Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown – Matthew 13:8

Today we’re looking at the last type of soil, which is good soil. Usually, good soil is soil that is ready for planting. It’s been prepared for the seed, properly watered, cultivated, and ready for planting.

Have you ever thought about getting ready when it comes to church attendance? Not getting ready like taking a shower and putting clean clothes on, but rather getting your heart ready? When you hear scripture at church or on your own, are you quick to hear it, apply it to your life, and believe it? These types of things help your heart be good soil for the word of God.

But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” – Matthew 13:23

Sometimes understanding the Bible isn’t always easy. You might not fully understand what a passage is saying. Sometimes, like tending a garden, you have to guard against weeds and things that might come up to get you to doubt God’s word. Just like a good farmer or gardener would, you must tend the garden of your heart. When doubts come up like weeds, you deal with them and pull them up. Often that could mean that you research and learn until passages make sense to you.

Today’s Truth: Reading the Bible is Tranformational

Understanding the Bible takes work, but it is worth it. The Bible is transformational. So take time to get into the Bible and read it. When something is confusing put in the effort to gain understanding. And you’ll be amazed at how God’s word will change you to be more like Christ.

Prayer: God help my heart to be good soil for your word. I determine today to make the effort to read and understand the Bible. I want to live a transformed life in you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. – Matthew 13:7 (NIV)

As we study the Parable of the Sower, hopefully, it has helped you this week to think a little about how you’re studying and receiving God’s word. The Word is powerful, but it’s up to us how we respond to it and what we do with it.

Today we’re looking at soil that has thorns in it. An example of this would be a person who responded to the Word, who grew, but after a little time, the word was choked out.

Often the word gets choked out by cares and concerns of the world. Maybe you had a great youth camp, grew a lot and really have been studying your Bible ever since. But now that school has started, the pressures and cares of getting good grades, getting a good part in the school play have begun to take over your thoughts. As a result, you feel less excited about God’s word.

This can happen to any of us. As life gets busy, we can get distracted by the cares and the problems of life. Sometimes even to the point that we don’t have time for the things of God. That’s what this verse is showing us.

Today’s Truth: Challenge yourself to not let cares choke out the word of God in your life.

So our job is to be a person who guards the word in our hearts. We must not let ourselves get distracted and let the cares and concerns of life keep us from the Word of God. Instead, we must be on guard. We need to make time for His word each day and to make that the focus in our lives. Yes, life can be full of concerns, but if we follow Jesus, we have an answer for every problem that we face. We don’t have to carry those concerns on our own. Instead we can take them to Jesus at any time during the day to get the help we need.

Today, challenge yourself to get the help from Jesus that you need. Don’t let the cares of life choke out God’s word. Take your concerns to Jesus and let Him help carry them.

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. – Matthew 13:5 (NIV)

We’ve been talking about the Parable of the Sower this week. So far, we’ve seen that the seed the sower plants is God’s Word and the soil is the condition of the hearer’s heart. And as we start our school years, it’s a good time to be reminded that what we get out of God’s word this year is up to us. When we read our Bibles, go to church, and hear the Word, what we get out of it is based on the condition of our heart.

Today’s verse talks about rocky places. What do those represent?

Jesus explains that to us in Matthew 13:20-21 – “The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.”

Have you ever had a flash of excitement about God’s word? Maybe you heard a good message or went to a youth camp and got really excited about what you heard. But then you went home only to realize that a few weeks later, your life was not really any different than before you went to camp.

Sometimes this happens because we haven’t really let God’s word sink down into our hearts. We haven’t spent time to meditate on it and let it change us. God’s word is powerful, but it has to be studied, thought about, and applied to your life for you to get the most out of it.

Today’s Truth: God’s word is the most valuable in our lives when we study and apply it.

In today’s verse we see the seed didn’t last long and persecution and trouble made the word ineffective in the hearer’s life. So challenge yourself to become not a casual hearer of God’s word but rather to become a person who lets it sink deep into your heart. Think about the word. Apply it to your life and as you do, you’ll be surprised at the changes it makes in your life.

Pray: God, I ask your help in becoming good soil for your word. Help me to understand, study and apply it to my life. Help me to grow more in you every day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Memory Verse: “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” – Matthew 13:23

 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them – Matthew 13:4

This week, we are studying the parable of the sower. Yesterday, we learned that the seed the sower plants is God’s Word. We also discussed that it’s important how we receive God’s word into our hearts. In today’s Bible verse we see seed falling along the path.

What does that mean?

Paths generally are packed down and hard from lots of walking. So when Jesus talks about someone’s heart being like the path, he probably means their heart that is pretty hard. Hardness of heart can happen for many reasons. Maybe lots of bad things have happened to the person, perhaps they’re really busy or doubting the Word of God. Whatever the case might be, they hear God’s word with a hard heart.

These people often don’t have room for God’s word. Just like a seed can’t sink into really hard soil, people that have hardened their hearts can’t allow the truth of God’s word sink into them and grow. In this case, Satan comes and snatches the word that was sown away from them.

Today’s Truth: We should NOT hear God’s Word and ignore it, but try to understand it.

Finally, it shows us that we must not just read God’s word, but we also have to search it out for understanding. We need to dig into it, try to understand it and search for what it’s speaking to us and apply it to our lives. As we begin to do this, we won’t be hard soil for God’s Word.

Prayer: God help me today to not just hear your word and ignore it. Instead, help me to think about and gain application and understanding from it. Help me to not be so used to God’s word that I ignore it, but rather help me to apply it to my life today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Memory Verse: Matthew 13:23 –  As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. ² And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³ And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow – Matthew 13:1-3

Many students have started back to school in the last few weeks. And with that start back to school, it can be a really good time to think about your priorities and goals in life.

Today’s Bible verse talks about a sower going out to sow. In Matthew 13:18-19, Jesus explains that the sower sows the word. This year, you will have lots of opportunities to hear God’s word. It might be at a camp, at church, a chapel, reading your Bible, things like that. There are many opportunities to hear God’s word. However, as we will look at this week, it’s more than just hearing the word that counts. It’s really about what you do with God’s word that makes the difference.

Today’s Truth: The Word is Important. What is sown in your life matters.

The next few days this week, we will examine the different kinds of soil and as we do, we will believe that the Holy Spirit will help teach us and reveal things to us to help us become good soil to hear God’s word and grow this year.

Pray: God, this year I ask your help to become good soil to hear your word. I want to grow and become more like you each day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Memory Verse: Matthew 13:23 –  As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When will I come and appear before God? – Psalm 42:2 (MEV)

Can you remember who your best friend was your first year of school? If you can remember, do you still talk to them? Are they still one of your closest friends? For some, the answer might be yes, you still talk to that friend. But for others, like myself, my friend has moved away.

I no longer have any communication with that friend. As a result, we’re not really good friends any more. This is not due to any kind of fallout, or us no longer liking each other. Instead, we simply aren’t around each other, and as a result, we don’t talk that often.

Our relationship with God can be the same way. It’s up to us to determine our closeness to God. God is always near, but if we never reach out to talk to Him, we will never know Him. God has made Himself knowable to us, but we have to want to know Him in return.

As we spend time in reading our Bibles, prayer, worship, and thinking about Him, our nearness and desire for Him grows. In today’s verse, we see that David was thirsting for time with God. He loved God, and knew Him and as a result desired more time and fellowship with God.

We can have the same connection with God. God isn’t far off or hard to know. But He needs you to want to know Him. As you desire Him, He shows Himself more and more real to you. As a result, your knowledge and relationship with Him grows.

So today, realize that God wants to make Himself known to you. Determine to spend some time getting to know Him and see that your desire for Him grow.