"Then He left
the crowds and went into the house and His disciples came to Him and said,
"Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." (Matt.
13:36).
Hey Gang: The
third step to being an effective Seed Planter for Christ is, “It makes a
difference where you sow.” Jesus said,
"Behold the sower went out to sow
and as he sowed some seeds fell beside the road
and the birds came and ate them up; some fell in rocky places where
there wasn't much soil and they quickly sprang up but they soon died for lack
of nourishment, some feel in shallow soil and the sun beat them to death, some
fell among the thorns and the thorns choked them out. (Matt. 13:2-8).
As Chaplain at the Village I can say, "been there,
done that”. I have seen the folly of trying to plant seeds when there is no foundation
to receive the Word. I am in the
process of making a garden for my bride.
Really? What does one do to make
a garden? I have heard of preparing the
ground for a garden and planting a
garden but making a garden is a horse of a different color. You see, I have all of those ingredients that
makes planting good seeds an exercise in futility.
So, I decided this year I would build a garden. I am making eight foot long troughs and
placing them on cement blocks and filling them with good top soil purchased
from a local farmer taken from his barnyard.
Right! Soil and fertilizer in one
shot. We have studied the sun for years
to find out the best place for such projects and have that down to
perfection. I am confident that we will
have a huge return for our labor. But
will it cover the cost of materials and the hours of labor required by the
builder?
That is a question we have to answer as we contemplate
whether we want to be a serious seed planter for the Lord. The soil has to be prepared. Jesus said, "…and others fell on the
good soil and yielded a crop. You see,
when the youngsters came to me, most did not have the foundation to receive the
message God was trying to penetrate into their hearts and minds. It was my job to install knobs in their heads
in order to later hang the Word on.
Crude practice, I admit, but very effective.
I learned this lesson as a young lad when I made up my
mind that I wanted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. But, no one took me under thier
arm and helped me develop knobs to hang God's Word on and I floundered for more
than twenty years before I married my bride who helped me, not only established
the needed knobs, but also to share the Word on through action and word.
I would like to add a page or two before moving on but I
know you are all reading this on the run, so I will move on. Jesus concluded His explanation on the seed
planter to the disciples with these words, "Some fell on good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some
sixty and those thirty." (vs.
5b).
Soooo, my young warriors, I close these morning messages
on the Seed Planter with a fabulous promise from Paul found in 2 Corinthians
9:6-7, "He who sows sparingly will
also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully". Now, notice his next
words, the key to seed planting: "Each one must do just as he has purposed
in his heart not grudgingly or under compulsion for God love's a cheerful giver." In other words, you and I control the
harvest by our planting program.
My dear friends, one last point that I want to drive deep
into your hearts. When you stand before the Father, He will ask, "What did
you do with My Son? Did you come along
side even the least of these, my brethren?”
Blessings,
Gramps
No comments:
Post a Comment