Hi, friends. I'm Annie F. Down. Let's read the Gospels. The Gospels are the first four books of

the New Testament and the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are the stories of Jesus Christ

life on earth, the friendships, the parables, the sacrifices, the meals, the miracles. Each month,

we read all four books, so make sure you're subscribed. Join us as we read the Gospels together.

Here's how it works. I'm going to read three chapters to you today. You can listen or read along

in your own Bible, and then I'll pray, and that's it. So today is August 5th, day five, and I'll

be reading Matthew, chapter 13 through 15, and this month, I'm reading from the message.

Matthew 13. At about that same time, Jesus left the house and sat on the beach, and no time at all,

a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit,

he addressed his congregation telling stories. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed.

As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel.

It sprouted quickly, but didn't put down roots. So when the sun came up, it withered just as

quickly. Some fell in the weeds. As it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on

good earth and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams. Are you listening to this really

listening? The disciples came up and asked, why do you tell stories? He replied, you've

been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift,

this insight. It hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this,

the insights and understandings flow freely, but if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity

soon disappears. That's why I tell stories to create readiness to nudge the people toward a

welcome awakening. And their present state, they can stare till doomsday and not see it.

Listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. I don't want Isaiah's forecast repeated

all over again. Your ears are open, but you don't hear a thing. Your eyes are awake,

...