more fruit?

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

The key words in these two passages are seed, soil, word/message of the kingdom and fruit. This happened on the same day as Jesus' talk about his family being those who do the will of the Father and seems to be a continuation of his thought: his family is made up of those who do the Father's will and good seed which bears fruit are those that hear the message of the kingdom and understand/act on it (hearing the Father's will and doing it). I think this is the first classic parable in Matthew. He does use other metaphors in previous chapters (the harvest and trees and fruit) but this is the first story that I can find.
Jesus interprets his own parable in verses 18-23 so the meaning isn't that difficult: What response will the message of the kingdom receive? Some will not understand it, some will receive it but fall away because of persecution, some will receive it but will be distracted by life and some will receive it and act on it, producing fruit.
I think there are two applications: 1) make sure that my heart is prepared to receive the message of the kingdom and to act on it and 2) don't be discouraged by the responses I receive as I spread the message of the kingdom.