To Have and To Hold

Follow Along with the Message

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."--G. K. Chesterton

Have you ever wondered why Christianity "works" in some people and not in others?

Parable; para (beside), ballow (to throw)

Preaching the kingdom of God.  Simple and powerful call of Christ.  Many received the message.  Resistance began to grow.  Jesus' approach began to change.

--WRATH

     "Because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear."--v. 13

     "I'd like to buy $3 worth of God please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.  I don't want enough to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. . .I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack.  I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please."--Wilbur Rees

--MERCY

     "He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."--2 Peter 3:19

--GLORY

     "Otherwise they would see. . .and hear. . .and understand. . .and return, and I would heal them."--v. 15

     1) Hard soil, 2) hard soil that looks soft, 3) crowded soil,  4) good soil.

He hears and UNDERSTANDS--Matthew 13:23

He hears and ACCEPTS--Mark 4:20

He hears and HOLDS FAST--Luke 8:15

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     "Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus."--Philippians 3:12