The Sower
Preached by Apostle Aje Pelser
Harvester Reformational Church, Cape Town, 19th Dec. 2021

The Parable of the Sower (read also Matt. 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20)
Luk 8:4 And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable:
Luk 8:5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.
Luk 8:6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.
Luk 8:7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.
Luk 8:8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The Purpose of the Parables
Luk 8:9 Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”
Luk 8:10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND.’
Luk 8:11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Luk 8:12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Luk 8:13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.
Luk 8:14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
Luk 8:15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

For better understanding, here are three questions to unlock greater fruitfulness from the hearing of the Word.

1. Which powerful sermons and prophetic words over your life did you not understand and were therefore stolen?
2. What prevented the Word to take root in your life? Name instances you were persecuted for the sake of the Gospel.
3. What has become more important than hearing from God? What needs to change for you to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness first? How have you been deceived into complacency and are no longer growing spiritually?

1. The Stolen Words
Our enemy understands the power of the word of Jesus Christ. It beat him in the wilderness, it beat him throughout Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. It continued to grow and multiply throughout the new church being built by the disciples of His Word, empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is beating him now in your life too. If he can steal the Words of life at their inception before they take root in your life, he wins and you lose. The key to prevent revelation loss is understanding. Once you have understanding in an issue you are established and it can’t be taken from you. SO the devil will fight and steal in the arena of reason before you have the chance to reflect and meditate on the word preached.

2. Deeper Roots
Hardness of heart robs people of relationships, stubbornness creates idolatry of the soul. Unforgiveness boulders up your heart so much that you can’t trust anyone. Your heart has grown dull. It affects your spiritual sight and hearing too! So many have isolated themselves from all sources of hurt, so much so that they can never enter any relationship with trust again. Once, when I experienced personal betrayal, the Holy Spirit comforted me and said: “Stay vulnerable.” I thought about this for a long time and continue to reflect on it in quiet times. In words, “Don’t let your heart be hardened and your love grow so cold that you never let anyone else in.” Petra sings a song:
Don’t let your heart be hardened
Don’t let your love grow cold
May it always stay so childlike
May it never grow too old
Don’t let your heart be hardened
May you always know the cure
Keep it broken before Jesus
Keep it thankful, meek and pure
(Songwriters: Bob Hartman, Don’t Let Your Heart Be Hardened lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Principles of God’s word are like well-prepared seeds that need a fertile soil to grow and thrive. You have embraced many things about God and His Ways, the reason why some of the ways did not work in your opinion may be because of a hardened heart.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the stones preventing the growth of the word you hear week in and week out. He will help you remove them so you can grow.

3. Eliminate several categories of word-chokers:
Cares of this life that goes over into anxiety and depression. Read also Matt. 6:19-34
The deceitfulness of riches – that riches are the solution to all your problems, can actually choke the effect of the word because your focus of faith is shifted from God, towards Mammon. Read also Luke 12:13-21 the parable of the rich fool.
Desires for other things creeping in.
Pleasures of life – lovers of pleasure versus lovers of God.

The Sower is the preacher of the Word of God. The soil is your heart.
You can make a decision to deal with the hindrances to fruitfulness. You can also decide to:

hear the word with a noble and good heart,
keep it and
bear fruit with patience.