Time to seek the Lord/Sow to yourselves

[0:00] Hosea 10 verse 5 says, Hosea calls out to the backsliding Jewish nation.

[0:25] ! The Jews were a nation of farmers and we see several farming or gardening pictures in this passage that we're going to look at one by one as we work through the text.

[0:41] And I preach to one who told a story once about focusing on how God knows which of us grows best in the sunlight and which of us needs shade.

[0:54] For example, he said in his sermon, roses must be planted in the sun, but fuchsias thrive in the shade. And after the service, a woman came bounding up to him, her face beamings, and she approached him and she said, your sermon did me so much good.

[1:09] And he thought, oh, before he had time to gloat too much, however, she added, I always wondered what was wrong with my fuchsias. We're not here to talk about gardening per se, but we're here to use the picture of gardening to illustrate some spiritual truth.

[1:26] And that's what Hosea did in his text here in this passage that we're reading. It's not a lesson about gardening, but about the spiritual truths that we can learn, that are illustrated in the garden.

[1:38] And number one is sow the seed. He says, sow for yourselves. Sow to yourselves in righteousness. Sow the seed. We need to sow the seed, brother and sister.

[1:49] Now we know the Word of God is compared in the Gospels to a seed that is sown. And God says that it's time to plant a new crop. Sowing is placing seeds where they can grow and produce fruit.

[2:02] And we know the younger ones in the Sunday school, we're planting seeds in that hopefully fertile, fresh soil, that soil that can be receptive to the message, to the Gospel, to the Word of God, and that will produce fruit.

[2:17] Sowing is what we do with our lives too. What are we growing? What are you growing with your life? Someone put it like this, if we sow a thought, we reap an act.

[2:29] We think, we act. If we sow an act, we reap a habit. If we sow a habit, we reap character. If we sow character, we reap a destiny. If we sow holiness, we will reap happiness.

[2:42] You know, it's what you sow that you reap, that you see a result from. And what we sow determines what we grow. It says in Galatians 6 verse 7, It's what we sow, we grow.

[3:13] And it's like that in the spiritual, as well as in the natural. And when sowing, we need to be patient too. You might sow some seeds and think nothing of it, that it's failed.

[3:24] And yet, it just needs time and water and attention. As my wife keeps telling you about watering the garden. And looking after that garden, something's going to grow. And, you know, I've got a lot of faith.

[3:37] If faith plus works, isn't it, with the garden, unfortunately, you've got to get the garden growing with a bit of work. And that's where I lack something there. So pray for me about that.

[3:49] When sowing, we need to be patient. It's not going to happen overnight, but it will happen. And the seeds that bring the best fruit are often the slow growing. We may not see the results for some time, but it will be worth the wait.

[4:00] 2 Corinthians 9.6 it says, But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

[4:13] So what we put in, we get out. And it's like the saying with the computer, isn't it? Garbage in, garbage out. Let's put truth in, and truth will come out.

[4:24] Let's give the message. Sow the seed of the message of the gospel, the word of God, the word of truth. And Mark 4.14 it says, The sower sows the word. The seed of righteousness is the word of God.

[4:37] And you can communicate that. I know Pablo and Alison in the Sunday school, they're communicating the word of God. As you go witnessing David, you're passing out the word of God. It's going to bring fruit. It's going to bring life.

[4:48] You know, the Bible says that, My word shall not return unto me void. It shall accomplish that where to I send it. And so the word needs to be declared. It needs to be spoken in your personal life, in your witnessing.

[5:00] As you go about your day by day, sow the word. The seed of righteousness is the word of God. Its crop is righteousness. Someone said other books were given for our information.

[5:12] The Bible was given for our transformation. This book is a transforming, life-changing book that you can apply and help others to learn and receive. Charles Dickens said, The New Testament is the best book the world has ever known or ever will know.

[5:29] He's a great author. He knows his stuff. And he says the Bible is the one that you can count on. The Bible doesn't need to be rewritten, just re-read.

[5:40] The best kind of Bible to have, it's not a black Bible. Sorry about that, everybody. But it's a red Bible. It's a red Bible. Not the colour red, but a red Bible, okay?

[5:51] Get a Bible and read it. The best kind of Bible you can have is a red Bible. Oh, it's a really hot one. Yeah, red hot. Amen. It's a red hot book. It's too hot to handle for some people, but we need this book.

[6:03] It's going to keep you hot. It's going to make you hot for Christ and to serve Him. And so it's a red hot book. Amen. Amen. So righteousness is the sense of this sowing is the sowing of righteousness.

[6:16] He says in Hosea 10, 12, sow to yourselves in righteousness. So righteousness. What are the seeds of righteousness that we can sow? Good works. Good works. Our lives.

[6:27] We can invest our lives for the good of others. Spend your life for Christ. Let it be spent for Him. Invested for Him. Your time. Giving of your time.

[6:38] Giving of your time. For the things that the Lord values. For His church. For serving Him. Putting your life into good words. We can let the Lord use our words.

[6:49] Use our lips to tell others of the good news. You can use your lips to build up or to tear down. What will you use your words?

[7:02] What words will you speak? What will you say? And what will you sow? There's a famous little prayer that says, Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.

[7:13] Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.

[7:24] Find a place that you can sow, where you can sow words that are good. Works that are good. Make a difference in the world about you. Isaiah 55, 10 and 11, it says, For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but water of the earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be, that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it.

[7:58] Righteousness. His words are righteousness and truth. It's life. It's life more abundant. It needs to be declared though. The world's not going to hear it unless you declare it.

[8:09] Be a faithful witness. As God gives you grace and strength to, even if it goes against the grain, if it goes against the flesh, that's a good thing. Because that's what we need to do, isn't it? I know there's some people here that say they don't like, you know, they're not comfortable talking, and yet the Lord uses that in mighty ways.

[8:26] And I thank God for people who stand and deliver, and speak out, even though it's the last thing they want to do. And you know, we often feel like that. And so righteousness is something wonderful.

[8:37] It's something the world needs to hear about, and you're the messenger of it. It's said that, if you look through a piece of red glass, everything is red. If you look through a piece of blue glass, glass rather, blue glass, everything is blue.

[8:53] And if we look through a piece of yellow glass, everything is yellow, and so on. When we believe in Christ as our Saviour, God looks at us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[9:05] Isn't that wonderful to think of that? When God the Father looks at you, He looks through the lens, that is Jesus Christ. And He sees Christ in you, the hope of glory.

[9:16] He sees Christ transforming you, from the inside out. He sees that white holiness of His Son, and it blots out, as His blood washes us, it takes that self away.

[9:28] So think about what you're sowing. Righteousness. There's a story told of a loyal carpenter called John. John Smith.

[9:41] Familiar name. And he was working for a very successful building contractor. He called him in one day, he said, John, come into my office. I'm putting you in charge of the next house that we build.

[9:53] I want you to order all the materials, and oversee the whole job from the ground up. And John accepted the assignment, with great enthusiasm and excitement. Wow, this is a great project for me to do.

[10:04] Now for ten days, before the ground was broken at the building site, John studied the blueprints, he had a look at the plans, had a look at how this building was set out, and what it was going to be. And he checked every measurement, every specification on the blueprint.

[10:18] Suddenly he thought, if I'm really in charge, why couldn't I cut a few corners? Use less expensive materials, you know, go down to get the plain wrap brand, you know, get that cheaper version, you know, get that, cut a few corners, maybe not put quite so many beams and rails, or what not they call them, in place.

[10:39] And what I could save, those less expensive materials, I could put it in my pocket. I could put it in my pocket, that extra money. Who would know the difference? He wouldn't know. And once the house is painted, it's just going to look great.

[10:51] It's just going to look like fantabulous. It doesn't matter that I've cut a few corners. And so John said about his scheme, he ordered second grade timber, and his reports indicated that it was top grade.

[11:04] He ordered inexpensive concrete for the foundation, put in cheap wiring, cut a few corners everywhere he could. And yet he reported the purchase of much better materials. And when the home was completely furnished and fully painted, he asked the contractor to come and see it.

[11:21] John, said the contractor, what a magnificent job you have done. You've been such a good and faithful carpenter all these years. I've decided to show my gratitude by giving you this house you have built as a gift.

[11:35] And now this man, he reaped what he'd sown, didn't he? He reaped what he'd sown. We can have that experience in life. You reek what you sow. You're going to get something out of what you give, by what you do.

[11:45] A lot of the money prosperity preachers will have you to give money. This isn't about giving money, but it's about giving of yourself, isn't it? Give yourself to Christ.

[11:56] Give yourself to him. Let him use you. Let him work in you. And sow in righteousness. And the next one, next point is to reap in mercy. To reap in mercy. One day we'll come to the end of life's journey.

[12:08] It'll be reaping time. We'll see our Savior's face. We'll hear his welcome. We'll receive his embrace. And the trials and tears will be over. Everything will be over. The light affliction, which is but for a moment, will leave all our life's possessions behind.

[12:23] If we've sown to the Spirit in our lifetime, our harvest will not be corruption as the world's, but it will be life everlasting. Not that, as I'm saying, that the works will earn us salvation, but there'll be a reward for our works.

[12:38] Not a reward for our, not that salvation is a reward for our works. But as a saved person, there is a sense of crowns. There's a sense of a reward, of an acknowledgement of our Savior, for our service, for our life.

[12:52] Yet for some, it'll be just a very shallow, very hollow. They'll be saved as by fire. Their works will be burnt up. They'll just have cinders in their hand because it'll all be in vain.

[13:04] But yet, will it be true for you that you'll have gathered great riches in heaven, treasures in heaven? I hope so. I trust so. But you'll reap in mercy. One day you will reap. It'll be reaping time.

[13:15] It'll be glorious. And the fruit will be there. It says that we will reap, reap in mercy. Reap in mercy now. So the fruit is going to be mercy.

[13:26] Unfailing love is another word to describe mercy. He who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward, it says in Proverbs 11, verse 18. If you sow righteousness, you're going to have a sure reward.

[13:37] It's going to be certain and true. God's Word will produce the fruit of mercy. Now you can think of this in a couple of ways. God's mercy, or His unfailing love, sow to yourselves in righteousness, you're going to reap in mercy.

[13:50] Put it to you tonight, there's a couple of ways you can do that. God's Word will produce the fruit of mercy, or God's unfailing love, in our lives. So we'll have this unfailing love, this mercy, one way, from the Lord.

[14:04] From the Lord, in His unlimited patience and mercy to you, in His unfailing love. You'll receive it from the Lord, and also, this reaping in mercy, you can show this mercy, this unfailing love, in seeing it for the Lord.

[14:22] Seeing it for the Lord, evident in your life, as you're called to love others, as we have been loved by the Lord. So, think about it, you receive His mercy from Him, and also for Him, to others about you.

[14:34] Reap in mercy. And lastly, break up your fallow ground, we're told. Break up your fallow ground. God commands His people, to break up their fallow ground.

[14:44] Now, what is fallow ground? The fallow ground, is the ground that has been, has been fruitful, and then it has been ploughed over, and no seed has been sown in it, and so it has become unproductive.

[15:02] Ground which has been left unused, through a planting season. The people have left their spiritual lives, in a state of disuse, and instead sow seeds of worldliness, and idolatry.

[15:12] You could compare it, illustrate it like that. Fallow ground is ground that has, once been tilled, cultivated, but which now lies waste, and needs to be broken up, and developed, before it is able to receive grain.

[15:29] You could think also, of fallow ground, as being a picture, of sleepy contentment. And there's a lot of Christians, who get very, comfy. They get very snug, cosy, smug, in their Christianity.

[15:45] You know, they just ride the glory train, to Hallelujah Land, and don't, put their life, on the altar. They don't, live for Christ. It's just, coasting along, in the Christian walk.

[15:58] Don't be like that. Don't make that mistake. Don't, be, fallow ground. Break up the fallow ground. It's those areas in our life, that needs his, cultivation.

[16:09] That needs God, shaking us, and breaking us, and making us, who he wants us to be. The word says that, he's got the winnowing fan, in his hand, and he shakes it, and the chaff gets blown away, and he's left with the, the seed, isn't he?

[16:25] Then he makes bread, out of it. And, it says in the word of God, that, yeah, one loaf, one loaf. The, the, the Bible says that the church, is like a loaf, of bread.

[16:37] And, I heard this interesting preacher, I've got to remember how he put it now, and he put it, how, God makes bread, and, the first thing, that they do with the seed, is, they break it.

[16:50] They break it, you know, you see pictures like, in African villages, how they're stomping it, in a, like a, clay receptacle, and they stomp it, and squash it, and smash the seed.

[17:00] The seed has to be broken, break it. Then they, they shake it, and get it all, mixed together. And then, they bake it. They put it in the oven, and they make it.

[17:13] And that's what God does, with you and me, as his seed. Sometimes we've got to be, broken. He's got to break it, shake it, not sure of the order, bake it, and make it.

[17:27] You know, God wants to make you. And, and sometimes, as a Christian, you might be crushed, but God is doing it, for a reason, so he can, make you, what he wants you to be. Just like the potter, at the potter's wheel, with the clay.

[17:39] And so, likewise too, we need to be breaking up. Break up your fallow ground. Let God break you, if he must. If you're resistant. You know, I was looking through the word, of late, and there's many references, to the hard heart, isn't there?

[17:55] Hardness of the heart. And we can all have, that hardness of heart, that callous thing. I play the guitar sometimes, the ends of my fingers, get really hard. And it's like, because you're doing, something a lot with them, you get very hard, and you can sort of, peel the skin off, after all.

[18:09] You know, it gets hard, there's the covering of skin, that gets hard. And that can happen, with your heart, and mine. As we sometimes, get hardened, the world will harden you. You see, when you're witnessing people, they're rock hard.

[18:22] Now the Bible says, their heart is a stony heart. And God wants to take away, the stony heart, and put in that heart of flesh. And you know, some people, they just need, a complete, an utter transformation, which all of us need.

[18:35] They'll take that stony heart, that heart that is hardened, that is, that conscience that is hardened, that will that is hardened, and to be broken, to be made sensitive, to be made receptive.

[18:48] And that's why the Word of God, it's called a hammer, that breaks the rock in pieces, isn't it? Sometimes we've got to, you know, literally Bible bash people, break that rock in pieces.

[19:01] Amen. Break that rock, that hard heart, with the Word of God. It's like a hammer. Friends, we need the Word. Sometimes the Word will, will stir you up. You won't like what you read here, but you need it.

[19:12] Amen. Hardness of heart. We need that breaking up. And it's the flesh, brother. It's the flesh, sister, that needs to be broken. It can't be left to itself. Break up the fallow ground.

[19:23] Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns, it says in Jeremiah 4, verse 3. You know, if you try to sow that seed, as we know, the parable of the sower, in its various accounts, in the Gospels, that hard soil, is just not going to receive it.

[19:38] But the soil has to be broken up. And that's the Word of God. You know, you could compare the preaching of the Word, the declaring of the Word, the witnessing of the Word, to a way of breaking up and cultivating that ground.

[19:50] And break up your fallow ground, do not sow among thorns. Notice it is we, who are to break up. You break up your fallow ground. It tells you there, sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy.

[20:02] Break up your fallow ground. You need to be seeking God to break you up. Sometimes it's good to be broken up, that He can work within you, and break up and soften your heart, so that you might feel the truth, and prepare your minds to receive the Word, to produce fruit for God, to have your mind ready to receive the Word of God, that it can do its working within you.

[20:24] If our mind is hard, imagine if you've just got a piece of concrete around your head. You've got to get that broken up. The Bible talks about renewing of your mind. Break it up.

[20:35] And break up that hardness of your heart, that dryness, that hardness. He wants to break it up. And you need to be receptive, and willing that He can help you, as it gets broken up, to be receptive to the Word of God.

[20:49] The mind of a man is compared to ground, as we know in the account of the sower of the seed. And the Word of God is compared to seed sown, and the fruit represents the actions of those who receive it.

[21:00] Now the man of fallow life, is contented with himself, and the fruit that he once bore. He does not want to be disturbed. He is fruitless. As a Christian, we can get like that.

[21:11] Sterile, stagnant, stuck in the mud. Don't come to that place, let God break you up, and move you on. It does not see the wonders of bursting seed, nor the beauty of ripening grain.

[21:24] It does not experience fruit, because the plough has not worked it. Break up your fallow ground. Let the Word of God... I know Finney spoke of the fallow ground as something that is the hardness of man's heart, and how the Word of God, as it was preached, brought a reviving again.

[21:43] It brought revival to communities, to lives, to families, as the Word of God, as people wept in conviction, as the Word of God stabbed them in the heart.

[21:54] As we're told, it's a sword, it's a sharp instrument that God can minister to us with. And on the other hand, the cultivated field has felt the travail of change.

[22:07] It's been turned over, it's been bruised and broken. From this field, the seed will shoot. Life, as a miracle, new things can be born, and grow and mature.

[22:19] Finney lists several signs of fallow ground, this old-time preacher, a revivalist of old, of fallow ground in a believer's life. Watch out for these things, brother, sister tonight.

[22:29] These are signs of fallow ground. Lack of love for God. Lack of love for the Bible. Neglect of prayer.

[22:42] Lack of listening to God and seeking Him. Worldly mindedness and carnality. The love for the things of the world. Pride. Vanity. Hardness of heart. Lack of personal holiness.

[22:54] This could be looking at things we shouldn't, listening to things we shouldn't, saying things we shouldn't. The thoughts of your mind can reflect carnality and fallowness of life.

[23:06] Disobedience to God's Word. Lack of fruit of the Holy Spirit. These are things, brother, sister, ask God to help you break up your fallow ground tonight. Let God break up your heart, your mind.

[23:19] Let it be receptive. Check your heart condition. Only you can know and do that today. Let the Holy Spirit work within. Who are you serving?

[23:30] Is it God or the devil? Or are you trying to straddle the fence somewhere? Are you living under the rulership of the Lord? Or is it the prince of darkness?

[23:44] A ploughed field is earth that is ready to receive seeds. It's no longer stony and hard. It's being carefully prepared and it is available. Is your life ready and available? Are you ready and available for God to use you?

[23:57] Seek God for that breaking up to happen. Let God break you. It will do you good. It will do us good. The garden of your heart, it must be cultivated.

[24:08] You know, I look at my garden and it's getting harder and harder and drier and drier and deader and deader. And yet my lovely wife here, she faithfully stands out there and has these moments of inspiration to water it.

[24:23] But the soil must be broken up. You know, I really need to get out there with a pickaxe and, you know, she's going to hold me to this now. I need to dig up that ground.

[24:33] I know some folk are really keen gardeners here tonight. They'll probably put in all the hard yards, not like me. But, you know, see those weeds, the poisonous satanic plants can infest your life.

[24:47] You've got to get the spade out and dig in deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus. The soil can only be reclaimed from thorns by hard work.

[24:59] We must cleanse our hearts from all corrupt affections and lusts which are like weeds and thorns. Repent and get that brokenness and contrite spirit. Think of what areas are, rocky areas of resistance in your heart tonight.

[25:15] Only you can answer that for yourself before the Lord. Those things that need to be pulled out of your life, like weeds. And ask the Lord, I know we were talking about gardening before, weren't we?

[25:27] About those weeds that just infest. And it's like that in our lives too, that the devil just wants to infest our lives with those things that will tangle us and tie us to that which is unhealthy and going to tie us away from God.

[25:45] And friends, how is your heart tonight? Let it be bowed down before Him. Let it be that you realise that potential because fallow ground is really untapped potential too.

[25:57] I know there's a lot of talk in the prosperity preachers about positive thinking and untapped potential and not needing to go down that line but really and truly all of us do have something we can do.

[26:08] Something we can be for God. And maybe we need to think about what's stopping me? What's holding me back? What's holding me back? Is it just my own fears and my own flesh that's holding you back?

[26:22] Don't be shackled by that. Let God break those chains tonight. That fallow ground means idle capacity. So, you know, they used to deliberately leave it fallow amongst the number of years that they planted.

[26:37] They left it fallow for a season. Maybe you've had that season of fallowness but now's the time for fruitfulness. Now's the time for you to step out in faith and say, yes, I'm going to do what this verse says.

[26:49] I'm going to sow. I'm going to reap in mercy. I'm going to sow to myself in righteousness. I'm going to break up my fallow ground. From today, from this moment on, I'm going to walk with God more closely than I've ever done.

[27:01] I'm going to be that soil that is broken, that His seed can be planted and it can be fruitful in my life. And fruit follows the plough. Our text tells us, sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground.

[27:15] It is time to seek the Lord. It is time to seek the Lord. It is always time to seek the Lord. There's never been a better time than right now for you to seek the Lord. It's a good time to seek the Lord today.

[27:28] We can choose not to waste our time in feeding our fallen appetites and desires. We can choose to serve the Lord. As Matthew 6.33 says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

[27:47] And all these things shall be added unto you. That's getting priorities right, isn't it? It is time to seek Him. Seek Christ and you will find Him and with Him everything else thrown in.

[27:59] There's a message on some Christmas cards, wise men still seek Him. It's true. If you're a wise woman, a wise man tonight, it is wise for you to seek Him.

[28:10] It's the best thing you can do with your life. Someone said, the turning point in our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God who is the real God.

[28:22] seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call upon the Lord while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon.

[28:39] Have you ever sought something? Car keys. Where did I put those things? Where did you put those glasses or sunglasses or that pen and you get so frustrated trying to search and seek that which you've lost?

[28:54] How about the keys to heaven? Have you found them yet? Have you found the key to heaven itself? The one who is the very gate, the very door, the very way there. We need to be in earnest about seeking the Lord.

[29:07] Seek Him. Seek Him. It says in His Word, you shall find me if you shall search for me with all your heart. There was a story about a boy who had a little computer gadget game thing, a spell checking type computer gadget speak and spell.

[29:26] It's a five year old and he was concentrating intently typing words for the computer to say back to him and this boy Matthew, he punched in the word God and to his surprise the computer said word not found.

[29:43] It didn't have God in there. Some people like that. They haven't found him. They think they have. Maybe they think they're religious. They do all the things that people would expect a Christian to do so they would think but they still haven't found him.

[29:59] Don't make that mistake. It's not coming into this building and you might sing in the choir and preach behind the pulpit and still be as lost as hell and on the way there.

[30:10] Friends, it's not a performance thing. It's not a feeling or a work that we can do.

[30:23] It's your heart being like fallow ground. It's your heart being broken up and being receptive for the seed to germinate, for the life to live within you, the life of Christ to live within you and out of you and for Christ to be your saviour, the living one, the ever living one to give you ever living, everlasting life as a gift and it's your response.

[30:47] Just like the Saul's response, it's your response that is needed tonight to the Word. And it says, he tried the same reply, this young boy, and with great disgust he stared at the computer and told it in no uncertain terms, Jesus is not going to like this.

[31:08] You know, the Word is not found. Friends, you need Christ, you need God tonight, you need salvation. A modern man isn't seeking after God, he isn't in their vocabulary except maybe as a curse word.

[31:20] I know someone was telling me lately how they'd been with a man witnessing and they came across someone from, I think it was an Asian background in an Adelaide suburb as they were door knocking, witnessing for Christ, and this person had never heard the name Jesus.

[31:42] They didn't know who Jesus was. Can you believe that in modern Australia? Maybe it's not so unbelievable these days because it's only a curse word for many, it's just a gutter word.

[31:53] The name of Jesus is dragged in the mud. And friends, that is a shame, it's a reproach to our nation and we will face him in the judgment. Friends, it says, sow to your souls in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fowl ground.

[32:10] And it is time to seek the Lord till he come. Till he come. He's coming. He is coming. We don't know when, but he's certainly on his way. He's got it in his time span, in his agenda.

[32:24] And yet, God is with us even now. Emmanuel, God with us. He's visiting us as we receive his word, as we pray, as we seek his face through the week. God is with you.

[32:35] He is with you. And one day he will come face to face. He's coming soon. Will he find us faithful? And lastly, he's going to come and he's going to rain righteousness upon you. Life and growth begins as God rains it down.

[32:47] Isn't it lovely to hear the rain? I don't hear it too often of late, but to hear the rain, to see the rain, to feel the rain. And righteousness is going to be like rain, like raindrops from heaven.

[32:59] His righteousness is his gift to us. It's until he comes and showers his righteousness upon you. And after you patiently sow, as you water, as you break up that ground, as you watch, as you wait, finally that fruit is ready to be harvested and ready for that reaping time, a time of joy and rejoicing.

[33:20] How long do we sow righteousness? Until he comes. Live a life that is pleasing until he comes, so that when he finds you working, watching, waiting, ready, looking for his coming, he'll find you ready.

[33:34] Until he comes. What then? Showers of righteousness. It will be the greatest harvest of all time. It says the son of righteousness with healing in his wings. Someone has said a man is only as good as what he loves.

[33:50] Do you love him? Do you love Christ today? Do you love his word? Do you love his righteousness? He'll work in your life. If you love him, he'll work in your life. He'll make you more like him.

[34:01] It says when he comes, we shall be like him. We shall see him as he is and we'll be like him. Terry's going to look like Jesus. Amen? James is going to look like Jesus. Jennifer's going to look like Jesus.

[34:13] When he comes, he says, are we going to be like him? We'll see him as he is and we'll be like him and we'll know as we are known. And friends, what are you sowing? That's the question tonight. I'll leave you with this challenge tonight.

[34:25] God is not mocked for whatsoever. A man sower, whatever you're going to sow, it says you're going to reap. If you sow to the flesh, you're going to reap corruption. If you sow to the spirit, you're going to reap life everlasting.

[34:36] So break up your fallow ground. Ask God to break it up tonight. Break it up this week ahead. If there's things in your heart and life, there's things that are making you stony and hard hearted and closing your heart to Christ, ask God to break it, to break that, to shatter it, to smash it, to mash it and mould you into his shaping that he wants to make you so that then you can plant that seed within your life, your heart, your mind, your living, and make you a productive Christian, a fruitful Christian as you turn your life over to his hand.

[35:10] And so it's important that we cultivate the fallow soil of our hearts. Let God cultivate, take the weeds away and put his fruit within.

[35:20] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you tonight that everybody here is soiled tonight. Every one of us is soiled. every one of us has something that is unique to us.

[35:36] It's our heart. And only you, Lord, know as the searcher of hearts, as the one who searched the hearts and the reins, the inward parts of a man and of a woman, only you know really and truly tonight, dear Lord, who belongs to you, who is yours tonight and who is not.

[35:55] And Lord, we pray, earnestly pray, that we'll be found in Christ at your coming, that we'll be found knowing your salvation by faith through your grace.

[36:09] Lord, we'll be found trusting not in our own works, in our own effort, in our own strength, but yet trusting totally, wholly, completely in that work, that finished work, that completed work of Calvary, where you bled and died for every man's sin, that we'll trust you.

[36:31] You can take it. Lord, let it be tonight that each one here would experience that, would know that, would walk in that righteousness. Lord, help us to be that people who seek you, seek you day by day, hour by hour, that moment by moment our lives would be in tune with your Holy Spirit, that you can use us, take away any fleshliness, any carnality, any hard-heartedness tonight, we pray.

[36:58] Help us, Lord, to bring it to you and address it, Lord. Minister, we pray. Holy Spirit, we ask you to touch each one that we might be transformed by your grace.

[37:12] Bless each one, Lord, as we go our different ways for travelling mercies, for each home and heart to be touched and to be challenged tonight. But most of all, to take it and put it into action.

[37:24] That you would be pleased with us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.