Farms

The Farmer and the Seed

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering his seed, some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. Matthew 13:3-8

 

Do you remember church bulletins, hymn books or microphones mounted solidly to large wooden pulpits? Technology has certainly changed everything about our worship services in the 21st century. While many of the changes have been great the issues of the human heart haven’t really changed at all since Jesus talked about the farmer’s day of planting 2000 years ago.

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Some of us come so busy glancing our smart watches and text messaging our friends that the word just bounces off us just like the seed that fell on the path. We come to church and return home with no idea of what was said. Other Sundays we think the message was great and head home enthusiastically entering into our calendar the five AM prayer time and the second Saturday of the month leadership training course.  But as we drive the office calls and asks if we could come in extra early on Monday and we get a text from our son’s school asking if we could volunteer to coach the soccer team this spring. Other times we  do continue the outward motions of the commitments we have made but remain in ungodly relationships and activities that clash strongly with everything we believe. We decide that it  is too hard to break away from those things that displease the Lord and put on the back burner the plans for a closer walk with Jesus Christ.

We excuse ourselves by inwardly accusing our pastor. We rationalize that the messages have been weak and that the worship team is pretty disorganized.  Church seems dull and people don’t reach out to us when we think they should. Yet the farmer is the same and the seed is the same. Our challenge is to prepare our hearts for his word but to guard what is planted so it will yield a harvest one day.

The Farmer Prepares for Spring

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering his seed, some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. Matthew 13:3-8

One of my favorite things to o in winter was to scan through seed catalogues and plan for spring planting. The catalogue pages were always filled with colorful photos of how those dry hard seeds might look if I planted them at my house. Then I would draw the shape of next year’s garden, and decide where to put the cucumbers and squash and which new varieties of tomato would grow best on the mountain where we lived.

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Jesus tells a story of a farmer not unlike any of us. He had decided what seed to plant and chosen exactly the right day to place them in the soil. He probably left his house with a bag bursting at the seams with the precious seed and walked out to begin his day’s work. As he started up the hard path some of the seed spilled out and as it bounced on the hard ground the birds began to follow him and gobble up every one. Once he arrived he tried to evenly spread the seeds in the furrows and from one end to the other of the field to the other. But even though all of the plowed field looked beautiful and clean, underneath the surface there were hidden rocks in some of the corners and thorn and thistle seed had blown in overnight at the edges. No one would be able to tell what would become of the harvest until the seed began to grow.

The same story is worked out every Sunday in many of our churches. The same sermon is preached to all of us, but the message has radically different results depending on how we listen. But our problem is not with the one who planted the seed, because we all have the same farmer! The difference at harvest time comes from how our field has been prepared. Before you hear even one more sermon maybe the best prayer should be, “Oh Lord prepare my heart!”

 

No One is Too Small for God’s Plan

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”    Matthew 21:1-3

Did you ever pause to wonder how Jesus knew that one specific donkey was there? We usually think of God as having such big and important things to do that He wouldn’t be interested in things like donkeys. Sometimes I have wondered why He would even be interested in me. My life seems pretty, uninteresting and filled with inabilities, fears and mess-ups. Yet God’s word gives me hope because I see that for reasons known only to Him He takes interest in mundane things like birds -Matt 6:26;, lions- Psalm 104:21; donkeys- Numbers 22:32-33  and yes even  man!

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psalm 8:4

If you doubt that God has a plan for your life remember that God chose exactly when and where you would be born. We, just like King David were each individually knit together while still in our mother’s womb. No two of us are alike and God never does anything without a reason. There are days when I wish I knew that reason! But even on those days God sees our thoughts and if we look for Him in the ordinary situations that we are living in, His promise is that we will find Him!

Especially on those dreary days when life seems more like a tangled mess than a work of art, remember that donkey and remind yourself that God knows exactly wkimg2029here you are today! You may be tied up to a post in a dusty little village but God has a plan for you. No one may have much use for your limited abilities, but God needs you exactly as you are. You may feel that today is just another unimportant day but with God there are no unimportant days. This is the hour that the Lord needs you and He is sending for you to come and carry Him somewhere He wants to go today!