18. (a) Explain the results of seed sown on fine soil. (b) How have many been aided to get the sense of God’s Word during the past year?

¹⁸ However, Jesus went on to say: “A for the one sown upon the fine soil, this is the one hearing the word and getting the sense of it, who really does bear fruit and produces, this one a hundredfold, that one sixty, the other thirty.” (Matt. 13:23) It is quite evident that there must be a ‘hearing of the word and getting the sense of it.’ There must be personal study in order for one to get the sense of God’s Word. In order to promote personal study Jehovah’s witnesses did conduct 1,097,237 home Bible studies every week during 1969, where it appeared that they had found fine soil. A great number of these private home Bible studies brought results. Jehovah’s witnesses help people to hear the word of the Kingdom. They spent 239,769,076 hours talking to people of all nations and started tens of thousands of home Bible studies with interested persons. Not all persons continue with weekly Bible studies, but the 1969 field service report shows that over one million Bible studies were conducted regularly every week. These studies in God’s Word are necessary because they help to clean out the wicked reasonings of the heart. This will allow the truth to grow. One certainly cannot grow, figuratively speaking, on the busy roadside or on rocky places or in among thorns. There has to be good soil for fine growth. What kind of soil are you? We hope you are an individual who will accept with mildness the implanting of the Word and “put away all filthiness and that superfluous thing, moral badness.” If the seed of truth is going to sprout, there has to be good soil, something for the roots of the plant to go down into.

19. (a) How can one prove oneself to be like good soil? (b) What proof have we that many have been like good soil during the 1969 service year? (c) How do baptism figures for the past four years compare?

¹⁹ You can prove yourself good soil by getting rid of the wicked reasonings in the heart, like murders, adulteries, fornications, thievery, and so forth. (Matt. 15:19) God’s Word implanted in one will send up a strong plant, there to bear fruit. Are you growing as a Christian? Is the truth, the word of the Kingdom, deep down in you? Are the roots taking hold and sending up a plant that will bear fruit? In encouragement of all this, Jesus finished his illustration by saying: “This is the one hearing the word and getting the sense of it, who really does bear fruit and produces, this one a hundredfold, that one sixty, the other thirty.” (Matt. 13:23) Many of the interested people that Jehovah’s witnesses talked to and then studied with proved themselves to be fine soil. They dedicated their lives to Jehovah and in 1969 alone 120,905 persons were baptized and became Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. Can we say the dedicated, baptized persons known as Jehovah’s witnesses are bearing fruit, this one a hundredfold, that one sixty and the other thirty? Admittedly someone is producing fruit! Just look back over the past few years: in 1966 there were 58,904 baptized; 1967 produced 74,981 baptized; in 1968 the number was 82,842; and now in 1969 the fruitage came to be 120,905 dedicated, baptized Christians taking up the preaching of “the word of the kingdom.” Marvelous! And we thank Jehovah for his rich blessing.

20. (a) What is meant by the word “implant”? (b) How can we apply this to our teaching work?

²⁰ To implant something, whether a seed or the Word of God, means, first of all, to plant or set securely or deeply. The word “implant” literally means to plant in the soil so that the seed will take root and grow. Similarly, teaching is what makes for one’s performance of that which is learned. When the truth is implanted in good soil the learner is going to produce something, and this product is due to learning. Centuries ago when the Jews were so well protected by Jehovah and they were his chosen people, he gave the parents of all Israelite children instruction, namely, that they should inculcate the truth of God’s Word into their children’s minds. Jehovah wanted them to have knowledge and understanding. His command to parents was: “And these words that I am commanding you today must prove to be on your heart; and you must inculcate them in your son and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.”​—Deut. 6:6, 7.

“WITH MILDNESS”

22. (a) What fruitage of the spirit is needed in order for God’s Word to be implanted in an individual? (b) What type of persons does this thus eliminate?

²² Jesus’ half brother James very likely was well acquainted with Jesus’ parable of the sower, and as he commented on this matter of planting he may have had in mind that which Jesus spoke about. He really epitomizes the entire illustration by saying: “Put away all filthiness and that superfluous thing, moral badness, and accept with mildness the implanting of the word which is able to save your souls.” We want to keep in mind that the implanting of the word must be accepted with mildness. It is not going to be sounded down orally by Christian teachers into the minds of haughty and high-minded individuals. A person who has a know-it-all attitude cannot show humility. The soil must not be so hard that it is like a rock, impenetrable. When the Bible truth enters a mind that is searching for knowledge and understanding and it settles into the heart and mind of a person that has deep respect for the great Creator, then the seed will sprout and grow, and there will in due season be a coming to maturity. As Jesus said: ‘It will really bear fruit.’ Some persons produce a hundredfold, others sixty and still others thirty. How very true this is! When we see the accomplishments of individuals who have the truth and spend time preaching from door to door and conducting Bible studies we know that these persons are doing just what they should do. Did not Jesus say: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them”? (Matt. 28:19) In their lifetime Jehovah’s witnesses individually may bring as many as thirty persons to a knowledge of the truth, others sixty and still others a hundred. If “the word of the kingdom” is sown in good soil it will bring forth good fruit in time. Have you tried to be a Bible teacher? Have you responded to Jesus’ command, “Go . . . make disciples . . . baptizing them”?

23, 24. As regards personality changes, what have over one million Christian witnesses of Jehovah done?

²³ There are more than a million Christian witnesses of Jehovah today that have taken the proper steps to save their lives by putting away the superfluous thing, moral badness, and all filthiness of the flesh. They believe Paul when he said: “You should put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct and which is being corrupted according to his deceptive desires; but . . . you should be made new in the force actuating your mind, and should put on the new personality which was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.” (Eph. 4:22-24) The only way that one could put on this new personality, “which was created according to God’s will,” would be by first getting rid of the old personality. Then a change can begin to take place. That new force actuating your mind would result from your accepting “with mildness the implanting of the word which is able to save your souls.” Paul was very interested in putting on this new personality, and that was why he said at 1 Corinthians 9:27: “I browbeat my body and lead it as a slave, that, after I have preached to others, I myself should not become disapproved somehow.”