Lord's Prayer: Forgive Us

A Prayer a Day for Graduates

God Never Gives Up on You

Aging Gracefully  According to God's Plan

Hope After Adultery

Our Sexual Oneness

What's Next?

Spiritual Empowerment

Finding Security, Freedom, and Identity in God's Sight

Discover Your True Strength

New International Version

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 <div class="p">1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water&#8217;s edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3&#8220;Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Then Jesus said, &#8220;Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, &#8220;The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that,</div><div class="q1"> &#8220;&#8198;&#8216;they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,</div><div class="q2"> and ever hearing but never understanding;</div><div class="q1"> otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!&#8217; # 4:12 
 Isaiah 6:9,10 &#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Then Jesus said to them, &#8220;Don&#8217;t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop&#8212;some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">A Lamp on a Stand</div><div class="p"> 21He said to them, &#8220;Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don&#8217;t you put it on its stand? 22For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24 &#8220;Consider carefully what you hear,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;With the measure you use, it will be measured to you&#8212;and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Parable of the Growing Seed</div><div class="p"> 26He also said, &#8220;This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain&#8212;first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Parable of the Mustard Seed</div><div class="p"> 30Again he said, &#8220;What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 33With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.</div>
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Christ as Servant: A Study in MarkSample

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