Back to Life - 4

Sowing Again: Rebuilding what God will Revive

This week as I attended the Associational meeting Tuesday night God began to speak to me.

I had only planned 4 sermons for this series, but God has led me further.

Therefore, this morning we are looking at Sowing Again: Rebuilding what God will Revive.

Our text is going to come from Psalm 126, and Luke 8.

We are going to look at these two text and how God will use us to sow seed to rebuild the body of believers here.

We are going to look at four things this morning - The season of Sorrow and Hope, second, The work of Sowing, third The reward of reaping, and fourth How to Sow again.

First look with me at Psalm 126:5-6

Psalm 126:5–6 CSB

5 Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. 6 Though one goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed, he will surely come back with shouts of joy, carrying his sheaves.

Our first point is

I. The Season of Sorrow and Hope

When we go through difficult or times of sorrow, many times we lose hope, we begin to feel like life is just going to be hard all the time.

We must remember that even though we may go through a season of sorrow, there will come a season of hope.

On Wednesday nights we have been looking at the life of Elijah, and he told King Ahab there would be a drought which lasted three and half years.

I am sure there was a lot of people that felt like it was never going to end, but God told Elijah to go and tell them rain is coming.

Then a small cloud appeared, and I am sure some thought oh wow that is not going to do much, but then the sky turned dark and there was a down pour.

They went through a season of Sorrow, which was the drought, but then a season of hope came when the rain began.

A. Acknowledging the Tears.

In our text in Psalm 126, the Psalmist is speaking to people that were returning from exile.

The people were broken, weary, and uncertain.

The people had been in a season of sorrow.

Just like the Israelites that experienced the season of sorrow of exile, there are churches that go through season of sorrow.

A churches season of sorrow may not be a drought of rain, or being exiled, but it may be a decline in attendance, it may be the church loses long time members to death, or it could be that their building is damaged, and many other ways.

The Israelites had tears when remembering what they had been through in exile.

A Church may have tears from remembering what was once, full pews, vibrant ministries and familiar faces.

B. The Promise of Joy

Just as in Elijah’s time rain came.

In the Psalmist time the people were returning from exile.

These things brought joy to people.

God never wastes tears, they water the ground for new life.

When was the last time you shed tears over lost people.

Rebuilding starts with faith that what we plant in faith, God will raise in power.

We must do the planting, we must have faith.

We hear people say quite often these days, especially in the last few weeks since the assignation of Charlie Kirk, that we are seeing revival.

Revival is not man-made - it is the harvest of God’s faithfulness.

Before we can experience reaping of joy, there must be sowing in faith.

God can do anything, but He wants to use His people, and therefore, He is waiting for us to do our part, before He is going to move.

That part can be as simple as inviting a friend, or a neighbor to join you at church.

A Survey was done on people coming to church.

When asking first time visitors about why they visited, the majority visited because some one close to them, a friend or relative invited them.

Very few visited because someone they did not know, like a pastor, or other leader invited them.

We need to invite our friends, family, and neighbors that do not attend church somewhere.

II. The Work of Sowing

Luke 8:5–8 CSB

5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. 6 Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

I have been growing gardens really my entire life.

Before sowing the seed there is work that is needed, the soil needs to be prepared.

The seed needs to be bought or prepared for sowing.

Some seed need to be planted deep, some need to be planted shallow, and some need to be planted in what I have always called a hill.

The soil must be laid off into rows, or prepared for rows.

Then the seed can be sown, and the sower must take note of how far apart to plant the seed, and how deeep.

A. The Sower and the Seed

So the sower represents those who scatter the Word of God, they share the gospel message.

The seed then is the Word of God, the gospel message that brings life to what is dead.

We must understand the importance of sowing the seed, sharing the gospel message.

If we do not sow the seed then we will not be able to have a harvest.

B. The condition of the soil

Luke 8:9–15 CSB

9 Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?” 10 So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. 11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. 14 As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. 15 But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

When it comes to sowing the seeds of the gospel there are times we can go out and just scatter seed, but most of the time we need to prepare the soil to plant the gospel in.

The preparing the soil for the seeds of the gospel is building relationships with people.

I have heard the statement many times and I believe it is true, “People do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

Just with planting seeds for a garden, we can plant the seed, water it, fertilize it, and do all kinds of things to try to get the seed to germinate, but it is only God that can cause a seed to grow.

With the gospel, just like Jesus taught in this parable, some times the seed falls on the top of the soil and birds eat it before it can take hold, that is the person more or less lets it go in one ear and out the other.

Then there are times when the seed falls on the rocky ground and cannot get a good root system, this person hears the gospel, they contemplate it, but it never takes a hold.

Then there is the seed that grows and is doing great but then weeds come in and take it over, this is a person that hears the gospel, responds to the gospel, gets excited, but then the things of the world become more important than following Jesus.

Then there is the seed that falls on good soil, it takes root, grows and produces a harvest, this is the person that hears the gospel, receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they follow Jesus as a disciple, and become a disciple maker.

We see that Jesus has presented four types of soil - that is four ways people receive the Word of God, the gospel message.

How do we tend these four types of soil.

The hardened paths: we need to pray that God will soften those hearts.

The shallow soil: we need to deepen the discipleship, and not just focus on attendance.

The thorny soil: we need to remove and reveal distractions and divisions.

The good soil: we need to nurture what God is already doing.

Rebuilding begins not with programs, but with preparing hearts.

III. The Reward of Reaping

Psalm 126:6 CSB

6 Though one goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed, he will surely come back with shouts of joy, carrying his sheaves.

We must remember that we cannot cause a seed to grow, just as we cannot make a person receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

But we are also told in Scripture in Isaiah 55:11

Isaiah 55:11 CSB

11 so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”

When we go out to sow the seed of the Gospel we must go out with God leading us, and not in our own power.

A. God brings the Harvest

Those that are faithful is sowing seeds of the gospel in faith, will one day gather fruit in joy.

Rebuilding may be slow, but God multiplies what is faithfully planted.

Ephesians 3:20 CSB

20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—

Remember it is God who brings the harvest.

We plant the seed, we may water seed that has already been planted, but it is God who brings the increase.

Paul spoke on this when writing to the Corinthians believers.

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 CSB

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

B. Reaping with Rejoicing

The joy comes not just from the harvest, but also from seeing God’s hand at work.

God will use our tears to become testimonies, He will us our sowing to become songs of praise.

Revival is God’s harvest of our faithful sowing.

IV. How to Sow Again

When I do not plant a specific vegetable for a few years, when I get ready to plant it again, I have to stop and figure out the depth to plant the seed, how far apart to make the rows, and how far apart to plant the seed.

When we have not sown the seed of the Gospel for a while we need to stop and become familiar with how we need to do it.

It can be simple, but we can also make it complicated if we are not careful.

Here are four things we need to do.

1. Sow the Word Faithfully

We sow the word faithfully through teaching and you may think well I am not a teacher.

We may not be a school teacher, a Sunday school teacher, but each person has influence on others, even when they do not realize it.

Everyone impacts those around them through their actions, words, and examples.

Even though we are not a teacher, what is our influence teaching others around us, is it godly, is it Christ centered.

We need to be willing to share the gospel in ever corner of our life.

2. Sow in Prayer

To see a spiritual harvest, a revival it has to begin with prayer.

To see lives changed for God it has to be bathed in prayer.

If we are going to see God use this church as a light house, it must be bathed in prayer.

3. Sow in Unity

For our sowing to have a great impact, it must be down in unity.

That is one heart, one purpose, and one mission.

We must come together in unity centered on Jesus Christ.

The purpose and mission must be to share the gospel message to grow the kingdom of God.

4. Sow in Hope

We must have faith, and in that we have to have hope that God is going to use us to do something great.

We cannot give up in the waiting, see when I plant a tomato seed, I do not get tomato’s immediately, or the next day, or the next week, it takes time.

We must be patient, and wait.

We must also understand that waiting time is not wasted time - God will use it to speak to us, to teach us something, or reveal things to us.

We must not give up, because the harvest is coming, maybe not today, or tomorrow, or next week, but eventually we will see a harvest if we are faithful.

Closing

We may be planting with tears today, but God promises we will one day gather with joy.

We need to see ourselves as sowers in God’s rebuilding work - every act of faith, every prayer, and every service is a seed that God will bring to life.