And Then What Happened? | Mark 4 | Week 4

We are in this series going through the Gospel of Mark.  Today we're taking chapter 4, which is the longest chapter so far (about 40 some verses).  I'm going to ask you to read the first eleven verses with me.  Again Jesus began to teach by the lake.  The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge.  He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:  "Listen!  A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.  Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times."  Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."  When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.  He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.  But to those on the outside everything is said in parables."   

We're going to take a look at parables today.  I was going to call this "The Perplexing Problem of Parables."  Instead we're calling it "How to Hear a Who."  Let's bow our heads.  Our dear Heavenly Father, what a great God you are!  Lord, I've loved singing these songs that focused in on you.  Jesus, because you're alive, we're alive today with hope, with future, with eternity in mind.  How great is that?!   Lord, open our eyes, open our ears.  Join us together, make your word come alive.  Would your Spirit teach us now.  I praise you, in the name of Jesus.  Amen...