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Sunday, September 1, 2019

01 September 2019

Toddler Class
Coach Susan
Asst. Oling

Primary Class 1-3

Coach Angelina
(Asst. Samantha)


Primary Class 4-6
Coach Joel & Coach Kent
(Asst. Lawrys)



MARK: JESUS' WORD BEARS FRUIT


STORY: JESUS' WORD BEARS FRUIT (Mark 4:1-20)

The Parable of the Sower

Jesus told many stories, called parables. These stories would reveal lessons that God wanted the people to know.

One day, Jesus was teaching by the lake. The crowd was so big that He had to get into a boat and preach from it.

That day, He told them the Parable of “The Sower”.

“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.

As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.

Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”



Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Later, the disciples asked Him what the parable meant. So Jesus explained to them.

The farmer sows the word.

Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.


Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop — some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”



LESSON 

Later, Jesus’ disciples asked him what the parable meant. Jesus explained:

The seed = word of God; The soil = our hearts



There were 4 types of soil in the story, which describes 4 types of hearts — Path, Rocky Ground, Thorns, Good Soil.



Path: Those who hear, but have the word taken away by the devil so that they do not believe in what Jesus says

Sometimes we hear the Word of God, one of Jesus’ promises, and we do not believe it. Or we think we know it already, so we don’t listen. Or we concentrate on our book or phone while the Word is preached, so we don’t hear. Maybe we have been disappointed before, so we reject God’s word. Then we don’t give God’s word a chance to work in our lives.

E.g. Jesus says He has authority over sicknesses. But you say, “Last time I prayed, but I didn’t get healed. So it can’t be true.” Then when you are sick, you don’t believe that Jesus can heal you.



Rocky ground: Those who hear and receive the word with joy, but they have no root. When time of testing comes, they fall away.

Sometimes we hear Jesus’ word, about His love and His grace, but our heart is still hard — we still rely on ourselves, our efforts, our works. When challenges come, you decide that you want to follow your own way instead of relying on Jesus. So we miss out on seeing Jesus work in our lives.

E.g. Jesus says He will never leave you and He will be with you forever. But maybe you think that

“Today I was very naughty, so Jesus won’t want to be with me.” So whenever you do something wrong, you hide from Jesus instead of going to Him.



Thorns: Those who hear, but as time goes by, they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and do not mature.


Sometimes we hear Jesus’ word, but we let our fears overcome our faith. Or we rely on the things of this world instead of relying on Jesus. Then we get distracted by all these things that we think can give us security and happiness, and we forget that in Jesus, we have everything.

E.g. Jesus says He will provide everything for us. But we may think, “I have to provide for my own need. I’ve got to keep working and saving and storing up so that I have enough.” Then as you grow older, you put all your time and energy into your career, you concentrate on making money, and you are so tired and don’t have any time for God anymore.



Good soil: Those with good hearts, who hear the word, keep it in faith, and produce fruit a hundred fold.

We all can be the good soil — we can all hear Jesus’ word and believe it. Believe in who He is. Believe what He says. Believe that He loves you. Believe that He is good. And as we receive the word of faith, we see it produce lots of fruit in our lives! We’ll see His healing, His blessings, His love, His goodness overflow in our lives.


The seed is always good seed. God’s word is always true.

The more we focus on Jesus and what He has done for us on the cross, we:

Don’t let the devil take away His word from our hearts; we will believe what Jesus says and promised

Don’t try to depend on our own goodness and abilities; we depend on Jesus and His finished work

Don’t be overwhelmed by our fears or chase after other things to make us happy; we’ll go straight to

Jesus, our source

Will bear much, much fruit, one hundred times more!



We can all be good soil. We can all bear much fruit. So let’s listen to Jesus’ words, believe it, and let it grow in our hearts.



What if?

But my heart is hard! My heart is stony! My heart has thorns!

Remember … Jesus has dealt with them all!

He wore the thorns on His head.

He rose from a tomb of stone in which He was buried.


He has given us a NEW heart!



HUDDLE TIME:

We can listen and believe in Jesus' word
Let’s make every effort to listen to and believe in Jesus’ words. Let’s ask Jesus to make our hearts good soil, ready to receive His word and bear much fruit.


Get the kids into small groups to pray for Jesus to transform them and make them abundantly fruitful. Bless and pray for each kid.

Get the kids into small groups to pray for friends and family who do not know Jesus yet. Bless and pray for each kid.

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