[MUSIC PLAYING] ''--saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man." [SNORING]

Monster trucks, monster trucks, monster trucks. This Saturday is the sports arena. Gates open at 6:00 PM. Oh, man, the seminary test is going to be a disaster tomorrow. Monster trucks! Smashing! Stomping! Crushing their way into the sports arena Satur-- Hey, here it is. "Another parable put he forth unto them." Did I just read that? Ugh.

Here it is. "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man." I wonder if that new girl likes me.

[SNORING] All right, that's enough. Shut the words down. Not again. I got it.

[ZAPPING]

What in the world? You weren't using the words, so we turn them off. That was a bit much, guys. Who are you? Allow me to introduce myself, Terry. My friends called me Sower. How do you know my name? Look, I don't know what's going on here. But I'd appreciate it if you put the words back on the page. I've got a huge seminary test on this stuff in the morning. I'll put the words back if you pay attention to them. I was paying attention. Sort of. Do you want to pass this test or not? OK, so tell me, where do I start? What were you reading? Well, I think it was a parable. Oh, my favorite. Three things will help you understand a parable. And the first is to make an outline. Ooh, nice lines. You got to love it. Hey, guys, back to work. Ah, wouldn't you know it? We do all the work, he gets all the glory. [CHUCKLE] Give them a job, and they write a book. OK. Now, identify the characters and objects in the parable, any actions taken in the consequences of those actions. What characters do you remember? Not much. It seems like there was a man. "A man which sowed." Right. What else do you remember? Nothing. That's as far as I got before the words disappeared. Oh. [CHUCKLE] Maybe so. OK, turn the words back on. That was Matthew, wasn't it? I got it, I got it. OK now, Terry, start reading. And this time, pay attention. "Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But-- Stop! Now, start outlining the parable.

"Man." "Sowed." "Good seed." "In his field." Good. Now, finish reading and outlining the parable.

[CLANG]

Well, what do you got?

"Man sowed good seeds in field. Enemy came sowed tares. Wheat tears grow bear fruit. Servants want to gather tears. Householder says wait until harvest. Reapers separate. Burn tares wheat to barn." Sounds pretty complete. Yeah, but what does it mean? He needs some help. I'm way ahead of you. I love surprises. Shh, don't let him hear you. Come on, a little bit higher. [INAUDIBLE] I said, shh! Any clues yet? Well, actually the next step is to-- Look for clues? All right! How did you know that? Just a lucky guess. What kind of clues? Something funny going on around here. When he never saw us. Reading through the parable, did you see anything that might help us discover its meaning? Well, yes. It says, "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto this parable." So this parable is about the kingdom of heaven. Good. Write that down.

Like understatements are often found in parables and are strong clues to their meaning. Any other clues? How about cross references? Those are usually helpful. Yeah, here's one about tares.

"TG Apostasy, of the early Christian Church." OK. So the tares represent the Apostasy. Could be. Right that down next to "tares" on your outline. What is a tare? Why don't they just pull the tares out? Is a tare really going to hurt anything anyway? You have a Bible dictionary. Why don't you look up the word "tares"?

Here it is. "Tares." The word denotes darnel grass, a poisonous weed, which until it comes into ear, is similar in appearance to wheat." Hey, no wonder why you want to get rid of the tares. Hey, what's this? Wheat and tares. Why don't you try pulling the tares out for me?

[KNOCK ON DOOR] [DOORKNOB RATTLING]

Just putting some laundry away. How's the studying going? Fine, Mom. Just fine. Well, good. You know what your father said about this test, so-- Hi, Sister Robinson. Sower, how are you tonight? Oh, fine, thanks. I'm just trying to help your son understand these parables. Oh, great. Well, be patient with him. It's good to see you again.

Have fun. You know my mom? Oh, sure. She needed some help understanding the parables and saw her one night. Looks like you had some trouble separating the wheat from the tares. Yeah, they're so close together. You can't pull out just one. That's why we wait until the harvest to separate them. OK, lose the tears. A please would be nice. This is the last straw. Make up your mind. Sounds like we need to spend a little more time in Job. So any other clues you can find? Yeah, here's a cross reference for the kingdom of heaven. "TG Kingdom of God, on Earth." But this is the second time I've seen TG. What does TG mean? Thank Goodness? Topical Guide. It's in the back.

Oh, here it is. "Kingdom of God on Earth. See also Church. Church organization." So what they're saying-- Exactly. The kingdom of heaven may represent the Church. Now, write that down next to "kingdom of heaven." All this additional information is really useful. Background information like the setting, a question prompting the parable, et cetera, is often helpful. Unfortunately, this parable doesn't include that information. So do you know what this parable is talking about? All I really know is that it has something to do with the Church in the apostasy. This is going to be the best yet! I'm so excited. OK, guys. Just get it over with. Watch it, you're spilling it. Oops. That's it? It looks awful. Boy, they really outdid themselves this time. I want a transfer. Well, now you're ready to compare your clues with your outline and set them side by side. Hey, that's what parable means-- a setting side by side, a comparison. I'm impressed. When did you pick that up? I looked it up in the Bible dictionary while you were off exploring. You are making progress. All right, back to the outline. You have an enemy who planted tares or apostasy. Now, let me ask you a couple questions about that. What enemy would want the Church too fall away? So the enemy is Satan.

Then the man must be the Lord, right? So the servants must be the apostles of a prophet. It looks like the good seed is the righteous, while the tares is the wicked. Will the wicked be burned? I guess at the Second Coming, it will be. Hey, it all fits. But how will I know if it's right? Most of the time, you'll need to rely on the spirit to know if you're on target or not. The Lord, however, gave much of the interpretation for some of the parables and the other cross references. Here's one for Matthew 13:26 through 43. "Soweth," "good seed," "Son of man." "Field," "the world," "enemy," "the devil." It's all here. We did it. Hey, wait a minute. Why didn't you tell this to me before? Well, I thought you'd might like the challenge. Thanks a lot. I guess I'm ready for any question on this variable tomorrow. Yes! Here we go again. This is too much. They all wait till the night before. I want a transfer. Got another word outage. Probably someone else getting ready for this test. Going to be a busy night. Wait a minute. How do I figure out all the other parables? You've got all the tools you need. You'll remember them when you wake up. When I wake up? What are you talk about? Wait a minute. This isn't another one of those dumb dream things, is it?

[KNOCK ON DOOR]

Terry. Hey, you have to wake up so you can finish studying. Oh. Oh, I must have been dreaming. Well, better hurry and finish studying so you can get to bed. Oh, and can you take that garbage out tonight? I don't want that dirt trapped through the house. OK, Mom. Goodnight.

Well, I don't know if you were real or not, Sower. But you had some really great ideas. So before I forget, keys to understanding parables. Outline the parable. Look for clues, like undue do statements, cross references, background information, et cetera. Then make the comparison.

Now, let's see.

"The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed--"