Preaching to a Divided Congregation

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M I N I S T RY | P R E A C H I N G

Preaching on Good Soil Sermons that make Jesus accessible BY J.J. VASQUEZ

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hat is the purpose of preaching If you answered, To tell people about esus, you are only halfway there. nd before you udge that statement harshly, you should know it comes from esus teachings. In Matthew 13, esus told a parable about a farmer sowing seeds. or our purposes, let s think of the story as that of a preacher delivering sermons. The seed (sermon) encountered three obstacles

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that threatened the fruit of the farmer s (preacher s) labor: the path, the rocks and the thorns. s esus e plained, the rocks represent a lack of depth, which results in a person falling away when persecution comes. The thorns symboli e common hindrances: the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth (verse ). Thorns are distractions that keep people from prioriti ing God and His ord.


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