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8/3/2019 Understanding the Farmer's Parable
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Luke 8:4-20 (New Living Translation)
Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed
4 One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had
gathered from many towns to hear him: 5 A farmer went out to plant his seed. As
he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped
on, and the birds ate it. 6 Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the
plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns that
grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seed fell on fertile
soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had
been planted! When he had said this, he called out, Anyone with ears to hear
should listen and understand.
9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He replied, You are
permitted to understand the secrets[a] of the Kingdom of God. But I useparables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:
When they look, they wont really see.
When they hear, they wont understand.[b]
11 This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is Gods word. 12 The seeds
that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have
the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them frombelieving and being saved. 13 The seeds on the rocky soil represent those
who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they dont have
deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they facetemptation. 14 The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear
the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the caresand riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. 15
And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-heartedpeople who hear Gods word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge
harvest.
The Breakdown of this parable will give you your course of action in business and in
life:
Characters in the parable:
1. Merchandiser who supplies the farmer with Seed:
- God is our merchandiser who provides the seeds for us to plant.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%208:2-20&version=NLT#fen-NLT-25223ahttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%208:2-20&version=NLT#fen-NLT-25223ahttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%208:2-20&version=NLT#fen-NLT-25223ahttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%208:2-20&version=NLT#fen-NLT-25223bhttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%208:2-20&version=NLT#fen-NLT-25223ahttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%208:2-20&version=NLT#fen-NLT-25223b8/3/2019 Understanding the Farmer's Parable
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Deuteronomy 10:14
14 To the LORD your God belongs the heavens, even the highest
heavens, the earth and everything in it
Genesis 1:29
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face ofthe whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will
be yours for food.
2. The Farmer:
- I AM the farmer
- a person who cultivates the land, he or she operates and manages
a farm (a tract of land, on which crops and often livestock are raised for livelihood)
- A farmer goes out and sows seed for the purpose of reaping a
harvest (abundance of fruits, etc.)
Matthew 13:3
Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to
sow his seed
Zechariah 13:5
He will say, 'I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been mylivelihood since my youth. '
3. The SEED:
- Gods word is the seed,
- Seed, or Gods Word, can be used to grow whatever harvest you
desire.
Luke 8:1111"This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.
John 1:1
1In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13:3&version=NIVhttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zechariah+13:5&version=NIVhttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13:3&version=NIVhttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zechariah+13:5&version=NIV8/3/2019 Understanding the Farmer's Parable
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As farmers, once weve planted the seed of Gods word in our hearts, we
must guard our hearts from anything that would lead us to doubt what we
are believing for.
So farming is a 4 step process:
a. Gather the seed, Gods word, from God, the merchandiser who
provides the seed.
b. Cultivate the ground that you intend to plant the seed in. Makes sure
its Good Ground Before you plant it:
i. Plow the ground which is the process of pulverizing, or softening the
soil so that it is moist and ready to receive the seed. Plow also means
to invest as in, to invest time in softening our hearts from a harden
state to a softer state, that does not reject Gods word. Forgiveness is
the key in this stage. When your heart is hardened towards
somebody, you wont forgive them but when youre heart softens up,
you will forgive them. Often times, un-forgiveness is the root to a
hardened heart, and that tends to turn the grounds of our heart from
good ground to bad ground.
ii. Harrowing the Ground is an agricultural instrument with spike like
teeth or upright disks, drawn chiefly over plowed land to level it, break
up clods, root up weeds. etc. Think of it this way, a farmer uses the
tools in his barn house to ensure that the ground, that he intends to
plant seeds in, is settled.
therefore, before we plant gods word seed in our hearts, we mustensure that we use the tools that we have, which is thanksgiving, ,
praise & worship, Tithing, and Sowing into other peoples lives to
ensure that our hearts our settled, and that there are no clods or
weeds (i.e. un-forgiveness) routed in our hearts.
c. Planting Gods word seed into the good ground of our hearts.
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This process requires the farmer to:
i. Identify what he needs: by judging his life to see what he
desires to grow in it
ii. Obtain the relevant Seeds necessary to grow the desired
harvest.
iii. Take care of the Seed : once its planted, by watering it, pruning
it, etc
d. Guard your Good Grounds, your heart, where the seed is planted.
i. Prevent Outside interference from entering into your garden
(I.e. scavengers, who roam the earth looking to see who they
may devour)
ii. Guard the gates of your ground
(I.e. your eye gate, your ear gate, and your mouth gate)
5. The seeds on the rocky soil:
Parable passage: Luke 8:6
6 Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted
and died for lack of moisture.
Meaning of Parable passage: Luke 8:13
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13 The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and
receive it with joy. But since they dont have deep roots, they believe for a
while, and then they fall away when they face temptation.
My Take-away of this passage: Luke 8:13
As farmers even when we plant Gods word seed into our hearts we must
ensure that we do everything in our power to have the seed deeply rooted in
the soil of our hearts. That can only be done by constantly saying and
practicing the word seed that we planted in our hearts.
I learned this week that in a drought, the roots of a tree will grow deeper into
the ground in an effort to find moist soil because without moist soil, the tree
will be deprived of the nutrients necessary to bare good fruit.
Therefore, the deeper the roots that gods word seed grows into our hearts,the stronger our tree (or faith) will be during the drought seasons and that
tree wont ever be moved by its circumstances or its adversaries.