Mark 4
Gardening People!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church. Today is Thursday, April 23
Friendship is a lot like gardening! It requires you to cultivate the soil—to work the ground.
And in friendship, just like with gardening and growing plants and flowers, you have to know the person well enough to know the state of their soil and what each person uniquely needs to grow and be healthy because every person in your life is different.
Mark 4 includes the foundational parable of the four soils and it concludes with Jesus’ promise of what His Word and Spirit will produce in a person when their hearts have been cultivated. Mark 4:20 promises, “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.”
In this parable, Jesus described four types of soil into which the Word of God is sown. These soils represent four conditions of people’s lives: When the ground is cracked due to being dry and hard (v. 15), God’s love is like a spring shower to soften it. When the topsoil is shallow due to rocks (vv. 16-17), God’s compassion is like rich mulch that brings greater depth. When there are thorns and thistles (vv. 18-19), God’s grace uproots sin to heal the land.
God is working in every condition, but not every person reacts the same to God’s Truth.
That makes friendship hard! But just like with gardening, it’s worth it!
Seize the moment and cultivate the ground in the people of your life. We have been invited to work the garden of God’s creation as Image Bearers. Pray and ask God to help you in your friendships…
FBC wants to be there for you personally, so please dial the phone number below if you need any practical assistance or would like to talk to someone today. We are praying for you!