Everyone loves a good story and a good storyteller.

But there is no storyteller like the Lord Jesus, and there are no greater stories told than the ones Jesus shared.

In this study, spiritual stories, we consider the parables Jesus told

and their application to us. These are truly the greatest stories ever told, and the Lord

has something He wants to say to you through them. Let's join Scott Pauli now. Though many of our Lord's parables stand alone, it is interesting how many of them are connected

to one another, almost like a series of stories and they interlock. They're woven into one another, almost like a series of stories, and they interlock. They're woven into one

another. We've come to one of those today in Matthew chapter number 13, another one of the

parables that's found only one time in the gospel records, and it is recorded for us by Matthew.

In Matthew chapter 13, beginning in verse number 24, it's very important that you realize that

this parable immediately follows Jesus telling the parable of the sower and the seed and the soils.

There's a reason for that. You remember at the end of that, Jesus identified the four different

types of soils, different types of human hearts.

Some were sincere and some were not. Some were open to God. Some were not. Some looked good,

but they really were not. Well, there's a danger in us becoming soil samplers. There's a great

danger in us trying to discern what's in a man's heart. And Jesus

told a follow-up parable that I think warns against that and reminds us that really only God knows.

Our job is not to discern whether people are genuine or not. That's between them and God, not them and us.

Our job is to just keep giving the gospel out. So we come to Matthew chapter 13 beginning in

verse number 24 and we read these words, another parable put he forth unto them saying. Now let me

pause just a moment and point out, remember I said that it follows

the famous story of the sower and the soils? Well, the word another here literally is the

word that was used for another of the same kind. So I really believe these two stories are linked.

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