# Matthew 13:18-23



## cih1355 (May 4, 2005)

Is the word of the kingdom what Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God or everything that the Scriptures teach? Would the sower be anyone who proclaims the word of the kingdom?


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## Contra_Mundum (May 4, 2005)

The sowing of the Word can be viewed in three stages:
1) the sower as Christ the Lord
2) the sower as his commissioned messengers, the preachers of Christ's Word
3) all declaration, even "unofficial" spreading of the Word

Christ spreads his own Word, superintending every aspect of its distribution, by means of his Spirit, though he exercises his authority from heaven, his dwelling place.

The preachers are his principal earthly conduits for the spreading of that Word, ever since Jesus sent out the 12, the 70, and the apostles and evangelists of the New Testament. This is the means of grace attended with the most unequivocal promises in the Bible of attendant power and effects. Preachers are supposed to have been appropriately _gifted_ for this duty.

Every kingdom citizen has a _basic_ duty of familiarity with God's Word, and its elementary application in his life. He may not be articulate in tongue, but that which he can say, and more especially live out, he has a basic obligation to do, for example, confessing "Jesus is Lord" (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3).


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