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Parable of the Sower

The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
 (Mar 4:14-20 ESV)

The parable of the sower is one of Jesus' most familiar parables.  It is an explanation of why some people respond to the Gospel and others do not.  Our modern methods of evangelism would do well to examine themselves by the teaching of this parable.

According to Jesus, there is one reason why the Gospel does not take root in a person's life - the condition of the individual's heart.  We are constantly being told by progressives that the problem with our evangelism is the seed.  We need to make the seed more relevant.  We need to update the Word's morals to fit with our contemporary society.  We need to change the message to make it more acceptable to modern people.

Jesus parable puts the lie to this.  The problem is not with Jesus or is Word.  The problem lies with the sinful, deceitful, prideful human heart.

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