Lord of the Harvest
Scripture Reading: Mark 4:3-9 & 13-20
3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed,
that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and
devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth;
and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when
the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered
away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and
choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and
yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some a hundred.” 9 And He said to them, “He who has ears
to hear, let him hear!”
13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will
you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And
these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear,
Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their
hearts. 16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when
they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have
no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when
tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they
stumble. 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones
who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of
riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it
becomes unfruitful. 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those
who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty,
and some a hundred.”
I’ve read this parable many times as you may have. The sower sows the word. I
remember one of the members of our youth group named Fitz wrote a song
called “Spitting Seeds”. It was about how we, as believers, should always have
the word coming out of our mouth. Sharing the Gospel with our is us ‘spitting
seeds’ out into the world. That is crucial for us to do so that everyone will have
the opportunity to hear the Gospel and respond to it. How they will receive the
word is up to them. As this parable points out when Yeshua explains it, some
may not be ready to properly receive the ‘seed’ that has been sown. For the
purpose of this message today, I want to focus on the seed that is planted in
good soil, digs down its roots and begins to grow. That should be referring to us,
right?
Luke 12:22-26
22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about
your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life
is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the
ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor
barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the
birds? 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?
Before I got saved I worried about everything. All the little details, all the bid
details, really even little thing I could find to worry about, I did. So, I get this. I
completely understand these words from the Master and was able to apply them
in my life. Worrying about things isn’t going to do one thing to help us. Yeshua
tells us to consider the raven that neither sows nor reaps, nor has barns; but that
God feeds every day. We know we’re more important than birds to God so we
should not worry about such things. I have got that down. I am able to walk in
such peace with Yeshua. He is YHWH Shalom and YHWH Jireh; the Lord my
peace and my provider. But am I supposed to stay like the raven and not sow or
rep or have a barn or storehouse? Was that the point of this parable?
Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
He says that there will ALWAYS be seedtime and harvest. That’s a basic
principle in the kingdom. Do you think it might be important to understand the
time to seed and the time to harvest when you consider that so much is tied to
it?
Genesis 3:17-19
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife,
and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall
not eat of it’:
“ Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
In verse 17 YHWH says that the ground is cursed for mans’ sake. Why would the
ground being cursed be for us? Well, the scripture goes on to speak of man
toiling and sweating and eating of the soil; the dust from which we’ve come. Man
has an undeniable connection to the soil from which mankind has become so
disconnected. But somehow working the soil was to be a good thing for us to
do. There’s certainly a symbiotic relationship between us and plants. We
breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. They take in carbon dioxide
and release clean oxygen, that again breathe in. What comes from the plant is
nutrition for us and was comes from the waste products of the flesh fertilizes the
soil from which the plants gets its nutrients.
I know that since I’ve started my garden there are so many thing in scripture
related to seedtime that have just come to life for me. Sure, I understood them
on a basic level but now that understanding has move to a much deeper level.
Seedtime is crucial. Harvest time is monumental. But that long, tedious time in
the middle; is paramount. Yesterday I was mulching my plants and I came to one
tomato plant. As I lifted the planter to eye level so I could distribute the mulch, I
noticed that the trunk of the plant looked oddly deformed. When I turned the
plant around, I saw that there were chucks missing and what looked like some
brow sap or something. As I looked more closely, I recognized that it was a
caterpillar that had attached itself to the plant and was eating it! Though I had
sown a good seed into good soil and faithfully watered it and watched it grow,
there was a predator that I could not see that was trying to deprive me of my
harvest.
Now, of course, I removed the predator and I think the plant is strong enough to
rebound from this attack but it made me wonder. How many believers are sowing
their seeds into good soil and yet never seeing the harvest come from that? Just
like that caterpillar would have eventually eaten completely through that stem,
cutting the plant off from the soil that provided the nutrients to grow. So are the
seedlings from many believers destroyed by the enemy’s camp without us even
knowing what hit.
John 4:35-36
35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the
harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for
they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages,
and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps
may rejoice together.
It is no longer good enough for us to sit back and be ravens. We need to
become harvest minded. We cannot just continue to spit out random seeds and
think that’s going to bring a harvest. If a farmer goes out to an unprepared field
and just throws out corn seeds haphazardly, he is not going to yield the crop he
could have. Sure there will be some corn that grows, but if he doesn’t sow
smartly in proper rows with proper spacing between, it’s going to affect
everything else. He’ll have corn stalks growing on top of corn stalks; choking
each other out. He won’t be able to walk through the field efficiently to keep a
watchful eye for predators and when harvest time does come, he it will be much
more difficult to harvest the crop.
We cannot just keep saying. “God bless you” and “Have a blessed day” and think
that somehow we’ll see a harvest from that. The seed is the word. We have got
to start effectively planting the word every opportunity we get and I think we’d all
be surprised at how many opportunities we get that are squandered. And we
have got to be ready and willing to toil over that seed for as long as it takes to
bring forth the harvest. The harvest is there. Yeshua says the fields are white
for the harvest and we must start expecting more than just our own peace and
more than just our own provision.
Matthew 9:36-39
36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for
them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no
shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful,
but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send
out laborers into His harvest.”
It’s time to start expecting the thirty, sixty, and hundred fold that Yeshua speaks
about in the parable.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: May 4, 2008
Scripture Reading: Mark 4:3-9 & 13-20
3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed,
that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and
devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth;
and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when
the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered
away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and
choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and
yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold,
some sixty, and some a hundred.” 9 And He said to them, “He who has ears
to hear, let him hear!”
13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will
you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And
these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear,
Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their
hearts. 16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when
they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have
no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when
tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they
stumble. 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones
who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of
riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it
becomes unfruitful. 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those
who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty,
and some a hundred.”
I’ve read this parable many times as you may have. The sower sows the word. I
remember one of the members of our youth group named Fitz wrote a song
called “Spitting Seeds”. It was about how we, as believers, should always have
the word coming out of our mouth. Sharing the Gospel with our is us ‘spitting
seeds’ out into the world. That is crucial for us to do so that everyone will have
the opportunity to hear the Gospel and respond to it. How they will receive the
word is up to them. As this parable points out when Yeshua explains it, some
may not be ready to properly receive the ‘seed’ that has been sown. For the
purpose of this message today, I want to focus on the seed that is planted in
good soil, digs down its roots and begins to grow. That should be referring to us,
right?
Luke 12:22-26
22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about
your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life
is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the
ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor
barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the
birds? 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?
Before I got saved I worried about everything. All the little details, all the bid
details, really even little thing I could find to worry about, I did. So, I get this. I
completely understand these words from the Master and was able to apply them
in my life. Worrying about things isn’t going to do one thing to help us. Yeshua
tells us to consider the raven that neither sows nor reaps, nor has barns; but that
God feeds every day. We know we’re more important than birds to God so we
should not worry about such things. I have got that down. I am able to walk in
such peace with Yeshua. He is YHWH Shalom and YHWH Jireh; the Lord my
peace and my provider. But am I supposed to stay like the raven and not sow or
rep or have a barn or storehouse? Was that the point of this parable?
Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
He says that there will ALWAYS be seedtime and harvest. That’s a basic
principle in the kingdom. Do you think it might be important to understand the
time to seed and the time to harvest when you consider that so much is tied to
it?
Genesis 3:17-19
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife,
and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall
not eat of it’:
“ Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
In verse 17 YHWH says that the ground is cursed for mans’ sake. Why would the
ground being cursed be for us? Well, the scripture goes on to speak of man
toiling and sweating and eating of the soil; the dust from which we’ve come. Man
has an undeniable connection to the soil from which mankind has become so
disconnected. But somehow working the soil was to be a good thing for us to
do. There’s certainly a symbiotic relationship between us and plants. We
breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. They take in carbon dioxide
and release clean oxygen, that again breathe in. What comes from the plant is
nutrition for us and was comes from the waste products of the flesh fertilizes the
soil from which the plants gets its nutrients.
I know that since I’ve started my garden there are so many thing in scripture
related to seedtime that have just come to life for me. Sure, I understood them
on a basic level but now that understanding has move to a much deeper level.
Seedtime is crucial. Harvest time is monumental. But that long, tedious time in
the middle; is paramount. Yesterday I was mulching my plants and I came to one
tomato plant. As I lifted the planter to eye level so I could distribute the mulch, I
noticed that the trunk of the plant looked oddly deformed. When I turned the
plant around, I saw that there were chucks missing and what looked like some
brow sap or something. As I looked more closely, I recognized that it was a
caterpillar that had attached itself to the plant and was eating it! Though I had
sown a good seed into good soil and faithfully watered it and watched it grow,
there was a predator that I could not see that was trying to deprive me of my
harvest.
Now, of course, I removed the predator and I think the plant is strong enough to
rebound from this attack but it made me wonder. How many believers are sowing
their seeds into good soil and yet never seeing the harvest come from that? Just
like that caterpillar would have eventually eaten completely through that stem,
cutting the plant off from the soil that provided the nutrients to grow. So are the
seedlings from many believers destroyed by the enemy’s camp without us even
knowing what hit.
John 4:35-36
35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the
harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for
they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages,
and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps
may rejoice together.
It is no longer good enough for us to sit back and be ravens. We need to
become harvest minded. We cannot just continue to spit out random seeds and
think that’s going to bring a harvest. If a farmer goes out to an unprepared field
and just throws out corn seeds haphazardly, he is not going to yield the crop he
could have. Sure there will be some corn that grows, but if he doesn’t sow
smartly in proper rows with proper spacing between, it’s going to affect
everything else. He’ll have corn stalks growing on top of corn stalks; choking
each other out. He won’t be able to walk through the field efficiently to keep a
watchful eye for predators and when harvest time does come, he it will be much
more difficult to harvest the crop.
We cannot just keep saying. “God bless you” and “Have a blessed day” and think
that somehow we’ll see a harvest from that. The seed is the word. We have got
to start effectively planting the word every opportunity we get and I think we’d all
be surprised at how many opportunities we get that are squandered. And we
have got to be ready and willing to toil over that seed for as long as it takes to
bring forth the harvest. The harvest is there. Yeshua says the fields are white
for the harvest and we must start expecting more than just our own peace and
more than just our own provision.
Matthew 9:36-39
36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for
them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no
shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful,
but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send
out laborers into His harvest.”
It’s time to start expecting the thirty, sixty, and hundred fold that Yeshua speaks
about in the parable.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: May 4, 2008
