Seed Scatterers

Hi Everyone
You know how I continue to preach JESUS IS COMING SOON? Well I want to thank my friend Judith for forwarding this article by Ron Graham to me, it touched my heart in its simplicity and truth.

Seed Scatterers - Ron Graham
“Behold,
a sower went forth to sow;” Matthew 13:3b. Farmers are by definition
seed scatterers, and they usually have stacks and stacks of gunny sacks
practically bursting at the seams with seeds just before planting
season, all stored up nice and secure in their big old barns. Here’s a
“what if” scenario. What if farmers choose to keep their seeds in their
barns instead of planting their fields? I’ve seen fields in my area
where I can only assume some adverse situation happened to a family and
the fields didn’t get cultivated or planted; the fields just turned
into big weed patches. But a farmer who purposely neglects his field to
hold onto his seed is not only unwise, but deliberately neglectful. His
fields would remain barren. Come harvest time what would he have?
Seeds. That’s it; all he would have is a barn full of seeds.

Youand I read and study our Bibles, and some even do so faithfully every
day. As we study God’s word we grow in our knowledge of Him and His
word and over time we acquire a wealth of understanding. But what good
is all that knowledge if we keep it stored up in our personal little
barns? Just like the farmer, we too store up, but in our case it’s
knowledge. When our storage shelves are full of this extremely
important information, which determines the difference between eternal
life in Heaven or Hell, we should freely spread that knowledge around
to all with an appetite to learn.

Oncewe’ve stored up all that knowledge it’s time to ready ourselves for
getting it to the masses. What kind of believer would we be if we just
kept all that knowledge to ourselves? We would be like the farmer who
refused to plant his seeds, deliberately neglectful and very foolish.
You see, the knowledge we’ve received from studying God’s word doesn’t
actually belong to us, at least not to us alone. We can obtain a mass
of knowledge through studying His word but we must remember it’s His
word and it was meant to be shared. Simply put, God’s word is public
domain.

Untilthe farmer sows his seeds into the ground he can’t hope to reap any
kind of bountiful harvest. Once he sows the seeds they begin to grow
and the foliage of the plants begins to spread across his entire field.
Of course the farmer isn’t finished when he sows those seeds, not by
any means. That’s only the beginning. He waters and cultivates his
plants and applies pest and weed deterrent which results in healthy
crops. He cares for the plants while they grow and they thrive through
his diligence of care giving. When his field is ready he can harvest
the crop and reap the fruits of his labors and enjoy the rewards of
such diligence.

Believersare not so very different than farmers. We also spread seeds; it’s just
that our seeds are the word of God. As we learn more and more through
our careful study of His word we are then able to “water and cultivate”
those seeds. The folks we teach are then empowered by God to sow what
they’ve learned and as they grow in knowledge and discernment they pass
that knowledge on to others. At first as people pick up biblical
knowledge they pass it on slowly, almost timidly. In time, and as their
study habits get more involved and become a pleasure not a chore, they
are empowered to seed larger fields and do so with clarity and
frequency.

Whatwe’ve learned of God and His will for our lives is a benefit that we
can pass on to others, and like the farmer who plows and seeds his
fields and benefits from the result we to benefit from our due
diligence. People profit from the farmers efforts by taking advantage
of the end result. Likewise, many people can benefit through our seed
spreading efforts by absorbing the truth of God’s word. And really,
studying the word of God is all about knowledge, understanding, and
wisdom, storing up seeds for planting, and then proceeding with
planting them. God’s word was always meant to be shared and
distributed. Many use it to argue with other believers or to prove to
others how smart they are. This should never be our motivation in
spreading God’s word.

There’ssomething I’ve neglected to mention thus far. I’m not sure everyone
understands that there are rewards that will be distributed at the end
of our Christ-centered travels. When we are through here on earth God
will remove us from the world and there will be a point after that
removal when we will stand before the Bema Seat of Christ and He will
reward us with crowns that are specifically created for each type of
work we did for His Kingdom.

Oneof those crowns will be rewarded for our many efforts of advancing His
Kingdom here on earth. Similarly, little work will result in few
crowns. If we will travel about unabashedly standing up for Jesus and
spreading the good news of His Gospel, and teaching others the truth of
His word, then of course, our rewards will be great. “And he that
reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that
both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.” John
4:36. There’s an old adage that goes something like this “You can’t
take it with you”. But on the other side of that phrase is “You can
send it up ahead”. That’s what we are doing by teaching and preaching
and everything else we do for Gods Kingdom while we reside in these
bodies on this planet.

Itshould be understood that basically all believers are ministers and
teachers. We will all be confronted sooner or later with a question
about the Bible and if we answer that question “correctly” we’ve then
taught that person something from God’s word. All Bible teachers are
responsible for teaching God’s word correctly. What that means is we
aren’t to substitute our own ideas and precepts for the truth of God’s
word. That’s why studying God’s word is an ongoing process. We may
never fully grasp it all but we should strive to be correct in all the
interpretation we pass on to others. We believers, as teachers must
understand there will be severe consequences for passing along bad
seed. In other words if we’ve changed our Master’s seed, mixed it up
with some bad seeds, and then sowed it in place of the whole truth we
must be prepared for the consequences of our erroneous actions. There
will be a high cost to pay by those who teach a false Gospel.

It’sa given that Satan hates all people, but especially he hates those
believers who are out there spreading the seeds of truth, preaching and
teaching God’s word to those who are still lost. The lost belong to
Satan and he hates giving up even one soul to God. Satan will do
anything to keep the seed that we believers sow from ever taking root.
He’s subtle in his chicanery. His road blocks are not immediately
observed. Some people have very hard hearts and as such they thoroughly
reject the word of God, but others may have very willing hearts that
accept the word of God quite easily. But then those hearts may be so
fertile that they accept every teaching out there as truth. These last
folks are just as deceived as the previous because they just can’t
discern between the truth of God and the lies of Satan.

Clearlythere are challenges to spreading the Gospel, but if it were impossible
God would never have told us to do so. Sometimes the ground just needs
some extra tilling and fertilization mixed in to reactivate all the
nutrients in the soil. “For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and
Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.”
Jeremiah 4:3. Some hearts are like thorny ground and the thorns need to
be removed first. It might take a little work on our part and it might
even be painful.

“The religion that is born of mere excitement will die when the excitementis over” Charles Spurgeon.

People are all different and there are many approaches to reaching the lost. Now and then, as we meet and get acquainted with new friends or neighbors there may be a small time lapse between meeting them and getting to a point where we actually
feel the Holy Spirit leading us to speak to them about Jesus. Through
our study of the Bible we will become much more in tune with God’s Holy
Spirit. He will guide us to see the perfect time for witnessing. Even
just our daily living routines can be a witness and proof as to Whom we
follow.

The knowledge we possess after we’ve made learning God’s word a priority in
our lives is always to be shared. It’s as though a light comes on the
more we study. It’s too bright of a light to merely place under a
basket somewhere. Instead we should be spreading that light around.
Jesus tells us that we believers are the light of the world. But if no
one can see your light what good is it? Those who are going astray
because of the darkness must be shown the light of Christ. “Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16.

God’s word is very powerful. If we don’t take His word seriously or if we try
to water His word down to keep from offending someone, then we’ve done
exactly what the enemy would have us do. If he can’t get us to abandon
God’s word altogether, then perhaps he can get us to see that in some
instances it will offend, and so we should be more feeling and caring
and keep the whole truth from being brought out. If we were to follow
the evil ones suggestions, sooner or later, the whole word of God would
become of non-effect.

This concept of watered down seed spreading is especially prevalent acrossAmerica. “What do you mean Ron?” Well, what would happen to the farmer’s crops if he sowed his seeds sparingly? He would have a pretty
sparse looking field which would be rather unhealthy because of all the
weeds that would take over. Many men have gone to great lengths to
study God’s word only to concentrate their preaching and teaching on a
small section of scriptures instead of teaching the full council of
God, which is contrary to God’s own word. “Whom shall he teach
knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are
weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be
upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little:” Isaiah 28:9-10.

God is very frank when it comes to training up His children. Many believe
that to be so blunt can be hurtful. They’ve perceived the Bible to be
outdated and in need of an overhaul. They are sure that God never meant
to chide those individuals who live a lifestyle that’s completely
contrary to His word; it just cannot be what God intended. They put
their own precepts over God’s. They may change His word, or instead of
teaching the whole council of God they ignore many parts as irrelevant,
even though those scriptures might mean the difference between life and
death.

Here’s an example, you’re watching a family out enjoying a Saturday picnic
together, joyfully singing songs and dancing and playing on the grass
and it gives you a warm feeling inside to witness such love. But you
realize they’ve set up their picnic table on a train track and they are
completely unaware of any approaching train, but you know that a train
will be coming down that track at precisely 12:00 noon. It’s now 11:55
and the family is sitting down at the picnic table as they begin to
enjoy their meal together. Are you helping them by keeping silent about
their approaching doom? Or have you just condemned them all to death by
keeping silent?

Sowing and feeding the flock are parables Jesus used as He taught the
disciples about His Kingdom. It’s interesting that Jesus never once
told His disciples that seeding those fields would be a bed of roses.
He never told them to avoid painful subject matter if they perceived it
might make someone uncomfortable. Plainly we see quite the opposite
when it comes to sharing the Gospel of Christ. Difficulties arise as we
go about spreading God’s word and sometimes we’re confronted with
uncomfortable situations that might make even our loved ones turn away
from us, but nothing should deter us from getting those fields sown.

Cultivating,seeding, watering, harvesting–Jesus tells us that the rewards for such
diligence done for the purpose of increasing the flock for His Kingdom
will bring awesome rewards. Have you prepared your fields? And if so,
have you scattered His seeds?

So friend let us scatter seeds,
Hugs always
Sharmaine