Seedtime and Harvest (3)
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Seedtime and Harvest
Seedtime and Harvest
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat, Winter and summer,
And day and night shall not cease.”
In Gen. 8:22 God reemphasizes a universal principle that was woven into the fabric of Creation: Whatever seed is sown will produce a Harvest.
Last week we talked about:
The Anointing to Plant and the Anointing to Harvest
The Anointing to Plant and the Anointing to Harvest
Three Principles We Learned Last Week:
Three Principles We Learned Last Week:
1) The Seed is the Word
1) The Seed is the Word
2) The Soil is the Heart
2) The Soil is the Heart
3) The Rain is the Spirit
3) The Rain is the Spirit
Today we are going to focus on:
Sowing the Seeds of Your Own Breakthrough or Miracle
Sowing the Seeds of Your Own Breakthrough or Miracle
7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.”
11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”
15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.
Background - Ahab & Jezebel - Baal
Baal was the Canaanite-Phoenician god of rain, storms, and fertility. Baal was also known as Hadad.
Baal was a popular deity in Canaan and Phoenicia, which influenced the Hebrews who later arrived in the promised land.
Baal was associated with rain because rain was essential for the survival of agriculture in the region.
Baal was also associated with fertility because rain ensures the fertility of plants and animals.
He was also called the Lord of Rain and Dew, the two forms of moisture that were indispensable for fertile soil in Canaan.
The Canaanites worshiped Baal as the sun god and as the storm god—he is usually depicted holding a lightning bolt—who defeated enemies and produced crops. They also worshiped him as a fertility god who provided children. Baal worship was rooted in sensuality and involved ritualistic prostitution in the temples. At times, appeasing Baal required human sacrifice, usually the firstborn of the one making the sacrifice (Jeremiah 19:5). The priests of Baal appealed to their god in rites of wild abandon which included loud, ecstatic cries and self-inflicted injury (1 Kings 18:28).
2 “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”
3 And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
The plural of Ball is Baalim:
The Baalim of the Old Testament were nothing more than demonic spirits masquerading as gods, and all idolatry is ultimately devil-worship (1 Corinthians 10:20).
20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.
(Sources: Britannica & GotQuestions.org)
This has been the focus of Satan since the beginning.
12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
This echos the temptation that caused the fall of man and woman in the Garden:
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The Living Bible - “That’s a lie!” the serpent hissed. “You’ll not die!
Man and Woman shifted their focus away from the Tree of Life to the Tree of Knowledge
Their desire was to become wise in order to be their own god and control their own fate rather than trusting a generous God as the giver and sustainer of life.
44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
As is always the case, the enemy deceives man into thinking he is getting autonomy when he is really enslaving him to worship at the feet of a “god” that promises freedom through self-gratification.
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
16 Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with God)?
Thinking they could control the weather by persuading Baal with their sacrifices and sensual practices, the people of God had shifted their worship and loyalty away from the God to worship Baal. In doing so, they had become so entangled in this religion, that rather than consecrating their first born to God who promised respond with blessing the life of that child, they would sacrifice that child to Baal - which was often burned alive in the fire - on the same altar where the sensual practices of Baal worship had take place.
In response, God had sent Elijah to Ahab to make a proclamation:
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
Elijah went to the brook Kedron, and God commanded Ravens to feed him. When the brook dried up, God said:
9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
God Will Speak to You Prior to Planting Time
God Will Speak to You Prior to Planting Time
The Seed to Your Miracle Often Involve Becoming a Part of Someone Else’s Miracle
The Seed to Your Miracle Often Involve Becoming a Part of Someone Else’s Miracle
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.”
11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
God Will Not Ask You to Plant Anything He Has Not Provided
God Will Not Ask You to Plant Anything He Has Not Provided
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Consuming Your Seed Kills Your Harvest
Consuming Your Seed Kills Your Harvest
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
Fear Will Protest, When It’s Time to Plant
Fear Will Protest, When It’s Time to Plant
14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”
Sowing the Seed Applies the Promise
Sowing the Seed Applies the Promise
10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
God May Bring a Miracle Harvest that is Far Beyond What You Have Sown
God May Bring a Miracle Harvest that is Far Beyond What You Have Sown
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”
15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.
24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
18 So she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?”
19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.
20 Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?”
21 And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.”
22 Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”
