OPENING PRAYER Father, we give You thanks. We give You praise and glory. We give You honor. We also come humbly before You admitting our great need for You. Not simply a partial need, Lord, but a comprehensive, deep, constant, and daily need. Thank You that You give grace to the humble. And so we humble ourselves before You and ask that You would pour out Your grace in mighty measures today. Graciously speaking to us. Graciously touching our hearts. Graciously working in us to will and to do according to Your good pleasure. And graciously, transforming our lives to the image of Jesus Christ. By Your Holy Spirit, unfold Your Word and make it alive to us. And Lord, we confess that we can only live by every word that proceeds from Your mouth. So speak to us. We are ready to hear what you have to say. In Jesus’ name. Amen. SHALL WE NOW SAY TOGETHER THE PRAYER YOU TAUGHT US TO PRAY: Our Father, who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come, thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our debts As we forgive our debtors Lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom ,the power and the glory forever & ever. Amen. PASTORAL PRAYER Gracious God, God of the covenant, in the glory of the cross your Son embraced the power of death and broke its hold over your people. During these few weeks of Lent we pray that you draw us near so that we may confess Jesus as Lord and put aside the deeds of death and accept the life of your kingdom. Holy Father, Father of Christ who both bore our shame, and gave us the example of how to live according to your love, give us hope. By your Spirit, fill us with a heart of adoration and thanksgiving for your gift of salvation through Christ. By your Spirit, move us to show others that they are loved and valued through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. Help us to show compassion and kindness, hospitality and forgiveness. Let us be just and merciful as you are just and merciful to us. Sovereign Lord, Father of all in the power of the Holy Spirit, you alone can bring into order our unruly wills and affections. Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise, that among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely be fixed where true joys are to be found. We pray this through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen Offertory Prayer Each of us is a fragile miracle, evidence of God's creative hands, and amazing grace. We are each unique, unrepeatable gifts to the world. We are proof of God's love. And so we who are the gifts of creation now give gifts to our Creator. Gifts brought in love. Amen 
Tend your soil with Kevin HarveyMain point: Diligently tend the heart of your heart and mind for blessed are you when you have ears to hear and eyes to see. Passage: Parable of the sower: Mark 4 1-20 Mark 4:1-20 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Parable of the Sower and Soils 4 He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 3 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 6 And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, [a]let him hear.” 10 As soon as He was alone, [b]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, 12 so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.” Explanation 13 And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17 and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they [c]fall away. 18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries of the [d]world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” Footnotes:
Today I want to focus on this parable but before I do, I want to bring up some things to ponder. Facebook comments on Christ Peoples view on who Christ is ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lets begin with a question that John the Baptist asked: " Are you the expected one, or shall we look for someone else?" Mat 11 V 3 Matthew 11:3 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” Context was John the Baptist was in prison awaiting his execution because of Herodias and her daughter. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also before Christ spoke this parable he said some
things concerning himself. Personal credentials if you will; some things he said A) Matthew 12 V 6 "Something greater than the temple is here" B) Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. The context eating grain, breaking the Sabbath law, and Christ knows the heart of the Pharisees. C) Matthew 12 V 41 Something greater than Jonah is here. Pharisees want a sign, but Christ says the only sign for them would be the sign of Jonah Matthew 12:41 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. D) Someone greater than Solomon is here. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- so, it is with this in mind that we must pay heed to this parable. Mark 4 1-9 Mark 4:1-9 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Parable of the Sower and Soils4 He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 3 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 6 And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, [a]let him hear.” Footnotes:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A) There needs to be a sower to sew the Word B) V 15 Satan is an actual being whose job it is to undermine the Word of God, Ex: Did God really say. Gen. Ex. The temptation of Christ in Matthew 4, Christ was hungry, Satan said turn the rocks into bread. Satan knows the word, and he can twist it, but Christ always responds with: "It is written", the Word Verse 16 & 17 Rocky places or Flaky faith Examples: happy, no firm root, temporary; trouble because of the word, they fall away Vs 18 Thorns equal the worries of the world Vs 19 Deceitfulness of riches and desire for things Then finally the good soil, people hear and accept and bear fruit 30, 60, 100 in vs 20
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