Title: Sowing good seed for a good harvest Text: Gal 6:7-8 Milton Hardin (Stacey) HigherGr@ix.netcom.com ****************************************************** How many here have had a birthday within last 12 months? Everybody! That’s great! If you haven’t had a birthday in the last 12 months you are in desperate need of prayer! Have you every had a birthday and you expected to receive many birthday cards?.... But, didn’t. In fact, except for maybe your husband or wife, you didn’t get any. If that has ever happened it probably hurt your feelings. At some point, it might dawn on you that maybe you haven’t been sending birthday cards and the Truth would hit you like a brick. If you want to receive B-day cards, you have to send birthday cards. ! ! Let’s read (Gal 6:7-8 NRSV) "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. ~8~ If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit." This is so true that the world has sayings for pheneminon: “What goes around comes around.” “He or she got a dose of their own medicine” “Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.” Yes, we reap what we sow. - *Whatever* it is, good or bad. We look for certain things in our life. We expect certain things. We go to the faucet, and we expect water to come out. We get in our car - expect it to start. We look to have our needs met. We want to be blessed. It’s nice when people think good things about us. I like it when people have love, joy, peace, and understanding towards me. Sometimes something simple as a smile or a slap on the back is nice. We look for Returns. We want to reap good things/ blessings. But, have you sown anything? What are you expecting from your job? What are you expecting from your family? What are you expecting to draw from this Church? We look for certain things. But,Have we sown anything? (No deposit? - No return.) Okay, maybe you once did. But have you lately sown anything? If you want it, you’ve gotta give it **first.** The sowing comes **first**. Then the harvest **follows**. To look for harvest when nothing is planted is not only backwards but it borders on thievery. Seeds are the beginning of something. You can’t expect to finish something that’s not started. You can’t demand rewards while neglecting duties. All seeds have this common. They are the start of something. Sowing comes first. Then comes the harvest. How do you get something started? Sow Seed! What kind of seeds are there? Spiritual and Carnal. Good and Bad. Some edify, build up, and give life while others choke and corrupt. Some grow easy. Some take time. A dandelion takes a day - Asparagus ..... 2 years. By the way, bad seeds seem to grow easier and faster! God is talking about more than just agriculture here. Seeds can be things, words, actions. Seeds are “Whatever”. Examples: The word of God is said to be “Seed”. Jesus: The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. Devil : Sows bad seed. Giving Money: (2 Cor 9:6-7) (Job 4:8 NIV) "As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it." You can’t fool God. You can’t cheat his laws of sowing and reaping. God will not be mocked. For “whatever” (Wild card) you sow, you shall reap. Good or bad. Spiritual or carnal. Our words are seeds. Words separate families and churches. It’s true! There are words that scatter - cause strife , confusion, and are destructive. There are words that gather - build up, edify, encourage. James writes that our tongue directs our lives. Just as a ship is directed by a small rudder. Just as a 1,000 pound horse can be steered with a 16 oz bit in its mouth. Words really get things started. What do you want to reap? For it's : “...Whatever...” - Gal 6 Do you want: To be treated well? Then treat others well. Friends? Then show yourself as a friend. Great church? Then gotta sow good things. (edify, encourage, build up) (The best way to boost our attendance is for you to be here!) People committed to you? Then gotta be committed to others. Love in the family? Then sow love yourself. (And don’t expect dandelion results when you want asparagus!) Who does the sowing? Choose the right answer: a) Lady Luck b) God c) You, (Whoever). Some people sing, “if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all, gloom , despair, and agony , oh me”. It’s not bad luck. It’s probably bad sowing! If you sow chickweed, Chickweed is what you’ll get. For whatever it is, For whoever does it. And whenever they do it.... That person shall also reap. It’s God’s law ....and it’s as sure as gravity. Whatsoever you sow, Whatever it is, Whenever you do it, you will reap. It’s a **choice**, not **chance** What do you expect from Life? What do you expect from this Church? Plant !!!!! Scripture states: Don’t deceive yourself. Whatever you sow you will reap. Don’t sit around expecting chance to take care of everything. Make a decision right now to sow, and keep sowing. Do you like to have steady blessings? Do you like them free flowing? 2 Cor 9:6 says that **However** you sow it, That’s **how** you’ll reap it. If you sow generously you will reap generously. Whatever measure you use to plant the seed, the same measure will be used to bless you back. Wow, this is getting crazy! **Whatever** you sow, **Whenever** you do it, **Whoever** does it, and **However** manner it’s done. ...That’s how it’s done back. That doesn’t look like chance to me. That’s choice ! Here’s how it works: No seeds. No harvest Bad seeds. Bad harvest. Good seeds. Good harvest. Don’t expect good seeds to act like bad seeds. If you have been a bad sower you have to be retrained. Dandelions pop up overnight. Asparagus takes 2 years. Fungus grows overnight. An oak tree many years. Reaping a good harvest takes time and patience. ! (Gal 6:9 NRSV) "So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not **give up**." At harvest time, where is the bad sower? Complaining and criticizing. Sowing more bad seed. He/She says things like this: “Where is the harvest ?” “Nothing good happens to me” “I’m going to write the farm bureau and give them a piece of my mind.” “It’s not my fault. I needed more rain, more workers, more gov’t subsidy” Don’t pull your own leg! “whatever a man sows , that is what he’ll reap.” If he sows nothing, he reaps nothing. If a man sows chickweed - He can call it anything he wants to. He can call it Wheat, Barley, or Vanilla Wafers for that matter. (Professions, pretensions, and self deception won’t change the harvest.) The only way to change the harvest is to change the sowing. If a man sows chickweed. Chickweed is what he’ll reap. If you want respect - give it. If you want growth - Plant. If you want some slack. Cut someone else some slack. Smile at others. They’ll smile back at you. <> It’s time to stop sitting at the table expecting fish to mysteriously appear. It’s time to throw our lines out. I know what you are thinking. You don’t have to tell me. I know. You’ve been around. You’ve gotten burned. (I mean experienced). You trusted so and so, And they violated you. You sowed good things. And got evil back. Your best efforts went without results. How could you have been such a fool? Don’t make that mistake again! Be careful !! Only plant sparingly. Make sure you know ahead of time you are going to get something back. Or, just quit. Let’s close up, suck up our losses, and go home and cry over spilt milk. Okay, I admit it! Some good seed is lost forever. But, if you take the attitude of what I’ve just said... (careful, quit). You have been duped. The ultimate con artist has gotten the best of you. Boy, he sure saw you coming! In book of Mark Chapter 4 Jesus spoke of a farmer spreading “GOOD SEED” and some of it was lost. The birds snapped up some of it. - Lost. Some seeds did not grow properly. -Lost. The sower did not do anything wrong. Sometimes you can do the right things. Say the right things. Bless others. You can sow the fruit of the Spirit. (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.) And in spite of it all, you will loose some good seed. It will seem like an incredible waste. You did good - and saw little or no results. It’s true, some good seed is lost. But there’s a trick here the devil pulls on people. Here’s how the trick works The devil wants you to see the loss and focus on it. He wants you to record it as a lesson learned...to discourage you. Ecc 11:4 NRSV “Whoever (other one of those “whoever”) observes the wind will not sow; and whoever regards the clouds will not reap." If you keep looking for the perfect time to plant... Looking for perfect weather... If you are scared to sow because of what the clouds will or will not do... If you regard the hard weather of the past... Then..... You will **not sow** , you will **not reap**. (See, you’ve been tricked.) That’s the trap. Now, here’s the truth. Let me line up 10 seeds here. Now watch me sow all ten of them. Let’s say I have a terrible loss and the enemy gets 9. A 90% loss would break the will of just about anyone. That’s why I’m being ridiculous here and accepting a 90% loss. However, if the one seed produces 30,60, or even 100 times as much, I win. Now at least I have 30, 60, or 100 where I only had 10 to begin with. I am not a rocket scientist but those are numbers I understand. The devil wants me to cry over the loss of 9, get bitter and angry and stop sowing. Why does he think I’m so stupid? I believe in the multiplying power of the good seed. I’ll play this game all day. The truth is: Jesus said the sower still reaped a good harvest. Some seed brought 30, 60, 100 times. Keep sowing good seed and faint not.!!! (Eccl 11:1-4 NRSV) "Send out your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back. ~2~ Divide your means seven ways, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth. ~3~ When clouds are full, they empty rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. ~4~ Whoever observes the wind will not sow; and whoever regards the clouds will not reap." (Eccl 11:6 NRSV) "In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good." You don’t control people. You don’t control the weather. (Sun, rain, wind) So why regard it? If you do, you’ll never reap anything. You **do control** what seed you sow. Whether good or bad. Or, whether you sow it or not. So, don’t be deceived. Plant good seeds everywhere. Do you want a good marriage? Plant. ! Do you want an excellent church? Plant. !