5 KINGDOM LAWS OF HARVEST

5 KINGDOM LAWS FOR HARVEST PART 1

MY STORY

When I was a kid, my parents sent me to my Grandpa Flynn’s farm EACH SUMMER. It was huge, he had a huge dairy farm and untold miles of farm land where he grew tobacco, corn, hay and more. Cows, pigs, chickens, horses - it was an awesome playground for a kid.

A carnival came to Somerset and I really wanted to go. Grandpa said that if I wanted to go then I would have to earn some money. He had an acre that he wanted to plant corn for the family, so did I want to plant the seed by hand. When I was finished, we could go -- so I had a hoe and a bag of seed. It started getting Late in the day, my uncles came out to help me and we finished as it started getting dark and cleaned up and went to the carnival. BUT something happened in me -- I started caring about the seed I sowed -- started going out every day to see if anything was happening -- this went on for quite a few days - but I got bored of seeing nothing and moved on. One day -- I was going out to play by the cow barn and I stopped in my tracks -- there in the field I planted corn, there were corn stalks growing all over that field. WOW I was so excited and felt so much pride of having done something significant.

Mark 4:26-29 (PassionNTPsa) Jesus also told them this parable: “God’s kingdom realm is like someone spreading seed on the ground. He goes to bed and gets up, day after day, and the seed sprouts and grows tall, though he knows not how. All by itself it sprouts, and the soil produces a crop; first the green stem, then the head on the stalk, and then the fully developed grain in the head. Then, when the grain is ripe, he immediately puts the sickle to the grain, because harvest time has come.”

A man steps off a twenty story building. He says, “I’m going to break the law of gravity.” He breaks his neck. He doesn’t break the law of gravity.

What He Does -- He Demonstrates The Law Of Gravity.

That law is there and it works for a saved man or a lost man.

God made these laws.

One of the great laws in the Kingdom Realm -- IS THE KINGDOM LAW OF HARVEST!

SO -- let’s look at what I believe to be 5 active laws concerning receiving a harvest & increase ....

[1] PLANT SOMETHING

BASICALLY -- if you are going to have a harvest -- you must PLANT.

Mark 4:26 (PassionNTPsa) Jesus also told them this parable: “God’s kingdom realm is like someone spreading seed on the ground.

LET ME TAKE YOU TO A DIFFERENT ANGLE -- we reap many times because somebody else planted

John 4:35-38 (PassionNTPsa) As the crowds emerged from the village, Jesus said to his disciples, “Why would you say, ‘The harvest is another four months away’? Look at all the people coming—now is harvest time! For their hearts are like vast fields of ripened grain—ready for a spiritual harvest. And everyone who reaps these souls for eternal life will receive a reward. And those who plant spiritual seeds and those who reap the harvest will celebrate together with great joy! And this confirms the saying, ‘One sows the seed and another reaps the harvest.’ I have sent you out to harvest a field that you haven’t planted, where many others have labored long and hard before you. And now you are privileged to profit from their labors and reap the harvest.”

Hey, I want to ask you a question.

You are sitting in a seat this morning. How’d that chair get there? Who bought it? Somebody did!

What Happens For People Doesn’t Just Happen By Accident -- It Happens Because Someone Understands The VISION & Heart Of God To SOW WHAT THEY HAVE & WHO THEY ARE TOWARDS A HARVEST!!

John 12:23-26 (PassionNTPsa) He replied to them, “Now is the time for the Son of Man to be glorified. Let me make this clear: A single grain of wheat will never be more than a single grain of wheat unless it drops into the ground and dies. Because then it sprouts and produces a great harvest of wheat—all because one grain died. “The person who loves his life and pampers himself will miss true life! But the one who detaches his life from this world and abandons himself to me, will find true life and enjoy it forever! If you want to be my disciple, follow me and you will go where I am going. And if you truly follow me as my disciple, the Father will shower his favor upon your life.

Jesus suffered, bled, and died and made an investment so that YOU & I might be saved & redeemed from the curse

Jesus became that SEED from God that is still reaping a harvest over & over again!

The same law that keeps governing that Harvest is the same law that is governing Your Harvest!!

BUT -- You’ve got to SOW in order to REAP!

[2] APPLES FOR APPLES

Not only must we plant if we would reap -- but -- We Reap The Same As We Plant.

Genesis 1:11 (TLB) And he said, “Let the earth burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant, and fruit trees with seeds inside the fruit, so that these seeds will produce the kinds of plants and fruits they came from.” And so it was, and God was pleased.

Now What Does That Mean? There Is A LOCKED IN Likeness. You Reap The Same Kind Of Fruit That The Seed Came From -- After Its Kind -- That Will Never Be Changed.

And if you sow discord you can never reap unity

If you sow hypocrisy you can’t reap holiness

If you sow to the flesh you can’t reap of the spirit.

IT’S SIMPLY THE “KINGDOM LAW OF IDENTIFICATION ....

You see it in homes ....

“ If a child lives with criticism, he learns to criticize. If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight. If a child lives with ridicule he learns to be shy. If a child lives with shame he learns to feel guilty. If a child lives with tolerance he learns to be patient. If a child lives with encouragement he learns to be confident. If a child lives with praise he learns to appreciate. If a child lives with fairness he learns justice. If a child lives with security he learns how to have faith. If a child lives with approval he learns to like himself. If a child lives with acceptance and friendship he learns how to find love in the world.”

Listen, We Reap In Our Children What We Sow In Them & In Front Of Them!

Do you know the way to get what you need? It is to SOW what you need

Hey, do you need love? Be loving to everyone - You’’ll never lack love

Do you need friendship? Be a friend to everyone - You’ll never lack a friend

Do you need increase? Be generous in YOUR giving to God’s Kingdom Work - You’ll never lack for any good thing -- SUPPLY THE VISION

[3] LET THE SEED PERCOLATE

Mark 4:26-27 (NIV) He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

Night and day, night and day, night and day he goes to bed, he wakes up, he goes to bed, he wakes up. And then after a while there’s a blade that’s coming up out of the ground.

Now what is God saying? God is saying you cannot rush the harvest. Some seeds spring up FAST -- Other seeds take time to mature.

Man Pastor John -- I’ve heard Harvest & Increase for years and years -- Am I really going to experience this time -- NOW!!

Listen to what King Solomon said ....

Ecclesiastes 11:1 (TLB) Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later.

1 Kings 10:22-24 (TLB) King Solomon’s merchant fleet was in partnership with King Hiram’s, and once every three years a great load of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks arrived at the Israeli ports. So King Solomon was richer and wiser than all the kings of the earth. Great men from many lands came to interview him and listen to his God-given wisdom.

Now Solomon was smart. Solomon would load up his ships. And he would say to Hirem and his other captains, he’d say, “I want you to sail off to these far ports.” And he would put all kinds of things into those ships. His bread as it were. Things that he could have translated into food and things that he could have lived off of -- he put them in those ships. And those ships would sail out of the harbor. And he would see them go over the horizon.

One year would pass. Two years would pass. Three years would pass. And back they would come LOADED DOWN WITH GREATER INCREASE THAN HE SENT OUT.

Do you know what he is talking about? It is talking about sowing. It is talking about waiting for the harvest.

ARE WE INVESTING INTO GOD’S KINGDOM EXPECTING & WAITING FOR OUR INCREASE -- LOOKING FOR OUR INCREASE TO COME BACK TO US?

ILLUSTRATION

My Pastor Waymon Rodgers would tell me when I would ask him; “Pastor how do you keep going so strong?”

He’d laugh and excitedly say;

“ I’m living from my giving - I’m just living off the dividends of my life long giving son.”

He was a man who started with a handful of people -- for years and years he struggled -- then all of a sudden, overnight like - 25 years later they finally begin to grow and moved to another location and they began to grow and then another location 10 yrs later and they continued to grow and Pastor died and now the church is around 10,000 with a 24 hr 7 day a week prayer mountain in Louisville, KY.

He’d SOWED FOR YEARS and he was reaping and the church continues to reap because others have come along & caught that same law understanding of a Continual Harvest!

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SOWING WITHOUT REAPING -- YOU ARE GOING TO REAP.

Galatians 6:7-9 (NKJV) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Galatians 6:7 (PassionNTPsa) Make no mistake about it, God will never be mocked! For what you plant will always be the very thing you harvest. The harvest you reap reveals the seed that was planted. If you plant the corrupt seeds of self-life into this natural realm, you can expect to experience a harvest of corruption. If you plant the good seeds of Spirit-life you will reap the beautiful fruits that grow from the everlasting life of the Spirit.

Galatians 6:9 (PassionNTPsa) And don’t allow yourselves to be weary or disheartened in planting good seeds, for the season of reaping the wonderful harvest you’ve planted is coming! Take advantage of every opportunity to be a blessing to others, especially to our brothers and sisters in the family of faith!

ILLUSTRATION

I heard an evangelist one time, and he preached about obeying the voice of the Lord and giving large to the kingdom of God. He would tell how he would test the Lord as Malachi instructs.

Malachi 3:10 NKJBring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

He would tell how it started small, with small things and how HE would think about God’s instructions and finally obey and how God would give back to him with larger things than he had given. As his relationship and trust grew, so did his response time. Until one day the Lord prompted him to give everything he had away! So he did -- only this time he didn’t wait and think about it, he just did what God told him to do!

And his thinking was I Gotcha this time God, I got you this time! Just when he thought maybe he had out given God, someone walked up to him and gave him a jet airplane. And he thought great, that’s great, now I have a really expensive airplane to fly all over the world and no way to pay for the gas.

And the next thing you know, the person that walked up to him telephone rang and instructed the man to tell him, the one who gave him the airplane would also buy the gas and maintain the craft, and provide the crew and all the costs associated with the plane as well!

And at that moment, the man said God spoke to him and said “you think you got me?” nice try, BUT YOU WILL NEVER OUT GIVE ME!

“God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.”

Sow with reckless abandon -- like God is going to be in charge of all the equipment needed to harvest what your sowing!

What kind of harvest do you want ?

The question gives new meaning to “you reap what you sow” when God’s involved in it, doesn’t it?