Does God Want Us to Understand Parables? Parables Part 3

When I will sing the praise of the Lord, I'll sing of Him who knows for He has made me glad.

He has made me glad, He has made me glad, of Him who knows for He has made me glad.

He has made me glad, He has made me glad, of Him who knows for He has made me glad.

I will sing the praise that they sing in my heart, I will sing to the rest of the nations.

I will sing this day that the Lord has made, of Him who knows for He has made me glad.

He has made me glad, He has made me glad, of Him who knows for He has made me glad,

He has made me glad, He has made me glad, of Him who knows for He has made me glad.

And I'll lie down to my friend,

And when we have waken, we can launch my way

Still you're there right beside me

Nothing will I fear as long as you are near

Leading me near, leading me unto the end

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

And a light unto my eyes

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

And a light unto my eyes

I will not croak, you are so lovely and yes

Thy heart forever is mine and great

Jesus be thy God and promise me your side

And I will love you until the end

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

And a light unto my eyes

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

And a light unto my eyes

I forgive me

Does God want us to understand parables?

That's the question. Does God want us to understand parables?

And I submit to you the answer is yes.

However, we're going to see that it can be confusing in the scripture when people talk about it

because the very next thing you'll notice just below that is a reference

and it's a book and it starts with an I therefore it is probably Isaiah. Very good.

Yeah, that's an E.

Isaiah, okay, and it's chapter 6 and the verses are 9 and 10.

Okay, so Isaiah, look at that.

6, 9 to 10. Now after you read this you realize it does sound like some people at least God does not want them to understand.

Okay, so this is what's happening. Isaiah is getting his commission to be a prophet to go speak on behalf of God.

And Isaiah writes this he says and I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us.

Then I said here I am send me and he said go and say to the people keep on hearing but do not understand.

Keep on seeing but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy.

That sounds like he doesn't want them to understand, right?

And then that same reference is used in the New Testament and we'll talk about it in a second.

So first of all, we're right under Isaiah 6, 9 to 10 right under does God want us to understand.

It says Isaiah 6, 9 to 10 and then the very next thing is what? Go and tell. That's right.

So God was saying to him go and tell and so normally when God says to somebody go and tell you expect that the message is going to be delivered

and the people are going to receive the message and they're going to understand it, right?

That's the idea. He was supposed to go and explain or go and help them understand or whatever.

But that is not what God said. God said go and tell and then after that and depending on your translation you get different words here.

I'll give you the ones out of the New American Standard, but you could you could kind of phrase that we want.

It's listen, but do not understand listen, but do not understand look, but do not perceive.

Okay, so in other words, they were going to open their ears.

They were going to hear the words, but they were not going to understand the words.

And if you ever are kind of debating with what the word understand means, it's kind of in the word.

It means to stand under what you heard, right? Understand means to stand under it.

So in other words, they were not going to be able to apply it in their lives, figure it out, figure out what it really meant.

Even though they listen and heard it, they were not going to be able to do that.

That's what God told Isaiah as he went to go and tell them they were going to do.

They were going to listen, but not understand. They were going to look, but not perceive.

And then Jesus quotes these same words in those references that you have there in Mark 412, Luke 810.

The last line, I'm going to listen, but do not understand.

Look, but do not perceive. Okay.

And then Mark 412, Luke 810, I'll go and read one of them for you.

I will use the Mark 13 one because that's close to the other things that we're going to read today.

Mark 13, 14, and 15.

That may not be right. Nope.

I'll fix the reference hopefully, but that is not going to work. We'll do the Luke 810 one. I apologize.

There we go. Okay.

When his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said to you,

to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God,

but for others they are in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand.

There it is. He's quoting Isaiah 6, 9, and 10.

He does that over in the book of Mark. He does it a couple of times.

And then also, you follow the arrow down and around where it says also.

And there's a book there and it starts with an A, so it's probably Acts.

Very good, Caleb. He's practiced up on these. Acts 28, 26.

But that's not about Jesus, right? If we're in Acts 28, who is the main character?

The church is the main character of the whole book, but Paul is the main character of Acts 28, right?

So after about 9, 10, it transitions to be Paul.

Previous to that is Peter, who is the leader of the church.

And Paul becomes the missionary to take it out to everybody.

And so those references there, we're not going to go there and read it for the interest of time,

it's about Paul. So you follow the arrow over and there's a P and it's probably Paul.

It's Paul, okay. And it's being used about his ministry, following down to the right, to Jews.

So in other words, Paul quoted those verses, or they were quoted about his ministry to the Jews

because the Jews were still listening but not understanding, looking but not perceiving.

So even though he was, and he wasn't really speaking in parables, he told the parables of Jesus.

But most of what he told was pretty point blank statements about repentance and turning to God and like that.

So did you get that? So you follow those arrows, you went from where it said,

listen but do not understand, looking but do not perceive, to the right, and you get a bunch of references.

Then the arrow goes around down toward the also, the blank is axe, so it's axe 28, 26.

And then there's an arrow up to the left and it says Paul, below Paul is about, then his ministry to Jews, down to the right.

And then there's a long arrow that goes up over top of the birds, around to the left margin.

Okay, and it says rem. And if you ever wrote in basic back in the day, rem was what you put before a line

that it doesn't do the thing that you're, it just reminds you of something.

Okay, so this is just to remind us of our definition of parables that we said applies in the Bible.

It's any striking speech or, ds is what? You got it in your notebook but you might not have to go back to it if you don't want to.

It's any striking speech or, say it again? Nope, too complicated. It's dark saying.

If you go back two weeks, two weeks ago we talked about the biblical definition if you will, and it was any direct speech, striking speech or dark saying.

And it was, the I is intended to, do you remember what the ST is? We're straining ourselves, our recollection, to stimulate thought.

Okay, so inside the Bible it doesn't have to be a story to be a parabolae. It can be a dark saying, right?

It can just be a few words or a phrase and that might be the parabolae that we're talking about.

Last week we dwelled on what it was as literature but we contrasted that with what it was, what it is in the Bible.

Okay, so any striking speech or dark saying intended to stimulate thought.

So those verses about Paul's ministry and the verses about Jesus' ministry were saying that they would not get it.

Some of them would not get it, or so it seems, right?

So then I ask the question again, did God want them to understand the parables?

And I still think the answer is yes, don't you? Did God want them to repent of their sin? Sure He did.

So then what is He saying when He's saying you go and tell but in telling make this true that they will listen and not understand,

that they will look but not, or listen and not perceive, that they will look but not under, I got it backwards, listen but not understand, look but not perceive.

There we go. What does that mean? Okay, I'm going to step aside for one second.

Does anybody remember the story of Jonah? It's a standalone story. The book of the Bible is Jonah, right?

Fled from doing what God told him to do. What did God tell him to do? Go to Nineveh and preach, right?

And what was the message that he was supposed to preach to Nineveh? Destruction.

Actually it wasn't change. That's what he feared would happen, right?

He said of God, he said, if I go and preach that you'll destroy them, they'll repent and turn to you because you're a good God.

You'll accept their repentance and you'll not destroy them. And I don't want that.

And that's why he didn't want to go and preach destruction to Nineveh because he was afraid that they would repent.

I dwell down hard on that. But the message is key. Jonah's message to them was a parable. What was it?

God's going to destroy Nineveh in three days. That was the message. God is going to. Not God might, not God will if you don't repent.

God is going to destroy. He walked through the entire city teaching everyone and what did they do? They all repented.

They threw on their sackcloth and ashes. They even put sackcloth on the cows. Everybody in the city all over repented.

And because of that, God then gave them new life. If you will, he let them live. They lived for about over 150 more years.

That nation survived. But even because of that, the army that was threatening Israel that Jonah really wanted to see destroyed or withdraw by Nineveh being under attack, right?

They still withdrew the army. They just didn't withdraw it because God destroyed the city. They withdrew it because they repented.

And they realized that God had spared them. And then I think it was about 153 years later, they had turned back to wickedness so completely that the city is basically destroyed.

So the prophecy of Jonah comes true except not in the exact same days, right? Number of days.

The point is that dark saying could have resulted in them ignoring him and continuing on their current course in which case God would have destroyed Nineveh in 3 days.

Or they could respond to it. They could have listened and not understood, right? They could have looked and not perceived but they didn't.

They said, okay, wait, we need to turn to God. And now we see the purpose of parables. You're beginning to see the purpose of parables.

So we're following down under, it's a dark saying intended to stimulate thought. That's one possibility.

And then you've got the arrow that kind of goes straight down a little bit then over to the left and then down. It's like a little funky little arrow there.

We see it clearly in the New Testament that even though it's a dark saying intended to stimulate thought, but even when, anyone want to finish it?

Can you continue on the thought? But even when not said openly, jump in any time, still somewhat understood.

Okay, and we'll give you the example of that which you can find in Matthew 21. And there's a couple. This is the one that stands out, makes it pretty clear.

So Matthew 21 verses 45 and 46 say this, so Jesus tells this parable, it's a parable, even though it's not a long story with a point or analogy or anything like that.

Matthew 21:45

Jesus said to them, have you never read in the scriptures the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?

This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you the King of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone it will crush him. Now listen to this.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.

Hear it? And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds because they held him to be a prophet.

See what he's saying? So even though they couldn't get what he was saying, they wouldn't understand it or stand under it.

They wouldn't fully perceive it, right? But they knew it was about them. They knew enough to know they didn't like it.

And that's how people respond to parables and the teachings of God in general sometimes. They just don't like it.

When God tells you that you should love your neighbor as yourself, that sounds keen. That's kind of cool.

But when God says you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you, which means even if they're mean, bad, liars, cheats, thieves, coming at you with a knife,

you're supposed to still do unto them as you would have them do unto you. Not so that they will do what you do, but just the way you would want them to treat you, that's the way you're supposed to treat them.

That's hard because some people are bad. What they do is bad. I mean they're not any more bad than we are necessarily, but they're bad in the sense of what they do.

And so then we don't want to do to them what we want them to do to us. We want them to do to us what we want, and then we want to do them whatever we want.

And that is not how it works. So the point is people rebel against the simple teachings of Jesus and sometimes things become dark sayings that people can't understand.

But the truth is you can kind of understand it. If everybody in the world would do to each other what they want the other person to do back to them, it'd be a pretty awesome place.

But it isn't because that's not what people are doing. And if you explain that to them that's what they're supposed to do, they're not going to get it.

Even though they might kind of understand it enough to perceive it mentally, they can't put it in their life.

So we're going to go down straight down from there then that arrow down kind of slightly left.

And we're going to the book of Mark. So that line is Mark chapter 4, 33 to 34, and then also chapter 4 verse 22.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

Okay, so we're we're remember reading these verses now thinking about parables. Okay, flip back to Mark.

Mark 4. I'm going to get start getting the answer to our question because Jesus is teaching on the very topic that we're teaching about today.

It says in 433, with many such parables, he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.

He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

And then when you fall back to verse 22, you read, I'll read 21 so you see it coming in.

He said to them, Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed or not on a stand?

For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest or revealed, nor is anything secret except to come to light.

So if these dark sayings, parables, stories, teachings of Jesus have something revealed in them, I'm sorry, have something hidden in them, why is it hidden there?

What is the purpose of it being hidden? When you hear a parable and you go, that's interesting. I think about that.

What is the purpose of the thing that's hidden in the parable? What do you think, Natalie? What's the purpose of it? What do you do with it?

Natalie, ever play hide and seek? Play with your sisters ever? Did they go and hide? And then what?

That's it, isn't it? That's it. It's hidden there to be revealed.

Right? We play hide and seek. You don't just go, you all go hide now and then you go sit down and watch TV while they're out there all hiding.

Because eventually they'll get bored and they'll come back and find you and it's kind of ugly for a few minutes after that when they realize you're watching TV and they're playing hide and seek.

Right? So that's not really how it goes. When something is hidden, it's hidden to be revealed. Right?

Has anybody here ever put back some money? Say back a few bucks, put it in your sock drawer, coffee can, Pringles can. Yeah? Yeah?

Why'd you do that? Anybody here ever put back money and then forget where you put it? Yeah, I've done that too. Right?

And then you were mad. You know why you were mad or you were frustrated or you were searching?

Because you put it away so that you could get it again and now you can't figure out where it's at.

Well that's the teachings of God. That's what Jesus is saying. They're not there to be lost. They're there to be found or to be revealed.

And that's the next line, to be revealed. Okay? And so that's Jesus.

So now if we go back to the beginning of our question was, does God intend for us to understand the parables?

And I want to say the answer is yes, insofar as what?

They're not intended to be understood at first, but they're intended for us to find the included in ourselves.

Okay, I'll say with God's help, but I agree with you. Yep?

So basically what he's saying is initially you hear the parable and you don't fully understand it.

The truth of it is hidden in the parable and it's like that on purpose. Right?

And then when you go to God, remember that all Christianity is about going to God. Every bit of it.

Jesus died so that we can go to God. Right?

You get saved and one of the key points of getting saved is repenting, turning to God.

It's not about turning from a specific sin. Yes, you repent of that sin. You do that.

But you turn to God when you do that.

Because if you don't, if you turn from that sin, you'll just turn to another sin.

Or you might walk a little better for a little while and then turn to another sin. Right?

Or maybe even the same sin again because you go, oh, that was good enough.

I had a year off and I can go back to it now or whatever.

But if you turn to God, that's what Jesus died so that we could turn to God.

And the gospel includes the remission of sins now being available when people what?

When they turn to God through Jesus. Right?

So what he's saying is correct. God intends us to find those deeper meanings.

But they're initially in the parable to be found. That makes sense?

So the answer is yes, he wants us to find them.

But initially, if you just read the parable and went, oh, that just means this and boom, done.

Then he would not achieve what he's trying to achieve.

Because God is trying to teach us something deeper than this story and these things mean this.

There's something more there than that. It's something about human nature, something about his nature,

something about the relationship between man and God. Right?

I don't know if you ever noticed this or not, but there's probably moments in time where you're emotional

or you're psyched about something or you're really down and out because something happened bad. Right?

Whatever. And you can't like you would have a hard time expressing your words,

but you can put music on that matches your mood and find the song that goes, that's it. Right?

Because in music, you can convey emotion that you might not easily be able to convey in words.

It's a different language. Parables are like that.

Another language to convey to us the relationship between man and God in ways that we can deeper understand.

If Jesus just said, like take a parable like something like, what's a good example?

Leaven works its way through a batch of dough. And Jesus said, you know, sin will spread throughout your life.

If you let it, it'll spread throughout your life. And if that's what he said, that would be a dark saying.

And there probably could be more to it. You could drill down on it.

But when Jesus said sin is like leaven worked into a batch of dough.

By the time it's done, it spreads throughout every last little bit. It touches the entire batch of dough. Right?

Then you go, well, what does he mean? Sin is like leaven. Oh, I see what that means. You know?

And not only that, but you kind of don't see it. Once it's in the dough, you kind of don't see it anymore.

But then if you step back and watch, the dough will expand. Right?

It's expanding because leaven's in it and it all expands.

And you like get all this deeper meaning that God is trying to show you.

Then if he had just said the simple straight up saying, same as you can do with music, same as you can do with poetry, books, literature, theater, drama, role play, all of those methods that people had to convey deeper teachings.

And parables are an example of that. OK?

All right. So we're going to move across the path. So you're going to go all the way on the right hand side across the path.

You'll see the number two at the top. OK?

And you see the number two with a dash before and a dash after. And it says this. It says parables are a gift. That's right.

Gift. And I'm going to give you the next little bit because I the copier cut it off to the on most for those who cannot hear. That is correct.

Parables are a gift for those who cannot hear. Now we have the Holy Spirit.

We are saved if you're here and you're actually a Christian. Right. You're at the Holy Spirit and you're safe.

So in theory, you can hear your your eyes have been open. Your ears have been unplugged. Your heart is active in the kingdom.

You can hear what God is saying. If you are a Christian, you can be affected. OK, you can be directed.

We can have a Lord. He tells us what to do and we do it. Holy Spirit convicts men of their sin.

But on top of that, he also leads and guides us into everything that Jesus taught.

That's what Jesus said he would do. I will send him you another comforter and he will teach you everything that I have taught you. Right.

So we have that. But when we were lost, we didn't have that. So then we were people who couldn't hear.

You can follow the logic. And there are lots of people in the world now who can't hear.

So parables become a gift for those who cannot hear because they go, wait, there is something there.

And they start to look and what's the first thing they start to do if they realize it comes from the Bible, they realize Jesus spoke.

What's the first thing they start to do when they start to figure out what that parable means.

Read the parable, absorb the parable. And if they really want to know what Jesus said, they turn to God. Right.

And when you turn to God, as Jesus did with the disciples, what did it say?

The disciples were getting an explanation of the teaching because they would go to Jesus and they would say, OK, Jesus, please explain to us this.

And Jesus would explain to them that God is doing the same thing today.

Parables are a gift for those who cannot hear. And then it says R and R. OK. And the first R is respond.

So once you hear that parable, you've got to you've got to care. Right.

If Jesus speaks a parable, you don't care. You're not going to get nothing out of it. Right.

Or if the pastor preaches something and you don't care, you're not taking notes, you're not really listening, you're not digging down, you're not asking yourself the deep soul searching questions.

When somebody is preaching, that's the way it should be. You should be going, OK, God could be speaking here.

God could be doing something. Right. I've got to be prepared to respond to what I'm learning today.

Or if you read your Bible, you'll sit in your little prayer closet or out on your deck, your porch and the sunlight and you go, I'm going to read this here.

Lamp under a basket. Oh, OK, let's see what this means. Yeah, that's pretty good. That's good writing.

No response. You get nothing. If you're not going to go, what am I supposed to do about this? What am I supposed to be?

How am I supposed to be affected? You get nothing.

And then the blessing is when you have a response, it's response and what? Receive.

The disciples responded to the parable by going to Jesus and said, I need to know better about this.

And Jesus gave them the answer. And that's what he does for us.

He will do the same for us through his Holy Spirit and through additional references in his word.

You'll go find other things where it's written, it explains it better or connects or whatever.

So you respond, you receive. You fail to respond, you don't receive. That's how it works. OK.

Now we're jumping the row of stones going straight down and now we're going to get into talking about the parable

that teaches the very same thing that we're talking about today that Jesus told. Isn't that wonderful?

So he told a parable, a parable lay on this topic, though we might not realize it until we take a look at it.

And so it's in Mark chapter four. The parable is in verses three to nine.

But we're actually going to read where Jesus explains the parable, which is in verses 13 to 20.

So three to nine is the parable of the sower who went out to sow seed.

And he dropped some along the way and blah, blah, blah. And then the disciples go to him and said, we need this.

And then we already read the verses right before it where it says, they said, Jesus said, but for those outside,

everything is in parable so that they may indeed see but not perceive and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they should turn and be forgiven. OK. And then in 13, and he said to them, do you not understand this parable?

How then will you understand all the parables? You get that? So it was a rhetorical question.

The answer is you won't. If you don't get this one, you won't get them all.

So if you've never read this parable, then you are shut out of being able to understand all of the other parables.

You'll understand some probably. He didn't say some. He said all.

So there are many parables and you wouldn't get them if you can't get the understanding of this.

Now, you could possibly get the understanding of this parable another way. Right.

So you could figure it out. Nobody ever told me about gravity when I was a kid.

I just kind of stumbled on the truth of it. Right. Every time I fell, every time I dropped something,

I knew gravity was there. And then when I got in school, they said, oh, there's this thing called gravity. Right.

So you could get to the truth of this parable and understand it without ever actually having heard it.

That is possible. So 13 says, and he said to them, do you not understand this parable?

How then will you understand all the parables? 14, 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 enters in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who heard the word and accept it

and bear fruit thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

Okay, so we're following down from, you got your reference there on three,

and then we're going to go down, ignore that thing on the left for the moment,

go down, follow the arrow, and it says seed. You should see the word seed.

And in this parable, okay, so Jesus is explaining this parable.

Now what kind of parable do we say it, a parabolae, do we say it is,

where everything in the parable represents something. Not a contrast, not a simile,

but, does anybody remember? Everything represents something. It's an analogy.

An analogy is that thing where everything represents, or an allegory, both of those things.

Okay, allegory is actually the word that we use, was allegory, I apologize.

Okay, so seed represents what? That's the easy one.

The seed in the story that we just read is the word, that's right.

Okay, so seed is the word. And then, now we've got the blank on the left,

something that starts with an S represents four kinds of people.

Not the sower, say it again. Not the sprouts, the soils.

The soils in the story, he said, he listed them all out for us,

but he listed all four kinds of soils, and then he told us what each one was like.

Okay, and then the birds represent, close, Satan, right.

So he actually says the devil comes and steals away before it can bear any fruit,

or take a fruit, or whatever. So birds represent Satan.

The thorns represent? Okay, kind of both, but kind of neither.

So let's read it real quick. Thorns, the third one, thank you.

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 out the word. I would go with temptation.

I think it's cares and riches, right. I know that that's simple,

but I think the thing is what are we worried about? What are we thinking about?

What's our focus on? And if your focus is on something that takes you away from,

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but multiplying, producing,

doing the things that God would have you to do, and you're in trouble,

because those cares and riches will choke out your fruitfulness, at least.

And actually it sounds like it can be a lot worse than that, okay.

All right, and then now we've got the blanks on the left, okay.

And then the word right after the equal sign is trouble.

So that T is trouble. And troubles come with persecution.

Big word, both of them. Both of those are...

Yep, so it goes equals trouble and persecution.

Now notice that he says trouble and persecution on account of the word, right.

So if you ever wonder, am I being persecuted, you could be pretty clear

if you're being attacked or mistreated or whatever because of the word,

because of something you're living that's right by God.

Oh, that's what we're going to ask right now. So what goes before it?

Nope. Trouble and persecution in the parable were represented by what?

Okay, back up a little bit to the beginning.

So you have the on the road, okay, and these are the ones on a 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 with tribulation or troubles or persecution arises on account of the word,

immediately they fall away.

Okay, so this version doesn't say it. That's why we're not getting it.

It's sun. It's the scorching sun.

New American standard says the scorching sun.

Okay, I apologize that this...what is this?

Oh, this is the ESV. That's why it sounds so smooth.

All right, scorching sun equals trouble and persecution on account of the word.

Okay, and then the good soil equals people who what?

What do they do? This is a good soil. What do they do?

They receive it or hear it, receive it or hear it.

Yeah, so that would be produce.

So the final thing they do is produce, right?

So they receive it or hear it, and then they accept it,

and they produce or generate fruit because of it.

So basically they have a three-part action plan.

You hear the...if you talk about parables specifically, are you with me?

Talk about parables specifically, they hear the parable, right?

They accept the parable. Remember, that's part of the response.

You don't have anything unless you accept it,

and then they produce something because of it. They do something because of it.

So it goes people who hear, accept, and produce.

That's what I have on mine, but you can substitute words there if you like it better.

And the ESV does it a little differently.

This says hear and accept and bear fruit is what it says in the ESV.

That's what actually in verse 20.

What's the one in people's soil?

After, or good soil equals people who hear, accept, and produce or bear fruit.

So here is the million-dollar question in the parable of the sower.

Of the four soils, who hears?

All of them, right? All hear.

And then the word accept, where it says they accept in 420,

I just put a little note here because it's interesting,

it can mean to acknowledge, accept could be to take something,

it also can mean to acknowledge something as true, or even it can mean to love.

So when these people accept this word, they, yeah, that's right, and they love it all at the same time.

It's a different word from just, huh, whatever, I go to church and I listen.

Pastor preaches and we're pretty glad that that happens,

but we don't really do anything about it.

We go to Bible study and we study the word, and yeah, that's what we do.

We know that's what God wants us to do. We're faithful and obedient to do that.

It's different. You love it. You want it. You seek it. You desire it. Okay?

All right. So now we're going back up to the right side.

So if you follow, where it says Mark 4, 13 to 20, and then there's a stone wall,

and then it says, how does one receive a gift?

Halfway up the page on the right-hand side.

There's supposed to be a four there, but I think it got copied off.

How does one receive a gift?

In this example, first must recognize the offer,

and that's the problem with a lot of people, isn't it?

With the word of God, they don't realize it's available to them.

They don't realize that God himself wants to talk to them.

That God himself wants to teach them.

So they don't care, and that was the way it was with Jesus.

They didn't recognize the offer that Jesus was making.

Let's say I have a gift and somebody, I'm going to give it to Caleb,

and I stand up here and I say, here you go, Caleb. Here you go.

First thing he does is what?

He reaches out. First thing he does is he reaches out,

and that's the response to a parable, to a teaching of Christ, to a dark saying.

Our response is to reach out.

Now, obviously, if we really want the right answers, we reach out to God.

That's the real purpose of that.

But sometimes people reach out to other things.

They'll say, well, Pastor, explain it to me, or Mom or Dad, explain it to me,

or maybe a commentary, or a Bible dictionary.

Instead of going to God to understand, they go to a source

where somebody's already done the work for them and went to God to understand.

And that's not always a good thing.

And so after you reach out toward the gift, the gift transfers hands,

and you start with a G, grasp it, or grab it, if you want to say that.

You grasp it, take control of it, you hold it in your hand.

We're talking about how do you receive a gift.

And then there are very few words in the English language that start with the A-C-K,

acknowledge is correct.

So this is how you receive a gift.

You recognize the offer, you reach out, you grasp it, you acknowledge it, right?

What's the A-N-E-O?

Reach out. She's with you.

Okay, so it's reach out, grasp, acknowledge.

And then finally, and most importantly of all of them, we apply it.

Has anyone ever gotten a gift for Christmas or their birthday or whatever,

and then put it away? Maybe you put it away and forgot it,

or you put it away thinking you didn't need it or whatever,

and you never used it for a long time? Has that ever happened?

It's happened to me. I think it's happened to most people.

And so if you do that, you have taken it into your possession.

You own it. But the truth is, if it's in your closet,

let's say it's up in the closet on the top shelf or wherever you put it,

you put it hanging on the rod in your closet or wherever,

and you don't look at it, day in, day out, you don't look at it.

If your spouse, your friend, the person who gave it to you, anybody comes,

and they go, oh, well, they don't use that, right?

And they take it out of the closet and they throw it in the garbage,

would you know the difference?

Not unless you went there and looked, right?

You go, oh, where did that go? Well, whatever, I wasn't using it anyway.

Did you really receive the gift at that point?

If you get a shirt for Christmas and it sits in your closet for 10 years,

did you really receive a gift?

I mean, it would be like a paperweight, not a very good one.

It would be like holding the rod down.

So, I mean, I don't know what's the value of that.

You could always think, well, I always have at least one shirt.

Probably I'll never wear it.

I mean, when you receive a gift, you apply the gift.

And if you don't apply it, you should probably return it, get some money.

And then if it's nothing else, buy a gift for the person who gave you the gift

if you can't think of anything else to do.

You don't really get a gift unless you apply it.

And so if you ignore a gift, if you build on something else

other than what's intended, if you get wrapped up in this world,

not if you don't do it at all or you go too fast or if you go simultaneous.

Like there's a lot of people like I got a boyfriend or a girlfriend at church,

but I'm also learning about God.

There's a good this and good this too.

If it's simultaneous, it's not working.

It's not actually what God says because the cares and the riches are growing up

right alongside the fruit, right?

It's not working.

Okay. So clearly we're not quite done.

You see there's quite a bit left on the page.

The blanks are mostly done.

This pathway in the middle of the page represents the parable of the sower.

The parable when he went out to sow.

And if you'll look at his journey from the bottom left-hand on the little platform,

little house there, whatever that is, kind of going up,

you'll see that there are some seed, if you see the number 15,

some seed fell on the pathway.

But where is it now?

The seed that fell on the pathway, where is it now?

It's in the belly of the bird, right?

They're gone. They took it and they left.

That seed's gone. It didn't do nothing.

Then if you go a little further along on the right-hand side,

you see some seed fell in the stones and it sprouted up pretty good.

But then because when the soil warms up, that's when a seed germinates.

So if it's thin soil comes up faster, but there were no roots.

So you'll notice they all fell over. They're laying there worthless.

Look at the other side.

There's thorns all the way along the other side.

Some seed fell over there.

And those thorns grew up and they choked out all of the growth.

And now it's all laying on the ground waste that are wrapped up in the thorns.

It'll never be harvested. It's worthless.

And then the farmer finally made it to his destination and he threw the seed,

as in 20, he threw the seed all there.

And now there's a ton of produce.

So we come back around to does God want us to understand parables?

So much more than that.

That question is shallow by comparison to what he actually desires, right?

We can say yes, but boy, we better qualify it and say there is so much there for us to learn.

It goes beyond what's written and then beyond what we learn and beyond what we learn.

And God can keep bringing us back to the same parable over and over and over again,

keep refining us, teaching us more, showing how it affects us,

showing how it affects our relationship with others.

There is so much more there.

But at the same time, realize parables are a gift to those who cannot hear,

to get their attention, to realize that they are not hearing.

And then if they drill down on the parable the way they should,

if they actually receive it the way they should,

they'll begin to respond and receive and God will make it clear to them what it says.

There's one thing on the whole page that we haven't talked about.

I give candy to the first person who can tell me where it's at.

There's one thing on the whole page we haven't talked about.

No, we talked about the cellar a little bit.

Nope. The answer is yes. We said that.

Where are we at? What are you saying, Tim?

On the bottom of number two, there's a symbol enhancing the effect.

I'm not sure what you're saying.

On the way to the bottom of here, right?

Yeah, no, I said that simultaneously.

That's where I gave the example of like going to church with your boyfriend or girlfriend

and trying to do both at the same time.

It's pretty glaring.

I kind of said that with all the producing, right? What?

The number one over God.

What's that at? Nope, that's where we started at.

It's right in the middle where it says, heard, seek, additional teaching, explanation.

Now do you see it? So you heard the parable, you heard the lesson, you seek what?

You seek additional teaching from the Lord and He will give it.

He will explain it. He will teach it.

That's what He does. That's what the disciples did.

And that was the purpose of the parables, that they would lead us to seek additional teaching

and we would get from God an explanation.

See how that works? That's what the purpose is.

So what does God actually want you to do in response to the parables?

Does He want you to understand the parables? Is that His goal?

No, He wants you to go to Him.

He wants you to seek Him.

He wants you to seek His knowledge, seek His teaching, seek His wisdom,

seek all that He can give you through that parable.

And remember, a parable is not just a story with a meaning.

It can be a simple saying. It can be a dark saying.

Someone could say something to you.

I had a dream and in my dream I realized that I was going up the wrong way in my dream

and I woke up with these words on my lips.

You can't get up by going up the wrong way.

That's a dark saying, right?

And I asked the Lord, so what does that mean, Lord?

And I started to realize that there were things that I was doing that I was not supposed to do,

there were things that I was not doing that I was supposed to do,

and debatably sin, they weren't really sinful things,

but they were just, I was off course and that's enough going up the wrong way.

So the first thing I did when I found something I didn't understand was,

I saw additional teaching from the Lord and that's what we're called to do.

And that's what they're all about.

Okay, so we're going to have a few questions on this topic here.

So just, if anybody ever asks you, what's the one parable that Jesus said,

if you don't know this parable, you should be able to answer that question.

Point them to this.

And notice how if they'll drill down on it, they'll realize if they're not hearing.

Think about it.

If they're not listening to God's teaching and you explained it this way,

drilling down on that parable, then they'll figure it out.

So Jason, what was the parable, the one parable that God said,

if you don't know this one, you probably won't get them all.

That is correct.

The parable of the Sower, that's the simple name.

That's the simple name for it coming at you.

Nice try.

Okay, so I want to do just a little bit more of a game here because that just reminded me.

So I have a couple of additional prizes in here.

They are bags of cotton candy.

That's a giant bag of cotton candy.

Yep, so we're going to, this is what we're going to do.

I've got these balls.

And also for those who don't eat cotton candy, I have a teddy bear.

Teddy bear.

Okay, all right.

But I only have one teddy bear.

I want the teddy bear.

I only got five bags of cotton candy.

Okay, all right, so here's what we're going to do.

I will throw either a piece of candy or a ball.

If I throw the ball and you miss it, you get nothing.

No.

Okay, so even if I throw it poorly, that's not on me.

It's not my fault.

I'll throw it and if it happens, it happens.

It's all part of it.

What?

All right.

And adults can answer.

So here we go.

Where in the Old Testament will you find the verse where it says people may listen but not understand?

Isaiah chapter 6, 9 and 10.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

Okay, I'm going to give you a little candy.

So good.

Shotgun effect.

He actually caught one of those.

That was really impressive.

Okay.

Some of the seed wound up on the path, but it didn't stay there for long.

It actually wound up where?

Oh, okay, we'll try to get it.

Got to be ready.

Okay.

You can't have a chance.

I told you some throws will be bad throws.

It's not my fault.

Okay.

Some are bad.

Some are bad.

So in the parable of the sower, the seed represents?

The word.

No, I saw it.

It fell.

It doesn't count.

Throwback.

Whoa.

Very stringy.

Don't try that at home.

You threw the ball in the chair.

It didn't even come back.

We're past that, man.

You're dwelling.

You're dwelling on the past.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

In the parable of the sower, there were this many kinds of people.

Four is correct.

Oh, no.

See, it's hard.

I told you it's hard.

Wait, what are we even doing here?

I don't know.

You should pay attention.

I want more.

Okay, I have more.

We'll be all right for now.

Okay.

Okay.

In the parable of the sower, the birds represented?

Sandy.

Ah, practice.

I don't want to do this.

I'm as favorite as any bird.

I'm more.

It's like the pièce de résistance.

Okay.

He'll go last after the cotton candy.

Okay.

In the parable of the sower, cares and riches were represented by?

Thorns.

Thorns is correct.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

You and Jason can commiserate.

That's all I could say.

Okay.

Here goes that.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

Parables are still somewhat?

It's on the page.

Finished.

Understood.

I'll give it to you.

Ready?

Yeah, there you go.

I told you it's left.

You were just getting revenge.

No, you will not eat that tonight.

Yeah, he knows.

He knows.

He knows.

Okay.

In the parable of the sower, who hears?

All.

All is correct.

I know.

That's why I didn't look at you.

You were the first one to say it.

Okay.

Let's throw it back up here.

I'll give it away again.

I've got stuff flying here.

It's a very exciting Facebook podcast or Facebook Live.

All right.

Okay.

Parable A or parable B.

Parable B.

Parable A.

Parable A.

Parable B.

Parable B.

Parable B.

Parable B.

Parable B.

Parable B.

Parable B.

Parable A or parables in the Bible can be striking speech or dark sayings.

Dark sayings.

Dark sayings.

Nice.

Two for two.

Look at you.

You got candy for everybody in the house.

Give it back.

No, I'm just kidding.

All right.

Here we go.

He swapped it.

Okay.

In the old switcheroo.

For people who cannot hear, parables are a?

On the page.

What?

That is correct.

Jason, you interfered.

Jason, you interfered, man.

Okay.

I'm going to try it again.

You ready, Natalie?

Okay.

Go ahead, Josh.

Yeah.

Nice.

Okay.

You have to throw the ball back, too.

Only one empty hand.

Sorry.

It would be impressive if I could have caught it, though.

I can juggle, but not so good with these.

Okay.

All right.

So in Acts 28, 26, was talking about Paul's ministry to who?

The Jews.

The Jews is correct.

They're very alive.

They're right in the middle of the teaching cone, so that's probably it.

Yep.

They're probably staring with the kids.

They're like that soft hearted.

I think that was the last one.

Okay.

This is for the bear.

Okay.

I got to come up with a good one.

All right.

In my response to parables, I was doing well because I heard I sought additional teaching

is correct.

All right.

I got the poor bear.

He's got a headache now.

Okay.

So we're going to pray, but that being said, we have some really awesome cookies for snack.

Landon, who is the youth pastor at Haven Heights, his wife, makes these cookies and

they're really awesome.

So while you're eating your really awesome cookie, just remember God is a really awesome

God and way better than a cookie.

Okay.

Don't forget that along the way.

All right.

Let's pray.

Thank you, Lord, for being here.

Thank you for letting us learn.

We're still building in the parable of an hour super-attracted because we realize that

they are living through us.