You Reap What You Sow

[0:00] Music And considering what's happening in our own lives, or is it life everlasting?

[0:33] There's two harvests, if you like, two kinds of harvests. Life is a seed time, if you like. Our life, our living, our journey of life, it's a sowing of seeds and ultimately a harvest.

[0:49] We all have a field to sow in our lifespan. We all have a harvest at the end. What seeds are we sowing? It's a big question. Now, I happen to be going down to the supermarket and I've got some lovely packets with pictures on them.

[1:09] And one says here, carpet of snow. Doesn't that look good? Alistum, carpet of snow. Beautiful flowers. This one, poached eggplant.

[1:20] That's a funny name, but it looks pretty. And this one here, lobelia. Lobelia. Lobelia. Beautiful seeds. But the seeds are no good unless I plant them.

[1:32] Now, I could keep them on my shelf, which I've done for a couple of weeks now, I think. And just admiring the seed packets. But they've not been planted yet. And so, planting is really important, isn't it?

[1:45] And this is what we're talking about tonight. What seeds are you sowing? Seed time and harvest. They're timeless principles.

[1:56] And by our habits and our influence, by our associations and actions, we're sowing something. And there will be something in consequence.

[2:09] Everything in life starts as a seed. Even you and me, ultimately, we came from seed. Every living thing on this planet, in effect, reproduces itself through seeds.

[2:24] And we see the Word of God tells us some of these timeless principles that we can take to heart and learn from, I trust. In Galatians 6, we read this.

[2:34] It says, Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.

[2:48] For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. And he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.

[3:00] And let us not be weary in well-doing. For in two seasons we shall reap if we faint not.

[3:13] So a single seed. Now a single seed, I don't know. I was looking at one of these packets. One of these seed packets has got a hundred seeds in it. This one has got two thousand seeds.

[3:27] Wow. We could, if this was soil here, and if the sun was hitting this patch here, we could probably cover this whole carpet with a carpet of lobelia.

[3:41] It would probably look prettier than this carpet too, wouldn't it? A single seed that we plant can produce hundreds, even thousands of seeds.

[3:55] You think of it. Some of these things I know in my veggie patch, at times we've planted an old tomato. And that came back to life again. Multiple tomatoes came out of that little slice of tomato that I put in the veggie patch.

[4:10] And one seed can produce hundreds, even thousands of seeds. In other words, seeds are very powerful things, aren't they? Think of a little oak tree seed. Think of a massive, gigantic tree that comes out of that tiny seed.

[4:27] Seeds are powerful. One corn seed produces a stalk which can produce two to ten ears of corn, which has anywhere from 500 to 1200 kernels, depending on the type of corn.

[4:41] One corn seed. One seed. We could say for certain types of corn that one seed could potentially produce 10,000 new seeds. It's amazing power.

[4:53] And if all those seeds were planted, it would potentially produce 100 million seeds in just two generations. The power of a seed. It's amazing. And a single bag of seeds that you sow can produce hundreds of bags of new seed.

[5:13] We reap what we sow. This is true in the positive sense, also true in the negative.

[5:23] Verses 7 and 8 talks about our Christian walk, our lifestyle, our living out of the Christian faith.

[5:37] What kind of seed? That's what matters. What kind of seed are we sowing? Is it flesh or spirit? Paul often contrasted the two.

[5:48] Romans 8 verse 6, he talks about for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

[6:03] Paul talked often about this contrast between flesh and spirit, about righteousness and holiness. Think of it. What seed? We can plant sin, waste, error, lies, hate, or we can plant hope, love, blessing, grace, forgiveness.

[6:33] We are all planting something. People, it's an important thought to reckon on. We all will one day get what we plant. That's important to consider.

[6:46] The flesh produces some things. Drug abuse, immorality, mistreating others.

[6:58] All those bad fruit is going to bring a bad harvest. Amen. And the word tells us, of course, we could think of many things that we could reckon.

[7:11] That's bad. That's bad seed. And Galatians 5 lists some, as Paul calls it, the works of the flesh.

[7:23] He says they're manifest, can see them, evident. These are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, which means lewdness or that kind of looseness of moral.

[7:38] And that goes on to read idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings.

[7:58] There's all these horrible words there. Things to do with hatred and divisiveness and giving ground and hurtful things, vile things, ungracious things.

[8:19] And he says, such like of the which I tell you before, as I've told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

[8:35] Friends, these things are dreadful things. They're bad fruit, bad harvest. And you reap what? You sow. There's many Bible examples we could think of.

[8:47] For example, Achan. A man called Achan, he took that, those items that should have been yielded and destroyed, and he hid them for himself.

[8:59] And he suffered for it. It was great shame. And a ripple effect, not only for Achan, but his relations. David's sin. He took Bathsheba.

[9:11] It affected his whole life. There was much damage. And through generations. Eli's sin. He failed to restrain his boys.

[9:23] It brought great judgment upon him and his family. Think of Lot's sin. Made that unwise decision and what damage it caused.

[9:38] His wife turned to a pillar of salt. He lost so much. Lost his testimony. Thank God he had mercy.

[9:50] But he had a harvest. It was a bad harvest. There are consequences, brothers and sisters. And so we ought to think wisely on what we're planting.

[10:03] And of course we see the converse. Good stuff. Good seed. Good harvest. In Galatians 5. In Galatians 5.22. Paul talks about the fruit of the spirit.

[10:15] He says it's love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

[10:25] Against such there is no law. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and loss.

[10:38] The Holy Spirit produces great fruit. Good fruit. A great harvest. And in our text we saw that we can sow to the spirit.

[10:50] We can sow to the flesh. What are we planting is the question. You can sow to the spirit. You might think of something. You might want to shout out some things that I might have not listed here.

[11:04] How can we sow to the spirit? How can we do something spiritual? How can we plant something that's spiritual? You could think of listen to the word. Listen to the word. I know some people have got the word playing in their cars.

[11:17] It's a good thing to do. Listen to it. Put it on your speakers. Put it in your sound system. However you can. Listen to it. And read it.

[11:27] Take it to heart. Read some godly books. Read about some of the heroes of the faith. That's going to do your spirit good, isn't it? Think of committing some righteous acts.

[11:38] You know, there's people working pro bono to help people in need. There's people that are serving, that are giving good things to people because they're showing God's love.

[11:49] Witness, that's a good thing to give, isn't it? Hide the word of God in your heart. That's sowing to the spirit. Develop some godly habits. What's some more? You might want to shout out something. Think of something.

[12:02] Sow to the spirit. How are you sowing to the spirit? Think about that. Yeah. Hospitality. Reach out. Practical ways. Caring. John?

[12:16] Kindness. Amen. Smile. Show love. Be warm. Be gracious. Reach out. Show the love of Jesus.

[12:28] Sow to the spirit. Amen. You can think of lots more, I'm sure. What we plant grows. Usually. Now, I have a garden today because I've planted some things.

[12:39] Planted some things. Amen. You don't plant, there'll be nothing. When you plant, there'll be something. And there's a connection between our actions and decisions of the past to where we are today.

[12:53] What is it we're going to cultivate? That's the big question. It's about the seed. The seed that we use. May we plant seeds that are pleasing to God. Think of it. The word of God is called a seed.

[13:04] The gospel is a seed. We read that through various parables. And think of that as I talked about, a seed is powerful. What more powerful seed than the very precious word of God?

[13:16] And the Lord, our God, the Lord Jesus is the Lord of the harvest. Matthew 9, 38. A seed is powerful.

[13:29] It can grow a tree with many fruits and many more seeds. So every day, every minute we're sowing, we're planting through our actions and choices. What kinds of fruit are you experiencing right now?

[13:42] What kinds of seeds are you putting in the ground of your life right now? What's true for a person is true for a church too. Many churches are dead or dying. We can wonder why.

[13:54] Why do we lack harvest? Maybe the problem is we aren't sowing. We must sow. We must sow. The Bible urges us to spiritual planting.

[14:05] We see another instance of planting, of harvest. Psalm 126. Verse 5, it says, They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

[14:17] He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bearing his sheaves with him, bringing his sheaves with him.

[14:28] The seed that we bear is precious seed. It's precious. The word of God. It's nothing more precious. Amen? Nothing more precious than these words. It's seed. Precious seed.

[14:39] And sow it wisely. Put it in your heart and tell others. Sow it tenderly, says he that goeth forth and weepeth. There's a time to weep.

[14:50] There's a time to sow tenderly. I was talking with someone early tonight. Just heartbreaking stories. Heart-rending circumstances.

[15:02] There's people in desperate situations of life. And we need to be the compassion of Jesus to them. Here's a quote here. Jesus weeps. There's so little reaping with joy because there's so little sowing with tears.

[15:17] William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, received word from his converts as they were coming home. And they said this. They said, we've tried everything. We've tried preaching on the street corners, beating drums, passing out tracks and nothing works.

[15:31] William Booth sent a telegram back. Try tears. Try tears. You know, do we have the compassion that our heart is reaching out?

[15:41] We're reaching out with his love, with his heart. Booth said, some men's ambition is art. Some men's ambition is fame. Some men's ambition is gold. My ambition is the souls of men.

[15:53] He had a heart for souls. We'd do well to have that same heart. Amen. Evangelist Moody with tears said, I can go to prison for you. I can go to death for you. But I refuse to go to heaven without you.

[16:05] He had a heart to keep on. Keep on reaching out. Keep on telling. You know, there's some people you've got to tell and tell them again and tell them again, don't you? Don't give up.

[16:16] Sowing the seed. And Jesus, our Lord, came to seek and to save that which was lost. And he did it through tears. We read Luke 19, he beheld the city and he wept over it.

[16:27] We need to have that heart of Jesus that we go beyond our own capacity. He saw people in their circumstances. He saw people in their hopelessness.

[16:37] He saw people in their directionless, their peacelessness, and he wept. And it says, he that goeth forth and weepeth.

[16:49] Bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again rejoicing. The work of sowing is laborious work.

[16:59] You know, if you've seen some of these farmers. I think one of my early jobs was working in a veggie garden, actually, at Powerful Gardens Way. I don't think I lasted that long because it was too hard.

[17:12] I was out there packing veggies into boxes or something. I can scarcely remember it now. But I remember it was hard work. It was hard yakking out in the blazing sun, you know, packing these veggies into boxes.

[17:28] And the work of sowing, it's farm work. It's laborious work. It's hard work. But friends, the spiritual side here is that there's going to be a precious harvest.

[17:39] You know, I know on Thursday night the fellow who made a few comments Thursday night was talking about, as a farmer, how he lost a harvest or there was a big poor return at one time.

[17:52] But then he talked later and said there was a massive return. There was a massive harvest when it was a good time of harvesting. And friends, surely this seed, it says, surely shall doubtless, shall doubtless.

[18:07] There's going to be, there's no doubt there's going to be a harvest for this precious seed. Amen. This precious seed isn't going to fail. This precious seed isn't going to return void.

[18:18] It will bear fruit. And our text warns us as we started, be not deceived. It says, choose carefully. There's a severe warning there. He says, be not deceived. What a man sows that shall he reap.

[18:32] So we do well to think, what am I sowing, what am I planting in my life? Am I choosing rightly? There's a strong warning. Beware of sowing to the flesh.

[18:45] Eliphaz says, Job, in chapter 4, verse 8, he said, They that plough iniquity and sow wickedness, they reap the same. If you're going to be spending your life farming bad seed, you're going to get a bad harvest.

[19:05] If you're going to have sin and wickedness, you're going to get a sinful, wicked harvest. And then Proverbs 22, verse 8, it says, he that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity.

[19:21] Same concept, really. If you keep sowing that which is sin, it's just going to be vanity or emptiness. It's pointless.

[19:32] It's a waste. A loss. Sowing to the sin, to the flesh, will reap a bitter harvest. Friends, we ought to do well to consider what is going on in my life.

[19:43] And for every decision, really, am I sowing to the flesh or am I sowing to the spirit? There's consequences for what we sow. What is sowing to the flesh? You could think of a big long list for yourself of what comes to mind.

[19:57] You could think, for example, immorality, of impurity, of sensuality, of the occult, of hatred, of unforgiveness, of bitterness, of hatefulness, of drunkenness, of fleshliness.

[20:14] And sowing to the flesh, it begins in the mind. I'm quoting here, every time you hold a grudge, every time you entertain an impure thought, when you wallow in self-pity, when you speak ill of another person, or you fail to carry out your responsibilities, you're sowing to the flesh.

[20:31] If you're self-centered, if you're critical of others or envious, you're sowing to the flesh. What can we think of? Sowing to the flesh. You might want to consider, if I miss what's on your mind, yell it out.

[20:44] For example, idleness. It's flesh, isn't it? The wastefulness. The Proverbs talks about the wasted. They live in wasting. They waste everything they've got.

[20:55] And they wonder why they have nothing. Neglect. Worldliness. We've talked about that today. Carelessness. Absence.

[21:06] Absence from worship. It's the flesh, isn't it? When we're absent from worship, where we ought to be, where we could be. Carnal thinking. It's the flesh, people.

[21:18] What's some other things? Sowing to the flesh. You might have your own thoughts that come to mind. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, when you come to think of it, that's the flesh. I should not do that. What is sowing to the spirit?

[21:32] Again, just to think back, it's being spiritually minded, isn't it? It talks about, as we read in... No, I'm ahead of myself there.

[21:46] Sowing to the spirit. In Galatians 5.16, it says, if we walk in the spirit, it says, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So, it's about, rather than sowing to the flesh, I'm going to decide, no, I'm going to sow to the spirit.

[22:04] Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If you get busy doing good things, sowing good seed, you're not going to have the opportunity so much to sow the bad seed.

[22:22] Sow good seed. So, we're sowing by the books we read, by the company we keep, by what we're setting our minds on. Those are the things of God, those thoughts, those deeds.

[22:35] Sow good seed. For example, by having good habits. Time to pray. Time to read. Time with the word. Time in worship. It's sowing to the spirit.

[22:47] That's what we need. If we don't, there can be no harvest of the spirit. No fruit of the spirit. You sow to the spirit when you minister to others. When you bear on another's burdens.

[22:59] When you obey the word. When you have the mind of Christ. When you walk in the spirit. When you forgive. When you take your thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. When you refuse to gossip.

[23:11] When you speak the truth. When you pay your bills. When you praise the Lord. When you have that zeal for good, for God. When you have a good testimony. That's sowing to the spirit.

[23:23] And think of it. Fathers, you are sowing seed by your example. That's a big thing. We might be sowing our seed.

[23:33] Just by what we do and don't do. Because our children are watching us. Your children see that, don't they? Mothers, fathers. Another thought with sowing and reaping is don't delay to sow.

[23:49] You know, I had some seed in my garden shed. And they were in my garden shed for years. And I put it in the ground and nothing came up.

[23:59] It was just too late. Mind you, they hear it. You read of pyramids and of seeds in the Pharaoh's tombs. And they can still germinate after thousands, hundreds of years.

[24:10] You know, but sometimes if we delay, we miss the harvest, don't we? Don't delay. God's putting on your heart to do something for him. Don't delay.

[24:21] Sometimes we worry too much about favourable conditions. And we put things off. Sorry, this is the one. Ecclesiastes 11 verse 4.

[24:32] It says, He that observeth the wind shall not sow. He that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. If we wait and wait and wait till the conditions are just favourable, we wait and wait and put off, put off.

[24:43] Eventually, ultimately, life's gone. It's a vapour. And time's up. You've missed out. Begin now. God's putting on your heart something.

[24:56] Do it now. An opportunity can be lost. You know, just yesterday I went to the fridge and just a bit of a silly example really, but, you know, I had some, a carton of eggs in the fridge.

[25:10] And, you know, eggs can go off. You know, I found as I broke one, I just broke three or four of them, and I broke one and, oh, that one's gone off. It wrecked the whole lot.

[25:21] You know, eggs can go off. You know, there's a time limit. And to delay can be harmful. I took too long to eat those eggs. I had to throw them all out.

[25:32] And sometimes it's about this seed. I guess I'm being a little diverse illustrations here. Well, the point is, if you don't put it in the ground, it's not going to grow.

[25:44] Amen. If you keep putting things off to the perfect conditions, you're never going to get on with it. Don't do that. It's a big mistake. It's a big mistake.

[26:21] So, just back to that, where it talks about the sowing again. It's sowing that good seed, righteousness, and the writer's saying, break up your fallow ground.

[26:35] You know, start cultivating. Start getting that ground ready for the seed. And it's saying, if you can sow righteousness, you're going to reap mercy.

[26:45] There's going to be something good out of it. And it's time to sow. That's the point I'm trying to make here tonight. It's time to sow. Don't delay. Because really, when you think about it, our adversary and his workers are busy.

[27:02] I kind of like to compliment the devil that he is a hard worker sowing bad seed.

[27:15] It talks about that in one of our Lord's parables. It says that the devil sows tears or weeds. And it says the enemy that sowed them is the devil.

[27:26] The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are the angels. Of course, it's another parable. And we're not really expanding that here tonight as such.

[27:37] But just the point is that the devil is busy. He's busy. We see his works all over us, don't we? He's having a field day in Adelaide, isn't he? He's having a harvest. There's a harvest for the devil in our city.

[27:51] Because the devil is busy sowing bad seed. I think the destruction. I know commenting as some of us are part of the Thursday night and the addiction course.

[28:03] And you think, it's all over the place, you know? I suppose if you were to walk down the street and, you know, mix with certain people, they'd be offering you something to take, wouldn't they?

[28:21] Would that be so? You know, certain parties, certain settings, certain scenes. No one's offered me any drugs, but it can happen, can't it? There's seed everywhere.

[28:32] It's all over the place. People are offering drugs, selling drugs. It's wickedness. It's all over the city. It's endemic.

[28:43] And, you know, I know some folk of our number are going into the city, reaching out to some of the real down-and-outers. And there's a harvest there. See the wreckage of human lives, the damage, the hurt, the hurting, the lost innocence, the baggage, the hurts, the heartache that some people carry.

[29:07] The devil's having a harvest in our city. And the principles are the same. There's a harvest going on, people. Think of the cults, what the Mormons are doing, the confusion, the Jehovah's Witnesses, other false, you know, more quasi-Christian groups.

[29:26] There's so much madness and mayhem and confusion, doctrinal confusion. You know, someone earlier today posted something about a church in Elizabeth.

[29:39] And it's much like ours. But they preach baptismal regeneration. You have to be baptised to be saved. That's an error. That's a false doctrine. That's an evil doctrine.

[29:50] Because baptism does not save us. Believers get baptised if you believe you're saved. Believers get baptised.

[30:01] Salvation is faith. Faith only. Not your baptism does not save you. There's people going into water, they're just getting wet. It does nothing. If they're trusting in the water, you have to trust in the Lord.

[30:15] There's false doctrine everywhere. And some of it is kind of not always apparent. There's works-based salvation, teachings. There's falsehood. The devil's harvesting.

[30:26] The devil's sowing his false seed. There's tears. The devil and his workers are sowing. They're sowing madly. We need to be sowing the good seed, amen? That's the point.

[30:38] Everywhere we go, we can sow the good seed. There's a story of an English traveller. He loved wildflowers growing along the lanes and fields of England. And as he went and had opportunity to go abroad, he would fill his pockets with the seeds and scatter them.

[30:55] Broadcast. Of course, we know that's not allowed now because that's probably, I believe, why we've got sower sobs in Australia. Because someone thought these pretty little flowers would look beautiful in Australia.

[31:09] Of course, we know. But the point is, everywhere he went, he sowed the seed and these flowers germinated wherever he went. And it's true for you and me, isn't it?

[31:20] We're sowing wherever we go, aren't we? We ought to be. Now, maybe I should open this one here, 2,000 seeds. And I could just open the window and just let it blow out as I drive along.

[31:32] And then one day, there'll be a carpet of lobelia along the road where I've just been. Honestly, think of spiritually, though. Wherever you go, you're sowing something, aren't you?

[31:44] And even without you even thinking that you're sowing, it's happening. We're broadcasting seed. Almost every day we live, there's opportunities for you to sow a seed.

[31:56] Even when you're not doing the witnessing, you're actually being a witness. Amen? Even though you're not joining the soul winning program, you are a soul winner. It's not like you can only witness between 10.30 and 12 on a Saturday.

[32:12] No! No! It's your life. Your life is a witness for Christ. And we're sowing seeds through kind words, through giving heart, through telling the gospel, showing love, reaching out.

[32:28] You know, I heard someone's going to have some hospitality. Visiting someone this week is the plan. That's a good godly thing to do, isn't it? That's sowing the seed. Amen? That's sowing the seed. That's good.

[32:39] And some life will be blessed. And friends, it tells us in 2 Corinthians 9 that the reaping is proportionate to the sowing.

[32:49] There's many verses along these themes. And, of course, the faith movement preachers use these things to think, well, put the money in the bag.

[33:00] And, you know, there's that principle of giving. But it's bigger than finance. It's bigger than all of that stuff. This is about the seed that we sow.

[33:12] And Paul writes this. He says, He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly. He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man that giveth, every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give.

[33:27] Not grudgingly or of necessity, but for God loveth a cheerful giver. Now, the principle here is the reaping is proportionate.

[33:38] So the more we sow, the more we harvest. All right? So the more good seed we sow, the more good harvest we're going to get. And why do we not see much harvest?

[33:49] Maybe we're not sowing enough. Talking about sowing is not going to cut it. You know, I'll get around to it to put some of these seeds in my garden.

[34:00] I'll get around to it one day. But talking about the sowing is not going to cut it. And, you know, we can... I'm going to witness one day.

[34:10] I'm going to learn how to witness. I'm going to tell somebody about Jesus and my salvation. But we never get around to it. We won't see a harvest that way.

[34:23] We have to sow. We have to be diligent. But you do not reap until you sow. So purpose in your heart, it says. Purpose in your heart. And don't do it grudgingly.

[34:35] Do it cheerfully. Do it willingly. Do it heartily. And sow abundantly. If we're sparing, we'll only see a little harvest. As a church, we want to see a big harvest.

[34:48] First, we have to sow the seed. Lots of seed. And that's why we've got quite a few tracts. We've got boxes of tracts. So there's no lack of supply.

[35:01] Sow the seed. Sow the seed. Purpose in your heart. And keep on. Keep on sowing. And don't give up.

[35:12] We see Galatians 6 verse 9. It says this. And let us not be weary in well-doing. You know, we can get flagged. We can get weary.

[35:23] We can get worn. And worn out. And the devil wants us to just get the wearing down of the saints it talks about, doesn't it?

[35:33] And the devil wants you to falter and faint. In due season it says, we shall reap if we, if we faint not.

[35:46] So be patient. Be persevering. James says, be patient till the coming of the law. This is James 5. Like the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth.

[35:57] He waits patiently. And reaping does not immediately follow sowing. Now I talked in a sermon recently about missionaries laboring. It was like five odd years till the first convert in some places.

[36:12] Meanwhile they're translating the whole Bible. Imagine the laborious effort of translating the Bible. And it's hard enough to understand it in English, let alone translate it into a foreign language.

[36:25] And you think, wow, these men and women of God have labored on fields distant in privation, in sacrifice, sometimes losing loved ones to malaria and such.

[36:40] Julie and I watched a movie of a missionary of recent times. And you think, these men and women of God, they will have such an exalted place in heaven, surely, for the suffering for Christ.

[36:55] And for some of them they see scarcely anything for their labor. But then sometimes it's years later. What a harvest. What a harvest in China.

[37:07] What a harvest in India. Where missionaries labored and sometimes saw little for their labors. And sometimes reaping does not immediately follow the sowing.

[37:18] You know, you might be witnessing to someone and think, they just don't get it. I'm telling them, and I'm telling them again, and I'm telling them again. Or you might say, I'm praying for them, and they don't see anything.

[37:30] It seems like it's just, they're not getting this. Keep on sowing. For in due season we shall reap.

[37:42] If, if we faint not. Apparently, if you sow rabbit seed, if you like, you know, rabbits, it takes 31 days for that seed.

[37:54] 31 days for the rabbit to be produced. To get a crop of rabbits. If you sow elephant seed, it takes about 22 months to reap a baby elephant.

[38:09] It's amazing, isn't it? Think of that. 22 months gestation for the baby elephant. And, you know, it can be maybe this seed that we sow, this precious seed.

[38:21] We're sowing it and sowing it. And faithfully, heartily, perseveringly, in some of the ministries like the Sunday school, the children's programs, the youth group, sometimes it takes many, many times of telling someone of the gospel before we see the fruit, the harvest.

[38:41] And there's that lapse of time. It takes time. Let us not be weary. Let us not be weary. Friends, friends tonight, saints of God, do not be discouraged.

[38:53] You might be a gospel worker, and it's been hard yakker for you. Don't be discouraged. Do not be weary. Do not lose heart. Be faithful in your sowing.

[39:05] You know, I can go back many years and think, time spent with people and wondering, was it well spent? And then you see something. You see something.

[39:15] Yes, it was. There's something there. There's still some heart for God because of the time we put in. Be faithful in your sowing. And there will be a harvest.

[39:26] Friends, you will have a harvest one way or the other, either negative or positive. Sometimes we can underestimate the work that we do. And this is precious seed.

[39:40] You might think, well, who am I to bear the news? Who am I to tell someone of the Lord? Who am I to be a witness for Christ with all of my faults? We can wait and wait till we think, I'm ready to tell someone.

[39:55] No. No. Do it now. You know, we can make the mistake, I've got to know more about the Bible. I've got to be more conversant with objections and answering.

[40:08] And, you know, I've got to be more trained. I've got to be more qualified. I've got to have some training course before I do anything for God. It's wrong.

[40:20] No. Do it now. Do it now. Do it now. This is precious seed. It's the seed that matters.

[40:31] You're just the dispenser of it. There was an obscure man preaching in a Methodist chapel one Sunday in the south of England.

[40:42] I think he was a kind of fill-in preacher. And there was a boy of 15 years old in the audience. And he'd just come in because there was a snowstorm outside.

[40:54] And the man took as his text, look unto me and be saved. And as he stumbled through, as best as he could, there was a bit of a bumbling effort from this preacher man.

[41:10] As best as he could, he said, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth. And as he said that, the light of heaven shone into that little boy's heart.

[41:23] And he went home saved. And soon became Charles Spurgeon, the boy preacher. There will be a harvest. There will be a harvest. Don't be discouraged.

[41:35] Don't be deterred. Keep on sowing. And you can be sure you will see a harvest. But be sure to sow to the spirit, not the flesh. Amen.

[41:45] We don't want a bitter harvest. We want a blessed harvest. We want to harvest some good fruit. And so, don't feed the flesh.

[41:57] Don't sow the flesh. Fleshly things. Sow to the spirit. And that can be, friends, there will be a harvest. You know, the Bible says, do this and this will happen.

[42:10] He says, the meek shall inherit the earth. Says, they that suffer for Christ shall reign with him. They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars.

[42:21] forever. They that give a drink of water in my name shall not lose their reward. Sow to the spirit and you will reap eternal blessing.

[42:45] This is precious seed. And you're the workers. You're the dispensers of it. You're the ones who said, take it. Give it. Bring it.

[42:57] Plant it. You're the workers. Don't be careless. Don't be negligent to sow the seed.

[43:09] Take the precious seed and sow it. Take it and sow it while you can. Friends, just to reflect again, we've got tracts galore. It would be a big problem if we run out of tracts.

[43:22] Oh, we've got to keep them in the cupboard and let them gather dust. We've got to put them on the shelf and show everybody all the great, all the massive amount of tracts we've got. No! We want them out there.

[43:34] That's where they need to go. Take the precious seed and sow it while we can. And we will reap a harvest of our own planting. I can't plant for you. I can't plant your harvest.

[43:48] You have to do it. You have to sow to the Spirit for yourself. Our actions matter. Sow to the Spirit. Fill your mind with the Word of God. Get your running shoes on and go run the race.

[44:06] Deny yourself and depend upon God and stop making excuses. Oh, I'm not ready. Who am I? Send Aaron.

[44:21] We can know an abundant harvest. Friends, I urge you tonight. Pray that this has been an encouragement to you as we reflect on these things that this is the principle of reaping what we sow and thinking, contemplate, what am I sowing?

[44:37] flesh or spirit? Seed time and harvest. Now is the seed time. Let's go and sow.

[44:48] And I urge you tonight, if you get to trust Christ, this is precious seed. You know, the Bible talks about that we're born again of an incorruptible seed, doesn't it?

[45:03] Is it 1 Peter? Where it talks about we're born again of an incorruptible seed. And this is the Word of God. I can't find that quickly, but we're born again of an incorruptible seed.

[45:18] This seed is life. It's everlasting. The gospel message. In other words, Christ died for our sins. That's the message. He's risen. He's alive.

[45:29] Trust Him for your saving. Trust Him now. Don't put it off another moment that you can receive that seed. He's wanting to plant it.

[45:40] As He goes out to sow as one of His parables, He sows it on different ground. And will you be ground that will receive the seed? That you'll receive it? And that can spring up and bear fruit and produce hundredfold, two hundredfold.

[45:59] You yourself can be a messenger of that seed to others. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank You that we have precious seed, this precious faith, this precious Saviour.

[46:12] Our Lord God, Your precious blood shed for us. This is precious. And nothing compares. Lord, we have precious seed. May us go forth rejoicing.

[46:24] May us go forth weeping. Ultimately, we will be rejoicing because Your precious seed will produce a precious harvest of souls, of souls one, of souls trusting You.

[46:37] Lord, we pray each one gathered here in the hearing of this will know that grace of God that brings salvation, faith that You give as we trust Your awesome finished work.

[46:53] We have salvation's gift. Lord, we pray each one can have that trust and know, Lord, yes, we're all meant to be bearing that precious seed so others too can know that saving grace.

[47:06] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.