Sowers, Seeds, and Soils
“The Power of a Seed”
Genesis 1:11-12; 29 “Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
“29 Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.”
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Now, what we have here in the account of Creation is the universal, unalterable principle of the seed.
All living things, both animal and plant, come from a seed, and reproduce by the sowing of seed.
The entire cycle of life on earth—-the very cornerstone law of all living things is that they are sustained and perpetuated by the law of the seed.
You and I came from our father’s seed.
All mammals, birds, insects and reptiles come from the seed of their father.
All vegetation–the trees, flowers, plants, grass, wheat, barley, rice, you name it…all come from a seed.
SEEDS are the ingenious way that God created for all life to survive and sustain itself as a species.
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The principle of sowing a seed and reaping a harvest is one of the major themes of God’s word.
The sowing and reaping principle is simple:
–You reap WHAT you sow, MORE than you sow, LATER than you sow.
Every farmer understands this principle.
There is the sowing phase, the waiting phase, and the reaping phase!
–Whatever goes in the ground will come up after time in a greater amount than what you sowed.
One little acorn sown into the ground becomes a mighty oak tree and, over time, an entire forest!
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Now, not only is seedtime and harvest the law of all natural life, it is also the law of spiritual things.
For instance, Jesus said,
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree,”–Matt 13:31-32
So the kingdom of God grows and spreads by the principle of sowing and reaping!
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In fact, our very salvation began with a seed!
Peter wrote, “…for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable (seed), that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”–1 Peter 1:23
The gospel message of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection from the dead is a life-changing seed that is sown onto the ground of people’s hearts.
When it is received into the soil of their soul by turning to Christ, it immediately starts sprouting and growing WITHIN, bringing forth a harvest of kingdom fruit–love, joy, etc.
And eventually it begins reproducing itself out FROM YOU as you sow the seed of the good news into the lives of others!
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Now, I want to give you three immutable, non-negotiable laws regarding the seeds we sow.
–They will produce ONLY after their kind
–They will MULTIPLY
–They are PREDICTORS of your future
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First, they will:
I. Produce only after their kind
Genesis lays out an immutable law as sure as gravity, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind,”
The oft-repeated phrase is “according to it’s kind.”
An orange seed will never produce an apple,
or a dog a cat,
or a bird a lizard,
or a human being an ape,
or an ape a human being!
Seeds will only produce after their kind!
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With that in mind, consider this:
Each and every day we all sow many kinds of seeds in three fundamental ways:
We sow by our THOUGHTS, WORDS, AND ACTIONS.
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First, THOUGHTS:
We may not consider our THOUGHTS as seeds we sow but they are.
The Bible says, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”–Pr. 23:7
You are what you think!
Whatever you are today is the result of what you’ve been thinking about all these years!
Your mind is the control center of your life.
All your decisions flow out from there.
This is why the Bible focuses so much on what you think about!
Listen to this statement:
“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
This is why the Bible encourages us to soak our minds in God’s word!
“Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about.”–Phil 4:8
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God cares about what you think because your thoughts are the seeds that become tomorrow’s harvest!
FACT: Your thoughts are the control center of your life!
This is why we’re commanded to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”–2 Cor. 10:5
Many people don’t like where they are in life and don’t realize its the result of wrong thinking.
What you think about yourself,
about others,
how much you think about past failures,
what you dwell on throughout the day,
past offenses, letdowns, disappointments….
Or whether you dwell on what is good, positive, uplifting, and so on,
will have a lot to do with where you end up and in what condition!
Thoughts are seeds we sow onto the soil of our own soul.
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And THOUGHTS are the launching pad for:
II. The WORDS we speak
“Out of the abundance of the heart (thoughts) the mouth speaks.”–Matt 12:34
Like thoughts, our WORDS are seeds we sow.
We all know the verse:
Prov. 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.”
Now, no one actually creates something with their words like God does.
You can’t decree and declare something into existence like God does.
But you can absolutely bring life or death to a person by what you say to them.
For instance, you can sow the seeds of destruction into a child by calling them dumb or worthless.
Or flip side, you can instill hope, confidence, and courage into that same child by what you say to them.
You can pick someone up out of the ash heap of discouragement by speaking encouraging words,
Or you can sow words of condemnation and defeat, like Job’s three terrible so-called counselor/friends did.
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Did you know that scientists now know that the words “I hate you” can cause physical health issues in someone like inflammation, or emotional issues like depression?
But the flip side is the words “I love you” literally release the feel good chemicals of dopamine and seratonin into a person’s system!
This is the way words have power!
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For instance, the entire first generation of Hebrews delivered from Egypt were destroyed by the negative, faithless words of the 10 spies:
Numbers 13:31-33 “But the men who had gone with him said,
“We can’t attack those people! They’re too strong for us!”
All the people we saw there are very tall.
33 We saw Nephilim (giants) there. We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that’s how we must have looked to them.”
And the DESPAIRING, DOUBTING, and DEFEATING words they spoke brought a harvest exactly after its kind:
DESPAIR: “Then all the people in the Israelite community raised their voices and cried out loud all that night.” 14:1
DOUBT: “Did the Lord bring us to this new land to be killed in war?”
DEFEAT: “Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 14:3
By their negative, unbelieving words the 10 spies sowed defeat and disaster into the hearts of Israel so that they never experienced the Promised Land!
WORDS are seeds we sow onto the soil of other’s hearts for bad or for good!
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And finally, we also sow the seeds of:
III. Actions
We should stop and think before taking a certain action, “Do I want this in harvest form?”
–Because ACTIONS are seeds we sow into the ground of our life and that of others.
This is why the Bible is crystal clear about which actions are good seeds:
Hosea 10:12 “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will reap a crop of my love;”
Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary of DOING GOOD, for in due season we will reap (a harvest), if we do not give up.”
1 Pet 3:10 “If you want a happy, good life, keep control of your tongue, and guard your lips from telling lies. 11 Turn away from evil and do good.”
Guard your WORDS and wisely choose your ACTIONS, and it brings the harvest of a happy, good life!
–The THOUGHT, WORD, AND ACTION seeds we sow today are the prophets of our tomorrow!
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What kind of thoughts, words, and actions are you sowing today?
In your marriage?
With your kids?
In the workplace?
In the privacy of your own mind?
What are you thinking about?
What are you saying to yourself?
Let’s pray!