Matthew:13:3-23

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* He taught the people many things by telling them stories . He said , Listen , a man went out to sow some seed . * As he sowed it , some of the seed fell on the road . Birds came and ate the seed . * Some seed fell on the stony ground . Not much earth covered the stones . The seed started to grow right away because it was not deep in the ground . * When the sun began to shine , it was too hot for the new plants . They died because they had no roots . * Some seed fell among the weeds . The weeds grew up and made the new plants die . * But some seed fell on good ground . The seed grew and the plants gave more seed . Some plants gave thirty seeds . Some gave sixty . And some gave a hundred . * Everyone who has ears , listen ! * The disciples came to Jesus and asked him , Why do you tell the people these stories ? * Jesus answered them , You can learn the secret things about the kingdom of heaven . But they cannot learn them . * Anyone who already has something will get more , and he will have plenty . But he who does not have anything , even the little that he has will be taken away from him . * That is why I tell them stories . They look , but they do not see . They listen , but they do not hear or understand . * They make what Isaiah the prophet said long ago , come true . Isaiah said : "You will listen and listen , but you will not understand . You will look and look , but you will not see . * The hearts of these people have no feeling . They do not hear well with their ears . And they have shut their eyes . They do not want to see with their eyes . They do not want to hear with their ears . They do not want to understand in their hearts . They do not want to turn to me . If they did turn , I would heal them ." * God is blessing your eyes because they see . God is blessing your ears because they hear . * I tell you the truth . Many prophets and good men wanted to see what you see , but they did not see them . They wanted to hear what you hear , but they did not hear them . * So listen to hear what the story means , about the man who sowed the seed . * People listen to the message about the kingdom of heaven . If anyone does not understand it , the devil comes along and takes the message out of his heart . That person is like the seed which fell on the road . * Some seed fell on the stony ground . That is like a person who hears the message and right away he is glad to hear it . * But it does not go down deep in his heart . He believes it for a short time . When trouble or a hard time comes because of the message , he stops believing . * Some seed fell among the weeds . That is like the person who hears the message . But he thinks about the things of this world . He wants to get money to be happy . These things push the message out of his heart . No good comes from it . * Some seed fell on good ground . That is like a person who hears the message and understands it . Much good comes from it . Some people are like the seed that gave a hundred more seeds . Some people are like the seed that gave sixty . Some people are like the seed that gave thirty .

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