What Kind of Soil Are You Growing In?

A reflection on the Parable of the Sower — and why your next step matters more than you think

Matthew 13:1–23  ·  Mosaic Church, Mableton  ·  The Soil of the Soul

There’s a story Jesus tells that sounds simple on the surface. A farmer. Some seeds. Four kinds of ground. It takes less than two minutes to read.

But sit with it long enough and it starts to ask you something uncomfortable: not just what kind of soil you are — but whether you’re doing anything about it.

This past Sunday at Mosaic, we spent time in Matthew 13 with the Parable of the Sower, and I want to stay in that passage a little longer here. Because I believe the question Jesus is asking doesn’t end when the service does. It follows you home. It shows up at work on Monday morning. It’s there when the week gets hard and the motivation runs dry.

The soil of your soul is not fixed. It is tended — or it is neglected. And only one of those is passive.

Let’s be honest with each other: most of us drift toward passive spiritual formation. We hope that proximity to good things — a good church, good people, good content — will somehow do the work for us. But Jesus’ parable is a direct challenge to that assumption. The farmer is generous. Recklessly generous, even. He throws seed on every kind of ground. But the seed in this story does not transform the soil.

That’s on you. That’s on me.

Matthew 13:23 NLT  “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

The good soil doesn’t just receive. It multiplies. That multiplication is not accidental, and it is not private. It flows outward. It changes the ground around it.

So what does it look like to actually tend the soil? Not in theory. Here.

Four Moves That Form You

At Mosaic, we hold to four convictions about what it looks like to grow. They’re not a checklist. They’re not a program. They’re the rhythms that turn rocky ground into good ground over time.

Know God. Not just about God — but in actual relationship with Him. This means showing up for Scripture with honest questions, not just the ones that have easy answers. It means prayer that sounds like a real conversation, not a performance. Sunday’s sermon was an invitation to this — but it can’t be the only time this week you and God are in the same room.

Find Community. The shallow-soil believer in Jesus’ parable falls away when pressure comes. One of the primary reasons? No roots. Roots grow in relationship. You cannot be formed alone. The family of Mosaic exists precisely because someone needs you — and you need someone. That’s not a slogan. That’s soil science.

Discover Purpose. The crowded-heart person in the parable isn’t wicked. They’re just distracted. Worries and wealth crowd out what’s already growing. Discovering purpose isn’t a personality exercise — it’s the practice of asking, ‘What is God growing in me right now, and am I making room for it?’

Make a Difference. Good soil produces thirty, sixty, a hundredfold. That harvest doesn’t stay in the ground. It feeds people. It changes neighborhoods. It is the necessary outward overflow of genuine inward formation. Discipleship that never reaches your neighbor isn’t good soil — it’s a storage problem.

These four rhythms aren’t meant to overwhelm you. They’re meant to orient you. Passive faith hopes one of them will happen on its own. Active faith chooses at least one of them this week.

An Invitation Into the Movement

There’s a reason we call this season the Antioch Movement. The church in Antioch in Acts 11 was a place where people from different backgrounds gathered around the same Jesus, got formed together, and then sent people out to change the world. It wasn’t a passive community. It was a sending one.

That’s who we’re becoming at Mosaic. And we want you in it — not on the sideline, not streaming from a comfortable distance, but in it.

So here’s a simple, real ask:

Is there someone in your life who needs to be in a room — even a virtual room — where they’re told they are loved, they are valued, and they are welcome here?

You know exactly who just came to mind. That’s not an accident.

Invite a Friend to Breakfast

Next Sunday, instead of watching alone, invite someone to watch with you. Make them breakfast. Sit together. Let the sermon do what seeds do — and give it some soil to land on.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. A text that says ‘come over and eat with me Sunday morning’ might be the most significant thing you do this week. We go live at 11:00am (EDT) — stream us anywhere at [streaming link].

Or Join One of Our House Groups

If you’re ready for something more rooted than Sunday morning alone, our house groups are where the Antioch Movement gets personal. These are small, intimate gatherings in people’s homes — where you can ask your real questions, bring your real life, and be known.

Registration is required so we can connect you to the right group for where you are.

Ready to find your people?  Register for a House Group →

Good Soil Produces. This Summer, Let’s Prove It.

This summer, Mosaic is putting our faith on the ground through ServeMableton — our community-wide Serve Week initiative. Because ‘Make a Difference’ isn’t just one of our four pillars. It’s the fruit that proves the soil is working.

Here’s what we’re planning:

This is not a Mosaic-only effort. This is Mosaic for Mableton. For Cobb County. For our neighbors who may never set foot in our building but deserve to experience the extravagant generosity of a community that takes ‘Make a Difference’ seriously.

You don’t have to have it all together to serve. You just have to show up.

Whether you have a few hours on a Saturday morning or you want to anchor a whole project — there is a place for you on our Serve Team this summer.

THREE WAYS TO GET INVOLVED:

Sign up to serve and get details on our upcoming Serve Week projects:   Sign Up for ServeMableton →

Have a project idea or a community need we should know about?   Submit a Project →

Want to join our Serve Team and help coordinate this summer’s efforts?   Join the Serve Team →

The good soil in Jesus’ parable doesn’t ask whether the harvest will be worth the work. It just opens. It receives. And then it gives back more than it was given.

That’s the Antioch spirit. That’s Mosaic. And this summer, that’s ServeMableton.

One Last Thing

If you’re reading this and none of it feels like it’s for you — if your soil feels hard right now, or shallow, or so crowded you can’t find yourself in it — I want you to hear this:

The farmer in this parable is not selective. He throws seed on the path. On the rocks. On the thorns. God does not wait for you to become good soil before He plants in you. The seed has already landed.

What you do with it is the question Jesus is asking. And He’s patient enough to ask it more than once.

Bring your real self. Invite a real friend. Serve a real neighborhood. That’s how the ground changes.

We’ll see you Sunday.