100 Days to a Healthier ChurchSample

Day 23 (Sunday)

Today’s Big Idea: Toward a better culture. After relating the Parable of the Sower, Jesus directly explained its meaning. This gives us a great opportunity to revisit the parable after identifying the challenges last Sunday. It’s important to teach about all four types of soil. First, because that’s where the passage takes us. Second, because no church faces just one of those issues to the exclusion of the others. Third, because these three culture issues interact with each other—like threads in a fabric, when you pull one, you affect the others. Finally, the focus shouldn’t be on the problems, but on the solution: helping the culture become softer, simpler, and deeper.

Key Verse: But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown (Matthew 13:23).

Thoughts to Consider: How can we help our church start making the needed shift in culture? Is there anything I need to change in my actions or attitudes that can contribute to a better culture?