How to Study the Bible - Bible Study Made Simple - How to Be Wealthy: Understanding the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4

0:00I'm Christi Graham, host of On the Ground with Samaritan's Purse, and I recently interviewed one of our pilots whose plane was hijacked in Africa. I encouraged myself with that reality. That at some point, this is going to end in two hours. It'll end good if I'm on the ground somewhere walking around with the testimony. It'll end great if he pulls the trigger for me. It will end great. That day, Jim, experienced the power of prayer and witnessed just how mighty the name of Jesus is. If you want to hear this full story, tune in at Samaritan's Purse.org-flashlisten. Life Audio Hey, everyone. Welcome back to How to Say the Bible. I'm your host, Nicole. And it's been so fun to study gospel of Mark with you. I've been really enjoying it in my own personal study as well. And I've been loving hearing from you guys. So always reach out. You can find my email in the show notes. If you have any questions, if you want to share any of your own revelations that you've been learning

1:01as we've been in the gospel together. And of course, you can always share this episode, whether you're on YouTube or any of your audio platforms. If you want to invite a friend, this is a really, really good place for people who are curious about faith, but maybe not committed, maybe kind of wondering about who Jesus is. I love, love coming to the gospel of Mark. It's a great starting point. So today we're going to be in Mark chapter four. So even if you're joining us for the first time, you can just jump into Mark chapter four and go backward from here. But just know that Mark is an action gospel. Everything that we're reading is going to be a lot of quick movement. But we're going to see a change here in what we're learning today from all of the action that we've been seeing up to this point. So I've titled this chapter how to be wealthy. And we're going to look at some of the things that Jesus thought were so important to teach because this chapter really is focused on Jesus' teaching. So if you turn to Mark chapter four, if you haven't read it yet, definitely pause the podcast, take a look,

2:02maybe jot some of your own notes and make sure you understand, okay, what's happening here? What does this really say? And anytime that you pay attention to the Bible, you should expect to have questions. The Bible is full of layers. What's beautiful about the way Scripture works is that there are things that you can grab out of the top of it. Even if you don't know very much at all and you haven't been studying, the Scriptures are understanding the faith at all. There's always something there for us. I of course think of John 3, 16 that so many people know for God so love the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Like that is right there for the taking. It's very, very clear to understand. But as you become a student of the Scripture and as you become a student of the word, you're going to see that there are layers, layers, layers of understanding that are here. This book, so you know the Bible is a series of 66 books that were put together over the course of 1600 years. This is many different authors.

3:02And yet they're telling this cohesive story about a God who loves his people, who intervenes on their behalf so that he might be in a relationship with them and that we might experience the fullness of our life both here on earth and in eternity. And that is the big story. So in the midst of the little stories that we read in the chapters, in the Gospels, we also know that we're talking about a bigger story of what's really happening here. So we can address those layers. That's a long way of me saying to you that if you are a student of the word, you should have questions virtually every time you come to Scripture. There really probably isn't a place where you might not have like a, huh, I wonder, I wonder about that. Like, I wonder what that meant to the original listeners. I wonder about that concept. I wonder why Jesus did that. Like, why are these things happening? There's a lot of mystery here. And we have to be okay with being a little uncomfortable with what we know and don't know when it comes to the Bible because we're not mastering the Scriptures. The Scriptures are reading us. We're not in a position to be like, I'm going to be able to lock this thing down and understand all of it.

4:05I want you to know because the Bible is living and active, it is reading us. That's Peter Kraft is actually the one who said that. As you are reading the Bible, it is in fact reading you. And so this is an engagement with a letter that is a relationship, right, that points us to a relationship with God, which is what this is ultimately about. We're not here to just be built up in knowledge. We're here to be built up in love. And so if the word of God is not transforming your life on an everyday basis, then it's something's not right. We're not here to just gather Bible knowledge so that we can be people who are good at Bible trivia or we can be people who feel good about ourselves because we know more than the person next to us. That's not what this is about at all. This is absolutely about a discovery where God is drawing us closer to the heart of Him, where He is offering direction, a framework, understanding, purpose, belonging, comfort through His Word. So every time we come to His Word, there are layers of understanding and we might be right here at the top or we might be students of the Word for decades

5:08and we're finding new things to discover. So we're going to ask those questions of the scriptures every time we come. So here we are in chapter four. Hopefully you read it by now. And this is how chapter four opens up. It says, again, 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's edge. And He taught them many things by parables and then we're going to go into these parables. So this is my first stopping point where I underlined verse two. He taught them many things by parables and you might ask the question, why? Why did Jesus always teach in parables? So why was He always teaching in stories? And there's a couple of different reasons and ways that we might understand that, which we're going to get into for a minute. But first of all, when we just ask the question, what does it say? We're just writing down questions that we have. I'm Christi Graham, host of On the Ground with Samaritan's Purse. And I recently interviewed one of our pilots whose plane was hijacked in Africa.

6:10I encouraged myself with that reality. That at some point, this is going to end in two hours. It'll end good if I'm on the ground somewhere walking around with the testimony. It'll end great if he pulls the trigger. For me, it will end great. That day, Jim, experienced the power of prayer and witnessed just how mighty the name of Jesus is. If you want to hear this full story, tune in at Samaritan's Purse.org-flashlisten. You know, one of the most important parts of studying scripture is truly understanding what we're reading. That's why we love the new living translation. The NLT is accurate, understandable, and audibly enjoyable. It stays faithful to the original texts while using clear, natural language, making it easier to connect deeply with God's Word. So whether you're studying, teaching, or reading aloud, the NLT is crafted for clarity and impact. Tough passages become approachable and devotional reading becomes more meaningful. So join the countless pastors, teachers, and readers who trust the NLT to inspire faith, foster understanding, and see lives transformed.

7:15Experience a Bible that speaks to your heart and brings scripture to life, accurate, understandable, and audibly enjoyable. Find out more at newlivingtranslation.com. And then we're going to hear about parables. And this is a very, this might be kind of one of the top two parables that people know is the parable of the seed in the sour and the parable of the prodigal son. The seed in the sour is here. So we're going to read about the parable of the seed and the sour. And actually we're going to get the explanation of what this parable means as well. Because when Jesus goes away with his 12 disciples, they ask him what it means. So we're going to get an understanding of what that parable means. And then we're going to hear about a lamp on a stand, the parable of the growing seed, the parable of the mustard seed. And then Jesus is going to calm the storm that his disciples are in. So most of the chapter is going to be on these stories, these parables. Now what a parable means is it actually is the same word that we use

8:19if you remember, if you were in calculus and high school. The word parabola, it was like that. If you remember what a parabola looks like, it kind of looks like an arch. And the concept of a parabola or a parable is two things lying side by side. And so the idea here is that Jesus is going to throw down an analogy that would make sense to the listeners at the time in order to illustrate a spiritual truth. On one side is the analogy on the other side is the spiritual truth. So we want to know that with a parable, there is always going to be that concept that this thing is not, Jesus is not like recounting facts. He's not a journalist talking about something that happened yesterday. He's telling a story. He's using a story to illustrate a spiritual truth. To connect from the story to the spiritual truth takes what? Well, it takes attention. It takes curiosity. It takes openness. And so perhaps many commentators would say one of the reasons that Jesus spoke in parables is because he was asking the question, are you interested enough to discover what this actually means?

9:20Jesus wasn't going to lay down doctrine and sort of nail truths down like this. In fact, many of the ways that we teach today, Jesus was like, I'm going to tell you a story. And it's going to be a story that sticks with you. It's going to be a story that you think about. It's going to be a story that might evoke emotion or provoke thought. And the question is, are you willing to wrestle with what that story means? And these parables are powerful. And what we have here, and the reason why I titled this how to be wealthy, is that we have parables of abundance happening in March, chapter four. Every single one of these stories, the sower in the sea, the light, the growth of the kingdom, the mustard seed, all of these are stories of abundance, about surprising ways that things multiply. And specifically, when we read about parable of the sower in the seed, we know what Jesus is talking about because he describes it to his disciples. And we know that he's talking about what happens in people's heart as they receive the Word of God. So let's read the parable. I'm going to read this part of the chapter to you. And then we'll talk about what does it mean for us.

10:22Okay. So in verse three, it says this, Listen, a farmer went out to sow his seed. And as he was scattering the seed, some fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up, some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It's spring up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the plant so they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying 30, some 60, some 100 times. And then Jesus said, whoever has earsed here, let him hear. And this is something that Jesus would often say. And this is kind of the invitation. He's like, Hey, I've laid down something for you. Are you interested enough? Are you curious enough? Are you open enough to want to wrestle with what this means? And so he leaves the crowd with that parable. And remember, this would have been very real to them. This is an agrarian culture.

11:22So everyone would know what it meant to scatter seed. And it wasn't just about being like a person who wants to have a nice looking yard. This would be sustenance. This would be provision. This would be their economy. Like if you can't grow food, you can't eat. So this would be very real on what you're doing with seed and how you are cultivating soil so that seed can produce. Because you want to be able to produce for your family, but also produce so that you have money, so that you can sell something in the market, so that you have an opportunity for agency for wealth, right? And so this would be very real to the listeners of the day, not maybe as close to us, but let's keep in mind that that would be sort of the spirit of the parable. And then Jesus says, let if you have ears to hear, you can hear this. But then the disciples say to him, can you teach us about what this means? And so Jesus says, do you not understand? How are you going to not? If you can't understand this parable, how are you going to understand any parable? Jesus does not play. Like we've talked about in this other gospels. Like he's looking right at them like, are you guys focused on what is actually happening here?

12:23But he, he of course, explains the parable to them. And this is what it says starting in verse 14. The farmer sows the word. So immediately we're like, okay, we don't have to go deep on levels here to understand. Jesus is making it really clear if this parable is not anything, it's not about anything except for this concept of hearing what Jesus is teaching, of understanding what God has said to us. So many of us are like, oh, if God would only speak to me. Like if God would just tell me what to do, I would do it. And like, y'all, God has told us what to do. He gave us this huge book. We have the opportunity to read, to learn, to wrestle together, to discern. Like yes, God does speak specifically. And the spirit does move us in specific directions. But how will you know God's voice if you don't know what it sounds like? The way we know what God's voice sounds like is by being in the thing that he gave us. And so Jesus is like, okay, I'm going to make it really clear. This is about the word. Like this, this whole parable is about what happens to the word of God in your soul. It says the farmer sows the word. And some people are like seed along the path where the word is sown.

13:25And as soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. And others are like seed, sown in rocky places. They hear the word, and at once receive it with joy. And since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. And so others like seed sown among thorns hear the word, verse 19, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Meaning the word is there. It is growing. It is, it's living, but it's not manifesting in any abundance at all. It's, it's not showing any fruit. And then finally, others like seed sown on good soil hear the word, accept it and produce a crop, some 30, some 60, some 100 times more than what was sown. Now, this is a very convicting parable. And I think also it can really throw us off. We might immediately ask ourselves, what kind of seed am I? We're, we're, we're, we'll cut a seed of my. How am I receiving the word?

14:26But remember, this is an ongoing process. This is an ongoing way of being. There can be times where things are snatched from you and there can be times when things are fruitfully abundant. And we have to ask ourselves, well, what, what can anyone do in this passage? It feels very passive in many ways. So like, Jesus is just talking about people as if they already are scattered and they're already experiencing these things. But there are a couple of things that we can see that happen that we can immediately pull to say, okay, here's what we want to watch out for. And here is action that we can take. You can always do that with scripture. You can ask the question, what does God do? What do people do? Okay, so when we hear about the first two parts, we understand that there are going to be ways that people are not going to receive what Jesus has to offer. And that's really clear. Jesus himself is saying, hey, when this seed is thrown out, there's going to be some that snatched up. There's going to be some that might spring up quickly, but it won't last because it's not formed. And I started my ministry life and student ministry spent a lot of time with teenagers.

15:26And this verse always got me. Because I'd be at some event, some weekend, some experience and these kids are like saying, yes, to Jesus, they're like, oh my gosh, is this word going to be able to root in their soul or when it gets hard? Are they going to fall away? And it was just such a moment of conviction, just even as a leader and as a mom. What am I doing to help spiritually form the people around me? Because we can receive the word with joy and say, yes to it, but we all know that trouble will come into our life, we know that there are times where we may feel far from God. And the question is, do we have enough root? Are we building practices that give us enough root to really know God's love, to really believe in his forgiveness, to really experience his freedom? And it's very clear that Jesus says, yeah, for some people, they're going to receive the word and they're going to fall away. It's just not going to last in them. But what about the next two? Because the next two are places where we see things that people do, things that people don't do and things that people do. And so that third seed, the one that falls in soil,

16:28but it begins to get choked out. Look at what it's choked out by. And this feels so relevant to 2026. It's just fascinating that it was written in such an ancient time. And it really speaks to the fact that our paths, our wayward ways of trying to get our desires met have been like a tale as old as time. This has been around forever. And so Jesus says, here's the things that will choke out the word in you. The first is going to be worries. Wuries from this life will choke out the good word in you. The second thing he says is the deceitfulness of wealth. Now what makes wealth deceitful? Notice he doesn't say the evil of wealth. He doesn't say that actually being wealthy is evil. What he says is that what wealth can do and the way that it creates pathways that feel like they're leading to the good life can deceive you from what the actual good life is. That it's very easy to fall onto pathways that actually end up choking the abundance of the word out of you because all of these easy comforts are in front of you

17:28that feel like they're leading to good life. And I think we can look at celebrity. We can look at wealthy people and understand and obviously they've talked about this a lot over the years that wealth does not equal happiness and that's very clear. Some of the most tortured people in our culture are very wealthy. And so it's easy to be deceived by the idea that if only I had more money, things would be easier. If only I had more money, this would all work out. And what Jesus is saying is that is very deceitful. It's not that money isn't helpful. It's not that money isn't a tool that we can use. It's not even that money is inherently evil but the love of money and the deceit of money is a real thing that we want to be aware of. I'm Christi Graham. Host of On the Ground was Samaritan's Purse. And I recently interviewed one of our pilots whose plane was hijacked in Africa. I encouraged myself with that reality. That at some point, this is going to end in two hours. It'll end good if I'm on the ground somewhere walking around with the testimony.

18:28It'll end great if he pulls the trigger. For me, it will end great. That day, Jim, experienced the power of prayer and witnessed just how mighty the name of Jesus is. If you want to hear this full story, tune in at Samaritan's Purse.org slash listen. You know, one of the most important parts of studying scripture is truly understanding what we're reading. That's why we love the new living translation. The NLT is accurate, understandable, and audibly enjoyable. It stays faithful to the original texts while using clear, natural language, making it easier to connect deeply with God's Word. So whether you're studying, teaching, or reading aloud, the NLT is crafted for clarity and impact. Tough passages become approachable and devotional reading becomes more meaningful. So join the countless pastors, teachers, and readers who trust the NLT to inspire faith, foster understanding, and see lives transformed. Experience a Bible that speaks to your heart and brings scripture to life. Accurate, understandable, and audibly enjoyable.

19:31Find out more at newlivingtranslation.com. And then finally, he says, and the desires for other things. These desires for other things come in and they just choke out the abundance of the Word. Notice, none of these things are bad in it of themselves. It's when they choke out the primacy, the allegiance, and the abundance of what God's Word says in our life. And so then that Word, although it's in the person, it's been sowed, it's not fruitful. And then finally, the last one, here is where we have our only action. This is the action that we're given in this whole parable. In verse 20, it says, others like seed stone on good soil, hear the Word, accept it, and produce a crop. So the only thing that happens in this parable that people can do is they can be choked out by these other things that we talked about, or they can hear and accept the Word.

20:31And honestly, I love the practice. I'm just in my prayer saying, Lord, I hear your Word and I accept it actually speaking that truth over myself. And even over, you know, my listeners, as we're preaching in worship service, God help us to not just hear your Word, but actually accept it, accept it for what it is. Because when we accept the Word, we will be changed by the Word. You can't accept a good Word from someone without repentance. And repentance just means turning away from what you are already believing. The concept of repent just means to turn. So oftentimes what the Word does is it reframes our understanding of reality and of truth. And so even when we take, for instance, deceitfulness of wealth, to hear the Word is to hear, okay, that's what Jesus said, to accept the Word is to say, oh, no one is outside of that possibility. Anyone can be deceived by wealth, including myself. It's to accept the Word is to ask, how might I also be being informed and influenced by the culture around me

21:32that says, if I have more money or more power or more control, I'm going to be okay. How am I also drawn to that idea? So that's what it means to accept the Word. That's what we're called to do here in this passage. So those are the things it means. Let's talk about what are some of those, like, takeaways that we could think from this passage. The first is this. Abundance is in God's hands. Abundance is always in God's hands. The parables that come after the sower and the seed, I love. They talk about this idea that the Word of God is like this little tiny thing that spreads sort of underground and then builds up and flourishes in massive ways. And I have to tell you for those of you who have been walking with Jesus for a long time, if you've been faithfully following Jesus not perfectly, but faithfully, if you've been available to God, you start to see the abundance of the kingdom of God. You start to hear the stories of the way that God connects believers, the way God uses amazing people and relationships and he draws his kingdom together

22:34and it truly is this magnificent invisible kingdom of love, of mercy, of justice. That's happening in our world and all you have to do is stick around like be faithful to Jesus. Not perfectly, but be faithful to Jesus. And as you walk with him, you'll get to begin to experience all it's so beautiful the way that God cares for his people, the way he brings his people together, the way he heals his people, the way he uses his people to manifest his glory in the world. And we really see that abundance that that is what wealth really means. To be wealthy is to experience the abundance of the kingdom of God. And that abundance comes in all forms, not in money, not in power necessarily, but in all the ways that we experience what a rich life really feels like rich in relationship, rich in beauty, rich in connection, rich in freedom. That is the message of this chapter. The second thing that I think we can take from this is actually a quote straight from study notes in the Gospel of Luke where this same parable is told.

23:34And in the study notes it says this, the quantity of increase depends on the quality of the soil. In other words, I once had a mentor say to me, you are responsible for the depth of your relationship with God. God is responsible for the breadth of your influence. You're responsible for the depth of your character, of your relationship, of your connection. God is responsible for the abundance. And when we get that ratio right, when we recognize I'm not responsible for the breadth of my influence, I'm not responsible for the breadth of my platform, of my places, of my whatever that might be for you, you are responsible for the depth of your relationship with God. That is what it means to cultivate good soil. And when Jesus says seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you, he makes it very, very personal. If you get caught up, like I do, and what's my calling, what's God calling me to do? Has he asked me to be, I want to remind you that what God's asking you to do is be faithful in the life

24:34that he's given you today. That in the place of our families, of our workplaces, of our schools, of our communities, with our neighbors right here in your moment, this is where God's asking you to cultivate good soil. He's responsible for the abundance. You're responsible for the depth. So my question, when we ask what does this mean for me today, and this is what I'll leave you with, I just want to ask you what chokes out the word in you, and how can you cultivate and prepare the soil of your heart? What chokes out the word in you? Is it busy-ness, is it worry, is it anxious-ness, is it distraction? Jesus is very serious about saying anything that chokes out the word in you you should remove from your life. Now, it doesn't mean you have to remove it forever. But if your social media is not bringing you toward fruit of the spirit, you know you can stop, or you can stop for a time. If being distracted and compare yourself to others is choking out the good word in you, you can stop, or you can stop for a time. There are all these ways that God says, you have got to be so serious

25:35about cultivating the soil of your heart. You have to be so serious about that part because I'm going to take care of the rest and I have promised you abundant life and he will bring it. All right, everyone, so good to be together. I'll see you next week. How to study the Bible with Nicole Eunice is a production of Life Audio and Salem Media. If you like what you heard today, please take a second to rate and review the podcast and your favorite podcast app so that more listeners like you can find the show. For more faith-filled inspirational podcasts, visit us at LifeAudio.com. Hey, I'm Dr. Sean McDowell, Professor, author and host of The Sean McDowell Show. I tackle the hardest questions about God, truth and culture, combining solid research with practical insight and engaging stories so you can build

26:36a confident informed faith. Now available on the Life Audio Network to reach more listeners like you. Follow the Sean McDowell Show on your favorite podcast app or visit LifeAudio.com to start listening.