{"id":36814,"date":"2025-07-31T22:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=36814"},"modified":"2025-07-22T15:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T22:19:08","slug":"mark-4_10-20-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/mark-4_10-20-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep a Soft Heart Toward God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 4:10-20 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 4:10-20.\u00a0With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the\u00a0GAME sharing\u00a0below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 4:10-12 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'”
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 10-12:\u00a0 Yesterday we learned one reason why Jesus taught in parables: to make truth about the kingdom of God easier for his disciples to understand and remember.\u00a0 But here we learn a second reason why Jesus taught in parables and, paradoxically, it\u2019s the opposite of the first reason: Jesus taught in parables in part to make it difficult for those whom God had not chosen to understand what Jesus was saying.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 parables were, in a way, a secret code by which he would communicate with his followers, while at the same time confusing \u201cthose on the outside\u201d (v11) who did not follow him.<\/p>\n

Why would Jesus do that?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Jesus want everyone to hear and understand him?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it unfair to those who couldn\u2019t understand what Jesus was saying?\u00a0 Here\u2019s the short answer, but it won\u2019t be that satisfying to people who insist that everything God does must make sense to them: God is God and He can do whatever He wants.\u00a0 He is sovereign.<\/p>\n

But another part of the answer is this:\u00a0 God will not cheapen spiritual truth so that people who don\u2019t have a heart for Him can grasp it.\u00a0 Truth about God is precious and to really get it requires that your heart be in the right place.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 parables effectively were drawing those who were humble enough and hungry enough to cherish God\u2019s truth, while distancing those who were too prideful to give God the time of day.\u00a0 In other words, the condition of your heart as you come to God\u2019s Word \u2013 how humble, open and hungry you are \u2013 is absolutely crucial.<\/p>\n

Mark 4:13-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The farmer sows the word.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Some 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.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop–thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-20:\u00a0 Jesus explains to his disciples the meaning of his parable about the four soils.\u00a0 The farmer represents God and the seed represents God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 The four soils represent four heart conditions that people tend to have when they hear God\u2019s Word:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The hardened path represents those whose hearts are too hard to receive God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 Pridefully they reject it without really considering it.\u00a0 Their pride becomes the reason Satan can take away God\u2019s Word from their heart so quickly.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The rocky soil represents those who never bother to deepen their relationship with God.\u00a0 They are superficial hearers.\u00a0 At first they receive God\u2019s Word with emotion but because they never bother to develop or deepen their relationship with God beyond that emotional moment, their faith does not last and they fall away.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The soil among thorns represents those with a distracted heart.\u00a0\u00a0 Instead of making room for God\u2019s Word to grow in their lives, they allow many other things to compete for their attention.\u00a0 So, even when it grows in their lives, God\u2019s Word gets choked out by other things.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The good soil represents those with a teachable and humble heart who make room for God\u2019s Word to grow in their lives.\u00a0 Because their heart is humble and they make room for God\u2019s Word, God\u2019s Word not only takes root but also bears fruit that far exceeds whatever was originally sown.<\/p>\n

The great news for us is that it is up to us what kind of soil we will be.\u00a0 You have an important part to play in whether the Word you have heard dies a quick death or bears great fruit for the long term.<\/p>\n

Father, I pray that my heart would be like good soil, humble, hungry and ready to hear You.\u00a0 I pray that I would not be easily distracted or so prideful that I miss what You are saying to me.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Mark 4:10-20.\u00a0With an open mind and a humble heart, read this passage and see what sticks out to you in this passage.\u00a0 Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage?\u00a0 After you\u2019ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the\u00a0GAME sharing\u00a0below.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Mark 4:10-12 (NIV)
\n10\u00a0\u00a0When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.
\n11\u00a0\u00a0He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables
\n12\u00a0\u00a0so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'”
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 10-12:\u00a0 Yesterday we learned one reason why Jesus taught in parables: to make truth about the kingdom of God easier for his disciples to understand and remember.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36814"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36818,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36814\/revisions\/36818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}