A Prepared, Listening Heart
Joey Rodgers
Matthew 13:1-9
I read a story this week about an MIT student who spent his summer going to the Harvard football field every day wearing a black/white striped shirt and walking up/down the field for 10-15 min. throwing birdseed and blowing a whistle. Well, as the summer ended, and the time arrived for Harvard’s first home football game, a funny thing occurred. As the refs walked onto the field for the kick-off - and blew a whistle to start the game... Guess what happened? Birds everywhere. In fact, the game had to be delayed a ½ hr for the birds to fly away. Come to find out, this MIT student was writing his thesis on conditioned responses - and decided to make his point by irritating Harvard. Now, if you’d been watching this student thru-out the summer walking up/down Harvard’s football field, you likely wouldn’t have understood his objective. But once football season began, his purpose would clear - he was trying to kill 2 birds w/ 1-stone.
In Matthew 13, Jesus was up to something that wasn’t exactly obvious until He later explained it - in what has come to be known as the Parable of the Sower.
parable is an earthly lesson w/ a spiritual punchline. The word is derived from two words (para) alongside (bolle) to lay beside. Meaning - a parable is a story that compares something familiar w/ that which is unfamiliar to make an important point.
As w/ last week’s lesson, this is a stand-alone teaching God has burdened me to share w/ you from my Q.T. So, today, I want to re-share a message I taught some 6 yrs ago on what I believe is arguably Jesus’ most important parable that many scholars say is the autobiography of Jesus’ mission/purpose. I believe tucked w/in this parable are some of the most profound teachings in Scripture pertaining to knowing/walking w/ God.
“Later that day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there a ...
Joey Rodgers
Matthew 13:1-9
I read a story this week about an MIT student who spent his summer going to the Harvard football field every day wearing a black/white striped shirt and walking up/down the field for 10-15 min. throwing birdseed and blowing a whistle. Well, as the summer ended, and the time arrived for Harvard’s first home football game, a funny thing occurred. As the refs walked onto the field for the kick-off - and blew a whistle to start the game... Guess what happened? Birds everywhere. In fact, the game had to be delayed a ½ hr for the birds to fly away. Come to find out, this MIT student was writing his thesis on conditioned responses - and decided to make his point by irritating Harvard. Now, if you’d been watching this student thru-out the summer walking up/down Harvard’s football field, you likely wouldn’t have understood his objective. But once football season began, his purpose would clear - he was trying to kill 2 birds w/ 1-stone.
In Matthew 13, Jesus was up to something that wasn’t exactly obvious until He later explained it - in what has come to be known as the Parable of the Sower.
parable is an earthly lesson w/ a spiritual punchline. The word is derived from two words (para) alongside (bolle) to lay beside. Meaning - a parable is a story that compares something familiar w/ that which is unfamiliar to make an important point.
As w/ last week’s lesson, this is a stand-alone teaching God has burdened me to share w/ you from my Q.T. So, today, I want to re-share a message I taught some 6 yrs ago on what I believe is arguably Jesus’ most important parable that many scholars say is the autobiography of Jesus’ mission/purpose. I believe tucked w/in this parable are some of the most profound teachings in Scripture pertaining to knowing/walking w/ God.
“Later that day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there a ...
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