Your Harvest Is Coming Part 1 Series

Your Harvest Is Coming Part 1

Scripture: Galatians 6:9; Matthew 13:4-8; 18-23; Isaiah 40:29-31

Good morning New Light! I want to thank you for your calls and prayers while we were away. As most of you know, my uncle went home to be with his Lord and Savior week before last. He had gotten saved at the age of 12 and served the Lord faithfully for 74 years. I got a chance to see him while we were home and he was continuing to sow seeds in the lives of others. Although he will not be here to see the fruit from those seeds he had sown into others, he is receiving his rewards for the sowing. You see, the Bible makes this clear when it says, “So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” (First Corinthians 3:7-8) The title of my message this morning is “Your Harvest is Coming” and this will be a two part message.

Thirty-five years ago I was in the military and going to school at night working on my Graduate’s degree. At this point I had been working and taking college courses for seven years and I became tired. I was tired of studying while working full time. At this time in my life I never had the opportunity to just focus on either school or work. In order to attend and pay for college, I worked while going to community college and then entered the military in order to finish. While I am not complaining, as I was able to complete several degrees with no student loans, I grew very tired towards the end. I got to the point where I sat down with Nikki and told her I was thinking about quitting and possibly finishing the Graduate degree later. Although she told me that the decision was mine to make, she stressed that I needed to consider a few things. First and foremost since I was almost done it seemed stupid to stop when I only had just a few more months before graduation? Second, she told me to think about the fact that most people who drop out of school never go back. She stressed that if I stopped I probably would not ever go back and finish. After considering what she said, I made the decision to continue and I am glad that I did.

As I go through this message, I want you to think about a time when you almost gave up on something or someone before you saw the completion of your work. If you need to, consider my example of thinking about dropping out of Graduate school because if I had dropped out I probably would not be standing here today as some of the jobs that I obtained once I got out of the military were due to the fact that I had a Graduate degree. So, if I had I quit, I would not have received the harvest from that very last year as many employers would have wanted to know why I did not finish that degree and if me not finishing was symbolic of me being a quitter when times get tough. I would have forfeited the career that I retired from. One last thought before I get into the message, oftentimes we think of the seeds we are sowing bringing a harvest to us, but I also want you to think about the seeds we sow bringing a harvest to others. So keep in mind that others will be blessed by the seeds you are sowing – especially when you are sowing the Word of God in the lives of others.

Most of you know that Nikki plants a vegetable garden every year in addition to all of the flower beds and pots that surrounds our home. She definitely has what people refer to as a “green thumb.” I have watched her and I know it takes a lot of attention and work to plant and maintain a garden (vegetables and flowers) in order to reap the benefits of a harvest in due time. The work includes ensuring they have enough water, nutrition, dirt, and free of the insects that would destroy them. To that end, several weeks ago I was outside with Nikki at ten o’clock at night with a black light flashlight looking for tomato hornworms. These worms are hard to see in the daylight but their fluorescent bodies shine bright under a black light. So there we were outside at 10 p.m. looking for worms so we could preserve the vines that would later produce tomatoes. If Nikki did not take these and other steps to protect the seeds that she had planted, her harvest would not produce to its fullest. If she had planted her seeds and did nothing else, chances are great that she would not have much of a harvest at all. Also, when her harvest comes due, she does not keep it just for us, she shares her harvest with many others. You see, when we plant seeds and receive the harvest from them, others can be blessed. There is one important point that I want you to think about as it relates to planting a garden. When Nikki plants flowers and/or her garden, the first step she takes is not preparing the ground, the first thing she does is decide on what she wants and then purchases the specific seeds that will give her the end results.