SEARCH 171 - "AND HE SPAKE A PARABLE. . ." - Apostolic Faith Mission, UK

Acts 17:11
1 Thessalonians 2:13

God’s Word brings life and spiritual fruit into the lives of those who receive it into their hearts. They must also believe and be obedient to His Word. But the life-giving power of God’s Word can do nothing but condemn if not received in the heart by faith. “Take heed therefore how ye hear” (Luke 8:18). Jesus brought out the necessity of having a receptive heart in this parable of the Sower and the Seed.

QUESTIONS

A parable is an allegorical story from which a moral message or religious truth is taught. Why do you think Christ spoke in parables?
What happened to the seed that fell by the wayside and to what was this likened? What type of ground would you expect to find by the wayside?
What circumstances might cause the devil to take the Word from our hearts? What can be done to prevent this?
What might the lack of moisture mentioned in verse 6 mean? What is the source of the needed moisture? See Jeremiah 17:13 and John 4:14.
In reading verse 13 of the text, how can temptation cause failure of the seed to bring forth fruit?
Explain in your own words how you feel the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life choke the Word.
Cares
Riches
Pleasures
How can we really hear with our hearts and “keep it”? The Word gives us many suggestions. Look up the following Scriptures and identify what action should be taken.
Psalm 84:4
Proverbs 4:14
Ephesians 6:11
Ephesians 6:18
2 Timothy 2:15
Hebrews 11:6
Revelation 22:14
Read John 15:2 and note what happened to the non-fruit-bearing and fruit-bearing branches. Explain what you think is meant by this verse.

THEME THOUGHTS

Jesus, the greatest of all teachers, often chose to instruct His followers by means of parables—making a comparison between earthly things with which people are familiar, and spiritual things with which they are not so familiar. The Scriptures teach that there is a striking analogy between the natural and the spiritual. Therefore, Christ’s parables were not riddles; they were intended to reveal truth to those who love Him. He told His disciples that it was given unto them to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. But to those who loved darkness rather than light, the meanings of the parables were hidden. Matthew 13:10-15The parables recorded in the Gospel of Luke are remarkable for their simplicity. Jesus sought to put the truth in a form that would bring it within the grasp of man’s finite mind. And we read that “the common people heard him gladly.”In this quarter we will focus on eleven of the parables given by Jesus as recorded by Luke, a writer who emphasized Christ’s sympathetic attitude toward the poor, the lowly, and the outcast. The objective for each lesson indicates the point the parable makes relative to our lives today. The Christmas lesson features the account of Christ’s birth as given by Luke. The final lesson of this quarter will be an overview or summary of the material covered during the preceding weeks. May God bless you as we study these lessons together.

SEARCH 171 – “AND HE SPAKE A PARABLE. . .”

Key Verse

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

— Matthew 13:23

Sower and the Seed

QUESTIONS

THEME THOUGHTS

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