Tag Archive for Matthew 13

from Prepare Yourself for Worship

Your Implanted Word
Matthew 13

As we worship, You will sow among us
Your Word,
Your precious, eternal, life-giving truth,
Your truth about Jesus Christ, Your Son.
Your Word will be read, sung, taught, and proclaimed.

O Father, help me receive it with an
open mind and
open heart.
Help me to listen as Your Spirit whispers it to me.
Help me to nurture Your implanted Word with
trust and
obedience.

Father, may the seed of Your Word
grow in my heart and life and
bear much fruit,
all to Your glory. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Bless This Seed
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The Pearl of Great Price

Jesus said: 

 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44-46, NIV)

Material riches bring only temporary comfort,
shallow stimulation, and
a false sense of security.
Material riches are simply a means to an end,
and often a poor means at that.

What do you really want?
Meaning?
Peace?
Security?
Maybe comfort…or satisfaction?
Are you longing for pleasure that truly lasts, or perhaps
life that never dies?

Go to the Source.
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
He is the hidden treasure.
He is the pearl of great price.

Release your grip on everything else, and
reach for Him.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Pearl of Great Price
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

God’s Seeds Bear Fruit

Jesus said:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32, NASB)

Not long ago my wife and I received a note from a couple we knew years ago. When we met them, they were brand new Christians who had come to the church we attended. To get to know them better, we invited them to our home on a Sunday evening after church.

When their note arrived, we hadn’t seen or heard from them in decades. Their note told us how much that evening long ago had meant to them. It had helped to welcome them into the church and establish them in their faith. Now they were still serving the Lord, and their children, young adults, were off to Christian colleges.

We hadn’t thought of that evening in many years. Our lives had gone on to so many “bigger” things. But our hour or so together had been a seed that God had watered and nurtured. He was still harvesting fruit from that tiny seed, long after we had forgotten planting it.

When the Day of the Lord comes and we all gather around to celebrate His rich harvest, how much fruit will have grown from the few seeds we scattered during our brief time here on earth? The sower parable in Matthew 13 is so true! Though most of the seeds we sow never bear fruit, the few that fall on good soil will produce so abundantly that we are guaranteed a rich harvest.

That’s why it is vital that we faithfully sow the seed God places in our hands. Consider Ecclesiastes 11:6:

Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed. (NIV)

Don’t be discouraged. Just keep sowing. The seed is good, and God will make it grow.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: See the Seed of Faith
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Consider the Seed

Jesus said:

 “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds…fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” (Matthew 13:3-4, 8, NASB) 

Consider the seed.
It’s so small…and hard…and dry…
very unspectacular in appearance.
We bury it in the earth.
We water it. We tend it.
We protect it. We watch it.
And do you know what happens?
Nothing.
Nothing happens… at least not immediately.

But hidden in that seed is a mysterious, powerful, irrepressible life.
And if we wait patiently,
one day a tiny, tender sprout begins to push up through the earth.
That sprout becomes a little stem,
and after much more watering and tending and protecting,
it produces flowers for us to see and smell.
It gives delicious fruit for us to eat and enjoy.

But do you know what else it produces?
More seeds!
Our one seed is now hundreds, even thousands of seeds.
And if those seeds fall to the ground and die,
some will bear flowers and fruit
and give more and more seeds.

The entire earth could become a beautiful, fruitful garden
from one seed.

Jesus Christ was one seed.
Each of us is just…one…seed.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Bless This Seed
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics