The Bryce Crawford Podcast - What Is A Parable? (EP 50)

Episode Date: October 21, 2024

In this video, Bryce explains what a parable is Filmed By; Josh Rodriguez @whitehorse.studios MERCH👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.com subscribe for more! Sow Into My Ministry One-Time or Monthly! Visit 👉 https://www.equipnet.org/missionaries/bcrawford   (all donations are tax deductible) Download Our FREE Bible Plan https://growinfaith.readytoconnect.com/join-the-one-year-bible-challenge  follow me on other platforms! Podcast Instagram 👉https://instagram.com/brycecrawfordpodcast Personal Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/brycecrawford Merch Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/ilovejesus Tiktok (main) 👉https://www.tiktok.com/@brycecrawford  Tiktok (2nd) 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@adventuresofbryce  Snapchat https://snapchat.com/add/brycecraww  Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/ibrycecrawford #christianity #christian #Jesus #BryceCrawford #christiantiktok #christianvideos #holyspirit #Jesusheals #viral #christianvideo #venicebeach #evangelism

What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce and in today's episode, we're going to be talking about why Jesus spoke in parables. I think this is going to be an amazing episode. I mean, we see Jesus use parables as a form of teaching, a prominent form of teaching. And so we're going to talk about it here. We're just going to be diving into Mark chapter four and kind of going through a breakdown of what this scripture is, why Jesus speaks in parables. It's going to be awesome. Before we get into it, But guys, check out Moses. He's got his little hot dog costume on. I saw it at the pet store today when I was getting some food. I think it's awesome. So, yeah, anyways, let's get into Mark chapter 4. All right. So here's the context of what's going on here.

Jesus Christ is now, he's been performing great miracles so much so that he would have the disciples have a boat ready for him in case he needed to escape because the crowds were getting so big. So Jesus was becoming popular by work. of mouth and now Jesus is about to have like is about to have his big first almost like a first speech almost like a first big engagement like an inauguration speech here and Jesus comes amongst this crowd a big crowd of people came to see Jesus people are coming to get healed probably see miracles they want to hear Jesus and it says and when he was alone sorry excuse me let me go back up mark four verse one says that he began to teach beside the sea in a very large crowd gathered

around him. So he got into a boat. There were so many people coming amongst Jesus. He had to get into a boat. And he says, listen, think about this. Jesus' first big speech ever. Imagine Jesus is going on campaign to become the next president. This is his first big rally. And this is what Jesus says. Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed some seed, and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path. And the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much. soil and immediately sprang up since it had no depth of soil and when the sun rose it was scorched and since it had no root it withered away other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no grain and other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain growing up and increasing

and yielding 30 fold and 60 fold and a hundredfold and he said those who have ears let him hear that's it that's all he says so jesus first major speech his first big exhortation to a crowd is hey man a sore went out to sow he said some seed here and you know it immediately got snapshot by birds and other seed here but there was no soil and the sun killed it and then there was some seed here but the thorns killed it and then some seed it actually sprouted and grew and actually produced fruit and then if you heard that hear it and then he walked away now in this moment jesus has the opportunity here to get people to come behind this kingdom i mean jesus is is literally going about preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is

is now. He says repent for the kingdom of heaven has come. He is performing miracles. And now Jesus is before his first great crowd about to give his first speech, imagine out a rally. And instead, he preaches in a parable. And then it immediately jumps down to verse 10. It immediately jumps down. And it says, and when he was alone, around him were the 12 disciples. So in my mind, I think like, all right, you know, Jesus just got done, given his first big speech and then later on that night the disciples are like hey jesus you know that was great out there that was amazing what you did that was awesome um you know you've been doing great but but what you said made absolutely no sense you know like i mean they're coming around and they're like all right jesus what's going on and this is what he says to them he says to you has been given

the secret of the kingdom of god but for those outside everything is in parables so that they may indeed see but not perceive. They may indeed hear but not understand lest they should turn and be forgiven. So Jesus speaks in parables as a sifting mechanism. Because he speaks in parables, he separates people in two groups. He separates the people that actually want to know the secrets of the kingdom and so they come and meet with Jesus in private and say, Jesus explain this to me. And then he separates another group, the people that were coming to Jesus that only wanted the gifts and didn't want to experience the giver. those that wanted the benefits of the kingdom and not the king. So those people that came to Jesus and heard the parable and they said,

oh man, this guy's speaking nonsense. They left because all they wanted was the benefits of Jesus. They didn't want the intimacy of him. But the disciples, the parables were there for a reason because he said those that want to know the secrets of the kingdom, they will come to him and they will say, God, Jesus said, come on. Like really tell me what's going on. I want to know. Those that are hungry will meet with Jesus in private and ask for more.

So there was this intimacy that came alongside of the parables. I'm like, okay, look, Jesus, tell us what's going on. So Jesus is speaking in parables here to offend people's brains to get to their art. He's seeing who's really hungry. Who wants to know the real Jesus? Jesus is a serious matter. You know, you can tell when people get serious based on their actions. You know, got a lot of people that talk here.

A lot of people say, man, I'm serious about God. him serious about my relationship with Jesus, but those actually, those who put their hand to the plow, those who get dirty and the nitty gritty, those that actually move in fate, those who actually do something about it, those are the ones that show that they're hungry for Jesus. So now Jesus here is about to explain the secrets of the kingdom. He's about to say something really powerful here. The reason that Jesus speaks in parables is to separate those who want just the benefits of him and those who really want him. Now he's about to explain the parable here. He says, do you not understand this parable? He goes, here we go. The sower soes the word. The sower so's the word. So the sower in this parable

is the one that preaches the word. Who's the sower, me and you? Jesus's first inauguration speech, his first big rally speech, he's preaching to those who have become disciples of him. He's saying, hey, listen, if you're my disciple, you're actually the sower. You're the one delivering the message. And because you're going to deliver the message, I'm about to tell you the four reactions that are going to happen when you preach the Word of God. And there's actually many ways that we can do this. We can do it out of love. Well, we do it in love. We do it in truth and we do it with grace.

We do it with love. The reason we preach the gospel is because we do it out of love, because we know that the love that has been laid down for us, Jesus Christ. And so we are motivated out of love to share the gospel. We do it in truth because there is one truth, absolute truth, who is Jesus Christ, the word in the full. flesh. And then when we do it with grace, we don't get frustrated, we don't get angry when people don't understand because we have to once understand that we didn't understand. Grace is a gift that is given that isn't deserved. So we preach the gospel with love, truth, and grace. Then he says, these are the ones that are along the path where the word is sown. When they hear it, Satan immediately

comes and takes the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones that are sown on a rocky ground. I mean, sorry, these are the ones that are sewn along the path. go back if you look at the parable he says the first seed was sewn along a path and the birds immediately came up and devoured it and this is the person where you've sowed the seed and Satan immediately comes and takes it away the word that is sewn into them those that are like there is there's a battle going on in the spiritual realm our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities there is a war going on for that person's soul and Satan immediately takes it out takes their way from them you know there's two ways that you can take away the word of God from

someone if someone's holding a Bible you can literally forcefully take it out of their hand like give it to me get it out of here or you can do what's popular in today's day and age the number one way satan removes a seed sown from people is through distraction how easy is it for you to get distracted with social media and things like that but Satan immediately takes the word away then he says then the one that's sewn on rocky ground the ones when they hear the word and they immediately receive it with joy but there's no root in themselves so they endure it for a while, they endure it for a while, and then it says when persecution arises, immediately they fall away. I remember when I was younger, I went to youth camps. And I remember

the first few days, everybody was living crazy, everyone was trying to break the rules. And then after a few days of eating malnourished food and little sleep, because you stay up till 3 a.m. and wake up at 6 a.m. Then, by the end of the weekend, the whole room gets saved. Everybody's given their life to Jesus. We're all holding each other crying. We've all become best friends. And it's great. It's amazing. And then the pastor's like, yo, are you sold out for Jesus? We're like, yeah. And he's like, are you giving your life to Jesus? Yeah. And he's like, go tell people about it. And then it's like, no, I'm not going to tell people about it. And I remember thinking to myself, okay, in that moment, sure, I received it with joy. But then when it came down to it, like being hated for it, the

trials for it, they're being a major target on my back. Nah, I gave it up. I didn't care. It was just like an emotional thing for me. I was emotionally there, but my heart wasn't ready. And so he says, those are the ones that are sewn on the rocky path. Those people that immediately receive it with joy,

those that are like, oh, yeah, this is good, this is good, this is good. But then when hard times come, it's like, no, it's not about it. I'm not really down with that lifestyle. Okay. That's a lot of people in today's day and age. They think they got it.

The lukewarm Christians that say, yeah, I'm sold out. but when times get hard they don't do anything about it. And he says, then others are sewn among the thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches and desires for other things enter in, choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. So this may be one of you guys,

where you say, man, I love Jesus, but you keep getting distracted. This is how it happens. Oh, I need to read my Bible today. Oh, shoot, I forgot the school assignment. Let me start working on my school assignment. Oh, hey, bro, what are you doing? Hey, do you want to come play basketball? Yeah, I need a break.

I'll come play basketball. basketball. Okay, let me go play basketball for a little bit. I come home. Oh, I'm going to doomscroll for two hours on my phone now on TikTok. It's not that you hate Jesus. It's just that you got distracted from what matters most. And so because the desires of the world, money, fame, oh, I'm blowing up on social media. So I got to work harder to blow up. I'm doing all these things because I'm caring about what the world thinks of me and not what Jesus does. So that chokes out our faith. then he says but those that are sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word they accept it and they bear fruit the one that hears something goes oh my gosh i'm poor and spirit i am in need of someone or something other than myself i am in need of jesus and then the gospel gets sewn in their heart it produces fruit so much so now they are being the sower they are going out and sewn it's crazy that jesus speaks in parables here because these secrets of the kingdom aren't really secrets if you meet with them. Like we call it the secret place. When you meet in private, like it's cool when Jesus gives us information, you know that's in private.

You know, you really get to know someone when you meet with them one on one. But it's like you and I can know the same secrets of God if we just meet with him. Maybe at different time periods, you know, if we both go to the secret place, you might learn something different than I do today. But there are secrets to those that actually

meet with him. And the reasons that people don't know the secrets of the secret places because they're not willing to meet with them in private. Rather, people's relationship with God nowadays is more public. It's more about looking the part. It's more about looking like it. And he says, look, there's four types of people in this world. Those that sowed the seed and Satan immediately takes it away. There's, there's just a war battle for their soul. Then there's a person that says, oh yeah, they were hard sold out for Jesus. immediately, but then when persecution, trials, their friends start hating them, then they turn their back on the gospel. And then he says, there's the person that, yeah, you know, they, they were

Christian, but the desires and riches of the world is straighted him away off the path. And then he says, but there is those who, when you so see it amongst them, when you so seed amongst them, those are the ones that bear fruit. Those are the ones that accept it and bear it with their lives. There's a reason that Jesus speaks in parables, guys, is because he has. sifting out the real Christians from the fake ones. Jesus speaks in parables simply here. He says, look, there's two groups once the parables go. Isn't it easy? You know, he like speaks in parables and it's like, okay, those that actually want to know what he says, the disciples, they meet with them afterwards. And those that were only there just to get something from Jesus,

like a genie in a bottle, they run away when it gets hard. And how easy is it for us today as Christians to say, oh, well, I read my Bible. I read this passage once and I don't understand it, so I'm just giving up on it. Where it's like, no, we have the help or the Holy Spirit to come and give us revelation. Or just like last episodes, we can actually fast and receive divine revelation and scripture and from God. Or even practical, there's so many resources out there today that can help us understand the word.

And so my point being is, is when it comes to Jesus, we've got to take him serious. Okay? There's a war for every soul in mankind. And just like the parable, seed is being sewn. And this is seed sewn into your life right now. Are you going to be someone that lets the devil have a foothold in your life and not let it produce any fruit in your life? Are you going to be someone that says, oh, yeah,

I kind of want to be sold out for the gospel, but, you know, but then when it really gets hard, you're just going to run away? Are you going to be someone that lets the distractions and the desires of the world take you away from Jesus? Or are you going to let this sit in your heart? produce fruit and actually do something about it Jesus I thank you for the word of God

I just thank you for what you're doing in our lives God but you just allow this to produce fruit and good seed in our lives in Jesus name amen guys thank you so much for watching listening to this episode if you like the podcast follows on all platforms Bryce Crawford podcast

visit Jesus in the street.com for some merch I love you guys see you guys in the next episode