How to approach scripture for abundance.

Parable of sower

Matt 13:1-23

Read aloud.

Where do you see yourself in this parable?

I'm not taking responses from people, but what are some of the options? Sower? Soil? My brother and I read this parable once with the girl he later married and her response to it blew me out of the water. She said, "How do I know what kind of soil I am?" I had always assumed that I was the sower! Now I may be given the opportunity of sowing the word of the kingdom, but before I do that I must recognize myself in this parable as my sister-in-law did.

When you want to experience abundance–you must be the soil. Those of us who see ourselves only as sowers and not as soils may indeed be passing on good seed, but it's possible that the growth and abundance that God wants for us is happening in the soil of others' hearts and not our own.

Inductive Bible study is about experiencing abundance through the Word. Deductive Bible study will serve you well to demonstrate to others what you already know in scripture, but inductive Bible study will affect your own heart and bring life to your Christianity (it's the difference between being a sower and being a field (both are necessary and important, but many of us are lost when it comes to being fertile soil for the word.) Inductive Bible study can change that and the simplest pattern that I know of for inductive Bible study is right here–in the description of the good soil.

Just the facts starting with the parable's beginning in verse 3: (do not go beyond what is written).

1.	Who went out?

a.	The sower

2.	To do what?

a.	to sow

3.	Sow what?

a.	Seeds (this word is not actually in there, but it's implied in the sowing)

4.	In what four places did the seed fall?

a.	Path, rocky places, among weeds, good soil (put in chart)

4 soils	3 Ways of Interacting with the Word of the Kingdom
information	conviction	action
pathy	yes	no	no
rocky	yes	yes	no
weedy	yes	yes	becomes unfruitful
goody	hear	understand	bear fruit

5.	What is soil/ground?

a.	The heart

6.	What is the seed that is sown?

a.	The word of the kingdom

7.	So what does sowing seeds on soil represent?

a.	The word of the kingdom being shared with people's hearts

8.	So what do the four kinds of soil represent?

a.	Four kinds of hearts/hearers

9.	What is the bottom line difference between the soils–when all is said and done, what issue does Jesus see as central?

a.	Fruitfulness—abundance–life that doesn't just sustain itself–it has more to give!

10.	So if you've got to be dirt, what kind of dirt do you want to be?

a.	Fertile dirt, or as the parable says 'good soil.'

11.	What are the three aspects of the good soil's/heart's interaction with the seed/word?

a.	Hear, understand, bear fruit (put in chart) notice the flow, can't have fruit before the hear, and understand, can't have understand before hear. It's a process.

4 soils	3 Ways of Interacting with the Word of the Kingdom
information	conviction	action
pathy	yes	no	no
rocky	yes	yes	no
weedy	yes	yes	becomes unfruitful
goody	hear	understand	bear fruit

12.	Look at the 3 other soils and decide in your group which of these three ways each one interacted with the word of the kingdom. How far in the process did each get?

Path

1.	What have you received if you heard but did not understand?

a.	Just sounds, raw data with no meaning (dabai namona), I'm going to write in 'information'

2.	How possible is it to hear God speaking to you through the Bible, and have it remain just information–you can parrot it back to others–you've heard the words, but it has no meaning to you?

a.	Very possible–I sat in church 14+ years hearing a lot of stuff, but if you asked me what is so great about being a Christian I couldn't have told you.

Rocky

1.	What does it look like to hear and understand in the parable and explanation, how is this portrayed?

a.	Springs up, receives with joy

2.	So how do you know when there's been understanding?

a.	When appropriate feelings accompany it–you can't get excited about dabai namona if you don't understand it. Now in spiritual circles we use a word to indicate that someone has heard and understood something personally–we say they have experienced conviction. There's no conviction if you don't understand. (add to chart)

b.	This is the person who hears God speaking and gets excited. Perhaps He hears God say, "I want you to have an abundant life with me." "I don't condemn you, just let me love you." "You are worth more to me than my own life." Think back to the time when you first heard God speaking to you, first calling you to be his child, to receive forgiveness and start walking with him. How did you feel? I was excited, but I can identify with the next part of this.

3.	But when the sun came out what happened?

a.	Withered

4.	What is strange about that?–this didn't happen to the weedy or good or pathy soil.

a.	Sun is normally good for plants

5.	So why did it wither this one?

a.	No root

6.	What does the sun represent?

a.	Trials

7.	In light of what just came out, what are you telling me about trials (in plant language)?

a.	They are normally good for a plant.

8.	Under what conditions?

a.	When it has roots.

9.	What do the roots do for a plant?

a.	They give it nourishment and stability and a deep enough connection to a source of water that the plant can handle sun without wilting.

10.	How many of you have experienced excitement at some point in your walk with Jesus and then it went away?

a.	I have. The challenges of life that should have been causing growth left me wiped out. Clearly some depth was lacking, but that's not the only challenge, let's look at the weedy soil.

Weedy

1.	What about the weedy soil which heard and understood but did not continue bearing fruit–what went wrong?

a.	The worries of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choked the word.

2.	What does it look like when these things choke the word?

a.	The heart is busy trying to solve problems and planning for future security, and there's no room for what God says.

Good

3.	So by contrast, what does it look like when soil is good?

a.	The heart is not too busy planning for the future apparently. It seems to have room for the word–it's a receptive and hospitable place for the word, not so hard that the word doesn't get in very deep.

4.	From the context, what does Jesus want to follow hearing and understanding in one's life?

a.	V. 15 hear, understand, turn–and He will heal.

5.	So if you had to give a name to this last column, after hearing the info and experiencing conviction, what does Jesus want for them to do, and what does He want to do for them?

a.	Turn (what part of speech is that?) verb– I'll say action.

6.	Which allows Him to do what?

a.	Heal them

7.	What would healed soil look like in this story?

a.	Fruitful and abundant–Amen!

8.	So if you were interested in abundance you'd want to approach the word the same way–hear, understand, and act on the conviction you receive. That's the model for inductive Bible study–facts, interpretation, application. That's why I recommend it to you as a tool for growth and abundance!

9.	What conviction are some of you experiencing right now?

10.	What sorts of action would be the 'turning' Jesus is calling for?

11.	When are you going to do that?–how about now?

Roots

12.	We need to understand what it means to have roots now. What do roots do for a plant?

a.	Stability and nourishment, so it makes sense if this plant has no roots that it will die if put under stress.

13.	Where are they?

a.	Under ground–out of sight

14.	What are these roots in real life? What is it that nourishes and anchors a person's spiritual life which may not be seen by others.

a.	Studying the Bible, praying, meditating, etc.

15.	Notice all these roots–into what category do all of them fit?

a.	They're all actions

16.	So, what is it that makes the difference between staying alive spiritually and dying out after hearing the information about Jesus and understanding with conviction how much He values you?

a.	Action

b.	Let's not fool ourselves that just going through the