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Margaret Frost Clip Art from ebible.teacher.com

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Jesus began his story. “One day a sower went out into his field to sow some seed. And he took his seed and threw it all around.

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One day Jesus told a parable to the people who were following Him. Those who followed Jesus were called His disciples. His 12 special disciples were called apostles. Do you know what a parable is?

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Some of the seed fell on the path where people had walked and made the ground real hard. The seed couldn’t penetrate the hard ground so it just lay there on the top of the ground until the birds came and took the seed away.

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But some of the seed fell on a rocky ground. New rocky ground has a thin layer of dirt on top with a layer of rock underneath. The seed that fell on the rocky ground quickly sprouted and grew but when the sun fell hot on it, it wilted because it didn’t have enough roots.

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Some of the seed fell on thorny ground. The seed quickly sprouted there and grew. But thorns grew more quickly and soon choked out the good plants.

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But some of the seed fell on the good ground. The seed penetrated the ground, sprouted and grew, having deep healthy roots. Soon the good ground produced a good harvest of 30, 60, and 100 times more than had been planted.

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When the apostles were later alone with Jesus they asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

Jesus said, “I speak in parables so that those who want to can come to understand what I am teaching, but those who don’t want to will not be able to understand. Now listen and I’ll tell the meaning of the parable of the sower. The seed represents the word of God and the different kinds of ground represent the different kinds of hearts into which the seed is sown.

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Some hearts are like soil on a path. They are so hard that the word of God can’t even get into it deep enough to grow.

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Other hearts are like the rocky ground. They hear the word and accept it into their hearts gladly. But as the word begins to grow, the heat comes. Times get hard. People laugh at them and call them sissies because they believe in God and go to church and serve him. So the Word of God wilts and dies away.

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Still other hearts are like the thorny ground. They gladly accept the word of God and let it grow there. But they also let the cares of the world grow too like their love of money, fun, their overemphasis on their school work, sports, TV, and other earthly things. Soon these things grow bigger than the word of God and just choke it right out!

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But some hearts are like the good ground. They hear the word gladly and let it grow their in their hearts. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, meekness and self-control become evident in their lives and soon other lives are turned to God because of them! Play again

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Parable – a story that teaches us something. Jesus told many parables.

Glossary

penetrate – break through