Matthew 13 TODAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANCE Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Matthew 13:1-58 -

A Harvest Story
1At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. 2In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. 3Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories."What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. 4As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. 5Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, 6so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. 7Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. 8Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.
9"Are you listening to this? Really listening?"
Why Tell Stories?
10The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories?"
11He replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn't been given to them. 12Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. 13That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. 14I don't want Isaiah's forecast repeated all over again:
Your ears are open but you don't hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don't see a thing. 15The people are blockheads! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won't have to listen; They screw their eyes shutso they won't have to look, so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them.
16"But you have God-blessed eyes--eyes that see! And God-blessed ears--ears that hear! 17A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.
The Meaning of the Harvest Story
18"Study this story of the farmer planting seed. 19When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn't take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person's heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.
20"The seed cast in the gravel--this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. 21But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
22"The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.
23"The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams."
24He told another story. "God's kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. 26When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.
27"The farmhands came to the farmer and said, "Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn't it? Where did these thistles come from?'
28"He answered, "Some enemy did this.'"The farmhands asked, "Should we weed out the thistles?'
29"He said, "No, if you weed the thistles, you'll pull up the wheat, too. 30Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I'll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.'"
31Another story. "God's kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. 32It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests in it."
33Another story. "God's kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread--and waits while the dough rises."
34All Jesus did that day was tell stories--a long storytelling afternoon. 35His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy:
I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world's first day.

The Curtain of History
36Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, "Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field."
37So he explained. "The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, 39and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels.
40"The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, 42pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. 43At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father."Are you listening to this? Really listening?
44"God's kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidently found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic--what a find!-and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
45"Or, God's kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. 46Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
47"Or, God's kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. 48When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. 49That's how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish 50and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won't do any good."
51Jesus asked, "Are you starting to get a handle on all this?"They answered, "Yes."
52He said, "Then you see how every student well-trained in God's kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it."
53When Jesus finished telling these stories, he left there, 54returned to his hometown, and gave a lecture in the meetinghouse. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. "We had no idea he was this good!" they said. "How did he get so wise, get such ability?" 55But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "We've known him since he was a kid; he's the carpenter's son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. 56All his sisters live here. Who does he think he is?" 57They got their noses all out of joint.
58But Jesus said, "A prophet is taken for granted in his hometown and his family." He didn't do many miracles there because of their hostile indifference.

Copyright Statement: THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary LanguageThis edition issued by contractual arrangement with NavPress, a division of The Navigators, U.S.A.Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.


~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~
What can I say about vs 1-16, it is so clear in this Message version. Those who desire to hear will listen to God and His words, those who don’t, won’t listen. Insight is given more and more and more to those who want to know by hearing more. How much of God do we want to get to know, He’s available to all who will come. We can have as much of Him as we’d ever desire. Ya’ll come now ya hear?
The seed is God’s word, whenever we hear it spoken or shared with us, or we read it- like right now. It either becomes useful to us, and brings change into our lives, or it doesn’t.
Why? What makes the difference? Well Jesus went through a whole list of “whys” here, so how can we affect that outcome? Can we? Absolutely, we can, which is why He shares with us that there is a potential of the word being taken away from us with these things. How would we stop the things from happening? Things happen and we may be able to stop some of them, but the biggest feat is to stop their long term affects on us. A person can call you a name and it affect you, or not affect you. What does that depend on? Your strength as a person to disregard untruths and see them as such. So how do I keep God’s word and allow it to stay in my long enough to have its perfect work?
Chew, chew, chew. Not a train, not a sneeze, eat it and chew it up, all day long until it becomes a part of you just like your natural food does. Most of us went to school as youngsters and we had to study for educational purposes and we were tested, we’d study and memorize material for the tests so we’d pass and not forget. This is the same with God’s word if we want to know it, we’ve got to study it.
What if you knew you might be stolen from if you leave your car unlocked in a certain neighborhood? You simply lock your car, you also may take things of value out of it in order to keep them in a safer place in case of a break in, right? You guard what is valuable, to keep enemies away.
We’ve got to do the same things with the words God gives us to tend and keep. They are seeds for a garden of harvest in us. If our lives depended on the fruit of that garden, would we not tend it, daily? OUR LIFE does depend on it, and so do others lives depend on us tending our garden of harvest of the word of God in us.
God has given us so many ways to be planted in, cultivate more soil, water, fertilize, etc. Our local churches are vats full of seeds, our daily devotional times get the seeds to root, extra services per week, deepen our understanding, whether at church or in home groups, the more the merrier for tending and keeping. When we gather together with other believers it’s like putting a guard order around our gardens, we work together to tend and keep and the garden flourishes. It needs to become a priority, it is one with God. He wants us guarded and kept unto Himself and His work. He’s made a huge “investment” in us and is looking for the return of His Son to collect on all they’ve been able to have kept for them in reserve.
Hearing the word of God is not enough, doing the word of God will bring us to a place where we become the word of God for this world, The Living Word!

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.