Mark 4:23-33

²³If you want to understand this, you should consider carefully what you have just heard.”

²⁴Then he said to them, “Consider carefully what you hear me say to you, for God will let you understand to the same degree that you consider what I say. He will let you understand even more than that.

²⁵Those who consider what I say and understand it, God will enable them to understand more. But those who do not consider carefully what I say, they will forget even what they already know.”

²⁶Jesus also said, “God has the power to change people who let him rule their lives. I will illustrate how that can happen MET. A man planted seeds in the ground.

²⁷Afterwards he slept each night and rose each day without worrying about the seeds. During that time the seeds sprouted and grew in a way that he did not understand, because by itself the soil caused the plants to grow and produce grain.

²⁸First the stalks appeared. Then the heads appeared. Then the full kernels in the heads appeared.

²⁹As soon as the grain was ripe he sent people MTY to harvest it because it was time to harvest the grain.”

³⁰Jesus told them another parable. He said, “I will tell you RHQ how the number of people whose lives God rules in a new way will continue to grow (OR, each continue to have more and more influence in this world). I hope RHQ that this illustration will show this to you.

³¹You know what happens to mustard seeds when we plant them. Though mustard seeds are among the smallest of seeds, here in Israel they become large plants.

³²After they are planted, they grow up and become larger than the other garden plants. They put out big branches so that birds are able to make nests in their shade.”

³³Jesus used many such illustrations when he talked to the people about God. If they were able to understand some, he kept telling them more.