7-Parable of Sower

Parable of the Sower

Mark 4:1-20Kids will understand:Theparableofthesower.Whatthevariouselementsoftheparablerepresent.ThatGodwantseachofustobeafertilesoilHecanuse.

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2014May 18

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To really go all out today, each of the leaders could wear farm attire!

ObjEct LESSOn

Each week weve been using an animal to help us remember parts of our Bible story. Todays animal makes an interesting noise. Play the sound clip of the dolphin noise on this YouTube clip called Wild Dolphins Yelling at Me.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2UlxJB3tH0

There were several different sounds the dolphin made during this clip. Can you sound like a dolphin? The dolphins are trying to communicate using these strange sounds. What do you think this dolphin was trying to tell the cameraman?

Jesus used unique ways to communicate with people; one of those ways is called a parable. Does anyone know what a parable is? A parable is a story about something we know about or see everyday, but the story has a spiritual meaning.

bIbLE accOUnt

If its possible at your church and the weather is cooperating, take the kids outside to a grassy area for the story today. Before heading out, make sure you have thought through boundaries and then communicate them plainly to the kids.

The storyteller should be dressed like a farmer and have a bag over his/her shoulder that contains a good supply of grass seed. If you dont have a feedbag, then use a fruit basket.

Everywhere Jesus went, people followed Him to listen to Him speak about God. They couldnt get enough of what He had to tell them. One day when the people followed Him down the shore, He climbed into a boat and started teaching from there. He may have looked up on the hillside that came down to the sea and noticed the crops growing there. There may have been a path, beaten down by many travelers, that wound its way over the hill and on to another town. This may have been what caused Jesus to tell this parable. The field and the path were things that the people were very familiar with. Remember, a parable is a short story about common things, but the story tells a truth about Gods kingdom.

There was a farmer who had a bag of seed, just like me. He went out into his fields and he scattered the seed that was in his bag. His hand reached down into the bag, pulled out a handful of the cool seed, and then he tossed it with all his might. You see, the farmer wanted to

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make sure that there was seed on all his land. Toss some handfuls of seed in different directions, but not too close to the kids. If you get too close, they will be more concerned with finding the seed than listening to the storyteller.

Some of the seed the farmer threw landed on the road. Many travelers had walked down that road and pounded the ground with every step. The ground on the road was hard, really hard, almost like concrete. When the seed landed on the road, it just laid there. But not for long! With their attentive eyes, birds swooped down and grabbed the fresh seed. Oh, what an easy dinner and so tasty!

Toss a handful of seed. Some seeds fell on the ground, but in a place where there were many rocks. The little seeds tried to get their roots down in the ground, but just couldnt. The rocks kept their roots from going very deep. When the hot sun came out, the plants withered up and died. How sad!

Toss a handful of seed. Some seeds fell where there were weeds and thorns. As the little seeds began to grow, their stems reached up. But, the weeds and the thorny bushes got closer and closer. The weeds grew faster, but the little seed kept trying. The weeds, though, got so close that they choked the little seedling. The sun couldnt get to the seedling, because the weeds were in the way. When it rained, the weeds got the nourishment from the water. The farmers seed died.

Toss a handful of seed. Lots of the seeds, though, fell on good ground. The farmer was so happy! The soil had all the nutrients, got plenty of water, had the sun shining down on it, and the seeds responded. Each one of the seeds that fell on the rich, good soil grew into a tall stalk that produced a good harvest. The stalks of grain produced a lot more than the number of seeds that the farmer first threw out. Each seed made 30 times or 60 times or even 100 times as many seeds. Amazing!

So now, lets find out why Jesus told this parable. What did it mean? What was He trying to teach the people there on that day and what was He trying to teach us?

actIvIty

Beforehand, put the objects listed in the gardening basket: picture of the farmer, container of soil, packet of seeds, bird, rock, and weed. We just learned about one of Jesus parables. Its called the Parable of the Sower. What did we learn a parable is? A parable is a story about something were familiar with, but the story has a meaning that will help us understand God and His kingdom. So, we need to try to figure out how this farming story might help each of us understand God and His kingdom, because we know that a parable has a meaning. What was Jesus trying to say?

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Pull the picture of the farmer from the basket. Lets start with the main character, the farmer. Who do you think the farmer in the story might stand for? The farmer is God.

Pull out the container of soil. How about the soil? Any ideas what the soil represents? The soil represents our hearts. Do you remember how many different types of soil are talked about in the parable? Well talk about each one in just a second.

Pull out the packet of seeds. Now for the seeds. What do you think the seeds might represent? The seeds are Gods WordHis truth.

So, if God (hold up the picture of the farmer) wants to plant His Word (hold up seed packet) in our hearts (hold up soil), which of the soils will it grow best in? What should our hearts be like? What do you think it means for the seedGods truthto grow and produce a crop?

Lay each objectthe artificial bird, rock, weed, and good soilon top of a heart cut-out. Point to the heart that has the artificial bird on it. This heart gets snatched away by Satan. When this person hears Gods Word, Satan immediately tells his lies and steers the person away from believing in Gods truth.

Point to the heart with the rock. This heart hears Gods Word with joy, but never goes any further. When a seed falls on a rock, you think its going to grow, but it doesnt. They never study the Bible, or build a relationship with God through prayer. Then, when the difficult times come, this person has no roots in Gods Word, so they fall away from God. This heart is full of anger, bitterness, and rage.

Point to the heart with the weed/thorns. This heart tries to live for Jesus, but this person lets their worries or the things that theyre involved in choke out their relationship with Jesus. This heart really wants to do the right thing, but when kids at school make fun of him for going to church, he decides it might not be worth it and he keeps his faith a secret. This heart gives himself to Jesus and is very excited, but then ball season starts and he just doesnt have time for God anymore.

Point to the heart of good soil. This heart lives for Jesus even when things dont make sense. This heart lives for Jesus no matter what. He tries to make his soil even better by reading Gods Word, listening to Christian music, helping others, and worshipping with other believers. God wants us to have hearts that are like good soil. He wants us to be soil that He can use!

GaME

Divide the kids into teams. One player from each team will put on a pair of gardening gloves and then race to unwrap a Tootsie Roll and chew it. They will begin at their start line with the gloves, race to the other end where they will pick up a Tootsie Roll, unwrap it, and completely eat it


before returning to their team to hand off the gloves.

Did the gardening gloves make this easier or more difficult to unwrap? Which soil is this like? The thorny soil chokes out the young plants. It makes it difficult for the seed to grow. Wearing the gardening gloves made it difficult to unwrap the Tootsie Roll. When we let things that were involved in or the opinions of others keep us from doing what God wants us to doGods truth is choked out of our lives. Which soil is best for growing a good crop?

actIvIty

Set up four stations around the room.Station #1: Set out popcorn seeds and chopsticks. At this station, the kids must remove four pieces of popcorn from the bowl using the chopsticks.

Station #2: At this station there will be some plastic surgical gloves and a bowl of sunflower seeds that are still in the shell. The kids must put on a pair of plastic surgical gloves, shell one sunflower seed and then eat the smaller seed inside.

Station #3: At this station there will be a bowl of sesame seeds with a little rice mixed in. The kids must find one piece of rice.

Station #4: At this station there will be a bowl of poppy seeds. The kids must count out 10 individual seeds.

Beforehand, write on the outside of four seed packets: Birds, Rocky, Thorny, Good. Each kid will draw one of the seed packets that has one of the four types of soil types written on it. If he draws the packet with birds on it, he must bend one arm to make a wing, like the birds that carried off the seed on hard ground, while going through the stations. If the child draws rocky, he must complete all of the stations while placing one hand behind his back. If the packet with weeds/thorny is drawn, the child must hold one hand up around his neck while completing the tasks. If the packet with good soil is drawn, there are no limitations; he is free to use both hands and there are no special instructions.

So which group of soils had the best advantage for completing the tasks? The people who chose the packets with good soil had freedom to complete the tasks without being held back. The good soil people didnt have any extra obstacles that were making it more difficult. When you prepare your heart for accepting Gods truth, you will grow into the person God wants you to be. Gods truth wont grow where things are crowding it out or where there are hard hearts. What does this show you about which type of soil God wants your heart to be? How can you make your heart into good soil for accepting Gods truth?

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MESSaGE

(show slide #2) Godwantsustohaveafertileheart.

In order for a plant to take root, grow and produce a crop, it must be planted on good, fertile soil. In order for a soil to be considered fertile, it must be rich with good nutrients, healthy, and allow things to grow in it. Hold up the rock. Some people have hearts that are not fertile and are like this rock. Spray the rock with the squirt gun. When the water hits this rock, it just rolls off. It really is of no use to anyone or anything. God wants us to have hearts that are more like this sponge. Set the sponge in front of you and spray it with the squirt gun. (Make sure this is a sponge that has been used before. New sponges have a coating on them that actually repels water at first.) The sponge absorbs the water. If our hearts are fertile, then they will be able to receive Gods message and He will be able to produce a healthy crop in us.

What are some things you can do to make sure that your heart is healthy and ready to receive Gods truth?

(show slide #3) ShooawaySatan.

In our parable, the birds swooped down and stole the seed from the hard path before the seeds had a chance to take root. Satan loves to swoop in on new Christianspeople who have just been born againand spread his lies. He tries to get these young Christians to think that their old way of living wasnt so bad after all. Hell make them think that its okay to go back to the ways they used to live. Satan will try to get God followers to treat each other with jealousy and anger, so theyre not living the way God wants.

When Satan starts bothering you, or you can tell that hes up to something in your friends life, its time to tell him to get lost. Just like you shoo away a pesky bird or a mosquito thats trying to bite you, get rid of Satans lies. Dont listen to what hes trying to talk you into. He tries to snatch people who dont have their roots down deep in Gods Word.

(show slide #4) Wemustprotectourheartsfromweeds.

In order for God to grow good things in our lives, we must be willing to protect our hearts from bad things. How do we take care of the hearts that are in our chests and pump blood through our bodies? We eat the right things and exercise. We have to take care of our spiritual hearts as well.

Show the coffee filter with grounds. I love coffee! Have you ever watched to see how a cup of coffee is made? Coffee grounds are placed in a filter and water pours through. When the coffee pot is finished, you are left with only the good stuff! The coffee filter gets rid of the yucky stuff. Thats what weve got to do. We must be willing to

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filter out the bad things in our lives so that we protect our hearts and God can do His work. All decisions we make should be run through our God filter.

How would we use our God filter to choose what type of music we listen to?

How would we use our God filter to choose what type of TV shows or movies we watch?

How would we use our God filter to choose what type of friends we have?

How would we use our God filter to choose how we spend our time?

If we dont allow decisions to run through our God filters, we are at risk of allowing weeds to sprout up! What happens when one weed grows in a garden? Many more follow; it wont be long until there will be weeds everywhere! Weve got to guard our hearts.

(show slide #5) Asingleseedcanproduceahugecrop!

Show an ear of corn. All it takes in order for something to grow is just one little seed. Isnt it amazing how planting one tiny piece of corn can produce a full ear of corn?

God wants to use you to reach others! If your heart is fertile and Gods Word takes root and grows, He can win others through you! Just like this ear of corn came from one little seed that was planted in the ground, you are one seed that can produce a huge spiritual crop for Gods kingdom. Not only can you enjoy living a life that honors God, but your life can also win many others to Jesus. You can do that when you are willing to guard your heart and keep it clean before God.

actIvIty - vIdEO

Watch the video called Spud Finds Good Soil. Join Spud as he tries to share the good news of Jesus with his tater friends. Can you identify which kinds of soils Spuds tater friends are? How could each tater friend change to have a heart of good soil?

GaME

Use a permanent black marker to write numbers 1-9 in the bottom of 9 clay pots. Arrange the pots on the floor, 3 pots x 3 pots, with about 2 between them. Determine a stand-behind line 6-8 back from the pots. The kids will take turns bouncing 3 ping-pong balls on the floor between them and the pots, trying to get a ping-pong ball to land inside one of the clay pots. (Test your floor. Tile, wood, and carpeting all give different bounces for the ping-pong balls.)

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Each time a ping-pong ball lands in a pot, the player will remove the ball to find out what the number is in the bottom. Then, they will respond to the corresponding statement.

1. Name one thing you would tell someone about God.2. Who tries to keep all of us from believing in Jesus, by snatching us

away from Gods truth?3. Name someone who tells you about God, who sows the seed of

Gods truth in you.4. What would you say to Jesus if you met Him today?5. Name a place where you would find people who need to know

Jesus.6. Name one reason people dont listen to God.7. Name one way you can grow closer to God.8. Name one reason people stop reading their Bible.9. Why is it important for people to know God?

PrayEr

Gather the children around tubs of gardening soil. What does it take to make healthy soil? Allow the children time to feel the soil. Talk about rich soil and how its fertile ground for plants to grow.

If you want your hearts to be fertile ground for Jesus to be able to work in and through you, take a scoop of this soil. Let it remind you of how God wants to work in the soil of your heart. Pray together asking God to protect our hearts from weeds (things that choke out Gods truth), from birds (Satan snatching us away into his lies), and rocks (when our hearts are hard with anger and bitterness). Also, tell God that youre excited to be used to produce a huge crop for Him!

bLESSInG

May your heart always be ready to accept Gods truth.

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takE HOME

Give each kid a packet of seeds. They can take the packet home and plant their seeds to see what sort of harvest they can produce. Remind the kids that they need to keep in mind what type of soil their seeds should be planted in.

GaME

Beforehand, write point values on each seed packet and lay them out at one end of the room.

Kids will take turns throwing a hula hoop over the seed packets. They will gather points for their team based upon the point value designated on the seed packet. The team with the most points, wins.

This game reminds me that God is the farmer who goes out and sows the seed. He casts the seed on different types of soil as we learned today. You threw the hula hoop on packets that had different points. How did it feel when you threw the hula hoop and it didnt produce any resultsyou didnt get any points? Sometimes, our hearts make it hard for Gods seed to grow in us. We must do all we can to protect the condition of the soil in our hearts.

ScrIPtUrE MEMOrIzatIOn

ITimothy3:16-17All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.

Dolphins enjoy playing fun games! One thing that you can often see dolphins at an aquarium doing with their noses is bouncing balls back to their trainers. Remember that dolphins use unique ways to communicate with others. Jesus used unique ways to communicate important truths to people called parables.

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Enjoy a game of volleyball between two teams, but use a beach ball. Each time the ball is volleyed, the entire team will say the next word of the verse. When the verse is complete, celebrate by making dolphin noises!

If you have a large supply of beach balls, you can play in pairs and just toss the beach ball back and forth. Each time the beach ball is caught, the player says the next word of the verse.

Snack

Cut the watermelon into pieces in front of the kids. Pull one seed from the watermelon and show it to the kids. It only takes one seed to grow several watermelons; inside each watermelon, we find tons more seeds! As kids eat their watermelon, they will use their spoons to find out how many seeds their piece of watermelon has. How many watermelons would grow from the seeds you pulled out of your piece? What does this remind us of when it comes to sharing our faith or sowing seed? As you enjoy your watermelon, tell your neighbor something you can do to make sure that the soil of your heart remains fertile?

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7-Parable of Sower