Getting A Return On Your Ministry

Turn tonight to Mark 4:20 (READ) And those are the ones whom seed was sown in the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty and a hundred fold.

If I were to give you each tonight $100, and I were then to tell you how you could turn that $100 into $10,000, how many of you would be interested in hearing what I have to say? I think we all would. I am listening. In fact, I think if the word got out that I had developed a plan that turns $100 into $10,000 there would not be a seat empty tonight. It would be standing room only because if $100 could become $10,000, then $10,000 could become $100,000 and $100,000 could become a million and soon we would be in the billions.

We have already looked at this passage in Luke last month when I talked about gardening tips, and how to grow things in the garden. Tonight I want to take the tips a step farther so you can be rewarded, not only on this earth, but in eternity to come. I want to show you some simple Biblical truths that can increase your potential and make your life more productive, body, soul and spirit.

Jesus prefaced His remarks on the outcome by first stating the seed must be sown in good soil. The person spoken of here is open and receptive to the Word of the Kingdom. He is not hard, shallow or preoccupied with other things. He has a focus which is allowing the truth of the Kingdom to get through to him. Faith comes by hearing, and he is hearing the Word, responding to the Word and it springs forth in a productive life. The one who plants in the good soil of the Word knows what he is going to do with what he has. This person is one who realizes it is the learners responsibility to know the truth to advance and it takes the learner’s whole will and obedience to move forward. The one who grows in the good soil is not the one who has all the head knowledge but lacks will and lacks obedience in their Christian life.

There is a 3 step cycle involved for maturing, growing Christians. 1] They hear the word. 2] they accept the Word; 3] they bear fruit because of their response.

So what is the difference between the person who responds and walks in thirty fold blessing and the one who is walking in hundred fold. The one who turns his $100 into $3,000, and the one who has turned it into $10,000?

Turn over to 2 Corinthians Chapter 9. (READ)

The Bible tells us that faith is like a mustard seed, and we know that unsown faith just as an unsown seed, will yield nothing, but when it is sown in the ground, it grows into as tree and birds may sit on the branches.

So we learn in this passage that he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall reap bountifully. Thirty, sixth, hundredfold.

Now, here is where Christians have a problem with the principle of sowing and reaping, and it is a personal problem, it is something they try to avoid.

Turn to John 15:1-7 (READ)

Every branch that bears fruit, and we are the branches, Jesus is the true vine, so every branch that bears fruit can only bear additional fruit if it is pruned.

Believers that are bearing thirtyfold have not been pruned. Believers who are bearing sixtyfold have been pruned a few times, but for the branch to really bear an abundance of fruit, pruning is a seasonal thing, every season. But we don’t like to be pruned, and when we resist, the branch begins to dry up and become unproductive for future harvests.

But what happens when we allow God to prune us, look at Matthew 17:20 (READ)

Jesus is making no exaggeration here, he said how much would be impossible for God?

So what do we have to do? We have to begin sowing so we can begin reaping. And what are we going to sow? Money, time, and our bodies so that the grain of the mustard seed may bud the stem and grow. That is faith. And we must not do it grudgingly, or out of necessity, but cheerfully as our hearts listen to God.

In the secular, people invest money and earn profits, and so it is for the Christian. Turn to Philippians 4:15-19 (READ)

When we invest in God’s work, he rewards in abundance. This is the law of investment, the 30, 60, 100 fold return. The Bible is full of stories of people who applied this to their life, Look at `1 Kings 17:8-16 (READ).