Thank you for those two testimonies. Thank you so much, Jeremiah. I think there’s a little bit of an echo on this one.
Please turn with me to Mark 4. We’ll just read a few verses, but I will try to cover this chapter today. Mark 4. It’s a long chapter. I’ll just read a few starting in verse ten.
10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, (Mark 4:10-11, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, when we read Scripture many times, it just seems like we’re reading a parable. It’s unclear what you’re saying to us. The meaning is hidden from our eyes. So, Lord, we ask that you would reveal yourself, the secrets of the kingdom. Now, in this time, we avail ourselves to you. We surrender in your presence. Thank you, Lord, for what you will do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Oh, just a quick announcement.
Thursday prayer meeting, I mean, Wednesday prayer meeting, is going to be moved to Thursday for this week only because Ed and Susan’s son Matthew is graduating from high school, South High, Wednesday. So we’ll move prayer meeting just for this week.
Thursday, just. I want to ask a question. How do you read the Bible? How do you read the Bible? There’s many different answers. Yes. Sophia, how do you read the Bible? Okay. Okay. That’s one approach, which is great. You just start from the beginning.
Genesis, you work your way all the way to the end, cover to cover. That’s one way to read the Bible, which is a great, great way.
Anybody else? How do you read the Bible? Anybody? Is it systematic? Is it orderly? Is it like jumping around? Like, how do you read the Bible?
For example, how did I end up in this chapter? Does anyone have an idea? How did I end up in this chapter? Yes, definitely. That’s right. I do read the gospels often.
So, you know, as a church, we’re going through the chronological Bible, through the NLT, and I recommend doing that, especially with kids. We just want to sow as much of the Bible as we can while they’re young.
But for me, the life and the teachings of Jesus are so central. So that’s one cycle I go through. I finished up Matthew, I started Mark, and I was going through.
This is tied to last Sunday. Does anybody remember what I preached last Sunday? There was already a clue given today. Anybody remember? Don’t be anxious.
Yes, from Matthew, chapter six. And if you recall, that section is about the father who cares for us. He feeds the birds of the air. He clothed the grass of the field with lilies. He guarantees food, drink, and clothing for the believer.
And so if you are stressed financially, maybe God spoke to you there. But from there, the Lord brought me to this passage, which is similar in some sense. It starts in Mark 4:1, the parable of the sower.
And let me see, I’m going to jump around a little bit today, actually.
Let’s jump to the explanation. Okay. Verse 19,
19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. (Mark 4:19, ESV)
So last week, this is just me just giving you how I study the Bible. It is very as if God is right there in front of me and he’s saying, here is what you need to work on. And then from there, connect the dots here. It’s the next thing.
So my preaching is kind of coming out of that approach. And so last week, the Lord is telling me, don’t be stressed about finances. Okay, Lord, I give you all my faith in you. I see what you say in your word. I agree with your word. If you do this for nature, for birds and the fields, of course I am much more valuable than they. And so I trust you. And so I thought, okay, I was done. I’m not stressed, right? I’m not stressed.
And then I get to this passage, and there are things that can choke out the word of God, namely the cares of the world, which can include finances.
But okay, let’s say I put that aside, and then deceitfulness of riches, that’s maybe where you might struggle. For me, okay, I know wealth is deceitful. That’s not it.
And then it gets to the desires for other things. And so that one is like I’m still sitting on. And so I thought, today I’ll be preaching on what are the other things that could be choking out the word?
I pray this morning, okay, that’s not the message. It’s got changed. So if some Sundays, it feels like I’m a little bit reaching, it’s because this is how I read the Bible. God tells me something and says, okay, do homework on this. Why don’t you wrestle there?
And as I’m going through, I’m trying to see, okay, Lord, what are you saying to me? So there’s a systematic approach that if you say, well, we’re going to do a series through the Gospel of Mark. And so today is chapter four.
And I could start on Monday, and by Saturday night it’s done. Because I know what chapter I’m doing, that way is pretty predictable. The way I read the Bible is kind of, God is saying, do this, work on this. And then he connects the dots in some other passage. So I’m constantly jumping around, although I do it systematically as well
And so this parable of the sower, it starts with verse nine. He says, and he said,
9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:9, ESV)
Just because you attended last Sunday and you heard the message doesn’t mean you heard it. That’s what it says here. You need to have ears to hear.
Just because you attended a church and you listened to a sermon, that doesn’t guarantee anything. Because there is even an example of one of the soils, which is the path. As soon as the message is sown, the seed is sown, Satan snatches it up. And so maybe you heard it, maybe you were physically present, but by the time you entered that other room, it was gone.
Because the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth, the desires for other things crowded in. As soon as the service ended and you started eating instant ramen, it can be that sudden that the word of God that was given can be suddenly snatched.
So just because you heard it, doesn’t mean you heard it. You need to have ears to hear. And now we get into the reason why Jesus, the best communicator who ever lived, is speaking intentionally in this opaque way, through parables.
He could have just broken it down to everybody in the crowd and said, this is what I mean. This is what’s in your heart. This is your homework. Come back next Sunday, and then we’ll pick up where we left off.
Jesus could have approached the crowd and his preaching that way, but he doesn’t. And he says in verse ten and eleven that we read, verse ten is the twelve. It’s different from the crowd. So there’s a difference. The crowd and the true disciple. The disciple asked Jesus, what did you mean by that? I heard something.
It doesn’t make sense. And so they go to Jesus in secret, in private, and they ask him, what does this mean?
And so if you heard last Sunday and it stirred you, I pray that you would take that word, and then you would ask the Lord Jesus, why did that stir me? Because it could be different from why it stirred me. Because we have different hearts, different soil, different situations. And so we need to ask, why did that message stir me if it did stir you?
And then we ask Jesus privately, can you tell me what that means for me? And then Jesus answers, to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. And to everybody else, it’s in a parable. But to you, the secret has been revealed. And now you have an opportunity to understand.
And so what is this secret? The secret is that the kingdom of God has come. It has come down. Jesus has come. He is the king who is ushering in this kingdom.
The kingdom is not somewhere that we go to in heaven, in the skies, sometime in the future. No, the kingdom of God has come. And he is. Every time Jesus meets with somebody, the kingdom of God has come to that person, if they have ears to hear and a heart to receive.
And there is a gap between hearing and understanding. You can hear it and understand it mentally, intellectually. It does not mean you understand it.
And so today I want to talk about how to read the Bible.
First is you need to have ears to hear. You need to hear it. That’s step one.
Step two is like the twelve did. You need to ask Jesus, what does this mean? And it’s not my job. I’m not Jesus. I’m not the Holy Spirit. I can’t unpack every aspect of scripture and tailor make it for you. You need to do that as a follower of Jesus. You need to say, Jesus. This stirred me. I heard something. I think there’s homework here for me. And then you take that to Jesus and you ask him questions.
And so that’s generally how I read the Bible. I just read all the way until suddenly something stirs. And then when a stirring happens, I ask Jesus a question, and that leads to another question. I just keep asking questions about that passage or that verse, and then we wait for the answers.
We don’t run to YouTube for the answers. We don’t run to a commentary for the answers. We don’t run to others. We wait in secret for the answer. That’s when you know the Bible is a conversation with the Lord.
We’re not studying the Bible. We’re conversing with somebody. And so it’s exciting when you ask questions and then you’re just gardening like a few days later, and then suddenly the answer comes.
That’s when you know, okay, this conversation God spoke, it wasn’t me trying to find the answer on the Internet, but God just suddenly just gave me the answer later in the week. And that’s when Christianity becomes exciting.
And when we wait for the answer, then we’ve received understanding like the secret of the kingdom has been revealed. I didn’t see it before.
It was hidden, but suddenly I know, oh, the kingdom has come to me. I am a kingdom citizen. One day I will be fully in heaven with God and a full, a full citizen. But that process has already begun. The kingdom of God has come down to me, and I am now a citizen of that kingdom. And I’m growing into this understanding. And Jesus explains the parable, and he ends with verse 20.
20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:20, ESV)
And then I want to connect this with Matthew 7:15.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20, ESV)
Fruits plural. I thought there was only one fruit. I thought the fruit of the spirit is singular. It is that inner fruit of the spirit. That invisible fruit is one. It’s singular. But when it comes to the fruits that are external, that are visible, it is plural.
So when we look at a false teacher, you might not be able to tell from their preaching that they’re false. But another word for fruits is their deeds. You will know by their deeds that they’re false.
And 90% of the time they’re a great guy, they’re a fantastic Bible teacher. But in these critical moments, if I go back to the parable of the soil, one of the soil is the rocky soil. And the way that it’s described is in Mark 4:16.
16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. (Mark 4:16-17, ESV)
And others are the ones sown among thorns. So the rocky soil is a person with shallow roots and a false teacher. You will know that they’re false, not necessarily through their preaching, not necessarily through the 90% of the time that you spend with them. But a time of tribulation will come upon them or upon the church.
And how they respond in their deeds will reveal the fact that they’re a false teacher. If they respond humbly, if they respond with transparency, if they respond in a godly way, you know they’re a godly person. But if they respond in a shadowy way, in cover up, that’s how you know this person is false.
The tribulation came. They have no roots. They fail the test. There’s an inner fruit, a singular fruit. And then there are external fruits or deeds that are plural and that are visible.
The difference between a crowd and a churchgoer and a real disciple is described in Mark 4:33.
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. (Mark 4:33-34, ESV)
So we hear the word of God. We need to ask for ears to hear. And then we hear something. It doesn’t make sense, but a stirring occurred. And so we go to Jesus, and we start asking Him questions.
And then we wait for Jesus directly to answer us on that question. And it might not happen in that prayer time. But it can happen at an unexpected time later in the week.
And when that answer arrives, a secret of the kingdom has been revealed. Understanding has been received at that point. And if you go through this process over and over again as you read the Bible, genuine fruit will be born. And you will be able to prove it through your fruits, through your deeds.
Mark 4:21. It’s about the lamp under a basket.
And the point, I think, of these verses actually. Let me read verse 21.
21 And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4:21-25, ESV)
Jesus doesn’t want to keep the kingdom of God a secret. He has many things he wants to unveil to us, disclose to us, and reveal to us. And when a lamp comes, everything is revealed.
Before the light comes, everything is darkness. You don’t understand a thing. You can’t see clearly. But as soon as the lamp comes, everything is apparent. You know it. And Jesus is the light of the world.
You ask Jesus a question when you’re in a darkened state and you’re confused, and he gives you the answer. It’s like someone turned on the light switch. Suddenly you get it. A secret has been unveiled in that moment.
This is what Jesus wants us to do. He wants us to ask him questions that are confusing and things that are mysterious. He wants us to ask so that the light switch can come on and a mystery can be revealed. And he says, you need to pay attention to what you hear.
It’s such a precious thing when you hear something and you ask a question and you wait for the answer, and the answer comes, and now the understanding is yours. It’s such a precious thing.
24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. (Mark 4:24, ESV)
He’s talking about revelation. You have a little bit of revelation, understanding. It’s been measured out. It’s appropriate for where you are in your spiritual life.
If you’re a baby Christian, he’s not going to just pour out everything and say, go be a missionary for your life in Africa. No, you just got born again. You’re a little infant. You can’t even think that way.
As a new born again Christian, you just need to receive from the Lord his affection, his love for you, and you need to grow up like apostle Paul. The minute he was converted, he was not apostle.
No, he went away with the Lord Jesus for three years, and another 14 years went by before he was officially recognized as Apostle Paul. This understanding that happens gradually is measured out in portions. I think it also parallels our growth in the Lord. There are things appropriate for an infant and something a little bit different for a five-year-old. Like if you’re a farmer, you’re not going to tell the five-year-old to break down the rocks and to till the soil.
Now, you might ask him, can you get me some lemonade from the house and bring it to me? That’s an appropriate thing to ask for a five-year-old.
And so God is going to ask us things that are appropriate for age. He will measure it out, and it’s going to fit where you are in your journey. Because our heavenly Father, he knows how to raise his children.
And Jesus, as our mentor, as our Lord, he knows how to raise up disciples. He measures out a little bit at a time, and he wants to see: are you going to put it to use, this understanding, this secret that has been given to you? Are you going to live it out? Or is it just, you heard it, and by the time you left to the next room, it’s already been snatched? Or maybe you held onto it a little bit, but by Monday, the cares of this life choked it out.
Or the desires for other things choked it out. These are things like you heard something; you had ears to hear. Now you need to go a little bit further. Ask Jesus in private, why did that stir me? And then you wait for the answer, and then he gives it. Understanding is given. Now Jesus wants to see, are you going to put it to use? Because if he gives you understanding and you don’t put it to use, is there a point to go to another topic?
Imagine if you are going through school and you just conquered addition and subtraction. So the next year you’re going to tackle multiplication. Is Jesus expecting us to do calculus when we haven’t mastered multiplication? And actually even addition, we’re a little shaky. Subtraction, sometimes we flip the numbers. No, he does it very systematically.
And so if there’s something he wants you to work on, it doesn’t make sense to jump to some other topic until you put what you already have received to use. And if you put it to use, he gives you more.
If you don’t put it to use, even what you have is taken away. Isn’t that scary?
There are things that I knew in my twenties. I put it to use, and now as I’m approaching my fifties, I’ve stopped putting it to use. I wonder what things have been taken away from me because I haven’t. It’s been measured to me, it was appropriate in my twenties to receive that I put it to use. Now in my fifties, I think I should be progressed.
But if I didn’t even put to use what I received in the past, maybe I lost many things and God is waiting for me to take that up again, put it back to use, and then grow properly.
Because you can’t jump to the third grade until you pass second grade. You can’t jump to high school until you pass junior high. There’s a measurement and there’s a testing.
The same with the tribulation. These are tests in life. If you have shallow roots, the test comes.
And if you fail it, then you can’t get promoted, you can’t go to the next level. And I think God, he sees us as his children. We are supposed to progress systematically.
But if you are a new convert and you read about Moses in the Exodus and you say, that’s me, I got to do this now. I just got baptized last week, but I’m reading about Moses. Okay. What mission trip is available? I need to do this. That’s not how it’s supposed to be. We’re supposed to be.
The revelation is spiritual age and maturity appropriate, and we need to locate where we are and find the secret, the revelation that’s been measured out for us, and then just put that to use. Don’t need to jump to the next chapter. No, stay. Like, I might have to stay in Mark 4 for the rest of this week because I’m just scratching the surface. Okay. The finances, maybe I’ve.
I’m not stressing out about it, but are there the cares of this world, which is a much larger topic, and the desires for other things other than the kingdom, other than Jesus? Are there other desires choking away?
So I don’t know. I don’t know what the Lord has for me this coming week, but I’m just giving you a window into how I study scripture. And so we live out what’s been measured out, the revelation that has been given to us, or we risk losing it. And the growth happens in stages.
That’s in verses 26 to 29. It’s like the little blade of the sapling is breaking through the soil, and then the little ear of the grain is starting to form, and then the full grain in the ear. And then eventually it is ripe, and it’s going to be harvested.
It’s in stages. Spiritual growth is the same way. We don’t go from new convert to apostle. No, we don’t. We don’t. We don’t become like that. It is very steady. It’s like stage one, stage two, stage three, parable of the mustard seed.
As I read that section, it’s also a picture of growth. At some point, we’re supposed to. This is a picture of somebody who’s fully mature. You’re like this huge, small mustard seed that has grown into this huge tree in the garden. And this garden has branches that are robust enough for birds to land on.
Imagine if you are a little sapling, a little twig of a branch, and then you have a twelve-foot wingspan condor swooping down, landing on that little twig. It’s going to snap off. That’s not for you.
In the beginning, maybe all we can care about is ourselves. As you get a little bit more mature, and then you have a spouse to care for, you can love your spouse. As you have children, maybe the branches get a little bit stronger and the shade is a little bit larger. Now you can have a covering for your family, but it’s supposed to keep going beyond that so the branches keep growing. And so eventually, we’re this person that many, many people can come and find shade.
That is a picture of somebody who has grown properly in its end stages. So I love that we’re doing NLT, chronological Bible reading. You may have other Bible reading plans, but a second track that I invite you to enter into is to become a disciple of Jesus.
So when you read various parts of the Bible, I would say the gospels have to be a big focal point of your Bible reading. As you read through sections of scripture, you hear something and something stirs in you. That’s step one.
Then you go in Jesus in private, in your prayer closet, in your secret place, and you ask him why. Is this appropriate? Am I stressed with finances? Am I? Do I have other cares that are stressing me out, that are choking the word? Am I deceived by the allure of more money? Do I think that’s going to solve my problems, and so I’m deceived? Do I desire other things besides the kingdom, besides Jesus and his righteousness?
We start asking questions, and then we wait for the answer. Be patient. Wait for the answer. It will come.
It might come like a month later, but just keep asking that question. Wait for the answer. Then you receive the answer. And after you receive the answer, the amount of revelation that has been measured out for you, now put it into practice.
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, we don’t want to be a crowd, a bystander, someone who just hears it and then forgets the moment. We leave this place. Shield and protect us as we deepen our roots so that Satan may not snatch it as soon as this message ends. We want to have deeper roots.
We want to pass the tests, the tribulations that come. We pray that we can level up every time we pass a test and show through our deeds that we are a good tree that is growing properly.
We pray that we would instead be a true disciple who goes to you in private, in secret, and asks you questions. And we wait for you to reveal the secrets of the kingdom, namely, the kingdom has come.
We are citizens of that kingdom, not fully, but that process has already begun, and you’re changing us step by step.
You’re growing us inch by inch. We thank you for your answers. When they come and we receive all the understanding that’s been measured out for us, we want to now put it to use so that you may give us more instead of failing to put it to use and risking losing that and more.
Thank you for teaching us a very important truth about how to read the Bible. Lord, we want to supplement our current Bible reading with this approach, following as you lead us step by step, connecting the dots.
Thank you, Lord, for your body that was broken for us and your bloodshed. We pray that you minister to us as we close out this service. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
