Mark 4b (9-10-25)

what's up everybody this is Pastor James welcome back to our midweek Bible

study we're going to finish up chapter 4 today and talk about these last two

parables that Mark gives us in this gospel and we will end today with Jesus

calming the storm so read with me verses 26 through 29 and we talk about the

parable of the growing seed so Jesus also said the kingdom of God is like a

farmer who scattered seed on the ground not in day while he's asleep or awake

the seed sprouts and grows but he does not understand how it happens the

earth produces the crops on its own first the leaf blade pushes through then

heads of wheat are formed and finally the grain ripens and as soon as the grain is

ready the farmer comes and harvest it with a sickle for the harvest time has

come all right so here we have another parable about a farmer in seeds but this

is kind of the meat of the message is about what happens when the seeds are

no longer in the farmer's hand you know as there is a miraculous work that is

done when the seeds are released out into nature you know and this is comparable

to spiritual terms when the Word of God lands on someone's heart and and what

happens when we present the Word of God to someone else it does exactly what

it's meant to do and whether we are asleep or awake you know we have to

remember as scripture says that the Word of God is alive and it's powerful

it's sharper than any two-edged sword it cuts between joint and marrow it has

the power and ability to be effective and to change people even when we are

not present so our job is merely to present the gospel message the Word of

God and then trust in it to do its thing and that's what a farmer does you

know when a farmer goes out and scatters seed when they plant it you do all that

you can do in preparation of planting time and then once you put that seed in

the ground you're just kind of trusting in the Lord to do the rest and so

believing that the Word of God it sustains and that it empowers and

there's nothing more that we need to do other than plant that seed of the Word

of God and trusting that God is more than able to do the rest now this is

a beautiful parable because while the seed may not seem like a living thing it

is very much a living thing that is has a miraculous design within it exposed to

the right conditions life springs forth from the seed spontaneously exactly how

it was designed to do obviously circumstances will determine the

success of the crop produced from the seed but the seed naturally does what

it was designed to do by God I mean you can it's amazing how a seed can sit in

the right conditions and be kept for years decades even a century a seed can

be kept in the right conditions and stay healthy and whole and maintained but

once it's exposed to the soil it's amazing no matter how old that seed is

if you put it in the soil it is designed by God to bear fruit and so

knowing that the Word of God is being compared to this that that even though

we may not feel that when we present the Word of God that we have seen success

or we have seen fruit born from it that God has designed his word to bear

fruit maybe not in the time that we won't maybe not exactly the way that we

won't but in its own time in God's will it will bear fruit when he does not when

he desires for it too so when it's planted when the Word of God's planted

it may take time but it never comes back void it will always produce it

will never fail and we must only be faithful enough to scatter the seed

all right there's some preparation in that okay you got to prep the soul you

got a plow you got to break the soil up you have to make the effort to go

through and rid the soil of weeds and things like that but when you scatter

that seed you trust in the Lord to do the rest and there are signs that the

Word is growing in this parable first a leaf blade pushes through eventually it

begins to sprout and take life then the fruits of the seed begin to form in

this case it's heads of wheat finally the fruit ripens to the point where the

farmer comes and harvests it at the appropriate time and guys I just I really

think it's important that we understand you know there is there's a great need

for us to be willing to plant the seed to be willing to be faithful because

when we're faithful God is always faithful and so we trust in him to do

his work alright so let's read the parable of the mustard seed in verses

30 through 34 so Jesus said how can I describe the kingdom of God what story

should I use to illustrate it it is like a mustard seed planted in the ground it

is the smallest of all seeds but it becomes the largest of all garden plants

it grows long branches and birds can make nests in its shade Jesus used many

similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could

understand in fact in his public ministry he never taught without using

parables but afterward when he was along with his disciples he explained

everything to them alright so once again we see Jesus using the parable of a

seed and this time we have this wonderful explanation of a mustard seed

and while it may be the smallest seed it produces the largest purposefully

planted item that would be inside of someone's garden that they planted

themselves during this time as Jesus is teaching this it's a great analogy

it's the smallest seed but the largest plant that someone would purposefully

put in their garden and think about the totality of the gospel message you

know the gospel message starts in Genesis chapter 12 God called one man

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

Abraham to believe in his message and trust in his promise and as a result

Abraham left his home his family to set out on this adventure with God and

God used this one seed to bring about a great physical nation of people his own

descendants then to bring about the Messiah his own blood then to birth the

church that exists around the world an estimated 2.4 billion people over one

fourth of the earth professes to be believers in Jesus Christ now that's

an enormous and marvelous mustard plant when you think about that God burst the

church into existence from one man Abraham's faith back in Genesis 12 and it

has become one of the largest entities that exist in the world it is one of the

most it is the commonality that binds more people than anything else on earth

and so it's kind of like that mustard plant that mustard seed that's planted

in the garden it's small it starts out very small but it grows into one of

the largest plants and though it's made of people we're talking about the church

we're talking about Christians now it has many faults because it's made up of

people and we as people have faults think about how many people come to

benefit and rest in the shade of this enormous thing called Christianity how

many people throughout the years have been fed have been closed have been

cared for have been adopted have been loved and given friendships and

relationships that they would not have gotten from the rest of the world yes

there are people who have claimed to know Christ who have represented him

poorly and done many terrible things but overall the church as a whole has

been one of the most wonderful gifts to this earth it's one of the reasons why

it still goes strong alive and strong today so Jesus used many stories like this

to teach people okay it says that he taught them as much as they can

understand and you know as we think about this you know a lot of times Jesus

taught in parables and people didn't understand but I think a lot of times

he taught in parables and it actually helped the people to understand rather

than confuse them and as we talked earlier about the parables at the

beginning of chapter four a lot of people just were not willing to hear and

listen you know one of the great things about the disciples is is that they

would always ask Jesus what they didn't understand and then Jesus would

explain it so for anybody who doesn't understand if they were willing to

seek the explanation it was always freely given so people who are willing

to hear and listen will have more understanding given to them as they are

willing to seek Christ for that understanding so today just a little

challenge for you if you have a hard time understanding Scripture understanding

God's will understanding what you should do what you should focus on the

direction and life that you should take ask God ask him to show you ask him

to teach you ask him to give you wisdom do not be afraid to ask God to

clarify things in your life but you have to be willing to listen to it don't ask

him and then don't listen ask him and listen so that he can give that to you

he wants to give it to you he wants to give you understanding so for everyone

who came seeking Jesus always was willing to give and explain for those

who weren't they didn't understand but they didn't care to understand all right

let's read verses 35 through 41 and finish up this chapter so as evening came

Jesus said to his disciples let's cross to the other side of the lake so they

took Jesus in the boat and started out leaving the crowds behind all the other

boats followed but soon a fierce storm came up high waves were breaking into the

boat and it began to fill with water Jesus was sleeping at the back of the

boat with his head on a cushion and the disciples woke him up shouting teacher

don't you care that we're going to drown when Jesus woke up he rebuked the

wind and said to the wave silence be still suddenly the wind stopped and there

was a great calm then he asked them why are you afraid do you still have no

fate the disciples were absolutely terrified who is this man they asked

each other even the wind and the waves obey him all right so there's some cool

things to pull from this passage so let's talk about them real quick first

you see that Jesus ordered his disciples to get in the boat and

cross to the other side so just because there are storms and hardships in life

doesn't mean that we're being disobedient rather it could be the very

indication that we are doing exactly what God has told us to do Jesus told

them to get into the boat and the storm came so they were doing exactly

what they were told and yet they still faced a storm in life in this instance

I do think it is important to see some parallels of Jesus and Jonah in this

passage many times Jesus is parallel to several Old Testament characters in

different ways and while on a boat Jonah was fast asleep when the storm came

Jesus was also fast asleep when the storm came in this story just as Jonah

was in the belly of the fish for three days Jesus said so the son of man must

be in the heart of the earth for three days so Jonah was sleeping like a baby

he was unconcerned about the storm Jesus was fast asleep and he was

unconcerned about the storm and Jonah was awakened by a crew with a rational

fear now I want you to think about this the fear is rational nobody wants to

drown it would be a terrifying death to drown in the middle of a storm Jesus

was awakened by his crew with also a rational fear of drowning but here are

the differences between Jonah and his Jesus Jonah and his crew were on a boat

and in a storm due to disobedience alright Jonah had been disobedient he was

not doing what God called him to do Jesus and his crew were on a boat and

in a storm but they were being obedient that's a big difference there's a big

difference in those two so Jonah sacrificed himself to come the storm

and Jesus commanded the storm to be silent and be still so the fish was the

vessel God used to deliver Jonah safely to shore and Jesus is the vessel that

God used to deliver his disciples to shore now Jonah's crew was amazed and

believed in Jonah's God once they pitched him overboard and the storm

stopped the disciples were rebuked for not believing and the disciples were

terrified by this so the crew for Jonah's boat were amazed and they

believed but it says the disciples were terrified because they were afraid of the

power of Jesus and Jesus rebuked them in this so many times we think we would

like to be there and see things with our own eyes like we talk about all the

time we want to see the miracles of Jesus we would love to be a part of

that see it with our own eyes but many times in order to experience those

things you have to be in the thick of it and a lot of times when you're in

the thick of it it's not particularly enjoyable it's one of those things that

it really it's scary and and these disciples were absolutely terrified and

you know just in truth we may find ourselves finding it just as hard to

believe and living under the shade of failure just like the disciples

experienced in this moment you know we we criticize them a lot but can you

imagine how difficult it would be to just not truly understand who Jesus is

and what he's capable of because we read all these stories and read about all

these miracles and yet we still fail to comprehend all of the meaning awesome

things that Jesus is capable of and that's something to really be aware of

in our walk across the disciples were terrified at Jesus and his power in

his authority in this moment and they weren't amazed they were terrified they

were not rejoicing they clearly saw this amazing power and authority of the

Almighty in this moment and if he could command the elements of the earth to be

obedient to him what chance did they stand to be in his presence and honestly

it really would be a sobering and terrifying moment for anyone to be there

to realize if he desired for us to perish and be gone he very much could do

that and so really we put so much trust and faith in Jesus Christ at his power

and authority and in his righteousness and his justice that at any moment he

could wave his hand and cause our life to not exist and at the same time he

also has the same authority and power and ability to wave his hand and give us

an abundance of life and purpose and meaning and so it's so important as

believers that we step into our relationship and our following of Christ

with this faith to believe that God is more than able that he's more than

capable to provide to teach to give to help us move through life in a way that

is pleasing and honoring to him and that's where we'll stop today so let me

pray for you guys before we leave father in heaven thank you so much for the

opportunity to read your word once again and to study it and to serve you and

honor you and father we pray that you would speak into our hearts in powerful

ways help us to learn from your parables help us to learn from these

stories of your power in your mind and all the many wonderful things that

you're capable of and in any given moment Lord you are more than able to

protect us and guide us and see us through to the other side just like you

did the disciples on this boat so father help us to believe and trust in you we

love you today we ask this in Jesus name amen all right guys thanks for tuning

in for another week and thank you for being a part of the Graham Chapel family

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have a great week