Sowing Seed

I. Introduction

One of my heroes was Bro. Michael Guido. You know, Dr. Caner was talking last night about how Billy Graham was such a powerful evangelist because he could speak to a crowd of thousands of people from 6 years old to 60 years old and preach so simply and clearly that every single person there could understand....and He preached with so much truth that thousands in the crowd would come to Christ....He preached with such simplicity but at the same time with so much love and truth....

You know I think that was Brother Michael Guido’s gift too....You see Michael had a very special ministry....he used one of Jesus’ most powerful tools…stories....the King James Version translated that Greek word for short stories as parable…and that’s all a parable is....it’s a short story....that teaches a biblical truth.

And Brother Michael thoroughly figured out how to utilize that tool…a short story that teaches a biblical truth....

He named his primary ministry tool, short little one minute radio and later television broadcasts: A Seed from the Sower....why? Because the Parable of the Sower represents so much of what a parable is....it’s planting a seed....that hopefully will get watered…and bloom into a love for Christ....

And Michael did that in such a simple but…at the same time a profound way....let me show you what I’m talking about...

<Seed from the Sower Video>

a. Scripture: Mark 4:1-20

I’m going to ask you to stand with me, if you are able, as we read from God’s Holy, Perfect, Sufficient and inerrant Word.

<Pray>

Thank you, and you may be seated.

II. Major Points

The Seed is the Word

YOU are a Sower

III. Point #1: The Seed is the Word

Explanation

Mark 4:3 NASB95

“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;

Then listen to this:

Mark 4:14 NASB95

“The sower sows the word.

What is the seed here? The seed is the Word of God. It’s certainly the heart of what Dr. Guido shared in all of his many broadcasts....his Seeds from the Sower....He was interested in sharing the Word.

Illustration

You know, when we look at a small seed, we see something perhaps just small…and insignificant. But folks, I want you to know that a seed is a pretty fantastic thing....

Hannah has recently gotten into gardening…and my family has always had a family garden every summer. We’d of course plant our south Georgia staples....corn, tomatoes, Irish potatoes, squash, cucumbers, butter beans, snap beans, zipper peas....all that good stuff....

But you know, I was looking at the stack of bags of seed that Hannah had at the house…and I got to thinking: these things really are pretty remarkable....

In her poem “Trees,” Joyce Kilmer famously wrote “Only God can make a tree.”....which is a true statement. No man, no scientist…no one can make a tree....no human can create a living plant PERIOD.....only God can.

But not only that....let’s go to an even smaller level: Think about it: No man can make a seed…the basic way to get to a tree is just a small seed....no lab....no scientist....no company....no machine has EVER manufactured a seed. They CAN’T DO it! Forget a tree....ONLY God can make a SEED! Seeds give life…trees and plants are ALIVE, AMEN? Only GOD can give that.

Application

Church: Listen to me this morning: God and ONLY God can give life. And the seed represents the Word…the word, of course in one sense is the Bible…it’s Scripture....the words of God Himself....

2 Timothy 3:16 (NASB95)

All Scripture is inspired by God

KJV: “God-breathed”

The Bible is the Word of God...and just like a seed is alive…hear me this morning: The BIBLE is ALIVE.

Can I get an amen on that this morning? The BIBLE is ALIVE!

Listen to me church: The Bible is unlike any other book out there. Brother Aaron preached to you last week and told you: “Look....God wrote a book....and that’s a big deal!” It’s GOD’s Book! And it is a magnificent book…Listen to me…Adrian Rogers used to say: “ou read other books....but the Bible reads YOU.”

Hebrews 4:12 (NASB95)

For the word of God is ALIVE and active and sharper than any two-edged sword...

Our Lord Jesus Christ said in:

John 6:63 (NASB95)

“....The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

These words are....Life.

“....The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.your life…you will NEVER yield a crop unless you sow seed. Just like you’ll never get corn, butterbeans, or squash unless you do the word and spread the seed....you’ll never see life in your own life or reproduced in the lives of other.

Church....you can go out and work....you can plow the land....you can fertilize it…you can water it....you can plant it where it gets plenty of sunlight....but if you don’t plant the seed, you did all that for nothing. Nothing is going to grow…I guarantee it.

Listen to me....if you want to see growth in your own life and with your relationship with God..friends you have GOT to plant seed…which is the word of God....what’s that mean? It means YOU and I had BETTER get into the Word of God. The life is in the word....and friends I’m telling you this morning right ow that you cannot know what it is like to truly live a life with purpose apart from the word....

Now ultimately, apart from the Bible, when the Bible references the “Word” of God, it is also referring to our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 1:1 NASB95

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So, I’d like to propose another proposition to you: You can’t know Christ apart from Scripture either. Jesus IS the Word because knowing Him is intimately attached to knowing Scripture…knowing the truth.

Just like the Bible brings life....Jesus brings life....a life worth living in this life and then life eternal....

John 14:6 (NASB95)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the…what?....life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Friends if you want life…you must come to the Word, which is Jesus....and we learn about that from the word, which is Scripture.

Friends, you have GOT to be in your Bibles....and I mean more than just on Sunday mornings. I’m not saying that to make you feel convicted....I’m saying it because I love you and I want you to not only live, I want you to THRIVE in this life.

John 10:10 (NASB95)

Jesus said: I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

He wants you to enjoy a life IN Him....does that mean everything’s always going to be perfect and easy all the time? Absolutely not....but what it DOES mean as that when you face those troublesome times in life....this time…you face them with Jesus....when you face your enemies, you face them with Jesus this time, amen?

Romans 8:31 (NASB95)

If God is for us, who is against us?

…when you face those financial troubles or those relationship issues, this time you face them with Jesus....and when you face that sickness....cancer even....this time you face cancer with who?.....with WHO?

You doggone right, Jesus!

The seed is the word....and the word is Scripture....we need to be in it…and through it we know the word which is Jesus....and friends: Jesus is life, amen?

IV. Point #2: YOU are a Sower

Explanation

Now in the explanation of the parable, Jesus shows us who THE Sower is:

Mark 4:14 NASB95

“The sower sows the word.

The word comes from the Sower....that means that it comes FROM the one who made it, which is God.

Now you might be saying “now wait a minute Vic, you JUST said that WE are the Sowers, right?”

No sir....I didn’t say You are THE Sower…I said you are A Sower.

So who sows the word? Jesus or you? Jesus or us?

John 20:21 (NASB95)

So Jesus said: “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Jesus came sowing the word, which points to Himself (the word) and then he sends US sowing as well.

And that means every child of God, every follower of Jesus ought to be sowing.

So what does that mean?

Illustration

Well first of all: it means that we have to dust it off and USE it. We have to study it.

If you were a farmer, what good would the seed do to leave it sitting in the barn? That isn’t going to lead to any growth in you or anybody else....no the seed must be put into the soil, amen? We must SOW, or plant, the seed. That is our commandment from God.

Psalm 126:6 NASB95

He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

With shouts of JOY, the Psalmist wrote....do you want JOY in your life?

First of all, we sow the word in our own lives by staying in the word....and we grow that way. And, friends, it is impossible to grow in Christ without the word....

Application

But a good sower brings other to the Lord and shares the word with others. Church: listen to me: there is NOTHING that can bring you more joy in this life than leading a soul to Jesus Christ…and there is bound to be joy and rejoicing when you get to do that.

I was reflecting on my time at the worst ministry experience I ever had last night....and I wondered from time to time why I stayed in that awful, toxic place that did nothing but abuse my patience and take advantage of my good nature and then I remembered:

In my time there I led a 14 year old girl to the Lord and an 84 year old man to the Lord. Two different people, 70 years apart....and let me tell you: I was just as gleeful about leading that 84 year old man to the Lord as I was that 14 year old young lady....I was ecstatic, joyful and just beside myself....there is NO joy, like leading a young person to Jesus.

Let me tell you something friends....I used to think this parable was about making sure that as a sower imitating Christ, we ought to only spread seed on good ground....but I don’t think that’s the message here....I think the message here is much more simple than that....did you hear where the sower spread his seed? Some on good ground....some on bad....it didn’t matter. All of the ground had a shot at the seed....The sower spread the seed EVERWHERE....and the fact is it fell in some bad places....some fell on the stones....and some made it to the good soil.

Look folks: it isn’t our responsibility to check out the soil before we sow....but it IS our responsibility to sow…and then leave the results up to Him.

Church: some of the folks you share with are going to listen....some arent.....but some of them may take that seed…and it may lay dormant for YEARS…until somebody waters it....and then they come to Christ.

Adrian Rogers was the pastor of one of the largest Baptist Churches in America, Bellevue Baptist up in Memphis, Tennessee. Before that, though, he pastored the First Baptist Church of Merritt Island, Florida. Years after he left Merritt Island for Tennesee, he got a letter from a man that said “Pastor, you don’t know me and probably won’t remember me....but when I was a teenage boy living in Merritt Island, Florida, you stopped your car one hot day to give me a ride,” the boy said…He added: I was kind of rebellious kid....long HAIR…KIND OF LIKE A HIPPIE....angry…I had a chip on shoulder....and on the car ride, you share the Gospel with me....I tried to act like I wasn’t listening....but boy was I. Years later, that seed you planted grew until it became real to me....and now I’m proud to tell you 20 years later that I’m saved and serve as a pastor of a church in Alabama.”

You see, those seeds we plant are real....even the ones you think aren’t there. The ones we plant in our children....they’re there. IN Sunday School…and VBS....my goodness, I LOVE when those kids come tell me with excitement what all they’ve learned…those are SEEDS you are planting in those babies...

and it is our job, church, to sow the word in our own hearts and in the hearts of others....we have to do it....

V. Conclusion

a. Let me ask you this morning:

b. Let’s Pray