Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading

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

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

(Slide)

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)

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.

Part of the Answer to our Prayers

Is there something you/we have been praying about?

And is God prompting?

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

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

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.

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)

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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)

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)

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)

There was no great visible rainfall, this time.