#6: We Reap The Full Harvest Of The Good Only If We Persevere Series

What goes around, comes around. Every action has a reaction. What goes up must come down. These are all universal laws, laws that effect your life. “You reap what you sow” There are universal laws of sowing and reaping: They are seven in number, with each stemming from God’s eternal Word.

• Law 1 We reap much we did not sow

• Law 2 We reap the same in kind as we sow

• Law 3 We reap in a different season than when we sow

• Law 4 We reap more than we sow

• Law 5 We reap in proportion as we sow

• Law 6 We reap the full harvest of the good only if we persevere; the evil comes to harvest on its own

• Law 7 We cannot do anything about last year’s harvest, but we can about this year’s

We have several people here today that have set aside a piece of acreage that sits next to their house for a special purpose. It’s better known as "The Garden." In the summer it supports row after row of vegetation: Let’s take a poll of what is planted….Not everyone is involved in the gardening process but the harvest always comes. A lot goes into the work before the vegetables are on your dinner table:

1. Cultivating the soil

2. Spreading of the fertilizer, better known as manure

3. Tilling the soil. going in a straight line!

4. Planting the seed.

5. Watering the soil

6. Culling the crops for proper growth. pick out from others; remove rejected members or parts

7. Hoeing around the plants

8. 5-7 continue

The job of the garden never stops. There was always something to do. When harvest time comes around the work grows greater. A seasoned farmer will say, "It’s time to get it up, work it up and store it up." Then comes the day of enjoying the produce from the land on your table. Fresh cut tomatoes, fried okra, fresh corn on the cob. Are you getting hungry?

Those of you who have helped with the process now have a greater appreciation for the perseverance of my father to produce a good crop from "The Garden".

That brings us to the sixth law of the harvest is . . . "We reap the full harvest of the good only if we persevere; the evil comes to harvest on its own" Today we look into the realm of perseverance, that "keep on keeping on" aspect in life.

A. Persevering In Working

Albert Bean has said, "To know and not do is not yet to know." Probably all of us this morning could readily say concerning the hard persevering work prior to the harvest, "I know that!"

Those who have gardens know that you cannot plant and forget. Very little will come from such gardening techniques. A garden requires a lot of labor if you are going to reap an abundant harvest.

Someone has said: "The problem of the average believer today is not a lack of knowledge, but the application of truths he already knows." The knowledge God speaks of is not simply to "know how" of which we say, "Oh, I know that." But true knowledge is the "applying" of what we know and doing it in all aspects of our lives. Thus we can say, "I do that because I know."

See James 2:14-26 and 2 Peter 1:2-11 and Proverbs 1:22,29

So the question is have we become the fool who hates knowledge and who casually rejects the knowledge of God? Without true knowledge leading us to do, how can we persevere in hard times? To know God is to love God, and to love God is to obey God and to obey God is to do and keep doing what God has said.

Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

B. Persevering In Weeds

A Gardner has to plant seeds for the harvest, but he doesn’t have to plant weeds. They come about on their own. " ... the evil comes to harvest on its own"

Weeds are defined as “a plant considered undesirable, worthless unattractive, or troublesome, useless and detrimental especially one growing where it is not wanted.” In the parable of the sower, Jesus speaks of thorns as being those detrimental weeds to the crops. Mark 4:7 "And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

The disciples come to Jesus not fully understanding the seed and soil analogy. Jesus identifies the thorns as the cares of the world. The weeds in our lives that are detrimental to the harvest. Read Mark 4:1-20

One of the most difficult parts of gardening is having to keep up with the weeds. Why? It is a never ending job. No sooner than you finish weeding a row of crops the weeds spring up at the beginning of the row! In the midst of weeds we must..