Looking Towards Pentecost Part 1

Well, brethren, here we are. Once again, we're marching down the road quickly to Pentecost. If you pull up the calendar and take a look and do a count, it's just 36 days away now as we walk down that road and anticipate that holy day. Pentecost pictures a time of harvest in the plan of God. Physically, it was literally a harvest in Israel, and still is. It was known as the early harvest, because in the nation of Israel and that region and the crops that were grown, you had an early harvest and a latter harvest of crops. And the early harvest is what it is that we're looking towards in terms of time frame for Pentecost. Now, in God's plan of salvation for all of mankind, Pentecost pictures a spiritual harvest of those who are sealed with God's Holy Spirit today. It pictures those that God is bringing into his family and sealing by his Spirit, those that would become his literal sons and daughters in his kingdom by his Spirit, which seals us and binds us in that family relationship today. And so, from that sense, we become the first fruits of the eternal family of God, and we become a portion, you and I are a portion, of the first fruit harvest, which will come at the end of the age at the return of Jesus Christ. Now, as we approach that Holy Day, I think it's important, brethren, that we understand the principles that God has laid out in Scripture behind planting and harvesting. Because, you see, not only is it something that we do physically, it is something that God is doing on a spiritual level. God has planted a crop, he is bringing it to maturity, and there will be a harvest. And so, as we make our way through these Holy Days, it's important we understand that process of planting and harvesting so we can more fully appreciate what God is doing in our lives today. And so, the title for today's sermon is Looking Towards Pentecost Part 1. This will end up being a series of certain different subset topics, but the overall series will be Looking Towards Pentecost. This is part one, and the subtitle is So What? So what? And so is spelled S-O-W, as in agricultural terms. So what?

It is spring, as I've already mentioned, in our part of the world. The snow is gone, it's melted away, and the green sheets of grass have begun to pop up through the ground and show themselves. The spring rains have come, people are getting outside, the weather's good, so they're, you know, sprucing up their shrub beds, they're getting ready to plant flowers, and people are also preparing to plant their gardens for another season. And some already have. Here this week, on Thursday, our nephew Casey came over, he brought a rototiller, and he rototilled up the garden space out there that my mother-in-law Darlene plants every year. She just loves her garden, and it's her motivation during the summer to get out and get things planted, to maintain that garden throughout the season, and then gather in the harvest in the fall. So he's out there rototilling the garden space, getting it ready to get going. Darlene has some seeds that she's picked up, and actually she and Selena yesterday began doing some planting of a couple of garden spaces. And so this is the time of the year we're in, and it's a growth season that we're beginning.

I want to tell you a little bit about our garden last year, because to me it was rather remarkable, just what it was that it produced. Never seen anything quite like it in all of my life.

Things we produced were astounding because, well, okay, I don't know first, let's just say, what created this circumstance? Well, I don't know. Was it the dirt? You know, was it the manure? Was there something in the water? You know, I'm really not quite sure, but what this garden produced last year was astounding, and frankly to me, it was practically beyond belief. And I kind of want to give you a little bit of an idea what sort of things took place. This is a package of sugar snap peas. And sugar snap peas. On the front you've got the pea pods, all in green here, maybe a little hard to see from where you're sitting. But sugar snap peas and, you know, heirloom variety. And you plant these things thinking, boy, if I can grow something that looks half as good as these sugar snap peas that we have on the cover, that would be great. So we planted these. I want to show you the incredible crop it produced. Now, for those on the phone hookup who can't see, it's a beautiful bunch of bananas. I mean, imagine the shock the plant, these sugar snap peas in the ground water-tend, one day you come out and a banana tree has sprouted, grows the maturity, and produces these beautiful bananas. Fresh fruit. And amazingly, the del Monte sticker was even programmed into the genetics, apparently. But just incredible harvest. I mean, who would have thought? That wasn't the only row of our harvest. We went out also and we planted spinach. Spinach. And, you know, even fasting, I can't really say I understand why people plant spinach. Nevertheless, my mother-in-law planted spinach, watered it, carefully tended it.

You want to know what came up from these spinach seeds? Again, incredible. You could hardly believe it. A tree grew and on that tree grew this succulent fruit. Grapefruit. Again, amazing. These things don't even grow in this part of the world. And yet, by planting these spinach seeds, this beautiful fruit that we now enjoy was produced. Now, I'll show you one more variety of what we were able to grow. This is these are jalapeno. Jalapeno peppers. You know, bright red peppers. Fire in your mouth. Just you can just almost taste them as you think of mixing them into other dishes and and the the flavor they bring out. Planted this row of red jalapeno peppers. Went out to harvest the garden. You know, the tops of the tops of the rows look kind of funny with the vegetation that came up from those. We were wondering what in the world it would be, but as we went out and pulled, here's what we got. Again, this is a carrot. And you might say, how in the world can you plant jalapeno peppers and receive carrots? Did you mix up the rows? Well, now I'll remind you because look, we got bananas, we have we have grapefruit and these normal seeds that we planted. I'm going to stop at this point and ask you, do you believe me? Do you believe what I'm I'm telling you? Do you believe that you could plant sugar snap peas, it produce a tree and produces bananas as the result? Do you believe that is true or not? Anybody out there who would buy that?

I think most of us would agree that certainly that would not be the case. And of course, this is a joke, okay? And I think you've figured that out by now. You can't plant one kind of a seed and produce another type of a crop. It simply doesn't work. And anyone that would argue the point with you, we would just simply say, oh, I'm sorry, you don't understand how this works.

You don't plant one type of seed and produce another kind of crop because as a matter of creation from the beginning, God designed that kind would produce kind. I want to begin today in Genesis chapter 1 all the way back to the beginning of the book, Genesis 1. And we have the creation account of all that God is establishing on the earth. And again, I want to point out to us that what it is that God established was kind after kind. And as it pertains to seeds, trees, herbs, these sorts of things, it is no different.

Genesis chapter 1 and verse 11, it says, 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. Verse 12, When the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields according to its kind, that seed, and the tree that yields fruit whose seed is in itself according to its kind, and God saw that it was good. And so evening and the morning were the third day.

And so what we find is that God created things that produce fruit, produce seeds, you know, you had the herbs, you had the trees, and some things actually produced, like I showed you with this grapefruit here, you know, it produces a fruit that has a seed within itself. And when you plant the seed, if it's not been genetically modified, right, if you plant that seed, then what springs forth is a plant that will then produce a fruit again of that kind, kind after kind. Other types of plants don't have the seed within the fruit quite in the same way.

Grassy plants, for example, will grow up and then it will have a seed head, and that seeds will fall from that seed head, or it can be gathered and replanted like wheat. But kind will always reproduce kind. When you get an apple seed, it's not going to grow an orange tree. Okay, it will always be what it is that you have harvested that comes through fruition again. And so this is the manner in which God created all living things. And if you go through Genesis 1, you're going to see that multiple times.

It's shown it's kind after kind. Trees, plants, animals, human beings. And of course, ultimately, we're being made in the God kind, and it is what God is bringing to fruition in terms of His eternal family. But again, it's all kind after kind. Chickens produce chickens. None of our horses have ever produced anything but a horse in terms of offspring. Cows do not produce ducks. It's kind after kind. Again, after kind.

And so this year, if you want to plant a garden and you want to have beets, for example, you want to make pickled beets or you want to can beets, well, you're going to plant beet seeds.

And that's the plant that's going to come up. That's the vegetable that's going to be produced. If you want to can pickles, you're going to plant cucumber seeds, and you will receive cucumbers. And it's a simple concept. And again, brethren, anyone that would want to argue this point, we would likely dismiss as not knowing what they were talking about. And yet, it seems like some people do try to argue this point.

You ever met somebody like that? It seems that some people do try to argue this point in this principle in the way that they live their lives. They think they can plant one seed, but that the outcome will be different. And then by their very action in the way they live, they seem to plant a different seed or a certain type of seed expecting a different outcome.

Do we ever do that? Is that ever our mindset? Do we ever attempt to argue against this principle that God has established from creation? You know, do we ever plant something in our actions, through our attitudes, by the work of our hands, expecting that we won't reap the consequences of what it is that we have sown? Do we ever think we can say or do certain things, plant one type of seed, but that the harvest will be different than what it is we've put into the ground?

Galatians chapter 6 contains a very important principle for us to consider today regarding planting and harvesting. And it's a physical principle, but it is a spiritual principle as well. And again, brethren, as we're approaching Pentecost and we understand that God Himself has planted for a harvest. It helps us to more fully understand how it is that we should live our lives in response to Him. You know, He gives us these physical things that teach us spiritual lessons along the way. Galatians chapter 6 and beginning in verse 7, here the Apostle Paul says, He says, And so this is a universal truth. Whatever man sows, it is what he will reap and return at the time of the harvest. And it's true with the physical creation, with the laws that God set in motion from the beginning. And brethren, it is true in the spiritual sense as well. Whatever man sows, that he will also reap. Now again, sometimes people think you can skirt around the system, or you can plant a little, you know, sow your wild oats, and yet it'll turn out well in the end. And somehow what you've planted will be different than what is harvested. But as Paul points out, God is not mocked. God is not going to be ridiculed in this position, in this perspective. You're not going to play games with God. He's not going to be found to be a fool in this matter. God says, by Paul, what a man plants and what a man sows that he will also reap. And it is a reality of life. The New Living Translation puts it this way. It says, don't be misled. You cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what it is that you plant. So whatever seed it is, brethren, that you choose to plant in your life, whether it is physically or spiritually, what we need to understand is that they will result in a crop of like kind. Put it in the ground. You cover it over. It receives the rain. It sprouts and grows. Whatever it is you planted will result in a crop of like kind. And again, some try to test that reality. Some would try to say, well, maybe I don't think so. I don't think this principle applies to me. I'll do these things and, you know, what could really be the harm? And it'll all turn out okay in the end anyway. But just like the seed in the garden, you and I cannot escape what naturally happens and what it is that God has built into our existence physically and spiritually from the seeds that we plant. Going on here in verse 8, still in Galatians chapter 6, Paul says, For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And so we have a choice, you know. It's not like, you know, we're forced down one path. God has given us the ability to make decisions for ourselves, some which lead to life and some which lead to death. The Paul just says, you know, if you choose to sow to this flesh, that seed, you're going to reap corruption.

If the temporary is your overarching focus, if the things of the flesh, the poles of the flesh, the lust of the flesh, if that is where you choose to plant your seed, the result is going to be your harvest will come to you in abundance of corruption. Temporary things that will pass away, things that are not lasting, things are not righteous, and frankly, things that at the end of the day result in death. That's the one option. The other option, again, as Paul said, is he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Again, I want to go to what the New Living Translation says about this passage. Galatians 6 verse 8, it says, those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. For those who live to please the Spirit and, I would say, respond to the Spirit of God in obedience, okay, will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. And so the instruction is clear. Be careful what you plant. Brethren, be careful what you plant. Take prayerful time in the seed selection process, because you need to understand and ask yourself, am I sowing to corruption, to the flesh, or am I sowing to the things of the Spirit leading to eternal life? Indeed, God has laid that option before us, but the answer as to what our harvest will be will be determined by what it is that we sow today. Continue on in verse 9. Here Paul says, and let us not grow weary while doing good. This is still part of the continuing context. For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. And so what we come to understand, brethren, is that there is a time process built into all of this. You know, when you plant the garden, you don't expect to reap the harvest immediately. You know, I dropped the seed in the ground. I covered it over with the dirt. I went in and got a drink because I was thirsty and came back out. And where's my crop? That's not how it works, is it? It takes time. It takes germination. It takes care of water and sunlight and nutrients. It takes the time that it needs now to mature and then produce that fruit. James chapter 5 verse 7 talks about how the farmer waits for the produce of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and the latter rain. And so when you go out into the garden or out into the field if you're a farmer and you plant that good seed, you often, or not often, but all the time, you have to wait for the return of the harvest for the crop to be produced. And you have to wait patiently. And sometimes the return won't even come in this physical life if we're talking about the spiritual seeds that we sow and the harvest that we're looking to. Indeed, the ultimate harvest doesn't come in this flesh. But the fact is, things, seeds we sow along the way in our service to God, the harvest of that even doesn't necessarily always come in this physical life, but we have to be patient. We must never say, well, I'm not going to see the return and turn back and forsake the planting. God's called us to be patient and to plant the seeds of righteousness that will lead to life because, yes, indeed, the day is coming when the harvest will come. But again, there's patience involved. Now, the same principle applies to planting things that aren't good as well.

You take a seed of something that is contrary to God's way and you plant it, and it's not often until we've gotten down the road aways, right, that we begin to reap the consequences of what it is that we've sowed. So we sow a seed in the ground and, boom, there was no immediate consequence, and we think, well, maybe I got away with that. Maybe it's okay. I'll plant some more seeds. I'll do some more things. And you start to spread those seeds out there as a vigorous sower, but not of the things of God. Again, God is not mocked. When a man sows, he will also reap, maybe not today, but in the timing in which God has established. So the principle for us, again, be careful in choosing what seed you plant.

People oftentimes, in this world around us, will sow seeds of, again, that destruction.

Expecting that the consequences won't come quickly. Again, God is not mocked. But we must remember, brethren, that seed bears kind after kind. But it is you plant, you will return, have in return at the harvest. Proverbs chapter 6, verse 27 and 28. I won't turn there today, but I'll just give it to you for your notes. Proverbs 6, 27 and 28. It asks two questions. The first question is, can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned?

As in, you know, you're walking down the street with a bright flaming torch, and you decide just to stick it under your jacket. Can you do that, really? And your clothes not be burned? Well, we know, of course, there's the cause and effect, and there's consequences to these things. It also asks, can one walk on hot coals in his feet not be seared? We say, well, of course not. Well, somebody else might say, well, yes, you can. I've seen it on television. They lay out this bed of coals, and this person goes darting across them with bare feet and escapes. You know, he isn't even touched. And I would say, brethren, that is sometimes maybe what we try to do if we're playing with the things of this world as opposed to investing in the things of God. We think we can just skip through there quickly. We can just take a little taste, and we won't be touched.

But again, the result, the undisputed law of God, is what you reap, you will also sow.

It says, one cannot walk on hot coals. Just, I don't recommend you give it a try. But if you tried to walk on hot coals, indeed, you would be seared. And it is a matter of cause and effect.

So you be careful what you're planting today, because the time of the harvest will come, and the fruit of these things will be evident. Proverbs chapter 1 talks about the fruits of rejecting God's way and rejecting His counsel. Because really, there's only two options. There's the way of God and the good seed which comes from Him, and from doing it His way. And there's the way of rejecting the counsel of God and doing it your own way. And the two produce vastly different results. Proverbs chapter 1 verse 28. Here there's admonition here from Solomon to a son, as it's written, concerning wisdom and right choices in life. Proverbs chapter 1 verse 28 says, then they will call on Me, but I will not answer. This is as if you're seeking wisdom, but ultimately it's for us seeking God, the source of true wisdom. It says, but they will call on Me, and I will not answer. They will seek Me diligently, but they will not find Me. Notice why, because they hated knowledge and they did not choose the fear of the Lord. They wouldn't have done none of My counsel. You know, they just put God's counsel aside and despised My every rebuke.

And so we're talking about individuals that didn't listen to God, didn't consider the wisdom that He had to offer. They went and planted their own seeds. They did their own thing their own way. And now there is result and consequence to that. The harvest has come. Verse 31, it says, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way. You plant a seed in the ground and the crop grows. And if it's like this grapefruit here, all right, it produces a fruit and you eat of it, but it is what you planted. It's not somehow a better result. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled to the full with their own fancies. So God says, you know what, that crop that they have planted will come to fruition. It's a matter of cause and effect.

As I was thinking about the sermon, you know, I think in my mind, you go back and you kind of scramble and you go, you know, there's some seeds in my life that I've planted that I'm not so proud of. Maybe seeds that I did it in a time of weakness or in anger or in patience. And I would just say, brethren, we've all done that. What's the solution? Well, show repentance, change our ways, and pray to God that He will allow that crop to come to nothing. That in His mercy, He will cover that over. That He will remove that. But, you know, sometimes even in this physical life, even with God's forgiveness, there are consequences to some of the things that we do. This is a principle that you don't just get to bend the rules on. What God in His mercy does cover over certain things in terms of what He allows by His grace for our blessing. But again, the point is recognize what you've done, and you can't redo it, but move forward in a right and proper way. Plant the good seed. Proverbs chapter 22 verse 8 says, He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow. You're going to plant sin? The result of the harvest will be sorrow. That's what's coming back. That is the fruit of what it is that you've planted along the way. Job chapter 4 and verse 7 is interesting. Job chapter 4, this is, here we have Job, he's suffering this great hardship and this trial now of this great loss and this physical affliction that he's going through, and he has friends that are coming, and they listen to Job, and they're offering advice in return. Job chapter 4 verse 7, this is Eliphaz, and he says in verse 7, Remember now, whoever perished being innocent, or were the upright ever cut off? You know, I mean, maybe he thinks he's helping. You know, Job, what have you done here that you deserve this? You know, we understand Job's condition and what it is that God was allowing in his life, and so we come to understand that God was allowing certain things to happen, and ultimately, Job would see God as he is and see himself as he is. But it said Job was righteous. It wasn't like Job had gone out and planted all these horrible seeds, and now the consequences of his horrible seeds were coming back on him. We understand the parameters of this message, but his friend is saying, I think that is exactly what's happening to you, Job. Verse 8, though, he says, Even as I have seen, okay, this is a natural effect, even as I have seen those who plow iniquity or sin, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same, and by the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his anger they are consumed. Again, he says, this is a natural consequence of this life that I have seen. Those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. It's you reap what you sow.

It's a principle that is carried from the beginning across human history, unto today you reap what you sow, and it's the natural consequences of doing these things. Brethren, we cannot sow anger, all right, as a seed. We can't walk around being angry, exuding angry, always being angry, and we sow anger. We cannot sow anger and reap peace in our lives. It simply does not work. If you're sowing anger, the crop in return will be an abundance of anger. It will not be peace. If you're sowing impatience, you know, I want that, and I want that now, and I will do anything to get it, or, you know, get out of my way. I'm not standing in this line. If that is what you are sowing, if you are sowing impatience, you cannot expect to reap perseverance. He who endures to the end will be saved. But again, what you're planting is going to determine what is going to come back to you in the harvest. We cannot sow covetousness. I want that. I don't care what it takes to get it, right? I can't. We cannot sow covetousness, brethren, and expect to reap contentment in return. Godliness with contentment is great gain, and the problem with covetousness is I really want that, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get it, and once I got it, that is still my heart, right? So what comes back to me now? I'm not satisfied with that. Now I want that. Now I want that. And you miss the blessing of godliness with contentment is great gain. We cannot sow lawlessness and expect to reap righteousness. Again, it's not kind after kind. This is a physical process that happens in this world. You can see it with your very eyes. It is a spiritual process as well that God has put into place. Let us not doubt him. Let us not mock God that such is not so. We must indeed believe that it is true. Again, this is why we need to give deep and prayerful consideration to the seeds that we sow each and every day, because those seeds we plant today will reap a crop later. And in addition to that, the laws of nature also dictate that the harvest which is produced, brethren, will be so much greater in abundance than the seed we sow in the beginning. And I don't want you to miss that point. This is crucial. I'm going to say it again. The harvest which is produced will be so much greater in abundance than the seed that was sown in the beginning. Why in the world would you plant a garden if you planted one seed and you put on all this effort and this plant grew up and you received one seed in return? What in the world would be the point? But the point is of planting seeds is multiplication in abundance at the time of the harvest. You know, if you go out there in the garden and you plant one corn kernel, it's going to grow corn stock. And on that corn stock, you'll likely have one to two ears of corn.

In each ear of corn, I googled, okay, each ear of corn on an average cob of sweet corn, each ear of corn contains on average 800 kernels. So you plant that one kernel of corn and in return you get eight to sixteen hundred on average kernels in return.

It's an explosive return. What you have planted has come back to you in spades. So just imagine and you think about, brethren, if you plant the good things of God.

If you plant the good seeds, you can see how great the return will be from that very small investment. And likewise, on the flip side of the coin, if you plant the bad seed, if you plant things in your life that are contrary to God, that are self-willed, the harvest will come back to you in multiples, again, of that which is not desirable. What you reap is what you will sow.

That concept is discussed as well, the idea of the harvest being so much greater than what is planted. That idea is discussed regarding Israel in Hosea chapter 8 and verse 7. And there it's talking about their condition at that time, but it's also prophetic to Israel at the end of the age. And Hosea 8 verse 7 says, they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. So by their actions, by their disobedience to God, and by the things they do, they're sowing the wind. You know, this breeze, this gust of wind, that's what they're sowing, and that's what they think they're playing with. But in return, at the time of the harvest, what they reap is the whirlwind, the tornado that just comes through and destroys everything.

And we can find that in people's personal lives. What's the problem with living this way?

What's the problem with having an affair if my spouse doesn't know, won't it make me happier in my marriage? You know, people, I can run across hot coals. It's okay, right? You know, these are the games that we can play in our mind. God is not mocked. And again, he said of Israel, they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. And so the point being, once again, that what it is that we sow comes back in spades at the time of harvest.

I was out this week. I've started making some visits once again, socially distance visits, careful visits. I went down to see Geraldine Moore out in Kami'i, Idaho. A beautiful three and a half hour drive out there, much of it across the wheat fields. And then you get along the clear water river through the mountains. And, you know, I feel guilty when I do things like that and say it is my job because I enjoy it so much.

It's not my job. It is what I love. And yet it's a blessing. But I go down across the Palouse and I look around and there's all the fields that were planted last fall and they sat under the layer of snow. And now that has melted away. The spring rains have come. And now, miles and miles, hundreds of miles of fields is rolling green, just beautiful as that wheat crop is coming through.

And there were other fields where the farmers were out and in their tractors and they're pulling their discs across the field, preparing them for planting of other crops as well. But I just looked around and I thought, what incredible abundance! And, you know, there's a lot of seed that has been drilled in out there, yes. But what has coming back in return feeds the world.

You know, this little spot of the world where we live is a breadbasket that sends wheat and grain and product to the entire world. And the increase of what is planted in that ground is explosive. And it's beautiful. And it's God's blessing. But again, it's that principle of what comes back in return. I'll mention I was able to visit with Geraldine, which was wonderful.

And I brought a folding chair in the back of my car, but she had a couple outside. And we kind of sat out of distance from each other out in the sunshine and were able to catch up and visit. And it was a blessing to be able to get down there and to see her. And after that, I drove about a mile down the road, or probably less than that, and popped in the newspaper office at Kamiye and Ben and Gina Jorgensen, where they're working. The paper still continues to work, and they're producing the paper every week.

And it was just nice to walk in the door and to see them as well. Again, in a responsible way. But God's people don't like being apart. They don't like being separated. And this is a season. This is a moment in time. But, brethren, this too will pass. So again, we come back to what is sowed is brought back in great abundance.

And I was thinking about that this week. I was thinking, you know what? This is probably one of the main reasons why God says, He hates those who sow discord among brethren. And I thought, you know, it's interesting. I was looking at that verse. It's interesting. It uses the word sowed, as it's a seed that is planted. You know, discord, disunity, various things such as that along those lines are a seed that is planted.

And God says He hates it, and it's an abomination to Him. Why? Well, because it will produce a crop. Discord planted in a seed will produce an absolute crop of disunity and division down the road when the harvest comes to maturity. And God says, you know, that's not to be so among my people. Somebody that's going about planting seeds, planting seeds, planting seeds of discontentment, of division, of those things. And we think this, you know, in our minds, we can think of the same thing as it pertains to our adversary, the devil.

What is Satan's strategy? Well, his strategy is to sow seeds, to plant discouragement in our mind, doubt, fear, all these things that, well, it may just seem like a little seed, but what it brings as it comes to fruition is a crop that can be absolutely destructive to the people of God. And so, again, back to the sermon title, the subtitle, it's a form of a question. So what?

So what? What would God have us as the people of God sow as we live this life? Brethren, God has given us a choice on the things that we can sow. And, again, we can remember, and you could go and you could read Galatians 6, 8 again, I would recommend that you do, where it says, "'He who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life.'" And so we clearly have a choice to make, and God has set before us the two options, but don't ever think for a moment that we can sow one kind of seed and reap a different harvest. Don't ever think you can sow to the flesh and reap of the spirit.

This is not what God allows. This is not how this works. God will not be mocked in that way. So, again, there's a choice. Israel had a choice when God brought them out of Egypt. When He set a land before them, they had a choice. And I want to go back to Deuteronomy 30.

Deuteronomy 30, I want to look at the choice that God set before Israel. Again, it's the same principle of, what are you going to plant? That's going to determine what your harvest is going to be. Deuteronomy 30, in verse 11, these are the wilderness kids, right? Their parents have died in the wilderness because they would not enter. 40 years later now we're getting ready. We're going to come up to the brink of the promised land and enter again. So what's the instruction from God through Moses for this generation? Deuteronomy 30, verse 11, says, For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it. Nor is it beyond the sea that you would say, Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it. Verse 14, it says, But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. And that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, his judgments, that you may live and multiply. Again, we're talking multiplication, when you do things God's way, multiplication in a very positive way. He says, Live these things, that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. Verse 17, But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and you're drawn away, and you worship other gods, and you serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. And so God says, You know what? I'm giving you a choice. As my people, it's your option. I've said it before you, but you have the choice. And depending on what it is that you will choose will either lead to life or it will lead to death at the time that that seed comes to fruition. The choice is yours. Verse 19, he says, I call heaven and earth as witness today against you. I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey his voice, and that you may cling to him, for he is your life and the length of your days, and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.

And so God does give us a choice, but what we see is that God is not indifferent to the choice that he makes or that we make. He lays it before us, but he says, please choose life. You're my children. I want what is good for you. I want you to excel and grow into the potential I've laid before you, to inherit the promise that I've laid before you, but you have to make a choice. And what you plant will ultimately end up determining what it is you will reap at the harvest. Hosea chapter 10. We will turn there. Hosea 10.

Daniel Hosea. Joel Amos. Hosea chapter 10.

Rather than the question comes back to what kind of seeds are we planting? Again, so what?

What kind of seeds are we planting? What sort of a future harvest will we reap? Here in Hosea chapter 10, God's rebuking Israel for the fruit of their doings, but he's offering them a solution, and it's a solution that you and I must grab hold of with both hands as well. Hosea chapter 10 and verse 13. Here's the response for Israel's actions. Hosea 10 verse 13 says, you have plowed wickedness, and you have reaped iniquity, and you have eaten the fruit of lies because, notice why, because you trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your mighty man. So God says, you know what? You've leaned on doing things your own way. You wouldn't have it my way. You planted your own seeds, and now here's the crop. And the crop is death. The crop is you've reaped that iniquity and the consequences of it, and you've eaten it to the full. And there will be a consequence, and it's not life. All right? But now if we go back up to verse 12 of Hosea chapter 10, we see what God recommends for them as a people, and is what we must consider as well. Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12, God says, so for yourselves righteousness. So righteousness, plant those seeds. Break up the ground and put seeds of righteousness and the things that lead to righteousness in there. Grow them in your life.

So for yourself righteousness, reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till he comes and he reigns righteousness on you. Again, God says, get out there. Get to work. Plant the good seed. Seeds that lead to righteousness, but don't just plant them where you're always tilling the ground. Don't plant it just where you tilled the ground last year. He says, break up your fallow ground. Till up the ground that hasn't been touched in your life, and plant the seeds of righteousness there so that you can fulfill the potential that God has set before you, and you will reap a harvest of righteousness at the end of the age.

That's what God is telling Israel to do physically with spiritual consequences, and it's what he calls us to do the same as well. He says, I like this term here where he says, break up your fallow ground.

So, brethren, we need to look at our lives and evaluate, I think, especially as we're coming up to Pentecost. Now, having come out of the days of Unleavened Bread, what ground is there in our life that is laying dormant that should be broken up, should be turned over until then have the seeds of righteousness planted in there so that we can produce an abundant crop. So that wherever you look in the landscape of your life, righteousness is springing forward, and literally, the plowman is overtaking the reaper spiritually. I hope we're doing that. We're living in an age physically in this world around us because of this virus. We're living in an age of drawing back, in many ways, coming into a shell or distancing. God has called us to break up the fallow ground and to produce. So, this isn't Netflix 24-7. This is study God's Word and seek after righteousness. And let's use this time well. It is the planting season. It is the planting season. The Apostle Paul also reminds us 2 Corinthians 9 verse 6. Paul says, He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. So, your return is going to be a great increase from what you plant, but how large your return can be really is determined by what it is you plant in your life. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So, for you and I, seek to produce the abundant fruits that God desires to see in us.

Comes back to taking careful time as well in the seed selection process.

Right? What are you going to plant? I mean, I've gone out to the garden store before. I've bought seeds for my mother-in-law for the garden that she plants. Usually, what I do is like this. You know, I'll pull the seed packet off. There's the rack that's there with all these seeds, and I'll pull the packet down, and I'll start to look at it, and I'll read it. And you read the back, and it tells you how many days until germination, how deep the plant is, how far do you space these seeds apart, what kind of care does it need, you know, how many days to the harvest. And you look at those things, and you evaluate those things. Is this seed that I want to plant in my garden? And is this seed that I want to plant right on top of the other crop? Maybe it's going to crowd the sunlight. So the fact is, we're called to take the time to evaluate carefully the seed that we're planting and what it is that it will produce in our life. Because whatever it is, the crop will be abundant by comparison. Additionally, I'll remind us of James chapter 3 and verse 18. It's one of my favorite verses in the Bible. James chapter 3 verse 18 says, The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. So there's a time to to sow a crop. And frankly, if war is going on and bombs are exploding around you and people are dying in the field as they're trying to plant a crop, something might get in the ground. But you know what? It's going to be a small harvest, and the next year it's going to be less, and people are going to starve. That's what happens. That's what's happening in some places in northern Nigeria because of the warfare up there. You need to be able to get out in the field. You need to be able to plant. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. And so live your lives in such a way for a peaceful, growing environment. That environment is created by the way you live. And as I mentioned in the message during the Days of Unleavened Bread, true peace does not come except by a reconciled relationship with God. Get right with God on your knees before Him. Make sure you're reconciled to Him by the blood of His Son. Reconciled to your brother, your sisters in the faith. Create an environment of peace by which the seeds of righteousness can be sown. And the fruit and the abundance of that crop can be produced.

Again, there's fruits kind after kind. And the seeds of righteousness, what produces righteousness? Well, there's certain seeds that we would say are seeds of righteousness. Things such as love, as joy, peace, long suffering, goodness. Again, we're thinking towards Pentecost. We're thinking God's Spirit. Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Seeds of righteousness. Well, you might say, well, those aren't seeds. Those are fruits. And that is correct. They are fruits. But again, right from the fruit comes seed that can be replanted and the crop can continue to be expanded. And so we have the fruit of God's Spirit and of righteousness that He has given within us. And He gives us that Spirit to yield to Him and to continue to grow, to continue to produce.

Second Corinthians chapter 9, the final passage for today. To me, it's an incredible Scripture. And at times I've looked at it and moved away from it and come back and looked at it again. And I really didn't fully, in my opinion, have as deep of an understanding as I do now, in light of what we've been talking about today. But second Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 10, to me, is an incredible Scripture regarding the fruit of righteousness and what it is that God has planted and planted in us. Second Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 10.

Let's give this some thought. This comes from the Apostle Paul. Second Corinthians 9 and 10 says, Now may He, the He here is God, okay, now may He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

There's a lot packed in there. There's a lot, if you want to take the time to go into it, I would encourage you to. A lot to unpackage and to think about. But basically, brethren, in an overview, God is the originator of all good seed. It is His righteousness that He has planted in us and is His righteousness that good seed comes from. You know, you don't do sin. You don't do things that are contrary to God's law and say, well, this is the good seed that God gave me. It is not so. That's the seed that has come from self. But God is the originator of all good seed. He's the one who provides the righteous seed to the sower. If you go back to the Gospel accounts and you find the parable of the sower, what you're going to find there is that the seed, there is the Word of God. And God Himself is the sower. Again, looking towards Pentecost, remembering this harvest season, God Himself is planting a crop. And the question is, you know, what kind of ground are we? Are we going to grow the seed that God has planted in us?

But He is a sower. He's bringing good seed in a crop unto fruition, and He only plants the good seed. And He is that sower. But again, He's seeking that harvest.

So the seed is His Word. In Galatians 5, through the fruits of the Spirit, we also see that there's seed that comes from the Spirit of God. So God gives those things to us for a purpose, for the purpose of not just sitting on it, like you have a talent and you bury it, but He gives it to us for the purpose of producing even more. And in the parable of the sower, He says some will produce, you know, I think tenfold, some thirty, some a hundred. It's just exponential increase, depending on what you've done with what God gave you. But He's given us this seed to produce even more righteousness after His kind, because we're to be a part of His family. And so it goes on through a process of planting and harvesting in our life, planting and harvesting. What God has given us, plant it, grow it, harvest it. You have greater abundance. Plant that, grow it, harvest it. And it just increases exponentially again, until the plowman is overtaking the reaper spiritually in your life. Again, 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 10 says, And may He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. Brethren, we can't plant the good seed unto eternal life apart from God's involvement in our lives. It doesn't happen apart from Him. It happens in conjunction with Him, hand in hand.

God there with us, guiding us. And so we're instructed by His Word to draw close to Him, by fasting, such as we're doing today. By prayer, by yielding our spirit to Him, by fasting again and meditating on His Word, studying into this Word. And we take all these things as a package and they draw us to Him. And in doing so, you and I will be well supplied.

We'll have seed that comes from the sower, right? He who supplies seed to the sower, God is the master sower. If I'm not stepping over the line to attribute a name or a title to Him, the master sower, that is our Father in Heaven, but He supplies seed to the sowers and to us here on earth via His Word and His Spirit. But we work in conjunction with Him. If you want to reap a crop of kindness, you start by planting kindness. If you want to reap a crop of peace and harmony, sow peace and harmony. If you want to reap a crop of love and of outgoing concern for others, then, brethren, get out there and start planting seeds of love and outgoing concern for others, and you will reap what you sow. This is the righteous seed which God has supplied for you and I to grow in our lives today. Brethren, we reap what we sow. Every human being does. It's a part of the natural order that God has established, both physically and spiritually. You can't grow a bunch of bananas in the garden by planting, you know, sweet pea, green pea seeds, right? It doesn't work. You can't do that, and likewise, you can't grow the fruit of righteousness by sowing anything that is not of God.

And for us as Christians, as the people of God, there is actually a blessing that is tied up in this law. That what it is that you reap, or what it is you sow, you will reap, and you will reap in spades. That is a huge blessing to the people of God. So, brethren, let's grab hold of that good seed that God has provided us. Let's get busy out there plowing up the fallow ground, the ground that might be laying dormant in our lives, that is just waiting to be broken up and having God's way instilled and ingrained into it, planted to yield the harvest. Let us plant that seed. Let us water it. Let us tend it in our lives. Let us look to God who gives the increase. You can plant. You can water. In terms of the gospel, Paul said, Apollo's planted. I water, but God gives the increase. Brethren, it is true in our lives, spiritually, as well. Look to God who gives the increase. In doing so, you will not only reap the spiritual blessings of God in your life today, but you will be among the spiritual harvest of the first fruits that God is bringing unto harvest in his family, his matured first fruits at the end of the age.

And so, brethren, I just encourage you, as we're in this season of the year of physically planting and harvesting, consider the spiritual season we're in as we come up to Pentecost and the first fruit harvest. Look at your lives. Consider what God has blessed you with. Break up the fallow ground. Consider your seed wisely. And then plant for the harvest.