Sermon Tone Analysis

mark 4 1

They were given in a climate of growing hostility and opposition (cf.

2:3–3:6, 22–30), but also enormous popular acclaim (cf.

1:45; 2:2, 13, 15; 3:7–8).

Both responses showed people’s failure to grasp who Jesus really is.

A parable is putting alongside for purposes of comparison and new understanding.

Jesus explained the kingdom, not by giving a lecture on theology, but by painting pictures that captured the attention of the people and forced them to use their imaginations and think.

Our English word parable comes from two Greek words that mean “to cast alongside” (para—alongside; ballo—to throw or cast).

A parable is a story or figure placed alongside a teaching to help us understand its meaning.

It is much more than “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning,” and it certainly is not an “illustration” such as a preacher would use in a sermon.

A true parable gets the listener deeply involved and compels that listener to make a personal decision about God’s truth and his or her life.

So penetrating and personal are parables that, after they heard several of them, the religious leaders wanted to kill the Lord Jesus!

A parable begins innocently as a picture that arrests our attention and arouses our interest.

But as we study the picture, it becomes a mirror in which we suddenly see ourselves.

If we continue to look by faith, the mirror becomes a window through which we see God and His truth.

How we respond to that truth will determine what further truth God will teach us.

This is a turning point in His ministry in Galilee.

From now on, He never says anything to the crowd except in parables and He never explains the parables so that they hear but don’t understand.

They see the imagery but don’t comprehend the meaning.

This is a judgment

Jones, P. R. (2003).

Parables.

In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.),

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (p.

1244).

Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Listen a call for careful attention

Wayside.

Either a road near a field’s edge or a path that traversed a field, both of which were hard surfaces due to constant foot traffic.

The crowd did not judge the parables; the parables judged the crowd.

The careless listener, who thought he knew everything, would hear only a story that he did not really understand; and the result in his life would be judgment (see ).

The sincere listener, with a desire to know God’s truth, would ponder the parable, confess his ignorance, submit to the Lord, and then begin to understand the spiritual lesson Jesus wanted to teach.

They are also designed to reveal and conceal

They are also designed to reveal and conceal

Anytime the Word of God is being sown there will always be unbelief and hostility

Effective Evanglism hinges on our ability to understand intuitively comprehend and our ability to understand comprehend by experience Jesus teachings .

Roadside soil (4:13–15): This soil represents those who hear the message but do not understand it, thus allowing Satan to steal it from them.

Not the Whooping Sower

Not the teaching only sower

Not the

The Power is in the seed

The sower is personality, the sower is wardrobe, the sower is style

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The Soils of Evangelism

When my heart is hard and unresponsive I wont ever understand the Word

Trampled Hard and unresponsive

Ps 51

Now we already know these are people who have superficial dirt at the top but there’s rock-bed underneath just below where the plow was, so when the seed goes in, starts to grow a little bit, everything pushes up because the roots can’t go down, and so you have this artificial idea that,

“Oh, this is wonderful, look it’s growing, it’s going everywhere,” but because the roots can’t get pass that hard rock bed, they can’t get to the water and when the sun comes out, it burns the plant before it ever produces anything.

That’s this kind of person.

This is the person depicted as the one who receives the Word with joy.

This defines for me an emotional response, an emotional response with joy.

And we all look at that and we say, “Ah, you know, I talked to So-and-so, gave them the gospel and I don’t understand it, they’re not around, they don’t come to church, they don’t confess the Lord and they were so happy when it happened.”

Shallow, rocky soil (4:16–17): This soil represents those who have no depth and thus drop out when encountering persecution.

A response to God based only on emotions will produce temporary converts

Must beware of False conversions driven by emotionalism

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Thorn-infested soil (4:18–19): This soil represents those who allow the deceitfulness of riches to snuff out the seed.

Distracted and preoccupied hearts will suffocate Word

choke the Word

choke: to check or hinder the growth, development, or activity of

Can’t Follow you Now …Let me Go bury

A Proper response to the word produces unexplainable results

Fertile soil (4:20) : This soil represents those who both hear and understand, permitting the seed to produce abundantly.

Willmington, H. L. (1999).

The Outline Bible ().

Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

Measure refers to the attitude with which the Word of the Lord is being received

B. Parable of the lamp on a stand (4:21–25): Jesus says the more one allows his or her light to shine, the clearer the truths in the parable will become!

Parable of the lamp on a stand (4:21–25): Jesus says the more one allows his or her light to shine, the clearer the truths in the parable will become!

The Economy of the Kingdom works this way: My receptivity will put a lid on my capacity

God is not a waster

No Human effort God does it

Parable of the growing seed (4:26–29): God’s word, once it takes root in the heart of a believer, will in and by itself bring forth much fruit!

As plants grow in a complex way that we do not fully grasp so does God’s Kingdom

Verses 26-29

The Economy of the Kingdom works this way : I do my part, (rest in the Lord) and God takes it from there.

Parable of the mustard seed (4:30–34): God’s kingdom is like a mustard seed, so small when it is planted, yet eventually it becomes one of the largest plants!

The Economy of the Kingdom works this way:In the natural it looks small and insignificant but there is more than what meets the eyes

In the natural it looks small and insignificant but there is more than what meets the eyes