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says that "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord," that Dave is enjoying Heaven. In a way I am jealous because he got to go before I did. She gets a strained look on her face. You see, she doesn't believe he is in Heaven. She believes he is in Purgatory. She is offering to pray to reduce his time there. But through this conversation she has been exposed to what the Bible says. Now I watch to see what God is going to do.

I haven't been eloquent. It was just a conversation. The results don't depend on your eloquence. That is up to God. Remember Paul's statement? "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase."

B. The Seed 19

In Luke's recounting of the story Jesus tells them, "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." (Luke 8:11). It actually is very simple: we expose them to the Bible.
This is not just a book. It is alive and powerful because it is God's Word God's power is in it! "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12). When I plant it in someone's mind, in a sense I am planting God there, and turning Him loose in their life. "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17).
The seed is not the word plus something else: psychology, a religious ritual, more revelation. Our methods and programs must be to expose people to the Word, not somehow to make the Word more effective, complete, or attractive. We simply do what Nehemiah had done when the book of the Law was found. "They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read." (Nehemiah 8:8).

C. The Soils and His explanation 4-9; 18-23
Remember, these soils are hearts they are people. The soils are: the Path with the birds that steal away the seed, the rocky places, the thorny soil, and the good soil.
You find Jesus explanation to his disciples in verses 18-23.

1. The path (vs. 19) is those who don't understand what they have seen or heard. The birds that carry away the seed are Satan stealing it away before they can believe. "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (2Corinthians 4:4).

2. The rocky places (vs. 20, 21) is someone

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