sower to make the seed grow. He can water it, fertilize it but it is God that makes the growth happen.