Topic: Sow Always [Saturday December 23, 2017]
Text: Matthew 13:1-23
Key Verse: “But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:23).
The parables of our Lord Jesus Christ, numbering about 30 in the three synoptic gospels, are graphic stories that the Lord derived from aspects of nature and human life. They are packed with powerful, dramatic and convincing lessons that compel attention and readiness for soul-winning and for preparing one for life in God’s kingdom. One of the most famous stories has remained the parable of the sower which some call the parable of the four soils.
Our Lord seeks to lead us into a harvest of instructions about the experience of one sower working with several seeds on four different soils. These are familiar images to the audience of our Lord during the age in which He ministered. That the seeds (the word of God) of the sower (soul winner) do not all fall on good ground (the heart willing to repent) should not discourage evangelism work. We are only reminded that there will always be different types of responses – hardened, shallow and worry-wracked souls, all getting the same word of God from the preacher. But not all the word preached goes to the unfruitful and unwilling souls.
Our merciful God directs a great deal of the sower’s seeds “into the good ground… that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (verse 23). This is God’s way of telling believers to preach at all times. The Bible declares: “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that…” (Ecclesiastes 11:6).
How true this is, given the experience of missionaries in unfamiliar territory all over the world. They always return with stories of signs and wonders that followed the sowing of God’s word in the souls of thousands of people.
Thought for the day: A preacher does not give up in the face of challenges.
Bible Reading in one Year: Proverbs 7-8
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
