MESSAGE: Sow What?                                               Date: 7/13/2025

SERIES: Jesus’ Parables 

COMMUNICATOR: Pastor Stephen Masters

CHECK-IN & SHARE WINS: What was one highlight from your week? Where have you seen Jesus at work—in your life or in the world around you? Sharing wins help move the mission of God forward. 

THINK, DISCUSS, LIVE: These questions are great for personal devotions or group discussions. They’re designed to help you grow spiritually, connect more deeply with your Jesus friends, and live out your faith in the world around you.

1. Read Matthew 13:3–23. What is a parable, and who was Jesus really speaking to when He told them? Why do you think He chose to use stories instead of just giving direct answers? (See verse 11).
2. What’s a short story that has stuck with you because it changed the way you think, live or see the world? 
3. When you think about the three soil types (path, rocky, thorny) in Matthew 13, which one feels most like where you’re at right now? What’s happening in your life that makes you say that?
4. Jesus used parables to reveal truth to those who were seeking it and to conceal it from those with hardened hearts. What makes someone’s heart closed to the truth? What does it look like for someone to seek God’s truth? How do you think obedience affects how we hear, receive, and live out God’s Word? 
5. What are some signs that your heart might be getting hardened to the truth of God’s Word? Could signs of a soft or hardened heart show up in your relationships, your thoughts, your emotional reactions, or even in how you engage during a Canvas gathering? What usually helps soften your heart again?
6. Read Philippians 4:6. How can the worries of life (like stress, life distractions, or financial responsibilities) choke out your passion for following Jesus? How have you seen that happen in your life? What did you do differently to make that life change? 
7. What does it mean to have a heart like ‘fertile soil’? What are some examples? 
8. Jesus described different levels of spiritual impact—30, 60, or even 100 times what was planted. What do you think that kind of growth looks like in the life of a Jesus follower? What might be the difference between someone bearing 30-fold fruit and someone bearing 100-fold?
9. Read John 8:31–32. What’s one area of your life where you feel stuck or weighed down—and you’d like to see Jesus bring freedom? What step can you take personally to help make that happen? 
10. Truth demands a response! What is one practical way you can respond to the parable of the soils—at home, at work, or with friends? How can you live and model a fertile soiled heart? 

TAKING NEW GROUND! This week, take new ground by asking God to show you the true condition of your heart—what kind of “soil” it really is. Then, ask Him to show you what needs to change so your heart can be more “fertile soil” that receives and lives out His truth. Take those next steps and ask a Jesus Friend to walk alongside you. 

THE TRANSFORMATIONAL MODEL: Update your current position within the Canvas Circle, Jesus Friends Circle, and Lost Friends Circle. In what specific ways are you growing more like Jesus, reflecting His love and teachings to others, and drawing closer to the center of the diagram?

2025 LIFE CHANGE CHALLENGE: We’ve put together a Bible reading plan to help you read through the entire New Testament in one year. Just one chapter a day, five days a week—plus a short bonus passage to reflect on. You can find it on the Canvas Church app—just tap “Bible Reading Plan.” Prefer to listen? That’s an option too! Join us on this life-changing journey with Jesus.

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP PRAYER OPTIONS: “A maturing community is a confessing community—not a church without sin, but a church without secrets.”― Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer

1. Praise Sentences: Take a moment to offer short sentence prayers of thanks to God for who He is and what He has done this week. Allow multiple people to pray, even more than once. Then, lift up the needs shared within your group. Finish by thanking Him for hearing your prayers.  
2. Invite Jesus into the challenges you or a loved one are facing right now, trusting in His presence and guidance. As you pray aloud, encourage one another with your words.
3. Pray for the person on your right, it can be out loud or in silence, if in silence nudge the person next to you letting them know you are done. 
4. Prayer Clusters: Meet in groups of two or three (same gender) to share praises and prayer requests. Pray together and for one another during the week. Let those in your group know you prayed—send a quick text of encouragement.

PRAYER PRACTICE ON YOUR OWN: In every situation—big or small—pause and ask, “God, what do You want me to know?” Then ask, “What do You want me to do?” It could be something simple or something big. Try it this week and see how God shows up! Make sure you tell someone what God is doing in and through you! 

KEEPING TRACK OF HIS ANSWERS: Keep a running list of prayer requests and answered prayers. It helps the group stay connected, celebrate God’s faithfulness, and stay encouraged to keep praying—especially while waiting for answers.