Break Up Your Fallow Ground

Thank you very much to the choir. That was beautiful. Certainly has been a great treat to sit among you, this feast, and listen to the wonderful special music, listen to all the messages that have been presented. It's fantastic, wonderful to be together as God's people, and rejoice in the feast He's called us to, to rejoice before Him, and to learn and grow alongside one another.

I'm truly grateful. I bring you greetings from your fellow brethren in West Africa, where we have 141 gathered together in Nigeria for the Feast of Tabernacles this year, as well as approximately 300 in Ghana. For my family and I, this is a wonderful treat for us to be together. I take every fourth year of the feast back here in the U.S. to keep it with my family, and all is going forward well in West Africa, and we're grateful to be here at the feast with you in Panama City Beach.

For me, this is a very special state. I was actually born in Florida in Key West. My dad was in the Navy, and my mom was in the church, and we went through a number of years moving around the country, but my childhood through a large portion of elementary school was spent in Key West Florida, as well as Jacksonville. So now, 40 years later to come back and to wander through the crowd and to see some vaguely familiar faces.

You know, 40 years as a way of changing people a little bit. My beard wasn't white then. It was only 10, but you know, the familiarity of the faces is wonderful. Sometime I may have to ask a name, you know. I know the face, but I actually have a photographic memory. It just hasn't developed yet. So if I ask you your name, I appreciate that. Well, again, brethren, it is certainly wonderful to be here together and be here with my family and yours. You know, over 30 years ago, I married a horse gal.

Those of you who know my wife know that she's very much into horses. That is sort of her passion and her love. And when I met her over 30 years ago, she was running a side business with her mother. And between the two of them, they had about 30 horses. They would pick up problem horses, horses that had bad habits, work them, put them through their paces, work out those bad attitudes and bad habits, turn them into actually good family horses, and turn around and resell them. And they made quite a business and had quite a reputation in the community over the years of doing this.

Over the course of our 30 years of marriage, Darla's profession, because once we had children, she stepped away from her accounting career to be at home to raise the children. But she always kept that passion for the horses. Her business and her profession over the course of the last 30 years has been to breed and train and sell Icelandic horses specifically.

Those are her passion. And as a result of that horse ownership, we've always lived on a spread of property. We always needed that pasture for the horses to graze in, in that room to do the things that she does with them. And currently, we live Spokane Valley, just on the outer edge of town there, sort of in the country.

But right on the brink of town, we have just over 14 acres. And I would say over the years, as it's developed to be my hobby, it's to tend the property. You know, I guess I'm a Sunday afternoon cowboy rancher, hay hauler, fence fixer, you know, barn roof fixer, mower, hay stacker, all those things. And again, it's what I do in my spare time.

It's developed into my hobby. I mow that field, I till it, I drag the irrigation around on it, I keep it watered. It's actually kind of a, almost like a park-like setting as we can sit out in the evening and look down over the field out there as it's green and the horses are grazing and the sun is setting. And, you know, for me, just being close to home and engaging in that process is a joy. Whenever I get time in my schedule, I find it therapeutic to climb onto my 1955 Massey Harris tractor, put on my hearing protection, fire it up, and go mowing the weeds out in the field.

Because if you have horses, they're going to eat the grass, they don't eat weeds, and if you want manicured property, you have to keep those weeds at bay. And so I'll get out there and I'll mow those. I recently became bothered by a piece of ground that lies near the back of our spread, and, you know, it's generally out of sight. When you drive up to our home, you'll drive in the front and you'll see horses, you'll see pasture, but back in the back, back behind this row of scrub trees, there's a piece of ground that's about four acres in total.

And as I'm sitting in my office and looking out, the backsliding glass door out of my office across, I can see that row of trees. And honestly, I recently have become bothered by that ground back there, because it's not planted in pasture grass. In fact, it's not planted in anything at all that resembles a crop, unless you consider napweed to be a crop.

It's out there where the bunny rabbits are and the snakes are, and all the little critters, the skunks, right, that would live amongst that vegetation. But it's, it's untended. It's untended. Now, this whole area used to be, once upon a time, prime farmland.

They grew a crop of potatoes, they grew alfalfa, various things. In fact, when my wife was 10 years old, she and her mom rode on horses down into this valley, and she looked out and she said, oh mom, it's my dream to own a piece of this valley someday. And so this was prime real estate, prime farmland in its day. Over the years, it's gotten broken down, it's been built up by houses around, but we still have this, this little pocket, this little pocket. But this four acres back behind the drainage ditch, back behind those scrubbed trees, is what you would call fallow. It's simply lying there fallow. And for those of you that are farmers and ranchers, you would understand what it means to let a piece of ground lie fallow. It's actually a practice that's good for the land from time to time. It means that ground is not in production. You know, at the moment, it's not being used to grow a crop or bring something to fruition that is of any valuable type of an asset. It's not being used for anything that's according to its potential. It's lying there resting for a period and it's lying there fallow. And understand fallow ground is not necessarily a bad thing, because if you've grown a crop year after year through this rotation, it's actually good to give the land time to rest, to recover in its nutrients. In fact, you'll recall God gave Israel instructions for a land Sabbath and the opportunity for the ground to lie fallow for a time and a process that would be positive. So fallow land is not necessarily a bad thing, but to lay fallow indefinitely, to lay fallow over an extended period of time, now the land is going to waste, and it's not producing what it could be producing according to its potential. And frankly, as I look out over our spread, you don't see this piece of ground I'm describing. Again, it's in the far back, it's behind the trees, but I know it's there. And the fact that it has lied fallow now for probably 40 years is actually a little bit troubling to me. It's not producing according to its potential.

Brethren, we're here celebrating a feast of tabernacles. This represents an incredible step in God's plan of salvation for all of mankind. Following the return of Jesus Christ, the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth, the resurrected saints, the firstfruits are reigning alongside Jesus Christ, kings and priests on the earth, the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. Indeed, it is reflective of a time that is wonderful and abundant. And frankly, brethren, it is at that time that God will turn this earth, as well as the hearts and the minds of all mankind from a condition that is largely fallow to one that is fruitful, abundant, and productive in his service. That's what we're celebrating here during this feast.

The title for my message today is, Break Up Your Fallow Ground.

Break up your fallow ground. As we're going to see, God is all about making unproductive ground productive, both physically and spiritually, again to his glory. And brethren, for you and I, as his people today, we ought to be all about it as well. We need to be about breaking up our fallow ground. Indeed, the Bible contains a number of millennial prophecies that show the effect of the reign of the kingdom of God, the effect where barren areas of this world, wasteland, deserts, areas that were previously unproductive have been made productive and bountiful and beautiful to his glory. It is what God will be doing in that age. It will be the restoration of all things, as he intended, from the beginning. So I'd like to begin the message showing some illustrations of what God will do to bring fallow ground into production, and then we're going to step into the arena of what it is that we must be doing in our spiritual lives in response to him as well.

Let's begin today in Isaiah chapter 35. Isaiah chapter 35, Mr. Barker went here a couple of days ago, and I appreciated his message very much to open the door on the concept of the restoration that God will bring about in that day. Isaiah chapter 35, and let's begin in verse 1, it says, The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy in singing.

Says the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it the excellence of Carmel and Sharon, that shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. You know, the desert can be considered a type of fallow ground in the metaphorical sense. It's describing a region that lies desolate, unproductive. We might say even a wasteland in certain ways. There's a certain amount of life and activity that goes on in desert, but overall this is unproductive ground, and God will make it productive to his good purpose. Just imagine a day when the desert, as it says, will blossom as a rose. When the Kalahari and the Caesare and the Gobi deserts, the fact that you have these vast tracts of land that are lying there virtually uninhabited, virtually desolate. When God will take them and make them fruitful, and make them abundant in a beautiful land in his service. What a wonderful blessing that will be in that day to behold.

Again, life brought forth vitality from real estate and ground that was once undesirable.

Right now the Sahara Desert isn't all that beautiful in my estimation. I have an opportunity three to four times a year to fly over it as I go to West Africa. My connection is often through Amsterdam, so as you drop down to West Africa, you fly over the northern regions of that country, and I can open up the airplane window and look down, and you just see this vastness of essentially blank, kind of a brownish smudge. You have some winds that are blowing across the desert, raising up those grains of sand. West Africa has what is called hamatan season, where literally fine particulates of that desert get picked up in the winds and blown across West Africa out to sea. You can even see it from the satellite. There's actually years where even it approaches the coast of the United States. Very, very barren wasteland. But just imagine a time when that vast region, 3.6 million square miles, when it will fulfill its potential. After all, it's not God's purpose for it to lie barren forever. He has a plan. He has a purpose that he's working out, and will be taking place on this earth. Indeed, upon the restoration of all things, as God has intended from the beginning, much of that fallow territory of the earth will become fruitful land again.

If you go on and Google for results, it will tell you that only approximately 10 percent of the earth's surface is tillable farmland at this time. You know, 10 percent. That's not very much. We flew from Washington State to Atlanta on a direct flight, and way up in the air you can look out and you see these vast regions of territory that, frankly, there's not much growing on it. There's other regions of the country that are beautiful. There's water, there's irrigation, and the crops are growing. And you can see it's almost like a patchwork quilt to look out there and see the beautiful abundance that's taking place. But only 10 percent right now of the earth is tillable.

Just imagine the incredible changes the earth's landscape when that area more than doubles simply just by God's blessing upon the deserts to restore that land, to blossom as a rose, and as you then bring in the other injured and the damaged parts of this earth. The end of the age is going to be a very destructive time on the earth, and many areas that were once fruitful will become desolate, will become wastelands. And those will be healed, those will be brought into production, and those as well will produce to God's glory. This is a vivid imagery, brethren. It's conveying hope in God's Word. It's hope, it's revitalization, it's hope for the future of, indeed, what God will do to bring life and productivity forth out from that which is barren. And this imagery points directly to the work that God will also do in the hearts and the minds of mankind as well. Fallow regions that will produce.

Verse 5, still in Isaiah 35, it says, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing. We're reading about physical and spiritual healing that will take place. People with different disabilities, people with physical conditions that have hindered them in various ways will be relieved of those, and they will leap for joy, they will sing for joy.

What a wonderful blessing. But we also recognize this parallels a spiritual work that God will be doing in the hearts of mankind as well. As their eyes are open to the truth of God, and their ears will hear His calling, their feet they will rise up and they will walk in the ways of the Lord, and their tongue will proclaim the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into the marvelous light, a time where fallow ground and fallow hearts will be made productive in God's service. Carrying on in verse 6, it says, for the water shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The park's ground shall become a pool in the thirsty land springs of water. In the inhabitation of jackals where they lay there shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

Again, a very beautiful, a very productive world. The world tomorrow will be, and the reason is because God's way reigns. The kingdom of God reigns. The values of the kingdom of God reigns. In healing, in restoration, those come as a result, both in the world and in the hearts of all of mankind.

Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 17.

Isaiah 41 verse 17, it says, the poor and the needy shall seek water, but there is none. The tongues fail for thirst, but I the Lord, I will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Verse 18, God says, I will open rivers in the desolate heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. You know, what happens when you have water introduced into a place that is just, you know, it's a desolate region. Again, flying over in the plain, there were certain vast areas of our country that we were kind of in a mountainous region as I looked out, but there really wasn't much growing. It looked out in the west very dry. You see this little trickle of a stream coming from the mountains down into the valley and on both sides of that stream where they were pulling out irrigation into these fields. Again, you would see greenery, you would see life, you would see that abundance which has sprung forth. Again, it is what God will do in that day. Verse 19, God says, I will plant. I will plant. That's a very, very important word. God says, I will plant in the wilderness the cedar in the acacia tree, the myrtle in the oil tree. I will set in the desert the cypress tree, in the pine and the box tree together. I will plant, God said. I will take a region that is desolate. I will add water. Life will spring forth as a result. And God says, I will plant. I will plant. And as a result will be production. God doesn't plant for no reason.

He plants with the emphasis of a crop. Go all the way back to the beginning of the book of Genesis. Again, we were there the other day in the sermon. It says, God planted a garden eastward in Eden. When God plants, it is for a purpose. It is for production. It is to his glory, ultimately. And the day is coming once again where God says, I will plant. Life will spring forth, and it will be productive. Again, what he will do with the land and with the fallow territory of this earth, it's reflective of what he will do in the hearts and minds of all of mankind. And we don't have time to go to all of the verses today. The Bible is full of so many beautiful passages.

We heard on the opening night about the river of living water that will flow out from the temple in Jerusalem. And it says, it goes down, it reaches the sea, and when it reaches the sea, its waters are healed, and the fish come back, and the life springs forth. And vitality, once again, we sing songs about this during the millennium as the waters flow out of Zion to the east and to the west. It'll go down, it'll reach the Mediterranean Sea and bring life. It'll go down and reach the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea will become the live sea. We read passages in the Bible about showers of blessing. Showers of blessing all around my holy hill, God says, and he talks about them as being showers in season, but even more than that, they're showers of blessing. And this is, I'll label this as a little bit of speculation here, but what might those showers of blessing consist of?

As you consider the living waters flowing out across the earth and the earth's natural evaporative system, perhaps picking those up and forming in the clouds, and then and then raining down upon the earth showers of blessing and healing from God, allowing that life once again to be restored. God is all about, and will all be all about, taking the fallow ground of this earth and making it productive in that day. And I want you to notice why, verse 20, Isaiah 41, verse 20, that they may see and know and consider, that they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it. The people are going to see, they're going to understand the hand of blessing which comes from God. And oftentimes in the Bible, God describes his spiritual work that he does in the hearts of mankind in agricultural sense. What God will do with the wastelands of the earth is a reflection of what he will do in the hearts of mankind as he pours his Holy Spirit out upon them as they respond, as their fallow hearts and minds spring forth into the life that he created them for, the relationship that he created them for. They will indeed respond, respond into a harvest, right? That is what God is doing. He is planting for a harvest, and indeed the results will be abundant. Isaiah 51, verse 3. Isaiah 51, verse 3, it says, For the Lord will comfort Zion, Zion, that place where God's dwelling place was. It's the place that we have in prophecy. God says, I have set my King, Jesus Christ, on my holy hill. Zion also can include Jerusalem. It can even include Israel as a whole, as a nation. And I believe that is the context here. But it says, The Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her wilderness like Eden, again, like the Garden of God. At the time of the restoration of all things, as God intended from the beginning, this region will be as Eden, because his purpose for it will be as it was indeed in Eden. And it says, In her desert, like the Garden of the Lord. The Garden is something you plant, is something you tend, is something you seek to bring forth fruit from in abundance. This is the Garden of God. It says, Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

And so, while it might not exactly be termed as fallow ground, the concept of Zion being renewed and flourishing after this long period of desolation aligns with, again, God restoring both the land and his people in vibrancy to him.

Turn on the news today, see what's happening in Israel, what's happening in the Middle East. You know, you catch images of that region, and frankly, it doesn't look like Eden today.

But the blessing is upon the return of Jesus Christ, as Israel is regathered and settled into their land, as they are the model nation for the way of God working to the world. That model nation they should have been from the beginning, these blessings will start there, and it will indeed flow out, flow out to the entire earth. This is the work God will do in that day. He will take the fallow ground of the earth, he will bring it into production to his glory, so all mankind will see and know that God is the one who works in the same way in them. He works the same miracles in their heart by his spirit to bring forth fruits of righteousness and glory. The result will be joy and gladness and thanksgiving in that day. And indeed, as we sit here today, what a wonderful thing it is to look forward to. We rejoice in that day. It's not here yet, but brethren, you and I are here, and we've been called to live under the reign of the kingdom of God today. We can have a taste of that joy now, of that fruitful abundance today. And so for us, this concept isn't completely future.

For those who have been baptized into a covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we live under the reign of the kingdom of God now. And God's blessings that he's poured out into our life, his spirit that he has given us, has drawn us to him and has placed us in the condition where indeed our fallow ground can be made productive in his service. My question for us today is, are we as enthusiastic about putting fallow ground into production as God is? And I'm talking about us now, I'm talking about our own personal spiritual lives. Are we as enthusiastic about putting fallow ground into production as God is? Putting it another way, has all our fallow ground been broken up and put into productive service to him? Or could it be that we still have work to do? Could it be that we have fields that are abundant and flourishing with a beautiful crop ready for the harvest, but we have maybe back over here, back behind the scrub trees, back where nobody else sees, we have fields and acreage of our life that frankly is simply lying fallow, ground that needs to be brought in, planted with those seeds of righteousness, producing in his service. You know, when I come back to the ground that I have at home, that's what bothers me so much about this piece of property, because I look out and it's beautiful, but I know what's there. I know what's behind the trees, and I know it's not fulfilling the potential that it could fulfill. It once did, but it has gone fallow, but it could be abundant again. The fact is, I could fence it off, protect it from the horses. I could get out the plow. I could break open the earth. I could drag the disc across it. I could harrow it down tight, and I could drill it full of seed. I could put the irrigation on it, and it would spring forth, and it would bring a crop, maybe an abundant crop of grassland for our animals to graze upon. It could be that way again, but honestly, because of my neglect, because of my lack of time and attention, it simply will lie there and has lied there fallow for quite a number of years. Brethren, could that be the description of our own spiritual condition? Could our lives be partly fruitful, but partly fallow at the same time? Or is it even possible we're a people that have a number of spiritual fields and full production in our lives, again, those abundant crop growing to the glory of God, right? Beautiful fields. We oftentimes have potlucks at our home.

We invite the congregation over, and we'll have barbecues. We try to do that a few times a year when I know people are coming. Right? I mow the lawn, I trim the bushes, and I get out there. I mow down the weeds in this field. Everything's irrigated. It's green. It's beautiful. And again, it's almost like a park. And when people pull up, they say, wow, this is beautiful. But what they don't see is what I know is there, back out there, that fallow land. Could that be in some way our own spiritual condition? Again, the title for my message is, Break Up Your Fallow Ground. Put it into production today because the millennium, this day we're celebrating, this day of the reign of Jesus Christ, is all about God taking the fallow areas of this world and making them beautiful.

And He's called and chosen us today to do the same as well.

In the book of Jeremiah, we find the ancient nation of Judah. And we find that there were challenges, serious challenges that existed in that nation. They were God's covenant people that He had brought out of Egypt, brought them into the land. And yet they had slipped into sinful practices, adulteries, idolatries, all these things that were contrary to God. Israel themselves, as a nation, the northern tribes, have been hauled out of their land in the captivity by the Assyrians, but God gave Judah an additional window of time. A time to repent, a time to draw near to Him. And I'd like to notice a specific warning that God gives.

Jeremiah chapter 4. This is an admonition through the prophet Jeremiah because the words are specific and they apply directly to what we're talking about today.

Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 1.

Jeremiah 4 verse 1, it says, If you'll return, O Israel, says the Lord, return to me. And if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then you shall not be moved. And you shall swear, saying, The Lord lives.

This would be the response if indeed they responded to God's warning correctly.

You shall swear the Lord lives in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.

You know, God's plea to His people has always been to restore to Him again, to put away their evil ways and to repent. Even now, at the end of the age, the gospel message goes out. It goes out to the world at large, but it goes out to the nations of Israel today, a call to repentance. It is a witness. It is a warning. It is a calling. Return to God while there is still time. But just like Judah, that call has fallen largely on deaf ears.

Verse 3, For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, God says. Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.

This is the remedy for this spiritual condition, this alienation from God, to break up your fallow ground, to rend your heart, to turn in repentance, and return to Him again, not to suffer the consequences of judgment, but rather the blessing of a reconciled relationship. Break up your fallow ground, God says. Clear out the thistles, and sow good seed in its place.

Ultimately, it would be the seeds of righteousness. Verse 4, carrying on, Jeremiah 4, verse 4, he says, Circumcides herself to the Lord. Take away the four skins of your hearts. This is a heart issue, God says. You men of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury come forth like fire and burn so that no one can quench it because of the evil of your doings. Brethren, you and I live in an age today where the abominations of our land have reached the eyes and the ears of God. And just like Judah, the stench of the sins of this world have come up to God's nostrils, and yet there is still this offer of reconciliation that's extended to the people of God. For us to heed today, there is still time, God says, to get your house in order, to rend your hearts, to reconcile to me, to break up that fallow ground and put it into productive service again. Now, unfortunately for Judah and Jeremiah's time, we know their story. By and large, they refused to repent, they refused to return to God. Ultimately, God had them drug out of the land, carried off into captivity by the Babylonians. The beloved city Jerusalem was sacked and burned, and people were removed from their inheritance, taken into captivity. That was their story, but it must not be the story of the spiritual Israel of God. It must not be the story of the end-time church. Indeed, the Bible tells us through parable that five are wise and five are foolish in terms of what it would appear to be of the end-time church. And some will keep their lamps burning with oil, and for some their lamps are going out. But God's call remains the same to all of us. Break up your fallow ground and restore with me again. You know, the Bible reveals the world at large will be standing in opposition to God at the return of Jesus Christ. But not only then, the time leading up to that time, the time you and I are living in today, will indeed be dangerous times for the people of God. It's a time we must take heed because we're not taking heed to ourselves, indeed. The risk is to be sucked into the same mindset and the same attitude as the world around us. And to do so would be to allow our productive fields to go fallow again. Let's turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1 here, God through the Apostle Paul gives us understanding of the things to watch for not only in the world around us but in ourselves, lest we fall into these fallow conditions. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1, Paul says, but know this that in the last times, perilous times will come. Okay, we are coming up to these last days. Indeed, I believe in a portion of these last days ourselves. And he says, perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. These are all fallow fields in the world around us today. These are all mindsets and conditions that are not planted with anything good. And to get sucked into these unthankful, unholy mindsets of our own minds would bring our fruitful calling unto a fallow nature. Verse 3, Paul goes on there, unloving, unthankful, unforgiving, slanders without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness that looks good but denying its power, and from such people turn away. Brethren, as the people of God, we don't ever want to get sucked into the same attitudes for ourselves, because if we do, it ultimately leads to our good fields being taken out of production.

Again, where I live, this used to be prime farm ground. Our homestead was actually the original homestead for the entire surrounding region. It's all planted in houses now. It's all been taken out of production, by and large. But God says, in your spiritual condition, what I have planted there, don't ever allow it to fall fallow. Certainly don't let the conditions of the world drag you back into what it is God has called you out of. Break up your fallow ground, God says, and don't plant seed among the thorns. If we go back to the book of Hosea, we find a similar instruction given to the nation of Israel in the book of Hosea. Hosea chapter 10, Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12, remember, these are God's covenant people. He brought them into the land and his emphasis and desire was for their success, but they would not. Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12, God says, sow for yourselves righteousness, as if righteousness came in a seed and you could drill it into the ground and you could grow a crop of abundance in your life. He says, sow for yourself righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till he comes and reigns righteousness on you. Again, this concept of breaking up the fallow ground is very important to God. He wanted his people Israel and he wanted his people Judah to be fruitful in their calling before him, to take what he had given him, those seeds of righteousness, this precious calling, and to produce a crop in abundance in return. They were unwilling, though, they were unwilling to get out the plow, to break open the ground, to break open the hard-heartedness of their hearts, and allow the seeds of righteousness to be planted and to produce a crop to God's glory. But again, his instructions for them were clear. Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till he comes, till he comes. This isn't just for them, this is for us today. To seek the Lord till he comes and reigns righteousness on you.

For us in the Church of God, brethren, we've been called to heed this warning of God today till he comes. We've been called to avoid the same judgment that fell upon the nations of Israel and Judah as they refused to respond. We've been called to plant these seeds of righteousness and to produce a crop of righteousness, not just in one field, but in the entirety of our lives. So how are we doing? How are we doing as God's people as we examine ourselves?

It's much like we come up to the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread. The point is we examine ourselves, not our spouse, not our neighbor, but we examine ourselves. How are we doing in this process?

As we examine our spiritual lives, is there any part of us that is lying fallow before God?

Any part of our nature? Any part of what it is that we should be doing in productive service to Him?

I expect many of us have abundant crops.

White for the harvest, right? Seeds of righteousness that have been planted and grown up in so many aspects of our lives. But if you're like me, I suspect you also know where the places that need work reside. And maybe it's not where everyone else sees. Maybe it's back and far beyond the irrigated fields. Back behind that row is scrubbed trees, but it's a piece of ground in your life that lies there fallow. God has called us to break up that fallow ground, to bring it into full production, and to do it while it is still called today. We have the warning to Judah, we have the warning to Israel, we have the warning to us, but it's not just warning, it is blessing that God says, I seek to pour out upon you.

The thing about fallow ground is that it is often hard ground. You know, if a piece of ground has been allowed to lie there fallow for not a lot of years, if it hasn't been broken up and opened up and had the plow put in it, it often gets a very hard crust that develops on the top. You know, you have the rain that falls upon it and soaks into it, the sun that bakes upon it. And if you live in an area where there's this mixture of clay in the soil, you've probably noticed you get this crust on the surface that will bake there almost like pottery. In the area where I live and we get some pretty harsh winters, then it freezes and it thaws, it freezes again. You have the animals tromping back and forth upon it. That fallow ground indeed is very hard ground. And like manna, spiritually hard and fallow ground resists the seeds of righteousness. Because if I were to go out there and say, I want pasture back here and I just started throwing grass seed out on that ground, not much would happen. Because it is fallow, because it is hard, that seed would just lay on the surface. It would be food for the birds of the air and the mice of the field. It would lay there and get scorched in the sun. It wouldn't penetrate and put downroot. It wouldn't spring into a crop that I desired. And then the same in us, brethren, if our heart is hard, if our ground is fallow, it too resists the seeds of righteousness. It resists God's instructions. It resists receiving the holy righteous character of God that he pours out through his Holy Spirit. And in that condition, nothing good can grow. Romans chapter 2, we can see the consequence of the spiritually hard ground before God, and we can see the remedy as well. Romans chapter 2, and picking it up in verse 4, the Apostle Paul writing, he says, or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

Repentance is ultimately the softening of our heart. It's the ripping open of that fallow ground, as God has told his people time and again, rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to me, recognize the doing of your ways, and come into repentance. That is how we plow deep into fertile ground. Verse 5, he says, but in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, your unrelenting, your hard heart, God says, you're treasuring up for yourselves, wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Verse 6, who will render to each one according to his deeds. So a hard heart is ultimately a fallow heart before God because it's a heart that will not repent. It's a heart that will not open up to the truth of God and the mercy of God and allow the seeds of righteousness to be planted in it.

It's a heart that resists the calling of God and that hardness is ultimately, as God says, if it will not relent, will be on the receiving end of the wrath and the judgment of God.

But as we've heard of this feast, God is not hard-hearted himself. God is not cold. God is not desired just to strike at people. Indeed, sometimes the point of judgment must come in order to even turn this world to the recognition of what it is they need to receive from God through repentance. Verse 7, though, carrying on, God says, eternal life to those who by patient continuance and doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality. Brother, I do believe and hope that is you and I. But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, that's the result, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, and the Jew first, also of the Greek, but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good to the Jew first, also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God. The repentant individual who has plowed deep and broken up their fallow heart before God will be receptive to his righteousness. His holy character can be planted in them. His Holy Spirit can be poured out upon them, and they can produce a crop of abundance, of righteousness, ultimately, to his glory. But it also tells us the just reward will be upon those who refuse as well. There is no partiality with God. And so his calling that he extended to Israel and to Judah comes down to us now at the end of the age as well, to break up your fallow ground, to seek the Lord till he comes and reigns righteousness upon us all.

Indeed, there's many things we must watch out for that could lead to hard and fallow conditions in our spiritual lives. And I appreciated very much the sermons we've had all along during this feast, things that point out to us places to look out for, places to grow in, places to mature in.

We heard yesterday and this morning as well how to resolve hurts, how to resolve offenses. And, brethren, I believe that it is a beautiful guidebook that God has given us through his word of how to do those things. Because it's those hurts if we hold on to them, if we refuse to let go, that can actually lead to our fruitful fields going fallow. Somebody wronged us. Somebody hurt us. Somebody created an offense in our life and we say, you know what? That's just a bridge too far. I'm going to put up the razor wire. I'm going to snap a padlock on the gate and hang a no-tressing passing, no trespassing sign on that fence. I'm never going to enter that field again.

Fruitful to fallow. I kind of view our lives as really not just one large field, but maybe broken up into different segments of fields with fencing and cross-fencing and various crops growing and various parts of our field. Back home we have a field where we keep the stallions kind of out separate from the mares. We have a field that's fenced off where we keep the mares and the babies. We have another field that's fenced off for the geldings. Another field, that area that's fenced off where client horses come in and they reside because we don't want them all mixing together. But separate fields with different things happening in the different fields in our lives can be very much the same way. And frankly, different fields in our life can become fallow through hurt, through offenses, through anger, through things that are unresolved. We allow them to reside in our hearts and they build into bitterness. I have seen and known people over the years, and I would say probably many of you have as well, who are once vibrant and productive in God's service, fields of abundant fruit ready for harvest. But that offense would not be let go.

And the bitterness set in, and ultimately it may have been over that person, over that sermon, over that other individual, something they could not resolve, but it led to the point of their productive field becoming fallow, and them simply walking away from tending it all together. Again, if left untended, righteousness cannot grow. The seeds of God cannot take hold. And indeed, our Father is all about taking the fallow regions of this earth and of the human heart and making them productive in His service. Brethren, we must give ourselves completely over to this. Do we want it as badly as He does? Going back to the sermonette. How badly do we want it?

Another thing about fallow ground is that it is often weedy. It's often weedy. When a plant goes out into a field, it has a way of multiplying, right? And if you've left a field fallow for a long time, God describes those as being weedy and covered with thorns. We brought in hay from all areas of the northwest. And when you import hay, what you get is the field from that, weed from that field, the weed from that field, or weed from that field, and you feed it to the horses and it gets spread out, right, across your own field. And then the weeds come up and you have work to do. Fallow fields, especially, are often overgrown with weeds. A lesson I learned many years ago is really you need to kill those weeds. You need to get down to the taproot. Before you can even really break the ground open and plant in the good seeds, we had an infestation of wormwood. It's a seed and a weed of biblical proportions, we could say. It was taking over our pasture and I said, you know what, I'm going to fix this. And I got out there with the plow and I broke open the ground and I dissed it down and I took all that wormwood, these tuberous roots, and I ground them all up and I spread them across the whole field. And you know what I did?

You know what I grew? An abundant crop of wormwood, right? The result is, brethren, sometimes the ground needs to be cleared and prepared before the plowing can even start. In Matthew 13, Jesus Christ tells a parable, and we're not going to turn there today, but you'll recall the parable. He talks about the kind of ground that's ready to receive the good seed. And it's not the ground that's by the wayside, and it's not the ground that is full of rocks, and it's not the ground that is weedy, it is the good ground. The great ground that is open and ready to receive the seeds of righteousness and be responsive in return. And the question for you and I today, again, is what kind of ground am I? What kind of ground am I in service to God? Now, I assume because you are sitting here, you are good ground. You've heard the call. You've responded to God's calling. You're here. But the point is, it's not something we're here and now we're done. We must continually maintain these fields so that they never go back again from fruitful to fallow. Brethren, as a plowman, overtaking the reaper in our spiritual lives. Or is there any part of our spiritual field that was once producing fruits as good ground but is now lying fallow before God? Again, we have all these segmented fields in our lives. What about the field that is posted with the sign Bible study?

Bible study. Is that a fruitful field? Or is that a fallow field?

You know, God extends his call. He opens our mind. And I think we can all remember that first love. And we couldn't wait to dig into God's Word to see what we could learn next. And we literally spent hours a day devouring it. It's the last thing we thought of when we went to bed at night, the first thing we thought of when we woke up in the morning. And we couldn't wait to get back to it again to see what was there. And we planted those fields with the righteous seed of God, and they were abundant. But you go down the road 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years.

Has that started to wane? Has our enthusiasm for God's Word started to go fallow? Is that field in our life abundant, fruitful? Or is it fallow? If we allowed it to go fallow, brethren, then this is the time to get out the plow and start breaking ground. What about our prayer lives?

What about that intimate relationship we're building with God? This is a family relationship. It is a covenant relationship. God says, I have created you for this purpose, and I want to know you. And He wants you to know Him. And our time on our knees in prayer as well is vitally important.

Are we zealous with it? Is that a fruitful field? Or have we allowed it to sort of grow fallow?

If it is fallow, brethren, it is time to get out the plow and start breaking ground.

What about fasting? What about fasting? That's kind of a personal one, isn't it? What about fasting? You say, well, you know, I got that handled three weeks ago. Two weeks ago, whatever it was, day of atonement, right? Just fasted. Well, ask yourself, what has been your condition of fasting between one day of atonement and the next? And if it's blank, largely in between there, get out the plow and start breaking ground. Put that ground into production again.

What about fellowship, brethren? What about fellowship? God gives us the Sabbath week by week. He calls us into an assembly together. Gives us the opportunity to sharpen one another. Iron sharpening iron. What an incredible blessing that is. But we're in a modern age. It's easy just to feel tired. I'm going to hook up on the webcast. I'm going to drink my cup of coffee as I watch the church service. It is important to receive a message, but it is also vitally important to rub shoulders with God's people in fellowship. To break bread together. The early church was a church that broke bread together from house to house. They had fellowship. They encouraged and strengthened one another. Has the fellowship in your life, has that field, is it fruitful?

Or has it gone fallow? Indeed, if that is a fallow field, it is time to break out the plow and start breaking ground. Plant those seeds of God's righteousness there again.

What's the condition of your field that's posted with the sign, love your enemy? You know, we can imagine these different segments of our life. Walk up to that field, look over the fence, love your enemy, or let's raise it another bar, pray for your enemy.

Is that a fruitful field? Or is it a fallow field? What's the condition of your field that's posted with the sign, willing to suffer wrong for righteousness' sake? That can be a difficult one, but as we've already heard, that was the example of Jesus Christ. Oh, but I have rights. I'm an American. We don't like our rights to be tread upon, right? Well, we are the people of God, first and foremost. We follow the example of our elder brother, Jesus Christ. Is that field fruitful?

Or is it fallow? What about the condition of your field that is posted with the sign, love suffers long? Love suffers long. I come back often to a phrase that Mike Iams, an elder in our area, has used over the years, and it's really stuck in my head. He says, just let it go. You know, when I've been frustrated about something or I'm communicating with him about something that should have been maybe a different way, he says, just let it go. Just let it go. Is our field posted with the placard, just let it go? Is it fruitful? Or is it fallow? You see, brethren, there are so many fields we must be constantly examining in our spiritual lives. We might, again, have some very beautiful and abundant fields, and they look great, and they look great to one another. When you pull up, this is the beautiful window dressing, beautiful and abundant and irrigated, but we know the areas of our lives that each and every one of us must be working on. And frankly, it is our fallow ground that can keep us out of the kingdom of God. That's why this is so important. That's why God's instructions to Israel and Judah and us today are so important. We may be producing vibrantly in so many ways, but it is our fallow ground that can keep us out of the kingdom of God.

To plow up the fallow ground of our hearts is a rigorous process and requires a humble and a contrite heart. It could ultimately be a painful process as well to get that plow out and to rip open the hard areas of our heart. But again, that's what we're called to do. Rend your heart.

Come to God in repentance. Do what it is that God has given us to do. Because ultimately, the crop are refusing to produce by keeping a fallow field is righteousness. That's the seed. The one who gives seed to the sower is God, and this is what he is casting upon our fruitful ground. Hopefully, it is good ground. And the crop we refuse to produce by keeping a fallow field is righteousness.

At our baptism, we all likely read the scripture, Luke 9, verse 62, which Jesus says, No one having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. The message is we must never stop plowing. We must not stop planting. We must never stop producing in our service to God. And for our focus as Christians, it must always be to getting that ground opened up in order to receive the seeds of righteousness. And if we do so, then we can truly produce. Some will produce a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. But again, it will be all to the glory of God. Galatians 6, verse 7. In the words of the Apostle Paul, Galatians 6 and verse 7, Paul says, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

For he who sows to this flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. Corruption is bad seed.

Corruption is a fallow field. It does not glorify God. It says, But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Brethren, we can never afford to lose heart in the spiritual process that God has called us to. Sowing seeds of righteousness will reap the fruit of righteousness in return. He who provides seed to the sower is God. He who has planted in our lives is God. And when God plants, he seeks a crop in return. He seeks production in return. Ultimately, it is all to his glory. I'd like to conclude today with one more millennial prophecy, underscoring the transformation that will take place at the end of the age, as God's kingdom is established over all nations. Micah 4, verse 1.

Micah 4, verse 1. This is something that we read that's beautiful and will come as a result of God working to break up the fallow ground of the human heart. Let it be encouragement for us today. Micah 4, verse 1. It says, Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills.

Understand, mountains and hills are symbols of governments and nations in the Scripture, and the government of God, the kingdom of God, will be established over all the nations of the earth. That's what this is telling us. Verse 2. In many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. For he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The laws of God and the words of the Lord are going to flow out over all the earth as a standard of living. And people will seek them, they will find them, and they will live them.

They will have a heart that is desirous to receive the seeds of righteousness.

These are those God has called. These are those who are repentant.

These are those who are breaking up their fallow ground. Verse 3.

Micah 4, verse 3. He shall judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations afar off. They shall beat their swords and the plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. A completely different change of heart and mind. Verse 4. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

When God breaks up fallow ground, both physically and spiritually, the results are dramatic.

The results are dramatic. The results are harmony, peace, and blessing, ultimately resulting in righteousness, ultimately resulting in a bumper crop for the harvest to the glory of God. So, brethren, as we celebrate the feast days which God has, this beautiful plan that He set before us, this wonderful purpose that He has for the world as a whole to change them from fallow to fruitful, let us be diligent to break up the fallow ground in our own hearts as well. Because, brethren, for you and I, it is indeed time to seek the Lord till He comes, until that beautiful day when the heavens open and Jesus Christ descends and He reigns righteousness on us all.