SeedTime & Harvest: Preparing for Advance in a Time of Crisis

SeedTime & Harvest: Preparing for Advance in a Time of Crisis

Jesus spoke a parable describing the conditions of people’s hearts in relation to God’s word, or the seed. How you handle the seed of God’s is the most important thing that you handle.

Matthew 13:1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Look at what Jesus said in regard to The Purpose of Parables:

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 

 

He describe four conditions of soil, or of the heart: Three bad and one good. 

1) Wayside is an unreceptive place: In Palestine the fields were in long narrow strips; and the ground between the strips was always a right of way. It was used as a common path; and therefore it was beaten as hard as a pavement by the feet of countless passers-by

2) Stony was shallow. It is a then layer of soil over limestone rock

3) Thorny was full of weeds and distractions. Luke 8:14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. The thorny ground was deceptive. When the sower was sowing, the ground would look clean enough. It is easy to make a garden look clean by simply turning it over; but in the ground still lay the fibrous roots of the couch grass and the bishop weed and all the perennial pests [like crab grass], ready to spring to life again. Every gardener knows that the weeds grow with a speed and a strength that few good seeds can equal. The result was that the good seed and the dormant weeds grew together; but the weeds were so strong that they choked the life out of the seed.

4) Good ground was tilled and ready to receive seed. Which condition describes your heart?

Operating in your authority requires a heart prepared like a good garden or farm field. There’s a lot that God wants to do through us and with us.

Let’s deal with the condition of the soil with weeds and thorns. This condition best describes many of us who attend church. We do well receiving the word and understanding what we are hearing. But during the week, as a results of challenges, circumstances, and stuff we let into our hearts and minds, the word gets choked out. Jesus  said we become, “choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life.”

The best way to stop being distracted, is to learn how to focus.

TThe Power of Sowing in Obedience to God  

Genesis 26:1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

2 Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 

12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. 13 The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; 14 for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him

LESSONS FOR YOU FROM ISAAC

1. Resist the urge to be frightened and flee.
2. When conditions change, make adjustments and remain obedient to God.
3. Sowing is our business. Reaping is God’s business.
4. People will envy your progress. Don’t give energy to them.