FBC Sunday Evening Service

I hope you had a good afternoon. We got some liquid sunshine today. That was a wonderful thing. It's amazing how quickly a little bit of rain can cause all that brown stuff to show some signs of life again.

Late this afternoon I was out on the patio out back and after the rain had come through and looked out in the in the backyard and I said you know I'm gonna have to mow the lawn again this week sometime.

So well thank the Lord we get to mow the lawn again this week. Rejoice in all things. Alright 293 let's start this evening with song Break Thou the Bread of Life. Focus tonight is on the Word of God and our response to it.

We look at this passage in Mark 4 on the seeds and the soil. So we'll be singing some songs about that. So let's stand as we sing Break Thou the Bread of Life. To me to me. God it's blessed the bread by Galilee.

Shall all bondage cease. All fetters fall. I shall find my peace. My all are the bread of life. Oh Lord to me. Word the truth that saveth me. To eat and live with thee. Abide truth for thou. Send thy spirit Lord unto me.

May touch mine eyes and may show me the truth concealed within thy word and in thy book revealed. Would you please lead us in prayer. You may be seated. So let's look at Mark chapter 4 read our text for tonight and then the message will follow in a little bit.

The Parable of the Sower in Mark 4

Mark chapter 4. So I want to read the parable and then the interpretation of the parable as the Lord gives it. He also offers in between sandwiched in between a little commentary on why he's speaking in parables.

So Mark 4 beginning in the first verse says and again he Jesus began to teach by the sea. So there's that line in the song we just sang break the bread of life as you broke broke it by the sea by Galilee.

Says in a great multitude was gathered to him so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. Then he taught them many things by parables and said to them in his teaching listen behold a sower went out to sow and it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and devoured it.

Some fell on the stony ground where it did not have much earth and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched and because it had no root it withered away.

And some seed fell among thorns the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up increased and produced some thirtyfold some sixty and some a hundred.

And he said to them he who has ears to hear let him hear. But when he said when he was alone those around him with the twelve asked him about the parable and he said to them to you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God but to those who are outside all things come in parables so that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing made they may hear and not understand lest they should turn and their sins be forgiven them.

And he said to them do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word and these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who when they hear the word immediately receive it with gladness and they have no root in themselves and so endure only for a time. Afterward when tribulation or persecution arises for the words sake immediately they stumble.

Now these are the ones sown among thorns they are the ones who hear the word and the cares of this world deceitfulness of riches and the desires of for other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.

But these are the ones sown on good ground those who hear the word accept it and bear fruit some thirtyfold some sixty and some a hundred. Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word and then let's up let's pray a hymn number 401 is him open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth you have for me give an opportunity after we sing to share some testimonies this past week or so.

So open my eyes that I may see. Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free silently now I wait for thee ready my God thy will to see open my eyes illumine me spirit divine open my ears that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear and while the scriptures fall on my ear everything false will disappear silently now I wait for thee ready my God thy will to see my eyes illumine me spirit divine.

Open my mouth and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere open my heart and let me prepare love with my children us to share silently now I wait for thee ready my God thy will to see. Open my eyes illumine me spirit divine by word of testimony you know some sometimes when you learn a new song it is make such an impression on you that you never forget it.

So the first time I ever heard that song we just sang I was probably I think I was maybe in third grade and the reason I remember it is because I was at camp summer camp for the first time in my life this was a camp in Ohio up on Lake Erie called Camp Patmos at the the camps you know in Ohio different pastors work as like the camp director for the week and my dad was the director there for that week and there were three guys that sang that song as a trio in a chapel service.

I guess I don't remember anything else that happened that week but these three guys and I and I remembered I suppose because one of the three was Freddie Greetham and Freddie was from our church and he and two other guys sang this song.

I just remembered how well that's a pretty song thinking that is a third grader right. And never forgotten. Every time I sing that song I think of Freddie Greetham Camp Patmos third grade summer camp and stuck with me ever since.

Testimonies and Church Family Updates

All right word of testimony we have to share with us tonight. It's gone on in the last week or so. Buddy. Yes yeah. It's a biggie helps in children's church. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So we appreciate your helping out in that so that when could skip in and play at the end of the service today appreciate that much good.

Somebody else thought it was a blessing while we were we're gone to be able to tune in and watch the services here on live stream. That's a that's a real blessing. And I know others appreciate that as well.

I know Bob and Jody tune in very faithfully and what a blessing it is to be able to have that opportunity for them. And yet last Sunday and again today they they sent sent a text today send a text last week maybe a couple weeks ago anyway they did again today sent a text in the middle of church says the live stream isn't working on YouTube.

We're not getting it on YouTube not on the computer. We have to watch it on the phone. So I was able to do some investigating and find out why that was the case got that fixed so from here on out but the fact is you know here they are they're really kind of shut in you know pretty much Bob's caring for her faithfully and yet this opportunity of ministry through that bringing the church to them when they can't get here.

So we're so grateful for that. Anybody else I have to tell you one of the hardest things one of the hardest things in the ministry is when you go away like we did and then someone and there's an emergency or something happens in the church like Sue Cherry passed away.

It's like oh man you know we're how far we're 750 miles away and locked into this situation down there and you know want to want to come here want to be here want to be here for that. And you know having having had Doc Cherry's funeral and of course Al's you know Dean's funeral and so forth I definitely wanted to be here for that and yet it just wasn't reasonable to for that to happen and so it just was a real source of angst or I don't know exactly how to describe it.

It's just a very unsettled feeling. So I was just so grateful that Jerry Dean was able to do that service and did a wonderful job with it and it was a meaningful service and family was well pleased with that.

That just that was a great relief on my part that it was well handled and honorably so in a way that Sue was of which Sue was worthy. So we just I just thank the Lord for that and appreciate it so much then also appreciated the opportunity to have the graveside service the other day and really kind of bring some closure to to all of that.

So miss gonna miss Sue all right. Nothing else. Let's take our supplement book number 57 number 57. It's another prayer asking the Lord to speak to us as we come to him to receive the food of his holy word.

Let's stand again as we sing. Shall we speak O Lord. Speak O Lord as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word. Take your truth planted deep in us shape and fashion us in your likeness that the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.

Speak O Lord and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory. Teach us Lord full obedience true humility. Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity. Cause our faith to rise.

Cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority words of power that can never fail. What their truth prevail over unbelief. Speak O Lord and renew our minds. Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us truths unchanged from the dawn of time through eternity and by grace will stand on your promises and by faith will walk as you walk with us.

Speak O Lord till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory. You may be seated. That song really is a prayer for the seed to produce abundance of fruit when you get right down to it you know what we looked at tonight in Mark chapter 4.

A parable is simply a comparison. It's a comparison between something very commonplace and something else that is yet unknown or not clear. And so that's what's going on in this parable in Mark chapter 4.

And it's very clear. It's very simple very straightforward. Lord Jesus draws a comparison between the receptiveness of the of the soil to the seed and the receptiveness of the human heart to the Word of God.

Now many have gone to great effort to try to decide you know which of these four soils which of these four persons represented by the soils is really converted. Is it just one of them. Is it two of the four.

You know how many of them are really saved really converted. But I don't think that's the main point. I think the primary point that Christ is making here is that there anytime anytime a person is confronted with the Word of God there are four possible responses as that word is preached or taught or even read.

I mean you know there's some people who read the Bible for example in a purely academic in an academic format you know they're taking a Bible a class that has the Bible in a public school setting. And the teacher is not a believer he's just teaching it as literature.

Well how how is that. How's a person going to respond to that as the word is even read in that kind of a context. So with that in mind whether a person is saved or unsaved he could he could reflect any one of these four types of soil in a given situation.

So the question is that we have to confront ourselves with is you know what kind of soil am I today. What kind of soil am I as I am engaging with God's Word at this time is my soil. Is the soil of my heart.

Like the first second third or fourth. You know which which is it. And so there are four different responses to the word and I want to I want to express them in a in a very like like I'm responding to it all right.

So the word is preached. And the first response that Jesus brings out is the response where the person says it's not for me. It's it's not for me. See this in verse 4 where the in the parable itself it says it happened he sowed some seed fell by the wayside the birds of the air came and devoured it.

And as Jesus explains that or interprets it in verse 15 he says these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear Satan comes immediately takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Now the reason for this response where a person says it's not for me is not because the seed isn't sown or because there's some kind of a problem with the seed or the sower is negligent or indifferent or inadequate to the task of sowing the seed.

The problem is not with the sower. The problem is not with the seed. Problem of course is with the soil. And there are three reasons that I want to share for why a person might respond in this way. One reason is that the heart is simply unprepared.

The heart is unprepared. So I mean this can happen on a Sunday morning. You know you you've you've gone through a busy week. It's it's been a stressful week. Maybe there's been a bit mid been some conflict and some problems some struggles trouble whatever and all of that's on your mind.

Even Sunday morning when you get up you don't even want to come to church because you got all this problem stuff. You do you know you need to and and so you go and and you're you're totally totally out of sync with Sunday morning going to church and having the Bible open and and so even as you you sit in the service and you know you go through the song service and you find you open the Bible.

And yeah you you're you're seeing the words on the page but your mind is on your problems. And then when the word is preached you're you're kind of hearing it but your eyes are sort of glazed over because your mind is was working on the problems or whatever else you're thinking about.

Your heart is just totally unprepared. Totally unprepared. Another reason that this response might come forth from person who says it's not for me is that his assumptions are incorrect. You can assume that there's no application of this passage for me.

Like this morning in judges chapter 11 we read about Jephthah. Read those first 11 verses about Jephthah. And you're like I don't know what in the world this has to do with me. I mean I'm not. I'm not like a Jephthah.

I'm not like Jephthah's dad. I'm not like Jephthah's mom. You know I don't know what this has to do with me. I'm sure there's not gonna be anything in here for me today you know just just having that kind of an assumption that there's no application of the scriptures to me personally or assuming that I don't have any needs.

I don't need to be challenged by God's Word. I don't need any encouragement from God's Word. I don't need anything. Well if I don't think I need something then I'm not gonna see it when it's presented to me.

A third reason why this response might come out is that the person's mind is just strictly closed. He's just closed his mind to the Word. And again it may be that a person's mind is closed because of a specific passage that is being addressed such as such as the passage be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers all right.

And so here's a here's a cup. Here's a guy in in the congregation he hears that passage. He says oh I know what's coming. I know what's coming. He's gonna talk about not dating some unsaved girl. And he's dating an unsaved girl.

You know. So he's I don't want to hear this. Or he says I don't think that means what he says. It means I think that's just his interpretation. I've actually heard people use that line on that specific verse on that in applying in that particular way where a guy is dating an unsaved girl and he's challenged by it and he just says well that's your interpretation.

And goes on and continues dating the unsaved girl. So you know the mind is closed because that individual has warped the meaning of scripture. Or the mind is closed because the person is simply tuned out the preacher altogether and he just doesn't want to hear it.

It may be because of the preacher maybe because of the you know the guy's mannerisms or his style or or whatever and he just doesn't want to hear anything from that preacher. You're not going to get anything out of the word as it's opened.

Responding that way when the mind is closed. So what are the results. What are the results of this kind of response. Well one result is that the seed is and I let me put this in quotation marks. It's wasted.

The seed is wasted. It's sown on this hard soil. But it doesn't doesn't penetrate and it's just quickly forgotten. The birds come and eat the soil eat the seed and and snatch it away. It's wasted. Another result of this response is that the person's heart most likely will be harder be harder.

Have you have you experienced this in your own heart some point in your in your life your Christian life where you know somebody challenged you with God's Word about an area in your life that was out of sync with God's Word.

And instead of submitting instead of a spirit of humility and saying yeah you're right you bristle and you say that's just your interpretation or whatever and you and you shun it. And then your heart is harder to that.

The next time the heart is harder. And then a third possible response is that the attitude becomes more. The attitude becomes more bitter and it may become more bitter toward the sower or the seed. I remember years ago when I was a youth pastors this is in South Bend so you know 20 that long 30 years ago I was a young lady in the youth group and we were working on some project together and there were several of us sitting at the table and I can't remember what prompted this.

But somebody somebody said something and her response was well I sure hope they don't bring up that whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap again like I've heard that way too many times in chapel you know this was in a Christian school Christian school girl.

And she'd heard enough the exhortation. Be careful what you sow because what you sow is what you're gonna reap. I don't want to hear any more of that. I don't want to hear any more of that. And then of course another result is that the fruit is just simply forsaken seed doesn't penetrate the ground.

There's not going to be any fruit. There's not going to be any growth. There's not going to be any productivity from the seed as it's sown. In that particular instance this was Israel's problem. Remember that look look with me back in the last book of the Old Testament the book of Malachi.

And look at how. Look at how Israel responds to the different ways that the word is presented to them in Malachi. Chapter 1 verses 6 7 the Lord speaks through the prophet to his people. And he says a son honors his father and a servant his master.

If then I am the father where is my honor. And if I am a master where is my reverence. Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise my name. Yet you say in what way have we despised your name. What has happened to that seed as it's been sown on the soil.

It's been wasted. It's been wasted. Verse 7. You offer defiled food on my altar. But you say in what way have we defiled you. By saying the table of the Lord is contemptible. In what way have we defiled you.

Here's the confrontation. God's Word. You have defiled me. How have we defiled you. What way have we defiled you. Argumentation. What's happening to the seed as it's sown on this soil. The birds are just snatching it up.

Look at chapter 2 verse 17. Chapter 2 verse 17. You have wearied the Lord. We're we read the Lord with your words. Yet you say in what way have we wearied him. And that you say everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in him.

Or where is the God of justice. You have wearied him. How have we wearied him. And a couple more occasions. Chapter 3 verse 8. Chapter 3 verse 8. Will a man rob God. Yet you say yet you have robbed me.

But you say in what way have we robbed you. Here's the seed. It's sown. It's a seed of conviction. It's a seed of confrontation. It's God's Word confronting God's erring people. And what's happening to that seed.

The birds are snatching it away. And verses 13 and 14 your words have been harsh against me says the Lord. Yet you say what have we spoken against you. You have said it is useless to serve God. What prophet is it that we have kept his ordinance.

That's what. But again in each case here in each occasion as the seed is sown it's it's falling on hard soil and there is no growth. There is no fruit there is no productivity. That's one response. Another response in back in our text in Mark 4 verses 5 and 6 and then explained in verses 16 and 17 is a response that says I can't take it I can't take it.

So look at verses 5 and 6 again some fell on stony ground where it did not have much earth. Immediately it sprang up because that no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched because they had no root it withered away.

Jesus interprets that in verses 16 and 17 where he says these likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who when they hear the word immediately they receive it with gladness. And when they have no root and they have no root in themselves and so they endure only for a time afterward when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake immediately they stumble I can't take it.

And the problems in a person's life that causes him to respond this way can again be manifold. It may be that the individual simply has a lack of character a lack of character where the the principle of Scripture the seed that is that needs to be accepted and needs to change the life it it is secondary to pragmatism.

In other words as long as this doesn't cost me too much as long as it doesn't hurt too much and the person is evidencing a lack of a lack of courage a lack of backbone a lack of willingness to deal with adversity.

It may also be because of a lack of depth lack of depth where an individual who hears the word initially receives it enjoys hearing what he hears but he is superficially he is spiritually superficial spiritually superficial.

I think this is one of the difficulties a lot of young people have in in the school years the high school junior high and high school years you know where there's such a there's such a tug going on inside of them to be accepted by their peers and you know they they look around and they don't see any peers that are you know spiritually minded to have any interest in serving the Lord and they and so it's so easy so easy to just go with the flow go along with the crowd.

I can remember occasions in in my early high school years when you know I go to church I always I always had to go to church and I go to church and I'd hear something in youth group that that confronted me and convicted me and I I felt like I needed to change in that area and I really kind of wanted to.

But then I went back to school the next day you know I'm a I'm a lone duck in this big big pond full of ducks and they're all going they're all swimming in this direction and I'm not about to go swimming in the opposite direction.

That's how I was at that particular time and I think that's a common problem and it doesn't have to just be young people. So there can be a spiritual superficiality and then there can also be a superficial zeal a superficial zeal where something is heard it's grasped it's appreciated and there's a there's initial initial response of zealously pursuing it zealously doing it but the zeal is superficial and soon the fire wears out it burns out and whatever they were pursuing is gone.

And I think I think about this like at the the change of the years a lot of times at the beginning of year you know people make New Year's goals resolutions or whatever and one of them that's a common thing for for Christians who have any spiritual sensitivity at all is they I want to be more faithful in having devotions and reading the Bible.

So I'm going to get on a Bible reading plan and it may be something very aggressive. I'm gonna read through the Bible the whole Bible this year I'm gonna get on a Bible read through the whole Bible this year and I got a great deal of zeal about doing so and typically the the pastor at the end of the year encourages you know getting into something like that so that you can be scheduled and faithful and so forth.

But you know long about the second or third week of January you skip you miss a day for whatever reason alarm doesn't go off etc. And then it's easy to skip the next day and then before you know it you're totally off the schedule.

And then the zeal wanes a lack of depth. It can also be a lack of balance where the cut the cost is not counted. You know the Lord told us to count the cost of following him and we can hear the word and what we're called upon to do but we don't count the cost.

And so when it when it becomes tough well the tough get going or the weak leave a lack of balance. And then another problem is a lack of nourishment. Let me show you what I mean in Luke's account of this parable Luke chapter 8 verse 6.

He he points out another little detail that Jesus brought out in the parable Luke 8 and verse 6. So here you know Luke records that Jesus said some fell on the rock and as soon as it sprang up it withered away because it lacked moisture.

It lacked moisture. Which is as we very well know in these last couple of months is critical for the nourishment that a plant needs to grow and to be a healthy plant know what your garden looks like. But mine sure suffered as a result of the lack of rain these last couple of months.

So a lack of nourishment. What are the results were. The results will initially again in verse 16 back in our text mark 416 initially the individual receives the truth accepts the truth. But in verse 17 ultimately rejects the truth because it's hard because some difficulty makes it hard to carry out the challenge that the word has brought upon me.

Of course the point is that you know today's decision because I've been challenged by God's Word is essentially irrelevant if it's not lived out on Monday. Right. Third response verse 7. And then explained in verses 18 and 19 some seed fell among the thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no crop.

And in verses 18 and 19 Jesus explains. These are the ones stone among the thorns. They're the ones who hear the word and the cares of this world. The deceitfulness of riches and the desires of other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.

Person here hears the word and responds. But you know what. I like this too. I like this over here too. So the root problem is Jesus explains it in verse 19 is that the is that the person hearing the word in this case is out of control.

He's not controlled by the Spirit. And the word applied the Spirit applied word he's instead controlled by anxiety. The cares of this world. And there are plenty of them. And it doesn't matter how old you are in the faith doesn't matter how long you've been a Christian.

You know that this is true. There are plenty of cares. There always will be cares some. You know when we're young in the faith we can naively think that. Well if I'm just a little more spiritual I won't have some of the problems.

I won't have some of the anxieties. I won't have some of the concerns. And the older we get in the Lord the longer we walk with him the longer the more we realize that you know what this is the nature of life in the fallen world.

There are cares in this world. And the problem with this kind of response is those cares of the world can end up choking out the the word as it's planted in the heart. Another thing that controls this individual can control the individual is the power of wealth the deceitfulness of riches.

Believing that wealth or money has the answer to my basic needs. Money's the answer to my basic needs. Or money is the source of true happiness. You know I've just got to have it. And so if if I have to choose between you know doing what's right according to the word as it the seed as it's been sown or you know pursuing more of this.

Well I've got to go after this because this is really the source of true happiness deceitfulness of riches or what we might call materialism. Person may be controlled by materialism. The desire for other things.

The desire for other things even even good things even okay things can end up choking out the word. I remember a Bible doctrines teacher I had in college you know he he was talking at the time about on the one hand those who who want to say it's sinful for you to have a television in your home.

Television is a sinful box. And he said it's a box. He said it's a box. It in itself is an amoral object. It is neither sinful nor holy. What determines its holiness is how it's used by the possessor of that box.

And what often happens with the possessor of that box is that the box and what he uses the box for it ends up choking out good stuff that's been sown. And it's not that it's not that what's watched or observed on the box is bad but it just ends up displacing it ends up taking the put choking out the good stuff that's been sown by God's Word.

And then the overall problem here with this individual is a problem of double-mindedness. Of double-mindedness where you can desire the benefits of spiritual growth. But you're not desiring this to make the sacrifices necessary to acquire that growth.

And again what's the result. No fruit no fruit. The last part of verse 19 it becomes unfruitful which means no changed life. So I think this could be one of the reasons why a lot of Christians don't experience the fruit of the Spirit.

Love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness self-control. These aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. They come through growth through the taking in of the seed and letting the seed do its work and growing in our lives to develop these things.

So if I'm allowing myself to be constantly distracted by and have the seed choked by these other things I the fruit doesn't come. I like this too. And then of course the last response in verse 8 and then verse 20 explained in verse 20 is the response that says give me more give me more.

The other seed fell on good ground. Verse 8 says. And yielded a crop that sprang up increased and produced some 30 fold some 60 and some a hundredfold different attitudes behind this response. Aren't there an attitude that says where the where the person says I know that I'm needy.

I know I'm needy. And even though he may not know what the need is. How many times have you gone to church gone to a service. You opened up the text you heard the text read and followed along. And you're wondering I don't.

What's this got to do with me. What's this got to do with me. Years ago there was a guy in our church. It was leave. We didn't leave the church. And he said because the reason he was leaving is because I wouldn't preach.

I wouldn't preach topical messages. I wouldn't. I wouldn't preach like Spurgeon. Well hello. Who can preach like Spurgeon. You know the way the way Spurgeon preached was you know he went through the whole week and Saturday Saturday evening he sits down to figure out what he's going to preach the next morning.

And that's I mean sure the guy can do that. He's a genius. But anyhow you know he said you know you don't. You don't preach. You don't preach topical messages. I need you to preach what. I need you to preach the sin that I'm struggling with in a particular week.

Of course I'm like how in the world am I supposed to know what that is. His response is well the Holy Spirit will tell you what that is. You know. So but what about the person sitting next to you. What sin is he struggling with.

Is he's struggling with the same sin you're struggling with this week now what am I supposed to do about that person's sin. You know. And so forth. So it's you. You can't live like that. I can't preach like that.

So what do you do. So you're sitting here and you're you're you're going through this passage judges chapter. What's in this. What's in judges 11. For me I don't get this. This is gonna be an interesting thing.

And then you know it's like all of a sudden in the middle of the service you're like oh that I needed that I needed that. And how did you get that. How did you get what you needed. Because you had this underlying assumption when you came into church I'm a needy person.

I don't even know what the need is. But I know I'm a needy person. Even as Paul said Oh wretched man that I am. I know I know I'm a needy person. And the Lord knows you're a needy person too. And so he takes his word and he applies his word to a particular need in your life.

Another thing I think is true about the person who's going to take in the seed and bear fruit it's going to bear fruit is that the person is seeking the problem areas in his life. He knows he's a needy person but he's also not content to not know what those needs are.

There's there's a seeking after growth in the problem areas of life. If a person knows I've got a I've got an anger problem. I've got a short fuse. We knows that. So he wants to seek answers to that particular problem area of his life.

In other words he just he wants what God's best is for him. He wants for himself what God wants for him. He wants to know what is God like what does God like. And I want to change accordingly. This is the attitude the underlying attitude of the person who's where the seed brings forth fruit.

And the results spoken of in verse 20 as Jesus explains he says. This person hears the word he accepts it. And it bears fruit. A variety of fruit. Some 30 fold some 60 some 100. So he hears what God has for him in this particular day.