Sunday Setup – Matthew 13:3-9

Hey, cross church family and welcome to the Sunday setup. This our time where we digitally gather together every Thursday at 2 o'clock across our social media platforms to prepare our hearts for God's word that we'll be reading through this Sunday. Our goal each week is that we want to pray through, we want to preach through, we want to praise through so that we can practice this word of God together and how we walk hand in hand. Well, today we are diving into week two of our series uh through the parables in the book of Matthew and we're going to be in Matthew chapter 13 as we started this and uh looked at the wine skins last week. Today it goes to this new parable and the parable of the sewer and we see in Matthew chapter 13 starting in verse one it says on that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and he sat down while the whole crowd stood on the shore. Then he told them many things and parables saying, "Consider the sewer who went out to sew. As he swed some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them." Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn't have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn't deep. But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up, and it choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit. Some h 100, some 60, and some 30 times what was sown. Let anyone who has ears listen. This is a fantastic parable and actually one of the unique parables that we see this a couple different times throughout Jesus' ministry. We're actually we're going to skip down and this Sunday and also read 18-23 where Jesus actually tells us that the best commentary we have in scripture on a parable is when Jesus gives us the commentary and says this is exactly what it means. But today we'll just focus on the parable itself as we prepare our hearts and pray through this. I think the first we see is the sewer went out to sew seeds. He he went out to cast the seed. And the sewer in this, he's going to tell us, is representative of Jesus, is God uh spreading the gospel out to us. And I think it causes to reflect that Jesus is generous, that he gives us something that we do not deserve. And I just want to start here in a word in a prayer of praise is thank you Jesus that you cast seed to. Thank you, Jesus, that you cast seed to my family, that you cast seed to me personally, that you cast seed to the ends of the earth, that you cast seed to surprise Arizona. Is thank you, Jesus, that you cast seed too. Pray that prayer to our God. Heat. Hey, Heat. Lord, thank you that you cast seed Lord to our lives who are listening here today that we are grateful that we don't deserve salvation. We don't deserve the good news. We don't deserve uh what you have brought us, your grace. But Lord, you share the good news with us. God, you allow it to be spread through the church and the people around us. And we just praise you and we thank you for that. God, thank you for the seed that is sown, that is cast out to us that we can hear it and we can respond. But that leads perfectly into the next thing we see in here is Jesus cast a seed and he uses us to cast a seed. But the rest of this parable is all about the ground and the soil and how it is received. And we're going to see four different options on how the word of God is received. But it all goes down to the soil, the ground. And for us, how do we make sure that our soil is right, that we are receiving the good news, that we are receiving the word of God, that we're receiving the salvation that Jesus gives us. So this next prayer as we praise God for the seed he casts I want us to pray asking to make sure that we have the right soil and this kind of goes second prompt is Jesus let the soil of my life be Jesus let the soil of my life be receptive be looking be yearning for God let the soil of my life uh be responsive to what has in me so that it can grow is Jesus. Let the soil of my life be. Pray those prayers to our God. Jesus, let the soil of my life be receptive. be embracing, be glad, be joyful. And Lord, the soil of my life just be something that fosters growth of your word, of your salvation, of everything you do that changes us. God, we thank you for all that you're doing. Lord, we just ask that you prepare our hearts for this passage that we can hear it and we can leave changed. And Lord, we just have you be with us this week and you come gather us together ready to have the right soil, the right heart to receive the word of God. We thank you for this and we lift all this up in Jesus name. Amen. Church, thank you for joining us today. We can't wait to see you this Sunday. Come spend your week living out for the Lord and come this Sunday to have the right soil to hear the word of God. We'll see you Sunday. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.