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but the worries about this life, the love for riches, and all other kinds of desires crowd in and choke the message, and they don't bear fruit.
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But other people are like seeds sown in good soil. They hear the message, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred."
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Jesus continued, "Does anyone ever bring in a lamp and put it under a bowl or under the bed? Isn't it put on the lampstand?
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Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be uncovered.
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Listen, then, if you have ears!"
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He also said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear! The same rules you use to judge others will be used by God to judge you - but with even greater severity.
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Those who have something will be given more, and those who have nothing will have taken away from them even the little they have."
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Jesus went on to say, "The Kingdom of God is like this. A man scatters seed in his field.
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He sleeps at night, is up and about during the day, and all the while the seeds are sprouting and growing. Yet he does not know how it happens.
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The soil itself makes the plants grow and bear fruit; first the tender stalk appears, then the head, and finally the head full of grain.
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When the grain is ripe, the man starts cutting it with his sickle, because harvest time has come.
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