Is the parable of the sower still useful today?
Yes – it is a parable for all times. A lesson for us all, as well as a signpost to the “choked” & “fallen away”. The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Absolutely. The principles applied there are just as valid today as then. Nature has not changed, man has not changed and neither has God. It is a story to help you understand how the salvation process of God works. You see, the apostles were about to embark upon a great journey of spreading the very Good News of Jesus, his death, his resurrection and ascent into heaven. The promised on had come, and the Christ was alive and well. If they remembered this parable, that some men would hear and react but grow cold, other would hear with no response, others would hear and for awhile look as if they were genuine but later fail, then when it happened in their ministry they would not lose faith. For the last of the seed would fall upon good ground, sprout roots and grow to be sowers of the word also. As wonderful and marvelous the message of Jesus can be and is, not all men or women have the heart for its message. So those seed die or the message falls upon deaf ears and so forth. It still ha
