Which Soil Are You?

“Which Soil are you?” Matthew 13:1-23 Speaker: Devin Stagg Kobe Union Church 4 May 2025

Many preachers/teachers who teach on the Parable of the Sower teach it from a righteousness perspective. And today I’m going to try and attempt to show you from a kingdom perspective, which deals with advancing business with the integrity of the gospel. So let’s go through this together. 

We need to do a little background before jumping into the main scripture.The background is found in Matt 6:33 where it says: 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

In order to understand this parable, we need to know what distinguishes these two pursuits. The Lord gives us two mandates of what we are to seek: His Kingdom AND His Righteousness.Seeking the Kingdom is distinct from seeking Righteousness. In Matt 6 vs.2, 5, and 16 we learn that seeking His Righteousness involves Giving, Praying, and Fasting respectively. Yet seeking His Kingdom is dependent on this Parable of the Sower that we’re going to study.

Three Main Symbols in the Parable

• The Sower = The Father and King of Kings

• Seed = Word of the Kingdom

• Ground = Your heart and depth of understanding

Let’s dive in by taking a look at the three symbols. In Matt 13, who is the Sower, what is the seed, and what is the ground in the passage? The Sower is the Father and King of Kings. As sovereign, He is the King of His Kingdom and His mandates are intended to fall into the hands of His people, His sheep. The Seed is the Word of the Kingdom. This word is the revelation of what God desires to do through you and I, but our capacity is determined by the type of ground we manage. The ground is your heart and depth of understanding. Consider that in the Jewish perspective, (the one Jesus is teaching from) understanding always leads to action.

Matt 13 describes four types of ground that the seed (the Word of the Kingdom) fell upon. The Seed is Good to be planted! The ground is the focus.

Seed fell on 4 types of Ground

1. Wayside

2. Stony Places

3. Thorns 

4. Good Ground

These ground types indicate the level of understanding we have in order to carry the seed until it bears fruit.

1. Wayside

2. Hears but doesn't understand.

3. Enemy comes and snatches it away.

The word that you were meant to carry and produce is taken from you NOT because you are wicked or evil but simply because you didn't understand it. 

I was listening to a message once and the pastor explained that he had the idea for the iPhone years before Steve Jobs launched his in 2007. Have you ever experienced the same thing, where you go “Hey, that was my idea!!!!”… and then get angry. Well, what did you do with what you were given? 

Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates, they are all known for their innovation, but the difference between them and us comes down to stewardship of the seed. That stewardship is the level of understanding to nurture it until it produces its fruit. This ability isn’t based on righteousness.

But Devin, neither of them are known as a men of faith. I know, and the seed wasn’t intended for them. This is the reason the Father encoded them in parables. The enemy accesses it through theft by stealing the seed from those who lack the knowledge to sustain it. 

Why did Jesus speak in Parables and who is the intended audience?

Matthew 13:10-11 NKJV

[10] And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” [11] He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.  

He desires for His sheep, the ones closest to him, to know the meaning of the message in order to do His will. This is also why we have been given the Holy Spirit, to know His heart. He will Never leave you nor forsake you. 

In John ch.14-16 Jesus repeatedly explains His promise to you, the promise of the HS. If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit or need an encounter with Him, please come up after the service and we will pray with you.

2. Stony places

One who receives it with joy because they understand it but fall when they sprout because they have no root. They understand the assignment, but haven’t done enough research to make it in the market. The lack of practice is their fall.

When trouble comes they are not able to endure it and immediately stumble. The trial occurs because of the word, and not because of sin. The trial that is meant for their promotion becomes a stumbling block to those who don’t understand.

In JHS and HS, I used to run track and field. You can see that I’m not the tallest person, nor was I back then, but I wanted to try the hurdles anyway. I can jump very well, but when I tried at full speed, my back leg got caught and I ate the dirt, haha. I needed more practice.This is often what happens when we are in the place of the Stony ground. We are excited at the race in front of us and the promise of reaching the goal, yet there are hurdles in front of us that we must clear in order to see that the seed produces in our lives. The hurdles don’t come because we missed the mark or erred spiritually or morally, but because it is part of the process to receive the prize at the end.

3. Receives the seed among thorns

What are the thorns and why do they come? They can be found in Matt 6. The thorns are:

• The cares of this world (eat, sleep, drink, and wear Matt 6:25,31)

• The deceitfulness of riches (Matt 6:22-24)

These things choke the word so that it's unable to bear fruit in your life.

At this stage you are beginning to see progress, you have gone from seed form, have roots and have started sprouting, but alongside of you, vines with thorns also sprout. The challenge of this stage is to check upon who you are serving. It is checking to see what has been planted alongside the Word of the Kingdom.

Don’t be deceived by the potential of the seed for your own economic prominence. You can’t serve both God and Mammon (money or world system). Matt 6:19-23. In the process of nurturing this seed, have we begun to think about how we will benefit from the fruit rather than on who we are called to serve with this seed? Sure, it will bring prominence to you but its primary objective is to expand God’s Kingdom!

The thorns can at times be people you associate with, but remember in this passage the focus is on you and your understanding. 

There are some people who are their worst enemy, the negativity that comes out of their mouths is the very thing that is hindering them from bearing fruit. Self-sabotage and the way you think and talk are acting like thorns and choking your roots. We are called to renew our minds and speak life over ourselves and what God has given us. In Genesis, God spoke the world into existence. You are made in His image. Your words create worlds!Everyone say this with me: I am a child of God, I am loved, I have the mind of Christ, I am prosperous, I am good ground!

4. Good Ground

Hears, Understands, Bears Fruit and Produces: 100x, 60x, 30x

Good Ground Hears the Word of the Kingdom. My sheep hear my voice (John 10:27)

Good ground Understands Cost, the implication of what it will take to steward the seed.

Good Ground bears fruit by moving. Good ground sets up the structures that are needed for that seed to flourish.

Good Ground sees exponential yield. From the depth of understanding, it produces and receives a return of 100x, 60x, or 30x.

Having good soil isn’t an option for us but rather a pursuit that we need to undertake as a church. Knowing that the Lord has released the Word of the Kingdom over us, will we pursue it so that we also bear fruit and produce 100x?

Till the Soil

Lastly, How do you become good soil so that the seed finds a firm root within you?

Till the soil!

Tilling the soil breaks up the compacted ground that was too hard to receive the seed. It adds air and cuts the roots of the thorn vines. By tilling the soil, you can add fertilizer to make it richer. And did you know the best soil has manure in it? It’s true haha it has poo in it haha. It could be cow or even chicken manure, but where that poo has no purpose of its own than to get rid of waste from the body; once introduced into the soil, it enriches it, so that what is planted can germinate and grow stronger than it would have without it. 

Sometimes there is poo in our life. But if you take the poo of life and turn it over to the Lord, it will actually fertilize the ground. Dealing with the poo in your life means dealing with the strongholds that are holding you back from becoming all that God has for your life. Rather than setting them aside, it addresses them and allows them to be reworked into the soil. That experience both good and bad becomes fuel for the God-sized dream on the inside of you. 

Not dealing with the poo is like walking around with a dirty diaper and thinking you don’t smell. Don’t pretend you’ve never seen or smelt poo. There are old habits and things we have experienced that we are still carrying around that we are not ready to let go of. Things like: my title, my ministry, my divorce, my addictions…(could be porn, drink, smoke), my nationality or ethnicity; rather than as a child of God.

You might say these things don't define me! But we often make excuses and still wear these identities when we leave the church. Let’s renew our minds and rework those old thought patterns and habits. Remember, when we come to Christ, He gives us new life, but we are called to renew our minds! Be Born Again! Pursue His Righteousness AND His Kingdom. 

So let's go on a journey together.

Out of these 4 types of soil, which one are you? Be honest, not to me, but to the Lord. I had to ask the Lord and where in the past I felt I was at the stage of the seed among thorns, lately I have felt that I haven’t truly understood this parable and have gone backwards to be the type of soil without depth.

Now I hope you understand why the 40 Days of Depth was important for us as a church. We need to go deeper and prioritize the Word of the Kingdom over this house and in our own lives. 

Prov 25:2 “2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Word for the KUC.

KUC I have a word from the Lord over our church that I have been wanting to share and I hope that it's alright that I do so today.

The Lord has been saying over us, can you disciple a nation? And move past small thinking? The wine you have benefited from is from the old wineskin are you ready to move into the new? I am waiting to pour out my presence upon you and you have already been tasting of it, but would you dedicate yourself to stewarding the new wineskin for this movement?

Think national impact. This house will begin to steward a sound that leads people from deliverance to revival. This city has been marked as a Bethel but who is willing to take up the mantle to steward this grace? I am seeking those who would say like Isaiah, Here I am, send me!

So stand KUC, now is the time, Green light! Pursue my Kingdom!