Multiplication Table at Work

The multiplication principles are at work throughout the Bible.

And if we would only catch as eagerly and sow as diligently the seed that falls from the Prince of Peace, we might soon to cover the whole earth with its increase.  – W.M. Taylor

There was a story in a London newspaper years ago about a single grain of wheat that had fallen from the hand of some...
royalty and was picked up and planted with much excitement, knowing that it was “royal wheat”. Within several years, the single grain of wheat had multiplied into enough wheat to cover a sixteen acre plot of land. Great care was given to this single seed because of it’s “royalty”. This one seed was cared for in such a way that it produced results beyond any imagination!  This is a great reminder of how the spiritual principle of multiplication works.  In the same way, if we were to take the “royal seeds” that Jesus gives us through his teachings and parables, taking extreme care to cultivate and develop them in our hearts and lives, what would be the result?

Even those of us who have never gardened can imagine the harvest of a bumper crop and that’s how multiplication works in us and through us. We can live a life that produces amazing and far-reaching outcomes, better than any sixteen acre plot of wheat.

READ and THINK… What does the Bible say?

In this account by Mark, Jesus is teaching a very large crowd through a parable. Parables are simply stories with a complex or double meaning that the listener has to glean out. Parables were a favored teaching method by Jewish Rabbis of that day, and farming was a topic that almost all of the people listening would understand. This particular story is usually called “The Parable of the Sower”.

Question: What are the three conditions on which the farmer throws his seed?

Mark 4:3-7 (New Living Translation)

³ Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seed. ⁴ As he scattered it across his field, some of the seed fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate it. ⁵ Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain.

Answer:

This same parable is told in Matthew, Mark and Luke, each recounting Jesus’ teaching with slight variations. This is how Matthew shares that Jesus concluded the parable.

Question: What is the positive outcome of throwing the seeds on fertile soil?

Matthew 13:8 (New Living Translation)

Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!

Answer:

LIVE… What will you do now?

How does the parable of the sower demonstrate God’s multiplication? Look at the definitions of the types of soil. Do they line up, even loosely, with the equations from this past weekend of God’s arithmetic? Where would you consider yourself to be right now?

Number X Zero = LOSS          Number X One = NO CHANGE (anything multiplied here doesn’t really change)          Number X Two = GROWTH

Tending and readying the soil for planting is considered one of the most important steps in farming. How do you tend your soil? What steps could you take to further ready yourself so that your yield is multiplied?

Mark 4 is filled with examples of how listening and responding to God’s Word produces a great harvest. Read the chapter and record what you want to remember to help you put the multiply mindset into practice today.

PRAY… God, what do you want me to know and do?

Praise God for His incredible precision in creating both the natural and the Biblical principles. Thank Him for giving and teaching examples of how to change the attitude of your heart. Ask Him to help you recognize the multiplication principle at work in your life and in other believers around you so that, together, you can multiply those gifts for His glory.

Digging Deeper with this week’s teaching pastor:

Click here to go deeper using the Life Group DVD by the teaching pastor or view the message, including bonus discussion questions.

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