Lord's Day Sermon

March 15, 2026

The Secret Power of the Seed

Mark 4:21-34 Matt Bowles Series: Mark

Sermon Details

Title
The Secret Power of the Seed
Scripture
Mark 4:21-34
Preacher
Matt Bowles
Series
Read passage (ESV) — Mark 4:21-34

A Lamp Under a Basket

21 And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Open full passage at ESV.org →

Outline

  1. The Kingdom of God possesses a divine, inevitable power to grow even when it is shrouded in ________________.
  2. Because we crave visible _____________, we resist God’s timing with anxious ________________ and self-reliant “rescuing” that leads to despair.
  3. Jesus is the True ________________ who submitted to the ultimate ______________ of death so that His ____________ life could inevitably grow within us.
  4. Because our standing is _________________ in Christ, we get to replace the anxiety of self-rescue with ______________, even while the Kingdom remains in a season of __________________.