What kind of soil are you?

Scripture reading: Mark 4:3-8

Mark 4:3–8 ESV

“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Hello everybody! I’m Evangelist Nick, and today I’d like for us to do a little bit of acting. We’re at the Bollywood farm today and we’re going to plant seeds. Now what do we need in order to plant a seed? We need seeds, and we need soil. And in today’s story, there are four types of soil. I’m going to divide up the ground into the different types of soil.

The hard ground

The rocky ground

The thorny ground

But first of all, can somebody show me what it’s like to be a seed? Is it like this?

*Spread arms wide apart*

Or is it like this?

*Dance around on the spot*

No? Then what does a seed look like? I guess a seed looks a little more like this.

*Crouch and hug knees*

And what about if a seed needs to grow? What does a growing seed look like? Something like this right?

Stand up slowly

Now I need some volunteers to be birds. Can I have some birds please?

Can you show us what a bird looks like? Great. Can the birds please stand over here?

Now I need some thorns. Who would like to be a thorn? What are thorns like? They are prickly and sharp right? So what would a thorn look like?

Okay, is everyone ready? I’m going to read out the Bible story, and I want you to act out your roles. So you need to listen carefully okay? I’m going to test you on it. Are you ready? Where are the seeds? Where are the birds? Where are the thorns?

Once upon a time, there was a sower who went out to sow some seeds. Some seeds landed on hard ground, and the birds came and ate them up.

Some seeds landed on the rocky ground, and immediately they sprang up! But when the sun rose, they were burned and they withered away.

Some seeds fell among the thorns, but the thorns grew up and blocked them from growing.

Did you have fun? We can try that again very soon, but for the moment I want you to pay attention and listen closely. This story we just read is about farming, but there’s also a deeper meaning to it. Jesus tells us that the seeds represent the Word of God. Can anyone tell me what the Word of God is?

Answer: The Bible

And if the seeds are the Word of God, then who is the sower?

Answer: God

Now remember that this story has different soils, and these different soils are the different hearts.

The hard ground

Can we all stand here on the road? What happened to the seeds that landed on the hard ground?

Answer: The birds came and ate them up.

Can I see where are my birds? If the seed is the Word of God, then what are the birds? Jesus tells us that the birds are the bad guy, the enemy, who comes in to snatch away the Word of God. The enemy doesn’t want you to listen to God’s Word, which is what you’re doing now.

The bird could take away the seed because the seed didn’t enter into the hard ground. If the seed went into the ground, the birds wouldn’t be able to take it. But the ground was hard.

What does this mean for us? This means that the Word of God must enter into our hearts. But if our hearts are hard like the hard ground, then the enemy can snatch it away.

So whenever you listen to the Word of God, make sure to soften up your hearts okay? What does it mean to soften your heart? It means to pay attention and listen. What does it mean to soften your heart?

It means to pay attention and listen.

And there’s a magic phrase that we can learn to help us soften our hearts.

The magic phrase is, “Let God’s Word dwell in me.”

Can we say that together? “Let God’s Word dwell in me.” We need to say this whenever we receive God’s Word.

See, the enemy want us to think that the Word of God is not important at all. The enemy wants us to think that it’s more important to have fun, or to chitchat, or to daydream during Sunday School. But if we let ourselves get distracted from listening to God’s Word, then we’re giving the enemy what he wants. So let’s make sure to pay attention and say the magic phrase before receiving God’s Word.

What’s the magic phrase? “Let God’s Word dwell in me.”

The rocky ground

Let’s move to the rocky ground. Can anybody remember what happened when the seed landed on the rocky ground? It grew up quickly, but when the sun rose, it got burned and it withered and died.

The rocky ground is like the next level, a level up from the hard ground. The ground isn’t hard anymore, and so the seed is planted inside, and the seed grows up quickly! However, even though it grows up quickly, the Bible says that it doesn’t have deep roots.

What are roots? Roots are the hairy-looking things that are the first things to grow from the seed, and it lets the seed drink water.

Now can anyone remember what happened to the seed that landed on rocky ground? The seed came alive and grew up so quickly!

But when the sun rose in the sky, they were burned, and they withered and died. Why did this happen? The problem is that while the first ground was hard, this rocky ground is shallow. It’s short. And that means there’s not much space for the roots to grow. And so the plant grows up quickly, but when the sun rises, the plant dies quickly also. Everybody say “aww!”

When I first got baptized in 2009, I was so excited to follow Jesus. I had learned what God had done for me, and I was so touched. Do you know that feeling when someone puts in a lot of effort to help you? That’s exactly what Jesus did for me. Jesus finally got through to me. The seed was planted in my heart.

But my friends at school weren’t happy with this, because this meant that I had to go to church on Wednesday night, Saturday afternoon, and the whole of Sunday. Those were all the times that we would hangout together!

Now, the enemy isn’t happy that your heart was soft and the seed could get in. And so what the enemy’s going to do is he’s going to try to push out the seed from your heart. He’s going to make your life difficult, and hope that you will give up on following God. What does that mean? This means that the enemy is going to try to shake the Word of God out of your heart by giving you a hard time.

Your friends in school might make fun of you for going to church. They might say that you’re weird, and that they don’t want to be friends with you anymore. It’s the work of the enemy, who wants you to stop coming to church to receive the Word of God. But we must remember that God’s Word is more important than other people’s words. When we have a hard time, we must also say the magic phrase. What’s the magic phrase? “Let God’s Word dwell in me.” That means that we’re choosing to hold onto God’s Word and not the words of other people.

When we say the magic phrase, we are asking God to let the seed come into our hearts and grow deep roots, so that the Word of God will stay and never leave.

The thorny ground

Now let’s all move to the thorny ground. Can anyone remember what happened to the seed that landed on thorny ground? The seed grew, but the thorns grew up and blocked them from growing.

What are these thorns? Let’s see what the thorns do.

The Word of God wants to do one thing, but the thorns want to do another thing. The Word of God wants you to go to church, but the thorns block you from coming. The thorns are the other things in your life which tell you that God isn’t important enough. The thorns will tell you that you could spend your Sunday mornings doing better things.

But you know what’s the difference between the rocky ground and the thorny ground?

The problem with the rocky ground is that it was too shallow.

The problem with the thorny ground is that it was too crowded.

So what are the thorns?

The thorns are the worldly things that make your heart too crowded for God.

When I was your age, I really enjoyed playing video games. In fact, I’d play video games on Saturday night, sleep late, and wake up so sleepy on Sunday morning that I’d tell my parents I didn’t want to go to church. I was too sleepy! But can you guess what I did once my parents left for church? Exactly. I played video games. Without realizing, I had let thorns grow inside my heart, and those thorns choked the Word of God and stopped God’s Word from growing in me.

So let me ask you a question: What are the thorns in your life? What are some thorns that make you want to skip church and do something else?

Conclusion

What’s up with this farmer? This farmer is so bad at farming! If I were a farmer, I’d look for the good soil first. Wouldn’t you? But the thing about this farmer is that He’s a little strange. He

Remember one thing about God: He loves all of us, whether we’re good or bad, whether we are popular or lonely. Okay? All we need to do is come to church and

The farmer in this story is God, and He’s not just looking for the good soil. God’s planting His seed wherever He goes!

The Bible tells us that God was sowing seeds for thousands and thousands of years, but His seed only landed on hard ground, rocky ground, or thorny ground. There was no good soil anywhere to be found! The whole earth was bad soil.

And so what does God do? He

We can count the number seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.

Colossians 3:16 ESV

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.