Believing Preparations

And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of The Growing Seed

It is good to be back with you all.

Last Sabbath we were in Great Yarmouth Church

The Sabbath prior to that at a British Union Pastoral Confernece

And the two Sabbath’s prior to that in California.

We were able to have a mini family reunion with our son and daughter.

Today we will continue our series looking at the parables of Jesus.

We will take a summer break most of June and the first couple of weeks in July because we will have the Daniel Seminar.

Today, we are looking at the parable of the Growing Seed.

We read it earlier and it is found only in .

Illustration - Chuck Colson

Charles Colson served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as President Nixon's "hatchet man," Colson gained notoriety at the height of the Watergate scandal, for being named as one of the Watergate Seven, and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.

In 1974, he served seven months in the federal Maxwell Prison in Alabama as the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges.

In the course of a day in jail , he found himself in the room: the guys are playing cards, some are watching soaps, some are playing pool. It’s an average day in an average jail.

And in the midst of all of that, he said that a tall black man stood up and said, “Hey, Colson,” and suddenly it all went quiet, and people turned the TV down, they said, “We want to hear this.” He said, “Colson, what are you gonna do for us when you get out of here? You smart Washington lawyers, going in the jail like us, then you go away and you leave us. What are you going to do for us?” And Colson said, “I looked at the man and I said, ‘I will pray for you and I will not forget you.’”

Discharged from prison, Colson goes home, tells his wife, “We’re going to go to Spain at the invitation of friends, we’ll live in this house in Spain, we’ll be done with all of this business.” The drama’s over, the media’s over, all of that stuff is over; his whole world had come crashing down.

They made their plans to leave for Spain, but still he couldn’t get out of his mind the fact that he had promised this man, and the other men, that he would pray for them and he would not forget them.

And so he said to Patty, his wife, “Before we go to Spain, we’ll just fly once to Alabama. I want to go back to that jail, and I’m just going to go in and tell these guys I haven’t forgotten them.”

All of the news networks carried it as a top story. The headlines in the papers read, “Colson Goes Back to Jail.”

And when he got to Alabama, he found that the press corps was there waiting for him. And he went back in the jail, and he said, “I’m here because I said I would come here.”

And twenty-five years later, now, today, as a result of seeking God for an issue that was heavy upon his heart, he became part of the answer to his prayers—he never returned to a Washington law practice, never returned to the privileges of government, never returned, in many ways, to the limelight and to the security that was represented in his previous existence.

But after his release from prison, Colson founded Prison Fellowship in 1976, which today is "the nation's largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families".

Colson worked to promote prisoner rehabilitation and reform of the prison system in the United States, citing his disdain for what he called the "lock 'em and leave 'em" warehousing approach to criminal justice. He helped to create prisons whose populations come from inmates who choose to participate in faith-based programs.

Colson became the part of the answer to his prayers.

The parable of The Growing Seed

Today we will continue our series looking at the parables of Jesus.

We will take a summer break most of June and the first couple of weeks in July because we have the Daniel Seminars.

1. Clear Conscience

Acts 24:16 NKJV

This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

Luke records Paul before Felix, the Governor of Judea, saying

(Slide)

Acts 24:16 NKJV

This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

Acts

We should not confuse a clear conscious before the Lord with a perfect conscious.

Colson was part of the answer to his own prayers.

Colson listened to that voice within, that prompting within.

And Colson acted.

The Farmer Scatters Seed

(Slide)

Mark 4:26 NKJV

And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,

Mark 4:24–25 NKJV

Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Mark 4:26–27 NKJV

And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.

Mark 4:27 NKJV

and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.

The farmer went out and sowed the seed.

The farmer did his part.

And afterwards the farmer slept well.

He slept well. His conscience was clear.

His conscience was clear.

I should be living in such perfect sympathy with God’s Son, that in every circumstance the spirit of my mind is renewed, and I ‘make out’ at once “what is that good, and acceptable and perfect, will of God.

Acts 24:16 NKJV

This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

Part of the Answer to our Prayers

Is there something you/we have been praying about?

And is God prompting?

Let us not delay in doing our part.

A clear conscious before the Lord vs a perfect conscious before the Lord

Acts 24:16 NKJV

This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.

A clear conscious before the Lord vs a perfect conscious before the Lord

2. Believing Preparation

Digging Ditches

We read in 2 Kings an account set during the period when Judah and Israel were part of what is now called the divided kingdom.

(Slide)

2 Kings 3:9–10 NKJV

So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they marched on that roundabout route seven days; and there was no water for the army, nor for the animals that followed them. And the king of Israel said, “Alas! For the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

(Slide)

Map of Judah, Israel, Edom and Moab

King of Israel, King of Judah and King of Edom

Go to sort our the rebellious Moab.

But they hit a logistical problem.

They had no water.

The Lord can often bring us to our wits end on what to do in a situation or with besetting sin.

They go to the Prophet of God, Elisha, who succeeded the Prophet Elijah .

And Elisha says to them,

(Slide)

2 Kings 3:16–18 NKJV

And he said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’ For thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’ And this is a simple matter in the sight of the Lord; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand.

The Lord can often bring us to our wits end on what to do in a situation or with besetting sin.

But the promise is given.

The people were to make believing preparations for the Lord’s blessing.

“Make this valley full of ditches” is the command.

Where is the Lord asking you, asking us, to dig ditches?

Where is the Lord asking you, asking us, to make believing preparations for the Lord’s blessing?

Our Faith pleases the Lord

(Slide)

Hebrews 11:6 NKJV

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Faith in God is “PLEASING” to God.

God as made us free moral agents.

To have confidence in the Lord and His words?

And it pleases Him when we chose to Believe him.

The Farmer

The farmer went out and sowed.

The farmer “dug his ditches”.

The farmer made “believing preparations” for the blessing to come

The Farmer did his part.

3) God’s Working

The King of Israel, the King of Judah and the King of Edom had their men dig ditches.

Then we read,

(Slide)

2 Kings 3:20 NKJV

Now it happened in the morning, when the grain offering was offered, that suddenly water came by way of Edom, and the land was filled with water.

There was no great visible rainfall, this time.

But the divine promise was fulfilled.

In a silent and mysterious ways, the pools were filled with water.

The Lord’s fulfils is His way and His time.

And lets us observe the abundance of His provision.

“The Land was filled with water”

(Slide)

Dig a Ditch

Where is the Lord asking you, asking us as a church, to “Dig a ditch” ?

To Make those believing preparations?

It can imply some work and effort.

Doing our part

But it can also mean sharing that burden, that situation, that relationship, that besetting sin, with the Lord.

Let Him fill that ditch is His way and his time.

And believe He will do it.

“Wrong” Ditches

What about “those ditches” in our life?

Those wrong ditches in our lives?

Those mistaken ditches in our lives?

Those sad ditches in our lives?

Those difficult ditches in our lives?

That relationship ditch in our life?

What about them?

Those we wish we had not dug.

Or did not have.

Or those we wish would simply just go away.

The Lord can fill them as well. “That ditch” can become a place of comfort and filling that overflows.

“That ditch” can become a place of comfort and filling that overflows.

The Lord can fill those ditches in our lives that we have dug

Let us quickly do our part based on conscience.

And let us believe the Lord to fill such places in our lives to overflowing.

The Growing Seed

The growing seed .

(Slide)

Mark 4:28 NKJV

For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.

Mark 4:27–28 NKJV

and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.

Mark 4:26–29 NKJV

I know there are some here who can defy that natural order of growth.

The motto is “Give me a plant and I will kill it for you”.

Am I the only one?

The Farmer made believing preparations.

And then watched how God worked.

We know that the natural order of things in creation is from the Lord, and yet even today we do not fully understand it all.

The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version Chapter 4

Plants develop in a complex, intricate process that humans still do not fully understand even two thousand years after Jesus spoke these words. Yet plants grow and bear fruit and seeds just the same.

Trusting the Lord

There are occasions in our life when the Lord will ask us to continue in the routine of life and trust Him about “that situation”, or “that person” or “that job” or “that sickness”

It is an opportunity for us to glorify the Lord.

It is not easy.

We pray about something. We do our part, if such is revealed to us, but still nothing seems to happen.

Remember, For the earth yields crops by itself, in season: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.

Most times we do not understand.

Trusting God is not a cognitive choice first and foremost, it is a relational choice, from the heart, and that can take time.

Confidence is a person is built on trust.

That does not imply we understand everything about a person or what they do.

But over time we come to see that certain people are there for us, through thick and thin.

God is such a person.

It can take time

The farmer was part of the answer to his prayer.

But the real answer, the increase, was alone from the Lord.

Jumping of the Cliff

Tenby and jumping off the harbour

(Slide)

What does believing preparations look like?

I like this picture, there is no going back!

Honouring God is times of doubt.

It is putting ourselves fully into the everlasting hands of our loving Lord.

Opportunity.

It is all about God’s glory, not ours.

Believing in the Lord, Expecting in faith and Seeing what He does!

His Kingdom, not ours.

(Slide)

The Abundant life

What is ?

Jesus said,

John 10:10 NKJV

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Can we move to a place where God is someone to us who wants the very best for us.

Not someone who is trying to keep the best from us.

Or someone who simply gives us a list of to-dos and don’t dos.

Someone we Trust.

Though many times we do not understand the whys and wherefores.

Though many times we do notased on a person character and not full understanding.

understand the whys and wherefores.

God is not trying to keep back the best from us, rather He is seeking to give us the best for life.

, The Lord is the one,

The New King James Version Chapter 6

who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

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