A Kingdom Of The Receptive

C. To reveal: Truth is a blessing to those who believe, gospel is not bad news, those who see and hear and believe will be blessed, the full blessing of God has come into the world through Jesus, Jesus came to give understanding to the people, the task of ministry,

V. The Meaning of the Parable - Four Types of Listeners

A. The Unresponsive Hearer: Like hard packed soil, the heart of these people is hardened, totally indifferent to anything spiritual, the word makes no penetration and no impact upon the hearer, the word is then stolen away before it influences, the person is totally open to Satan’s attack, self sufficient, self satisfied, self serving and often self righteous

B. The Superficial Hearer: Like soil on limestone bedrock, The response is quick but the commitment is shallow, emotional excitement over the new found faith, change is on the surface - not in the heart, when the hard part of living the Christian life hits - the cost of discipleship, the person quickly falls away, they have no firm root and they do not have the strength to stand, no true penetration of the word,

C. The Worldly Hearer: Like soil with thorns, the response is positive at first, as the world creeps in it covers and kills the impact of the word on the person, the person is more concerned about wealth and the cares of the world than the work of God

D. The Receptive Hearer: Like good soil, the response is given and the word is allowed to take root and to grow in the person, the heart is prepared by the Spirit for the word, just as ground is prepared for seed to be sown, these people hear the word understand it and accept it, not intellectual understanding but God given Spiritual understanding, true believers produce fruit, those who believe in Christ must be fruitful, they must be extremely productive,

Application

I. What kind of Listener are You?

A. The Unresponsive Hearer: There are those who have hardened their hearts, they have become unreceptive to the will and call of God, God has no impact upon their hearts, they choose not to listen to God, being unresponsive is a choice,

B. The Superficial Hearer: There are those who have gladly accepted the word but fell away when the cost became too high, their experience was merely religious and not life changing, they continue to live in the flesh, they are controlled by emotion, sentiment and feelings

C. The Worldly Hearer: There are those who accept the gospel and still try to hold on to their old lives, they will prove that their faith was in vain, it will eventually die out because the world strangles the life out of the word

D. The Receptive Hearer: Those who truly believe and receive the word, they will accept Jesus and live for Him and Him alone, they look to Jesus for help and assistance, they will be known by the fruit that they produce

II. What kind of fruit are you producing?

A. No fruit: Where there is no fruit there is no changed life, there can be no work established and produced for God, nothing happens for God and Kingdom is not expanded in any way