Mark 4:1-41

Hey hey, ladies! You are listening to Bold is… a women’s ministry podcast with the goal of helping you learn the Bible verse-by-verse. We are currently treading through the gospel of Mark and are so excited that you have started on this journey with us! Before we get started, we wanted to let you know that everything we do in this ministry is 100% free with the exception of few incentives for our financial supporters. These include discounts on our merchandise, additional resources on our website, and early access to all of our content. If you believe in what we are doing and would like to consider helping a few girls out, would you pray about joining us as sponsors?! We have plans ranging from $1/month to $25/month. With your donations, you are ensuring that we can give you, among other women, content to help you better understand your Bible. If you cannot afford to help, we can def. Use your prayers! If you have learned anything from us, you will know that ministry is hard… like really really hard, but the blood - sweat- and tears put into is completely disappears when we see women eager to go deeper in their faith and help us change the way the world reads their Bible. Okay, friend -- are you ready to dive into Mark 4?!INTROIf you are new to our podcast, Welcome welcome welcome, sister! You have found your tribe! You will always be welcome here, our safe place to learn and ask quetsions! I will read a passage of Scripture and then we break it down verse by verse. We are going to attempt the entire 4th chapter of Mark today, so hold on tight -- it’s about to get wild. I will be reading from the New American Study Bible (also commonly referred to as the NASB) today if you are interested in following along.This is God breathed and profitable for youHe began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 3 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 6 And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, [a]let him hear.”So Jesus is teaching by the sea again and there is a crowd begins to gather around Him. The Greek word that John Mark used here refers to a remarkably large crowd.  So large, actually that He had to get into a boat to teach them. They would have stayed on the land He taught from the boat… let that sink in. He starts teaching them in parables again too. Let’s break this illustration down. Luke 8:11 shows us that the seed in this parable is the word of God and the sower is the Christian who spreads the word by sharing it with others. The soil is an 10 As soon as He was alone, [b]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, 12 so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”Explanation