Helping People To Find Faith

Introduction

The three main points of the "Parable of the Sower"

You can find this bible story of Jesus in Matthew 13 v1-23; Mark 4 v1-20; and Luke 8 v4-15

1. Potential

Like the sower, God spreads his Word through many means, widely among all kinds of people. All the four types of ground have the potential because each are types of soil.

What hinders some of them is the condition of the soil or objects, like the rocks and weeds. What this means is that everyone has the potential to respond to God's message, to become Christians, if and when the conditions of the soil (their spiritual lives) are right.

2. Understanding

Like the three kinds of unfruitful ground, many will respond to God's Word with less than saving faith. In Matthew's account of this parable (13:19) he explains that a lack of understanding is responsible for a person not appropriately responding to God's message.

The seed that fell on the path, represents people who understand nothing and therefore are not interested in what God has to say.

The seed that fell on the rocky ground represents people who understand something of the gospel message but do not understand the implications and as soon as any difficulty comes from believing they fall away.

The seed that is sown among the thorns; the people represented here also understand a little of what the gospel means but they do not understand the Lordship of Jesus. They do not realise that they may have to change their lifestyle.

To help people understand God's message, the Gospel, we need to help by explaining the message and its implications and as we answer people's queries it is like removing the stones and the weeds that hinder growth.

3. Willingness

Unlike organic growth, as and when we produce the right conditions and place a seed into the right environment it will grow; spiritual growth and producing a harvest takes an acceptance on our part (Mark 4:20).

In Matthew 13:23 it talks about understanding and in Luke 8:15 it talks about a responsive heart, one which retains the message and perseveres. Such acceptance will produce a crop, changing our lives for the better, 30, 60, 100 fold.

Jesus said "I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10).

Response

Which of these statements best describes someone you would like to see become a Christian?

Awareness of the supernatural
No effective knowledge of what a Christian is
Initial awareness of Christianity
Interest in Christianity
Awareness of the basic facts of the Christian message (called the Gospel)
Awareness of the facts of the Gospel
Positive attitude to the Gospel
Awareness that you are in the wrong with God
Challenge to act upon what you know about the Gospel
Have a measure of faith and feel the need to repent (turn to God)
Made a decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour of your life

These eleven statements talk about the process of understanding that we or others might be at. The first steps in helping people in this process is giving them a clear picture who God really is and that being a Christian is not a bad thing.

Secondly as this process develops, we need to share the content of the gospel, the human problem of our rebellion against God and the solution God offers through Jesus death and resurrection.

The next phase is help people to understand the implications and cost of being a Christian.

Finally it is about asking people to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour over their lives. All this takes time and people move at different speeds.