Sermon Central
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Sowing Spiritual Seed
Contributed by Nick Scarpa on May 24, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: God calls us to bear fruit that will last. Sowing seed as in a garden will bear either good or bad (rotten) fruit. We must bear good seeds, to reap good fruit.
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Sowing Spiritual Seed
Gal. 6:7-10
Ask any person new to gardening, what is the hardest part to get used to, and they will almost undoubtedly say... WAITING!
Gardening is a wonderful experience if you’re not in any hurry to see the results! It’s like watching a child turn into a young adult....it takes time!
Sowing spiritual seed is probably one of the most unpredictable tasks we can undertake, and yet it is definitely THE MOST REWARDING!!
You know how you feel when those red tomatoes area ready for harvesting, and you can take them inside and use them in a salad or give to friends and family?
Multiply that a hundred times and you still will not compare to the experience of planting seeds of faith and seeing them grow until that person you shared with, prayed for, and invested in makes the decision of their lifetime.
There is nothing like it!
Pray
Sharing HOPE to the HOPELESS in a nightclub (Marty)
Offering spiritual directions to a truck driver(Mike)
Knocking on doors in residential areas
Handing out invitations at the mall
Serving with Billy Graham Telethon
It’s estimated that about 95% of Christians have never led anyone to Christ.
That’s not to say that they did not have an impact on people. As the old saying goes; “you can’t fail at sowing, unless you fail to sow!”
We can be virtual tracts - sharing our lives by living for Christ!
In chapter 5 of Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia, he talks about fruit, and he uses a comparison between good and evil, the Spiritual nature and the sinful nature.
When he gets into chapter 6, he takes that illustration of fruit back to it’s beginnings and focuses on sowing spiritual seed.
We start in verse 7 of Galatians 6.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
He starts out by saying, “do not be deceived”
e.g, do not accept as true or valid what is false or invalid
Do not buy that BUCKET of BOLTS that the salesman told you was a cream puff. It’s probably lemon-filled!
Satan is the father of lies. He will do whatever it take to deceive us.
Deception is his greatest tool against the Christian.
God cannot be mocked!
If we do not know it already, we cannot pull one over on God. That’s what it means - to make a mockery or a fool of God. To snub your nose at him.
To try to hide the truth from Him.
What was it that Paul was referring to? God cannot be mocked??
Verse 3-4 They had false impressions of themselves. Paul knew it.
He knew they were calling themselves spiritual but were not!
A man reaps what he sows.
In other words, you get what you give.
That’s what Paul is talking about - GIVING
Time, energy, resources, finances, faith, hope, love
If you put $20 week in a sock and hide it under your pillow, 10 years from now you would have $10,400 dollars. (if someone else didn’t find it first!)
If you don’t put it away (if you don’t sow) you will have nothing!!
God allows us to decide what, where and how much... we sow!
He loves a cheerful giver!
In verse 8, Paul elaborates a bit
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction;
We have the opportunity to sow as we choose. If we choose to sow to our sinful desires and passions of the flesh, and become self-focused...
If we spend all our money on ourselves and waste all our time on that which is sinful and selfish, we will never be satisfied! The sinful nature says; there is never enough - I WANT MORE!
the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
Don’t we already have eternal life?? What do you suppose this means??
If we give of ourselves to the work of the kingdom of GOD, if we support the church with our finances, talents and time, if we spend ourselves on the mission of reaching the unchurched for CHRIST, we will truly have Spiritual blessing!
God will make our lives in this life more meaningful and in the life to come we will experience the joys of eternal life. Life forever with Jesus!
Verse 9
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap
a harvest if we do not give up.
Just as in a backyard garden, it takes time for those green peppers to become ready to eat, doing the work of God and seeing the result of our labor will take time. We must not become weary! The harvest is just around the corner!!