Kingdom Reality 3: The Secret of the Kingdom: Part 2 Mark 4:13-17 Big Idea: God is preparing the field of people’s hearts to receive the seed of his Word. How people respond to hearing God’s word is an indication of the condition of their hearts. The Kingdom of God is God’s authority and ability to rule over any and all realms within the created order and beyond in order to bestow the blessings of his good and gracious kingdom on unworthy subjects for the purpose of displaying his glory to all peoples. 10 Kingdom Realities: God’s Kingdom takes priority. Jesus is Stronger! God is preparing hearts to receive his gospel. What people do shows who people are. There is an inseparable connection between our actions and our nature, or between our fruit and the soil of our hearts. Every soil produces a kind of fruit and we can know the state of the soil by looking at the fruit. Two Responses to hearing the gospel: Rejection ___________________ Mark 4:15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. John 15:18–21 (ESV) — 18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. ___________________ Mark 4:16–17 (NASB95) — 16 “In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. Luke 9:57–62 (ESV) — 57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” The one who truly comes to Christ is the one who considers the demand of discipleship and embraces it because he has been awakened by the Spirit and the word. The false reception is temporary, it only lasts for a time. John 6:52-69 “If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.” –Tim Keller
Questions to Consider:
How can you tell when soil has not been properly prepared?
What does this tell you about other’s responses to the word?
How should we respond when we see others that are hostile to the gospel, or are struggling with the demands of Christ?
