Want to experience divine healing, renewal of youth, and a joy that persists in difficult seasons? Immerse yourself in God’s Word and see His power permeate through every fibre of your being! In this must-hear message by Joseph Prince, discover how you can receive the seed of God’s Word and watch it bring forth a great harvest of breakthroughs. Learn key truths from Scripture that will help you:
Actually, in the parable of
the sower and the ground,
the four types of ground
is a picture of our heart.
Four types of heart.
And there’s one particular
heart attitude that actually
receives the bountiful harvest.
A hundred-fold, sixty-fold,
and thirty-fold.
And that is the one
I’m coming to right now.
So let’s look at what
Jesus said about His parable
to His disciples, because
He told them that:
“Unto them is given to know.”
Verse 18.
“Therefore hear the
parable of the sower:”
“When anyone hears the
Word of the kingdom”
“and does not understand it.”
There you have it!
They hear it, but
they don’t understand it.
“then the wicked one comes
and snatches away”
“what was sown in his heart.”
“This is he who received
seed by the wayside.”
So people that hear God’s Word
and they have no heart
to want to understand, or even
ask God for wisdom
or seek the Lord to have
that Word revealed to them,
God says: “These are the ones
that they become prey to
the enemy’s theft, right?
The Bible says: “The thief
comes to steal, kill, and destroy.”
John 10:10. “But I am come that
you might have life”
“and have it more abundantly.”
That’s what Jesus said.
Now, if the thief comes to
steal, kill, and destroy,
notice the sequence there?
He comes to steal first.
What does he steal?
Then he kills.
And then he destroys.
He steals the Word of God!
Based on this parable,
He steals the Word.
Why do you think the thief
comes to steal,
of all the things
he wants to steal,
He steals the Word of God?
You thought he might want to
steal your health,
steal your relationships
with your wife or your husband
or your children.
No, no, no.
He knows when he steals
God’s Word from you,
he steals all these things
because these things are
a consequence, a harvest of
receiving God’s Word in your life.
So he knows when he takes
God’s Word out of your heart,
you have nothing to reproduce
in your life because
the power is in the seed.
And the seed here is
the Word of God. Hallelujah.
So the devil comes to
steal the Word.
He’s so afraid that you will
receive God’s Word.
He is so afraid.
That’s why it is his priority,
number one is to come
and take the Word away
from your heart.
But thanks be to God!
We read in this verse that
for those who understand,
the devil cannot do that.
It’s only those who do not
understand, then comes
the wicked one and snatches away
the Word that’s in his heart.
So let’s seek to understand
God’s Word. Amen.
The next verse goes on.
“But he who received
the seed on stony places,”
“that is he who hears the Word
and immediately receives it with joy;”
They hear the Word of God
or the preaching of the Word.
And they say: “Oh, that’s good
preaching. I enjoy that.” Amen.
They will shout “Amen!” and
things like that.
“But yet he has no root in himself,
but endures only for a while.”
“For when tribulation.”
(That’s trouble)
“or persecution arises
because of the Word,”
“immediately he stumbles.”
In other words, the devil will
try to take God’s Word
out of your heart.
If he can’t steal from you
because you understand it,
the next thing he wants to do
is he would try his best
to cause some trouble or
persecution to arise.
Notice, it is because of the Word.
It says: “Because of the Word.”
He is after the Word.
He is trying to remove the Word.
He’s trying to say:
“This Word is a lie.”
“You cannot believe this Word.
See, look at your circumstances.”
“There’s trouble.
There’s persecution.”
Stand steady.
Amen.
The Bible says this man,
he received the Word
and he received it with joy.
His immediate reaction is joy,
but he has no root in himself.
So he endures for awhile
but when trouble comes,
persecution comes because
of God’s Word, he lets it go.
He gives up because
he has no root.
And thus, the Word becomes
unfruitful in his life.
And the third category.
“Now he who received seed
among the thorns”
“is he who hears the Word,
and the cares of this world”
“and the deceitfulness of riches
choke the word,”
“and he becomes unfruitful.”
“But he who received seed
on the good ground”
“is he who hears the Word
and understands it.”
Notice that? The one who
receives seed on
the good ground,
the good heart.
The ground is always
the heart here.
He receives it, he hears it
and he understands it.
“He is the one who indeed
bears fruit and produces:”
“some a hundred-fold,
some sixty and some thirty.”
So in other words, it behooves us
to understand God’s Word.
We are hungry for
the Word of God.
We want God’s Word
expounded to us. Hallelujah.
We don’t want to hear
psychology being preached.
We don’t want to hear
scientific facts being preached.
We don’t want to hear the
opinions of experts being preached.
We want to hear the
Word of the living God! Hallelujah.
And we spend time in the
Word of God.
And you seek understanding.
Like in the book of Proverbs.
“Lift your voice, cry out
for knowledge,”
“cry out for wisdom, seek for her
as for hid treasures,”
“you shall understand the
wisdom of God and”
“find the knowledge
of the Lord.” Hallelujah.
So what we want to
see here is
what causes one to
have this hundred-fold harvest
in his life. It is the same
Word of God that goes into
all the four types of
heart or ground.
It is the same seed.
The seed is the Word of God.
They heard the Word of God.
It’s like speaking of the
audience in Jesus’ time.
They were there.
They heard his preaching.
But there are four types of hearts.
And there are those whose
hearts are on the wayside.
These are seeds sown
on the wayside.
Notice the wayside speaks
of people who are sideliners.
They are people who are
not in the center.
In other words, it’s like when they
hear the preaching online,
for example on Sunday.
God’s Word has been
preached right? On Sunday.
But it’s like this.
They may switch it on and
then they get distracted
with doing other things and
they might be looking at
their phone and it’s like,
they expect the seed to
fall on the wayside.
They are hearing, but
they are not understanding.
Have you ever had that
experience, guys?
Where your wife is
talking to you?
You hear words, but your
mind is on something else.
You’re thinking about golf
or something, right?
And then she says: “You’re not
listening to me right?”
And then you repeat the very
last line that she said just now.
You are hearing, but
you are not listening.
So God says, and He said more
than once in this passage here.
“He who has ears to hear,
let him hear,” the Lord said.
And your hearing is vital.
You need to hear it first,
but then you need to be
not on the wayside, to be in
the center receiving God’s Word.
And then another thing
Jesus said in this parable.
Look at what He said
about the way you hear.
What you hear and
the way you hear.
“If anyone has ears to hear,
let him hear.”
Again, the emphasis.
“If anyone has ears to hear,
let him hear.”
Then He said to them:
“Take heed what you hear.”
The subject.
We all want to hear
God’s Word because
God’s Word is incorruptible seed.
God’s Word is what
regenerates us.
God’s Word is what raised
Jesus from the dead!
Hallelujah. Amen!
We don’t want just
corruptible seed.
Man’s words.
Man’s words may or
may not have fruit,
but not the kind of fruit
that God’s Word
will produce in your life.
“So take heed what you hear.”
“With the same measure you use,
it will be measured to you.”
“and to you who hear,
more will be given.”
Now, look at this.
Here is Mark’s account.
By the way, just to
let you know that
in the parable of the sower
and the seed, it appears
in the synoptic gospels,
which is Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Not in John, but in the
first three gospels.
And in all three, you have
different insights of the
sower and the seed.
And one of them would say:
“Take heed what you hear.”
Like over here,
Mark would say that.
But Luke will say something else.
In other words,
Jesus said two things.
But Mark’s emphasis
was on the first.
What you hear.
And look at Luke’s emphasis.
“Therefore take heed
how you hear”
“for whoever has, to him
more will be given”
“and whoever does not have,
even what he seems to have”
“will be taken from him.”
Now we found the clue.
The very thing that
we shared just now.
What is this having thing?
Whoever has. Has what?
To him more will be given.
Now we see it.
To the one who has
this hearing attitude,
hearing heart, wanting to
hear the revelation of the Word,
wanting to understand the
Word, whoever has this heart,
not only He said:
“Take heed what you hear.”
The subject itself,
which is the Word of God.
Take heed what you hear,
but how you hear it.
How you hear it.
Hallelujah.
For whoever has this hearing
heart, this hearing attitude
towards God’s Word,
the Bible says: “More.”
I like the word.
Say the word: “More!”
“More will be given to you.”
Say: “More will be
given to me.” Amen.
Then it says the one who does
not have this hearing heart,
“even what he has
will be taken away.”
And we know who takes it away.
It will be taken away.
It is so important for us
to understand this because
both are important.
“Take heed what you hear
and how you hear.”
So it’s obvious Jesus said
these two in one sentence
and Mark recorded the first
and Luke the latter.
And Jesus said: “Take heed
what you hear and how you hear.”
Let’s go back to Mark again.
And Jesus says:
“Take heed what you hear
and how you hear.”
“With the same measure you use.”
So if you use a thirty-fold measure,
you give thirty-fold attention,
thirty-fold focus,
thirty-fold devotion to it.
It will be measured to you,
guess what?
With the same
measure you use.
The same measure you use,
it’ll be measured to you.
Thirty-fold, you’ll get back what?
Thirty-fold benefit,
thirty-fold virtue,
thirty-fold revelation,
thirty-fold wisdom.
Thirty-fold harvest.
Whatever verse it is
you are meditating on,
if it is a verse on healing,
you will receive healing,
but thirty-fold.
And He’s saying, this is not
because it’s God’s will.
It is saying it is your attitude.
The same measure you use.
If you listen to the gospel
with a hundred percent,
with the same measure,
I’m using the measure of
a hundred percent attention
to God’s Word.
So don’t be distracted, friend.
If you can, every Sunday,
just give that time to the Lord.
And isn’t it amazing how
the devil will always try to
tell you to catch up on something
you have not done
during the whole week that
you could have caught up on,
but you didn’t, you didn’t
do all those things.
All of a sudden, while you’re
listening to the God’s Word,
the devil will say:
“You know what?”
“You didn’t read this book.”
“You have not read this book.
How about this?”
“You didn’t contact your friend.
Hey, look at your phone.”
“There’s a message that
just came in.”
It’s like all hell breaks loose
sometimes, right?
When you are about to
receive God’s Word,
that’s the warfare, my friend.
It is actually getting into God’s Word.
There are so many things
trying to hold you back
from hearing God’s Word
because the devil is so afraid!
Yes friend. He is afraid
that you will receive God’s Word
because he knows that
his influence and his power
in that area of your life
will be broken. Why?
Because the Word of God
is greater than him.
Hallelujah.
So take heed what you hear
and how! Your attitude.
What kind of measure
are you giving?
Are you giving a hundred
percent attention?
Or are you giving
sixty-fold attention?
Are you giving thirty
percent attention?
The same measure will
be measured back to you.
In other words, if you give
a hundred-fold attention,
a hundred percent attention,
a hundred-fold harvest.
You’ll get full harvest,
full results, complete fruitfulness.
Hallelujah.
And I want that!
And I know many of you
do as well.
But notice it is with the
same measure you use.
It’s got to do with your hearing,
how you hear.
As you are listening
to God’s Word.
And friends, today, there are
many ways to listen to God’s Word.
As you’re studying God’s Word,
you’re actually listening.
With your inner ear.
You are actually listening.
And even reading,
faith comes by hearing.
It’s not just hearing audibly
from outside.
As you are reading,
you are also receiving.
But there are many who
receive by hearing,
literally from outside.
And we thank God that now we
have the advent of audiobooks
and audiobooks are
like a trend now.
And there are people who
don’t like to read.
They find their concentration
is not there, but they would
rather listen on-the-go.
As they are doing things,
you know, they’re listening
to an audiobook.
They can finish many books
that way.
Friend, how about
prioritizing God’s Word?
It is what matters
in these last days,
because there’s going
to come a time.
The Bible says, in fact,
it’s happening already.
That there will be a famine,
not a famine of food
or famine of water,
but a famine of
hearing the
words of the Lord.
In other words, people are
not hearing the
words of the Lord anymore.
The supply is there,
but they are not hearing
the words of the Lord.
And because of that famine,
everything in their life
becomes like famine.
Desert, dry, arid.
Friend, you can be a
“fruitful tree planted by”
“the rivers of water that
brings forth your fruit”
“in your season.”
“Your leaf will not wither and
whatever you do will prosper.”