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Mark 4 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

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  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
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  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
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  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
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  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
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  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
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  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. When you're ready, let's dive
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  into God's Word together. In Mark chapter 4, Jesus tells
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  the parable of the sower and the soils.
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  In this parable, he tells of a sower who went out to scatter
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  seed, and when he did, the seed ended up in one of four soils.
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  Some seed fell beside the road where the birds came and ate it
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  up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground
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  that did not have much soil. They sprang up immediately, but
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  after the sun came out they were scorched and died because they
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  lack deep roots. The next seed fell among the
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  thorns, and the thorns came up and choked out the seed as it
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  grew so that no fruit could be borne.
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  Finally, the last bit of seed fell on good soil, and it grew
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  up and yielded an enormous harvest.
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  Jesus disciples take him aside shortly thereafter and ask him
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  to explain the meaning of this agricultural parable.
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  Jesus explains that the sower is sowing the word and each of the
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  four soils reflect the hearts of those who would receive it.
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  The seed thrown by the road that's eaten by birds is a
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  reflection of Satan coming in and snatching up the message
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  that has been preached. The rocky soil represents people
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  who hear the word joyfully, but when life gets hard they fall
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  away. The seed thrown among the thorns
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  is like the word being given to those who hear the Word, only to
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  have it choked out by the worries of the world and the
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  deceitfulness of riches. And finally, the seed that falls
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  on good soil is like the one who hears the word, receives it, and
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  buy it bears much spiritual fruit.
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  This poignant parable can certainly be applied in
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  evangelism. These are the kinds of hearts we
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  will meet as we share the gospel, and we need not worry
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  about the outcome of our sharing, only pray that God is
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  developing good soil to receive the Word and bear fruit.
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  But I think this parable has great application to us as
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  believers who are continually being fed by, challenged by,
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  convicted by, and instructed by God's Word.
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  Even for us that are following Jesus, it's easy to allow the
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  worries of the world to talk us out of obedience, or to allow
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  hardship to draw us away from Christ, or to give into the
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  lives of the enemy and miss what God is teaching us.
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  All of us as believers need to be cultivating good soil in our
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  hearts. To do that, we have to realize
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  that the current of the world, the flesh and the devil, is
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  trying to harden our hearts, trying to keep us from bearing
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  the fruit of God's word. When we are prospering, there
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  will be temptation to pat ourselves on the back and
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  decrease our reliance on God. When we're struggling, there
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  will be temptation to believe that God has forgotten us.
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  We're on our own, and all the time the devil is prowling like
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  a lion looking to devour our faith.
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  But the Holy Spirit is the one who is able to continually
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  soften our hearts, the one who is able to continually till the
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  soil of our souls and cultivate good, healthy soil, ready to
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  receive God's Word. And He is with us.
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  So lean into the Holy Spirit's work of heart cultivation today.
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  Allow Him to pull the weeds in our hearts, to move the rocks in
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  our spirits, and create in us a heart that is ready to be moved
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  into action by God's Word, heart that is ready to bear the fruit
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  of the spirit. 3060 and a hundredfold.