STORIES JESUS TOLD

(1.)   THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER:  A Story About Our ‘Receptivity’

STARTER QUESTION:      Jesus was the most impressive preacher and teacher: (Matt. 7.28-29; 13.54; 22.23.   Mark 12.37;  John 7.46) 

If Jesus was the preacher at Church on Sunday, what do you imagine the response of the congregation would be?     - And explain why you think as you do.

READ MARK 4. 1-9, 13-20.   (Matthew 13. 1-9, 18-23.   Luke 8. 4-15)

WHO’S WHO and WHAT’S WHAT in the parable: 

(- a quick and simple over-view to ensure we grasp the basic meaning. Rapid answers)

* What is ‘the seed’ that is sown?

* Who is ‘the sower’?

* Who are ‘the field’? (– the different types of ‘soil’ or ‘ground’)

* What is ‘the harvest’?

THE ‘SEED’ and THE ‘SOWER’:

* What comprises ‘the seed’ for us today?

When and how does it reach our lives? How is it ‘sown’ in our lives?

* Who are the ‘sowers’ in the world of today?

  Are we to be ‘sowers’ as well as ‘soil’? How?

 * How important is ‘sowing’?  In what ways can we encourage and further it?

THE ‘SOILS’:

 * Discuss together the sort of lives and people represented by the different types of soil:  (Looking at Matt 13 and Luke 8 will give a fuller picture)

-  the ‘footpath’: What is its key feature? What makes people like this?

-  the ‘rocky’ soil : Key features?  What comprise our ‘roots’?

-  the weed-ridden soil: Key features? And what are the ‘weeds’ that choke?

-  the good soil:  Key features?

THE HARVEST:

 * Talk about ‘the harvest’.

- What sorts of ‘harvest’ does God’s word produce in our lives?

- Is there anything developing in your life that wasn’t there a while ago that you can say: ‘That’s being produced in me by God’?

SEARCHING QUESTION:

* What sort of soil am I at the present time? Is God’s word coming into my life?

     How? And just how receptive am I to it at present?

FINALLY:   Revisit the ‘starter question.  Do I still feel the same?