Knowing Jesus - Jared McCormick
Teachers
Lesson Summary
The class began with a brief celebration of a new sister in Christ and then transitioned into a study of the Parable of the Sower from Mark 4. The teacher read verses 1‑9, describing the four types of soil and explaining how each represented different responses to the Word. He then moved to verses 10‑13, highlighting Jesus’ comment that the disciples had been given the “secret of the kingdom of God” while the crowds heard in parables so they might see but not perceive. The lesson emphasized the insider‑outsider dynamic found throughout Mark, showing that true disciples hear, understand, and bear fruit, whereas those on the outside remain unresponsive. Throughout the session, the instructor used vivid analogies—such as the sudden vs. gradual stop of a car—to illustrate how people encounter Scripture. He encouraged participants to examine whether they are like the path, the rocky ground, the thorns, or the good soil. The central message was a call to turn toward Christ, allow His Word to take deep root, and produce a harvest that glorifies God. The class concluded with a prayerful invitation to apply these truths in daily life.
Key Scriptures
And he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 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 it 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 the 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, yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those outside everything is in parables, so that "seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they should turn, and God should forgive them."