Planting Seeds

Have you ever tried planting grass seed by using a grass seeder? When you use the seeder a little wheel will spin and distribute the seeds all over the place as you walk across your yard. It is not completely precise however, as some of the seeds may spread to not so good areas to grow. Some seeds may float over to the concrete sidewalks, some of them may get spread into the bushes next to your house, but ideally most of them get to the good, fertile ground of your yard.

But unless you go and start spreading those seeds you will not have any grass begin to grow. Not all of the seeds may grow, some of them may be eaten by animals or washed away by the rain, but you have to at least plant those seeds.

The Bible is like a bag of seeds, and those seeds are seeds of faith that can be sown into the hearts of others. 

Mark 4:1-9  “And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.

And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,

Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:

And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.

And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

And a few verses later Jesus explains the meaning of the parable to His disciples.

Mark 4:14-20  “The sower soweth the word.

And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.”

As we read, not all of those seeds will find a good place to root in someone’s heart. Not everyone will receive the word of God and accept it as the truth. Someone may even start to believe in the Lord for a short while but something may happen to prevent that growth from going further. During times of temptation or persecution they may fall away, and the seed of faith that was planted in them may die. Other times a person may hear the word of God preached but the riches and treasures of the earth are just more important to them than Christ, so the word of God just doesn’t grow and bear fruit in themselves. Finally those seeds that do reach deep down inside of a person can begin to grow, and grow strong until life eternal.

You can look at the lives of the Apostles, and Jesus Himself as well for that matter. They were out, preaching, explaining the scriptures to people, but not everyone who heard what they were preaching believed in it. They may have preached to an entire crowd of people but maybe only a handful believed what they heard, we don’t know. But even though some of those seeds never grew didn’t mean that they stopped preaching. They continued at it. They continued sowing those seeds into hearts.

Those that preach always need to remember that they aren’t in charge of the growth of the seeds. God will take care of that. That is His department. Our job is just to keep planting. Over the years of my life I have planted many seeds for many plants, so I know that if I am only going to plant one tomato plant in my garden then I should not expect piles of fruit. So I plant several plants. Maybe some of my plants die for some reason, but that is why I planted a lot of them. To have a lot of fruit.  

1 Corinthians 3:6-8  “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.”

Let God bring forth the growth. You just focus on planting seeds 

In Christ

Andrew