Mark 4:1-20

Four Heart Conditions:

  1. The Hardened Heart (v. 15)

  2. The Shallow Heart (vv. 16-17)

  3. The Strangled Heart (vv. 18-19)

  4. The Fruitful Heart (v. 20)

Ephesians 2:10

“Sin will be truly hated, mourned over, resisted, and renounced. Christ will be truly loved, trusted in, followed…and obeyed. Holiness will show itself in all [our] conversation, in humility, spiritual-mindedness, patience, meekness, and charity. There will be something that can be seen. The true work of the Holy Ghost cannot be hid.” - J.C. Ryle

Discussion questions:

  1. Jesus offers this parable to make a point: The way we respond to the Word of God will reveal the true condition of our hearts. Jesus assumes that the seed (the Word) is regularly being sown in our lives. For you, is that a good assumption? How would you describe your own faithfulness to read God’s Word, hear God’s Word preached, pray God’s Word, etc.? 

  2. What obstacles exist in your life to the Word being sown more faithfully and fruitfully? How can those obstacles be overcome?

  3. Revisit the three “bad soil” heart conditions Jesus describes in this parable:

      1. The Hardened Heart (v. 15)

      2. The Shallow Heart (vv. 16-17)

      3. The Strangled Heart (vv. 18-19)

    4. What evidence of each do you see in your own life? What would it look like to turn from/repent of the evidences of “bad soil” in your life?

    5. What evidence of “good soil” (v. 20) can you celebrate in your life? How has God, by his grace, grown in you greater expressions of good character or good works?