The Parable of the Sower Part One

Matthew 13
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.

3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed.

4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.

6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

9 He who has ears, let him hear."

This very famous story yells us that those of us who plant God's word cannot expect an equal amount of grain from every seed. Some seeds produced nothing at all, some grew up fast bur failed to thrive and some grew but a little and produced little fruit.

Other seeds, however, produced 100 times as much as would be expected from the amount of seeds sown. What was the difference? If I were a farmer and found that I worked hard to sow my precious seeds but some produced no crops at all while others grew 100 times as much as normal I would be curious. I would want to discover why there was a difference.

Jesus knew why and he told His followers the secret of abundance and riches. He told them all about church growth.