WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.400 There's always a danger when we hear stories that we've heard so many times before, 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:07.580 because we can kind of shut down. 00:00:07.580 --> 00:00:15.439 If we've heard a Bible story, a parable, so many times we can become so familiarized with it 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.519 that we lose that kind of cutting edge that that story would have had 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:24.420 with the people who heard it for the very first time. 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:32.579 When we read the Gospels, we don't know the exact detail of what was taking place, 00:00:32.579 --> 00:00:36.179 but it's reckoned that there's every chance, every possibility, 00:00:37.060 --> 00:00:40.900 that when Jesus was telling this parable, he would have been outside, 00:00:41.480 --> 00:00:48.340 there's every possibility that he may well have actually been pointing to the sowing of seeds taking place. 00:00:48.340 --> 00:00:54.920 And the way in which they would do that was they would take a sack of seeds 00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:56.920 and they would put it on the back of a donkey, 00:00:57.720 --> 00:01:03.940 and they would take a blade and they would slash a couple of holes in the sacks containing the seeds, 00:01:04.020 --> 00:01:05.680 and the donkey would be led along. 00:01:05.820 --> 00:01:12.140 And as the donkey would walk along, so the seeds would fall out of the sack. 00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:17.000 And you can imagine this going on, and Jesus pointing to it, 00:01:17.060 --> 00:01:21.439 and everybody watching this donkey walking along with this trail of seeds going behind. 00:01:21.819 --> 00:01:24.540 And inevitably, as the donkey would walk along, 00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:30.079 so that seed would be landing on different types of surface. 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:36.920 And each of those types of surface actually has something to say to us, 00:01:36.939 --> 00:01:39.519 and that's why Jesus gave us this parable. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:46.099 Soil, we've got some soil in some trays here. 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:53.679 And the thing about soil is that all sorts of things can grow out of soil, 00:01:54.219 --> 00:01:55.140 can grow in soil. 00:01:55.819 --> 00:01:58.319 You can grow good things, things that are healthy, 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.219 things that are good to eat, things that taste good, 00:02:01.379 --> 00:02:03.239 things that will be good for you. 00:02:04.060 --> 00:02:06.599 But other things can grow out of soil as well, 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.500 things that are damaging, things that can cause harm, 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:12.039 indeed poisonous things, things that could kill you, 00:02:12.419 --> 00:02:13.879 can grow out of that soil. 00:02:14.299 --> 00:02:17.799 And so in just talking about the soil itself, 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:20.519 it gives us something really important to think about. 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:23.219 Namely, that God wants us to grow, 00:02:24.259 --> 00:02:26.539 but there's always the potential for good, 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:28.719 as well as not so good. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:32.099 But at the outset, as Jesus starts telling this story, 00:02:32.180 --> 00:02:35.400 he's saying that God wants the good for us. 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:37.599 He wants us to truly flourish. 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:39.500 Clyde. 00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:42.979 So we come to the seed. 00:02:43.460 --> 00:02:44.979 And when Jesus talks about the seed, 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:50.300 I thought, how can something so small and insignificant, 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:52.639 for those who are gardeners here, 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:54.060 I'm not a great gardener. 00:02:54.539 --> 00:02:57.879 I just put things in and water it, 00:02:58.099 --> 00:03:01.360 and just as surprised that it actually grows, 00:03:01.920 --> 00:03:03.539 I'm really pleased that it grows. 00:03:03.539 --> 00:03:08.359 But we don't know what the potential of that is. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:10.439 But God does. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:13.519 And so in this story that he's telling us 00:03:13.519 --> 00:03:16.719 is the fact that the seed can get sown, 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:21.019 but the potential of what could happen for it. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.459 Now, I was just thinking, for many of us, 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:26.799 what that has looked like in our lives, 00:03:27.579 --> 00:03:28.939 how that has flourished. 00:03:28.939 --> 00:03:32.719 And maybe as we think about the seed of ourselves, 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:34.919 of the blessing that that has been, 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:36.740 maybe people that have nourished us, 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:38.400 people that have come alongside us. 00:03:38.620 --> 00:03:41.199 And later, when we do a sort of form of response 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:43.020 in a minute, we think about that. 00:03:43.139 --> 00:03:48.539 But my passion is for other people that we're alongside. 00:03:50.579 --> 00:03:52.520 He's talking about the word of God. 00:03:52.659 --> 00:03:55.300 The word of God has been planted, it's been sown. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.500 But what do we do to nourish that? 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:02.319 Sometimes with my seed, I will put it in. 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:07.520 And if you know me, I've got the patience of a gnat. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:09.240 You know? 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:13.699 What is it my wife laughs straight away? 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:15.180 Thank you. 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:18.319 She knows me so well. 00:04:19.779 --> 00:04:22.839 It's, you know, I want it to happen instantaneously. 00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:27.120 Now, sometimes I can sit there and it's not going to grow. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:28.780 And I've got to wait. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:30.720 I've got to wait to see it flourish. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:32.920 And it may well be with our friends, 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:34.620 maybe with our friends, with our family, 00:04:35.079 --> 00:04:38.360 that the seed has been sown and that we have to wait. 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:46.840 Maybe I feel for me the seed is God's prompting of when to step in and when to water it. 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:54.379 Maybe as we think of the seed, when do we step in for our friends, for our work colleagues, 00:04:54.740 --> 00:04:55.740 for people that we know? 00:04:55.740 --> 00:04:59.699 When is God's prompting in our lives to do that? 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:07.339 So as Jesus gives us this picture of the donkey walking along, the seed falling out, 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:12.120 one of the surfaces that he says the seed fell on was a path. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:17.779 It's the closest I could get to a pathway, but we've got some stone there. 00:05:17.779 --> 00:05:21.779 And you've got this picture, the donkey's walking along, 00:05:21.899 --> 00:05:25.479 the seed's pouring out the back of the sacks that it's holding. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:29.959 And as it walks across that surface, so the seed, they come along, 00:05:30.019 --> 00:05:34.339 but of course they land on the path. 00:05:34.759 --> 00:05:36.759 And so nothing much is going to happen. 00:05:36.859 --> 00:05:41.339 They're just going to sit there until, well, birds come along. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:45.899 Now, I was getting a little bit desperate for props. 00:05:45.899 --> 00:05:49.859 I got back from holiday last night, so bear with me, okay? 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.939 You're going to have to use your imagination, 00:05:52.299 --> 00:05:54.239 because as Jesus was telling this parable, 00:05:55.299 --> 00:05:58.120 this might not be quite what he had in mind, 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:01.560 but the imagination is a fine thing. 00:06:01.659 --> 00:06:03.539 So the birds came along. 00:06:11.039 --> 00:06:15.359 And as birds do, they gobbled up the seeds. 00:06:15.899 --> 00:06:21.839 Now, the thing is, is that the seed was there, 00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:25.159 and it's got the potential, 00:06:26.159 --> 00:06:28.120 but it wasn't able to go anywhere. 00:06:29.239 --> 00:06:36.259 And it makes us think about how we can be distracted too easily. 00:06:36.459 --> 00:06:39.259 You know, we've all got those same questions about life, 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:44.959 and they're human questions that every single one of us as a human being has. 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:49.300 And yet, those questions don't go away, 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:53.319 but we can be distracted from staying close to those questions. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:57.819 We have that sense of the spiritual about us, 00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:00.079 that sense of hunger, that thirst for God. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:03.479 And yet, the busyness of life takes over. 00:07:04.599 --> 00:07:07.699 And just a seed on a path can't even begin to take root. 00:07:07.959 --> 00:07:11.359 So, that which is deeply spiritual in us 00:07:11.359 --> 00:07:13.219 can easily just become ignored 00:07:13.219 --> 00:07:16.620 as we become distracted by all the everyday stuff 00:07:16.620 --> 00:07:18.659 that takes life over. 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:22.740 I thought you were going to do an Orville impression. 00:07:26.460 --> 00:07:29.420 The next one is that Jesus talks about the stony ground. 00:07:30.340 --> 00:07:31.860 And if like me, 00:07:32.660 --> 00:07:33.800 oh, we've got some stones, 00:07:33.940 --> 00:07:35.280 that's a bit like an Easter garden, right? 00:07:36.340 --> 00:07:40.320 Sort of stones in the rocky ground of life. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:44.839 And Jesus talked then to people who knew that 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:49.279 about what it's like when a seed falls into ground, 00:07:49.719 --> 00:07:53.159 and suddenly it sort of flourishes, 00:07:54.180 --> 00:07:58.639 but all of a sudden it's not going to last in that ground. 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:02.039 And you and I know people, 00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:04.120 maybe we've been there ourselves. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:05.360 I certainly was. 00:08:05.639 --> 00:08:09.879 Where, you know, I've flourished as a teenager around church, 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:16.899 and then decided that maybe I didn't need that rooting. 00:08:18.339 --> 00:08:20.120 And we all know so often, 00:08:20.219 --> 00:08:21.219 without that rooting, 00:08:21.740 --> 00:08:22.699 how quickly, 00:08:22.819 --> 00:08:24.439 it's like the parable last week 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:26.779 of the man on the rock and the man on the sand. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:29.079 All it needs is a short storm, 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:30.719 whatever that storm looks like, 00:08:30.920 --> 00:08:32.539 and there's no rooting there. 00:08:32.820 --> 00:08:34.519 And it's not going to last. 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:38.419 And as Jesus was talking to people, 00:08:38.419 --> 00:08:40.379 I thought, what do I do? 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:44.459 What do I do alongside people who I see, 00:08:44.620 --> 00:08:48.799 who have flourished and had this amazing thing in their life, 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:51.360 but then something comes and they get not? 00:08:51.659 --> 00:08:54.899 What am I called to do as a Christian? 00:08:56.179 --> 00:08:57.759 And it's all about the soil. 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:00.679 Because if anything like me, 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:03.699 I'd like to transplant things in my garden. 00:09:03.700 --> 00:09:06.340 You know, if it's not growing in one place, 00:09:06.680 --> 00:09:09.759 I know very carefully that it will grow in a better place, 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:11.440 because I haven't read the instructions. 00:09:12.379 --> 00:09:16.480 It needs to go into a sunnier, deeper, different type of soil. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:20.140 And maybe as I was thinking about Jesus' words, 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:22.540 and Jesus was asking and sending out his disciples, 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:26.659 what do I do for my friends, for my family, 00:09:27.439 --> 00:09:30.799 when I see the rocky soil taking over? 00:09:31.539 --> 00:09:33.519 What am I called to do? 00:09:34.659 --> 00:09:38.740 And maybe that's about directing and helping, 00:09:39.459 --> 00:09:43.099 standing alongside and rerouting into a different place. 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:51.700 And then Jesus talks about how some seed lands in soil, 00:09:52.700 --> 00:09:54.920 so the seeds start to grow, 00:09:55.779 --> 00:09:58.519 but it's not the only stuff that's growing in that place, 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:01.560 because he talks about thorns and weeds, 00:10:01.560 --> 00:10:07.580 and how the good stuff starts to grow and begins to take root, 00:10:07.920 --> 00:10:10.200 but because of this other stuff growing around it, 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:12.140 it begins to choke that growth, 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:15.980 and it stops it becoming its full potential. 00:10:16.900 --> 00:10:18.259 And as Jesus talks about that, 00:10:18.300 --> 00:10:21.640 so he refers to the worries of this world 00:10:21.640 --> 00:10:23.660 and the desires of wealth, 00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:28.500 the sorts of stuff that can actually choke that growth. 00:10:28.900 --> 00:10:31.860 God wants every single one of us to grow. 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:36.280 God also warns us that there are so many things 00:10:36.280 --> 00:10:39.020 that can easily choke that growth.