Chapter 4, we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 20. And we're going to be learning a familiar passage of scripture this morning, the parable of the sowers. We good? Okay. Parable of the sower. And let's have a word of prayer and then we'll get right into it. Father, thank you for this morning. And Lord, thank you now for your word. I just pray you bless us as we open it. Father, every time your Word is opened, you speak to us. And we thank you this morning, Lord, for this passage of Scripture. So, Lord, may we hear you, and may we apply these truths to our life, and may we live them. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Just a little quick review because you remember last week Larry was here and we heard Larry's testimony based upon the past nine months in his life and struggling from COVID and coming back from the grips of death, and to stand once again behind a pulpit. Well, sit behind a pulpit, but anyway, he'll stand one of these days, and we're thankful for that. So let's review just a little bit. We're in the midst of a study in the Gospel of Mark, and our last time in the Book of Mark, we saw Jesus. He was ministering among great multitudes. that followed him. And we tried to, and I don't think we can understand, but we tried to get a picture of just what it must have been like for all of these crowds to be around Jesus. And you remember the last time we were together preaching about this, his family was worried about him. Remember, his family accused him of being beside himself. And we talked how that phrase meant how they thought He was out of His mind. And remember, it said the crowds were so big that they went in the house to rest a little bit and eat, and they weren't even able to eat. So what does Jesus do? He goes out and ministers to them. And His family is so concerned for Him, they say He's beside Himself. But His enemies said, and they accused Him, and said, he hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils casteth he out devils. So they accused him of being demon-possessed by the devil himself. That's how he casts out. And we talked about how a house, you know, Jesus said how a house divided against itself cannot stand. So today, we pick up the scene and look at verses one and two as just a way of introduction, one and two of chapter four. And he began again to teach by the seaside. And there was gathered unto him, here's a familiar phrase, right? A great multitude. and so that he entered into a ship and sat in the sea and the whole multitude by the sea on the land. And he taught them many things by parables and said unto them in his doctrine." So here it is again. So many people. gathered to Jesus that more and more are coming, more and more are coming, more and more are coming. They push Him up to the water, where finally He gets a ship, probably one of the ones that belonged to the fishermen, and He stood in there and He taught the people as they were gathered on the shore. And large crowds. I don't think we can understand that. I don't think we can fathom that. That no matter where he went, there were just people everywhere. And now we see that Jesus begins to teach them in parables. And what is a parable? I'm glad you asked that question, okay? A parable. A parable is, the Greek definition of a parable simply means a similitude. It's a fictitious narrative. But to broaden that definition, a parable can also be defined as a earthly story with a heavenly message, right? It's a story that everybody would understand, and today it's about the sower, okay? This is back in the day before they had all the farm equipment, you know? Very few farmers anymore, large-scale farmers, go around and scatter seed, okay? But they would have understood this, what a sower is. Oh, scattering seed, they would have understood that. And the parable of the sower, is the first of four parables we're gonna see just in this chapter, okay? So Mark chapter four has four parables in it. So let's look at the parable and notice in verses three to eight, let's look at the parable first, we'll interpret the parable later, but right now we're just looking at the parable. And first notice verse three with me, Harkon, Behold, there went out a sower to sow." So of course he says hearken, that means what? Listen up, okay? Listen up. Behold, there went out a sower to sow. Went out to sow. The sower went out to sow and to scatter seed. Not sow, S-E-W. He wasn't sowing up holes in his pants, but he went out to sow, S-O-W, to scatter seed. What does the Bible say? You reap what you sow. So this is the planting of the seed. So he's scattering the seed. And notice the soils with me. Look at verse 4. It came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up." Now again, we'll get to the interpretation in a moment, but right now let's just look at the parable. So as he's sowing his seed, there are different kinds of soils. And the first soil is the wayside. This is literally the road. It's hard. It's packed. The seed doesn't penetrate the ground at all, so who comes and eats the seed? The birds. The birds of the air come and eat the seed up. So obviously, the seed doesn't grow. Then notice verse 5 and 6, the stony ground. Some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth. And immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was scorched, and, behold, it had no root it withered away. So the stony ground is the rocky soil. If you have a garden in New Hampshire, welcome to New Hampshire. Right? Rocky soil. And a lot of times it seems like the rocks just continue to grow or the frost pushes them up, you know, and there's continue. But this means rocky soil. And there's not much soil for the seed to take root, so the root system is very shallow. It springs up quickly, but because it has no root, when the sun hits it, it burns it, okay? It burns it up, and it's scorched by the sun. Verse seven, the thorny ground. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit." So here we see it grows amongst the thorns, but the thorns overpower it, and the thorns choke it. At our house, what is that vine called that takes over everything in that side section? But we have these vines we've been trying to kill since we moved there, and they just keep coming back, and everything that they touch, it chokes. Hey, if you don't cut them, it grows up the tree. It's just very evasive. And this is the picture here, the thorns overpowering what is sown. But then in verse 8, notice the good ground. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up, and increased, and brought forth some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred. So, we're told here that the good ground brought forth fruit and there was an increase. And the increase, some of it was 30%, some was 60%, some was 100%. So this is just the parable now. The parable is about a man who went and sowed seed, and this seed fell on four different types of soil, and some of it things happened, some of it nothing happened, some things happened quickly, and some was choked out, but some produced fruit." Okay? So, here's the parable. Now, before we get to the interpretation of the parable, Jesus pauses here, and He talks about the mystery of parables. Look at verse 9. And He said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. So what is He saying here? He's telling them again, listen up. Think about this. You have ears to hear. Listen to what I'm saying. And Jesus is beginning to make a shift in His ministry. And we will see this shift begin. And as this shift takes place, we will see the crowds getting smaller and smaller. But Jesus is shifting. from what He does to listen to what He says. Listen to what He says. And the disciples ask in verse 10, Lord, what does it mean? And when He was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable." So, they come up to him and they ask him about the parable. And what does it mean? So, Jesus explains the mystery of the kingdom of God in verses 11 and 12. And notice the previously unrevealed kingdom message in the first part of verse 11. And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. So, to the people who listen. Now, what's significant about these people, they came to the Lord and they said, Lord, What does that mean? Right? Rather than just, ooh, that's a nice story. This guy went to sow and only one quarter of the seed he sowed produced fruit. Oh, how nice. But there were certain people who came and said, Lord, what does this mean? What are you trying to say to us? What does it mean? So, he says, what you're about to hear is a mystery. Now, what do we mean by a mystery? It's not an Agatha Christie novel. But what it is, is a previously unrevealed truth. Something that God really didn't reveal in the Old Testament, but you're going to know about this. This new dispensation, this gospel dispensation. And because of Christ's first advent, and His coming to earth to die for our sins, you're going to understand about this. but there are those without." Chapter 4, verse 11, the latter part. He says in the first, "'Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without all things are done in parable.'" So who are those without? Those without. Well, we're going to see, as we go on in the Gospel, that there were people who followed Jesus only because of the miraculous, right? They only followed Him because of the miracles. They only followed Him because their bellies were filled. Now, of course, in John 6, when Jesus explains how He's the bread of life after feeding 5,000 and more, they're following Him just because He's a free lunch. He's a meal ticket. And they're following Him only because of the miraculous. And then, of course, those that are without are his enemies. Who are his enemies? The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes. We've already seen them, right? They accused him of being Beelzebub, the devil. So these are those without. And remember, remember this and never forget this. Jesus' miracles were important, don't get me wrong, because they proved who He was. Who else could give sight to the blind? Who else could make the dumb speak and the deaf hear? Who else could raise the dead? Who else could cause a man who's been crippled all his life to instantly get up and walk? Right? Only God could do that. So they proved who He was, and yes, they're important, but the most important thing were Jesus' words, His preaching, the gospel message He came to bring. They were the most important thing, because His words are life. And Jesus said to them, He said that in seeing, look at verse 12, He says in verse 12, that seeing they may see... This is why He speaks in parables. That seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them. Now, Jesus said this to see if like His disciples, they would continue to seek the meaning of His parables. Jesus isn't saying this to keep anybody out. He's not saying that. But the key word is here. The key is His Word. And he quotes Isaiah 6 here. He's quoting Isaiah 6, verse 9. After Isaiah sees his vision of the Lord, he sees the angels that are crying, holy, holy, holy, and God asks, who will go for me? And Isaiah says, here I am, Lord, send me. And the first thing God says, they're going to see you, and they're going to hear you, and they're not going to listen to you. And that's the same thing with Jesus. They saw Him. They heard Him. But they didn't what? Listen. So, what Jesus says is important. More important than what He does. I'm not trying to say what He does is not important. It proved who He was. But what He says is important. So what did the disciples do? Lord, what does this mean? Jesus didn't rebuke them. for asking what it meant, he actually said, hey, this is good. You're asking me what it means. And he's kind of keeping things in like a mystery to further people's curiosity. You ever sit in a class, well some of us have to go way back to remember school, right? But one of the things that teachers should do is also instill a curiosity in us. Why did you say that? Right? And when you study the life of Jesus, and you study, and this is something we learned when Sandy and I went to Israel, and we had, well, I've only been to Israel once and only had one guide, but I am sure we had the best guide in all of Israel. And he told us about the Jewish way of teaching. One way to teach is when a question is asked, the teacher asks a question back. Right? And don't we see Jesus doing that all the time? Whose authority? His enemies. Whose authority? Let me ask you a question. John's baptism. Whose authority was that? Right? So a lot of times a question is asked to answer a question to get you to what? Think. You just don't want to be told. I mean, there are people who want to be told what to do. Tell me what to do, pastor. That's not good. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it. And sadly, there's some pastors who tell you what to do. And if you don't do it, that's not good. Learn. Apply. Seek. Follow. Words are important, especially Jesus' words. So now we get to the interpretation of the parable. What does it mean? And Jesus says in verse 13, listen carefully to all My words. And He said unto them, Know ye not this parable? And how then will ye know all parables? What did Jesus just do? He answered their question with two questions. You don't know what this means? How are you going to know about all the parables? So he's not rebuking them, he's just, think. Think, please. Think about this. Because who were the religious leaders of the day before Jesus comes on the scene? The Pharisees. And what was the Pharisees' way of teaching? Do as I say, not as I do. Right? Do as I say. Now, when I was a little kid, my father, that was a lot of his way of teaching. Why do I have to do this? And he would say, just like this. I could hear him, because I said so, boy. I mean, that's true when you're a little kid. But you know, a lot of times you ask questions. But why do I have to do this, Dad? And a lot of times his answer was, because I said so. But Jesus is saying, Think. Please think. And really what he's saying is listen carefully to my words. Look at John 6. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John 6. And this is in the context of listening to Jesus' words. John 6 and verse 27. for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father shield." So what is Jesus saying to the people? Don't follow me for the meat and potato, well, the meat and bread. Don't follow me for that, okay? That perishes. You eat it, it's gone, and you're hungry again, right? I ate breakfast at 7 o'clock. I'm hungry. That meat perishes. A bowl of Kix does not last long. So that meat perishes. Don't labor for that. Think about it. Think about the crowds that followed Jesus. Everywhere He went. When they were following Jesus, what were they not doing? Working. Living. Why? Hey, here's my meal ticket. I don't have to work hard. I follow Jesus and He just makes fish and bread appear. This is great. It's a meal ticket. But notice what Jesus says in verse 63. Same chapter. John 6, verse 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. It's the Spirit that makes alive. Right? The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit." What's the last phrase? They are life. What is important? Jesus' words. So listen. So put that all in the context of here in Mark with the with these parables. Jesus is saying, and this is a key for us to understand, the importance is His preaching. Now remember, we've already heard people say, wow, this guy preaches with authority, not like the scribe. So they already know there's a difference in His preaching and in His authority, but they're getting caught up in all of the excitement in all of the miracles. And the sower sows the Word. So here's the interpretation of the parable. Here's what it means. Here's the importance of this. Here's where the rubber meets the road. The sower soweth the Word. So the sower, the person who's spreading the seed, what is the seed? The seed is the Word of God. What do we often pray? Pray that we could plant a seed, right? Maybe are sharing the Gospel with somebody. We might not be the one who reaps the harvest, but maybe we're sowing the seed. The seed is the Word of God. So that's key. First thing to remember. So, the seed is the Word of God. The sower, the one spreading it. In this particular case, it's Jesus. But we could be the one scattering the seed. And the soils, as we're going to see here in a minute, represent the heart of the person. So notice the first, the wayside. And these are they by the wayside, when the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that is sown in his heart." So who does the fowl, who does the birds represent? Satan. The seed is sown. And as the seed is sown, the Word of God is sown, some falls by the wayside. And these persons whose heart are like the wayside, the devil comes right away and takes it away. Right? Satan snatches the Word right away. And we have a ministry in the church called RU. And we have seen this firsthand in the RU ministry. We preach the Word and people are like, oh wow! Wow! Gone. It's gone. Why? Because Satan has such a strong hold on them that he just devours that seed right up. And we see this. No change whatsoever. The wayside. They remain, sadly, unsaved. They hear the Word. But Satan comes and snatches it right away. And maybe you've experienced this in your life, sharing the Gospel with somebody, and maybe they laugh at you. Are you kidding me? What happened? The devil just came and ate that seed. The stony ground, v. 16-17. Are they likewise..." Now, likewise compares them to the people of verse 15. Okay? "...likewise which are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, and have no root in themselves, and so endure, but for a time. Afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended." So, the stony ground. The Bible says here, they receive it gladly, but they have no root. Afflictions and persecution from the world comes, and they fall away. And sadly, they also remain unsaved. And we've seen this. I remember. One time, very vividly, when I was pastoring in New York, I went to this family's house, and this family grew up in a Christian home, and they knew many things about the Bible. They knew the Gospel, but they were unsaved, and they were involved in a very worldly lifestyle. And in sharing the Gospel with them, here was their response. Well, if I get saved, I'll have to give up smoking, drinking, partying. So, what were they keyed on? What they had to give up. They were afraid of the persecution. What are my friends going to say if I'm no longer clubbing with them? You know? And they remain unsaved. Hard hearts. Rocky hearts. What about those among the thorns? Verse 18-19. These are they which are sown among the thorns, such as, notice carefully, hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. They hear the word. Keep your finger in mark, we're coming back in a minute. Go to James chapter one. after Hebrews is James, and James is before 1 and 2 Peter. James 1, verse 22 says, "...be ye doers of the word, and not..." what? "...hearers only." What's the next phrase? "...deceiving your own self." Now, it's wonderful to hear the Word of God, right? It's wonderful. But if we only hear the Word of God, That's only half. So, they hear the Word, but the Word is choked by the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of things. What are the cares of the world? I mean, there's lots of cares of the world, right? Work, family, health. Money, house, car, how am I going to pay the fuel oil bill this winter? There's a lot of cares of the world, right? And a lot of cares of the world too. Let's think about this. Let's make it a little bit practical here. Other things to do on Sunday rather than being here. Okay? A lot of cares of the world. And what are the deceitfulness of riches? First, what's the first word there in the phrase? Deceitfulness, right? Making money. I just got to make money. Do we need money to live? Yes. Does the Lord know we need money to live? Yes. Okay. Is it wrong to earn money to live? No. Okay. Is it wrong to want to earn as much money as you can? I would say no in the right context. I mean, if you have to compromise to earn more money, then it's wrong. There's nothing wrong with money, earning money, and providing for your family. There's nothing wrong with that at all. But the deceitfulness of riches, just trusting in money. How many of us have some money, because God has blessed us, put away in investments, and we've watched our investments go like this, yippee! Oh no! Yippee! Oh no! You know, we've seen it. It's deceitfulness, right? Crypto. Oh man, this is the best thing. Oh, what happened to crypto? And all this stuff. And it's deceitful. And how fragile is the market? How fragile is the world's economy? I mean, we've seen it. We're still seeing it. It's deceitful. And then the lust of things. Just wanting to have the latest, greatest, the newest, the shiniest, the fastest, whatever it may be, the biggest. You know? Man, I've got to get this phone. You know, I didn't even know how to use my last phone fully, and then a new phone comes out. And I don't know how to use that. My smartphone is not making me much smarter. But you know, and all these things, people are just, they're just the lust of things. Now, we need things, and we need to earn money, and there are cares, but some of this stuff in people's lives, it just chokes the Word. It just chokes the Word. And they're not trusting in the Word, but everything chokes it out. And what does it say? They become unfruitful. They may be reformed, but they're not transformed. And they remain unsaved. And friends, we've seen too many of this, haven't we? People who are on fire for God, and all of a sudden, where are they? Only God knows the heart. I realize that. And it is possible to backslide. I'm not saying that. But a lot of times, some of these people aren't really saved. Because the last point, the good ground, verse 20, it says, and these are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word, okay, they hear the word, just like the other one, they receive it, And number three, what do they do? Bring forth fruit. Some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred. Okay? They hear it. They receive it. Now here's the key to understand. We were in James 1 before. I should have told you to keep a mark there. We're going back to James 1, verse 21. Now verse 22 said what? Be ye doers of the word, but not hearers only. What does verse 21 say? Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness, of superfluity, of naughtiness, and what? Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. Okay, now there's a phrase. We don't talk like that anymore. How many, JR, have you recently said to your kids, stop! The superfluity of naughtiness is terrible in this house! We don't talk that way. Okay? But that simply means an overabundance of evil. Okay? Superfluity. Overabundance. Alright? And, I don't know, maybe JR does rebuke his kids that way, but, you know, but that's what that means. An overabundance. And what does he say? Receive. with meekness, the engrafted word. So not only do these folks with the good ground, the good soil, not only do they hear the word, but they receive it. Okay? And then it bears fruit. I believe with all my heart, and we'll see biblically in a moment, that a true Christian will bear fruit. Now you may say, oh, but how much fruit? Well, here's the answer. Some 30, some 60, some 100, right? Sometimes you see Christians, man, they're just producing fruit a hundredfold. Well, they're producing fruit, but then there's some that produce 30%, but what are they still doing? Producing fruit. Okay? And there may be fruitful seasons in your life. Some seasons are more fruitful than others. Right? And don't think fruit is only winning souls. Fruit is so much more than that. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness. It's all the fruit of the Spirit. But a believer will produce fruit. Jesus said so. These are the ones who are saved. Now, how do we apply all this? Turn back to Matthew, Sermon of the Mount, Matthew chapter seven. What is one way that we have to know that someone is a believer? Jesus said, and we'll read it here in a moment, you know them by their fruit. Christians will produce fruit. Varying degrees, but they'll produce fruit. Sometimes people who are newly saved, man, they're on fire. They're producing fruit like crazy, and sometimes that wanes. Sometimes it's just a slow growth. You know, Christians, certain crops grow quickly. Certain crops take a while to grow. But you're producing fruit. And we can't expect everybody, you know, they're saying, man, let's see some fruit. But we have to be patient. But notice what it says in Matthew 7, verse 16. This is Jesus. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes? of thorns or figs of thistles. Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them." I'm not a farmer, I'm not an arborist, whatever you call, tree, is that tree, you know, I don't know, unless the fruit is on the tree, I don't know an apple tree from a pear tree, from an orange tree, from a whatever, right? Oh, there's a big red thing hanging, that must be an apple. How do I know that? Because the fruit, you'll know them by their fruits. We all look alike. Well, you know what I mean. You know, we all look alike. You're not all as good looking as me, but that's why I need glasses. But no, I joke. But seriously, but how do you know? You know, just because somebody sits in a church doesn't make them a Christian. You know, you may live in a garage. That doesn't make you a car, right? You know, just because it's, you have to, produce fruit, and by their fruit you'll know them. And if someone is producing wicked fruit, what does that say? A good tree can't produce evil fruit. And an evil tree can't produce good. Now, there are other scriptures we compare. A lot of times, you know, God has to what? Prune us, right? Sometimes you have a healthy tree, but oh, that branch there, we gotta get rid of that so that other things, you know, can grow and it can be more fruitful, okay? But the tree itself is good, but we just gotta get rid of some things. Jesus says you'll know them by their fruits. Look at verse 21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that... What's the next word? Doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Sounds very similar to James. Be ye not only hearers of the word, but doers. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, in thy name cast out devils, in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity. So here were quote unquote religious people. Were the Pharisees religious people? They sure were. Did they do many wonderful works? I'm sure they did. But they didn't know the Lord. because they didn't receive His Word. Verse 24, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. The rains descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof. And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, that people were astonished at His doctrine. So here, you hear my sayings, you receive my sayings, you do my sayings, you're going to be like a man who builds his house upon the rock. Now troubles are going to come, right? Rain is going to come, winds are going to blow, storms are going to happen, but your house is going to stand. But the foolish person who only hears the word, doesn't receive it, his house is built upon the sand. The winds come, the rains come, the floods come, and away goes the house. Because they had no what? Foundation. Foundation. And one more passage to look at in closing. Colossians. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. If you get to 1 and 2 Thessalonians, you went too far. Colossians 2, verse 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. If you have received the Lord, if you have heard His Word, if you have listened to His Word, if you have received His Word, then walk in Him. You will produce fruit. Why? Because you're rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as He had been taught, abounding therewith with thanksgiving. What is one of the fruits that we can bear? Being thankful. Abounding with thanksgiving. Rooted. Builded. Deep roots. Established faith. Built up. Producing fruit. Right? Again, I'm not a farmer. I don't know anything about farming. I was a mechanic before I went in the ministry, and I always told people I have a greasy thumb, not a green thumb, okay? But I do know this, that the root system is important. We had two beautiful maple trees in front of our home in New Jersey when we lived there, two beautiful maple trees. They shaded the house, it was so nice, and lightning hit one of the trees. And it killed the tree. But those two trees had grown so long together that the root system was intertwined. And we cut down the one tree because it was struck by lightning. But a year later, the other tree that faced that tree died. Only the half of it faced that tree. Why? What happened? The lightning went down also into the roots of that tree and destroyed the roots. Roots are important. And our roots need to be in Christ. And friends, Jesus' miracles are important. And what Jesus can do for us is important. But what is more important is His Word. And you must listen to His Word. And you must receive His Word. And when you receive His Word, you will produce fruit. Now, we will all produce varying amounts of fruit. Some may only be producing a little, some may be producing a lot. And maybe another time in your life you may be producing a little, but you'll be producing fruit. That's the thing. You'll know them by their fruit. How's the fruit in your life? What kind of fruit are you producing? And there's all kinds of fruit. Even repentance is a fruit. Maybe you're not where you should be. Repent, that's a fruit. Come back to God. You know, and maybe you're here and you're not producing any fruit at all because you're not saved. We need to be fruit inspectors, our own fruit. Okay, let's pray. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for this time. Thank you for the clarity of your word and thank you that you explain to us the meaning of this parable. And Father, we thank you for the word that has been shown in our life multiple times. Help us to prepare our hearts, our life to be good soil, to get rid of the thorns, the cares of the world, to get rid of the stone and the rocks and the hard hearts and to get rid of the world, the flesh and the devil from our life so that we can receive your word in good soil, that it may produce fruit for your honor and glory. So help us, Lord. Help the dear folks in the church here today to examine their own lives. And maybe somebody's here and they don't know you as Savior. I pray today they would trust you. Give them the courage, Lord, to come and speak with me. And maybe there's somebody here today, Lord, who's in a period of famine and drought in their life, and their fruit has been very small. Lord, I pray that you would work in their lives. And help them, Father, to begin to prune out what needs to go so that they can produce fruit to your glory. And help us as a church family to be able to minister to them and to each one. Father, we wanna produce fruit, not to say, look at me, but all for your glory. So work in our lives, in Jesus' name, amen. Ryan, come lead us in our closing song, 366, folks.