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Parable of the Sower - Coggle Diagram

- - - - If a person rejects your sharing of the Gospel, does it mean that you did something wrong? (Not necessarily)
      - If a person rejects your sharing of the Gospel, what are they rejecting?
      - What does this parable teach us about our role/responsibility when it comes to evangelism?
    - - The seed (Word of God) is not faulty. Its ability to thrive depends on the soil (or condition of the person’s heart).
        
        God must till and soften the heart of man before it can receive his Word.
        
        Isaiah 55:10-11
        
        Ezekiel 36:26-27
    - - The first thing we need to remember is 1 John 2:19
        
        The heart of stone was never really replaced with a heart of flesh. :red_flag:
        
        Does this mean that as soon as a person turns their back on God that they are hopelessly lost (that they were never of us)?
        
        No, especially if you have see that person bear what had appeared to be godly fruit. Think of Peter denying Christ 3 times or the fact that all of the disciples abandoned Jesus.
        
        So when a friend or family member you know falls away, don't give up on hope, and keep planting seeds.
        
        This means that those who never return to Christ were never his sheep in the first place.
        
        John 10:27-30
        
        Romans 8:35-39
        
        John 17:12
        
        There was never any sort of established root that allowed the plant to produce any fruit. This person was never a Christian.
- - - - Read 10-14, 15-17
- - - - If this is you, my prayer is that God will till and soften your heart. Apart from God intervening in your life, rejecting the message of God is humanity’s normal response.
        
        1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
        
        What are the implications of the alternative?
    - - Did you once receive the Word of God with joy, but something tragic has happened in your life that has caused you to no longer desire God?
        
        I want to point out a couple fundamental flaws in this thinking. If you believed in God until something very bad happened in your life, you probably thought along these lines.
        
        I followed you up until this point, but once “X” happened, I no longer want to believe in you.
        
        The flaw here is that “X” was actually your god, not God.
        
        In addition, God was only your genie. Your allegiance to Him was based solely on if He would give you what you want.
        
        I followed you but once you let “X” happen, I can no longer trust you.
        
        You say you don’t believe that God is in control (because of what has happened), or that if He is, He is not to be trusted. The reality is that by His very nature of being God, He can and is in control of all things. So whatever happened, occurred because God allowed it.
        
        He is not evil for allowing it. First, because He doesn’t owe any human on the face of this earth anything but punishment for their sins. Second, He has a plan and a purpose for things that you can’t always understand.
        
        Romans 8:28 - And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
        
        Joseph = case study
    - - Did you once receive the Word of God with joy, but the things of God don’t really excite or captivate you anymore? Are you now captivated by things such as school, social life, athletics, and they keep you from God?
        
        We have already talked about this earlier, so I won’t rehash it all, but ask yourself which of the things I just mentioned will last? You will be done with school in a handful of years, your social life will change with each new environment you are in, you likely only have a few years left actively playing your sport.
        
        If you believe that the God of the Bible exists, there cannot possibly be anything more important than establishing a healthy relationship with Him. Start spending the preciously limited hours of your life on the eternal, and not the things that will be gone in a few years.
        
        Just as I mentioned before, have hope tonight if you are seeing the light. Planting seasons are constantly on the horizon, and who is to say God is not in the process of softening your heart right now?
    - - Is your life bearing Godly fruit because of your relationship with God?
        
        Do you desire to know Him through His Word?
        
        Despite the hardships that come in your life, do you cling to Him?
        
        Despite all of the things that compete for your attention in life, do you focus on Him?
        
        Having a heart that is like the fourth soil doesn’t mean you don’t ever make a mistake, but it does mean that there is abundant Godly fruit being produced in your life.
        
        Is that you?