Dear all,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hope and pray that this letter finds you\nwell this week. We are very fortunate in\nthis country to have good seasonal weather which allows crops to grow, a good\ncycle for sowing, planting, nurturing, growing, reaping and harvesting. Generally it works very well for farmers,\namateur growers and gardeners alike. In\nother countries this doesn\u2019t work as well due to poverty and climate\ninfluences. Today we examine in the\nreading from Matthew 13: 1-9 and 18-23, a traditional parable which we all know\nso well, the parable of the sower. A\nparable is a mechanism which Jesus used in his teaching; it is a story with a\nmeaning to help the hearer learn an important truth or concept. Another way to explain it would be an earthly\nstory with a heavenly meaning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The parable concerns a farmer who has gone\nout to sow seed on the land and as the farmer throws the seed, it lands in\ndifferent places. Some lands on the path\nwhereby it is soon eaten by birds. Some\nlands in amongst the stones where there is little soil so the plant grows but\nis soon scorched by the sun and dies. \nSome fells amidst thorn bushes and when the plant grows are choked and\noverwhelmed and also die. Finally some\nfalls onto the soil and becomes a good crop and produces an excellent\nyield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later on in the chapter, after Jesus has\nanswered various questions from the disciples about the purpose of parable,\nJesus begins to explain the meaning behind the parable of the sower. The seed is the Word and Message of God,\nwhich falls on different surfaces in the parable, likewise the Word is\nresponded to in different ways by those who hear it. Some hear and do not understand therefore\n\u2018the message is snatched away by the evil one\u2019 in other words the hearer does\nnot understand and the things of the world take precedence in that person\u2019s\nheart and mind and it gets forgotten. Others\nhear the message and receive it with joy but since they have no Christian\nfoundation again the lasting impact of the message is not evident. Someone else hears the message but let the\nworries of the world and the allure of earthly treasures lure them away. Finally those who hear, understand and then\nput the message into practice will gain a lasting \u2018good crop\u2019 from it, the\nyielding will be massive and they will benefit from it thirty, sixty or even a\nhundred times what was sown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The message that we as recipients of the\n\u2018seed\u2019 or the Word and Message of God need to be like the fertile soil of the\nground in order to produce a good crop. \nThat means being without weeds, stones or thorns; and in practice that\nmeans being open to God through His Word, prayer, teaching and eager to learn\nlike being part of a Discovery Group. As\na Christian believer how would you describe your \u2018soil quality\u2019 good, medium or\npoor? Be sure today to turn to the good\nGardener to ensure that you are always ready to receive the next batch of seeds\nto help you yield a good crop in the future. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the Lord Jesus; the Good and Faithful\nGardener, bless you, now and always, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every blessing in His precious Service,\nAndrew. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear all, I hope and pray that this letter finds you well this week. We are very fortunate in this country to have good seasonal weather which allows crops to grow, a good cycle for sowing, planting, nurturing, growing, reaping…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1561,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1560\/revisions\/1561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.northwoodmethodistchurch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}