The Mysteries of Seeds Growing.

Mark 4:27 “And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.”

As Christians, Churches, and even as Pastors and Ministers of all kind we must understand our limits. God has commanded us all to plant the seeds of His word into the world. He commanded that that the gospel is preached to every living soul, even if we are unaware of what will grow and what will not. As workers together with God, we cannot lose sight of what our part is in these seeds, it is only to plant and water. We all have a great hope as we plant, not only the gospel of Jesus Christ but also the doctrine of the Word of Truth that increase will come. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you…” Matt. 28:19a & 20a. Everything we do in planting God’s seeds, the seed of salvation (the gospel message) and the seed of Truth (all biblical doctrine) we have our limit, we plant the seeds, but God must give the increase. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6 As powerful as these men, all of them were in the ministry of the Lord, they could only plant and water the seed of the gospel and the seed of biblical doctrine. We have no power to make any seed grow, just as we plant a garden and care for it, we have no power to make it grow. But isn’t it a wonderful and beautiful thing to watch those seeds break the ground and become a plant. To us it’s a mystery because somehow a very small dried-up seed, maybe setting for a few years, a lot of hard labor, and a lot of prayer, it can have life once again and grow into something so wonderful. To us the labor and workers who till the ground and put much love and time into it, do not know if it’s going to grow or not, and if it grows will it ever produce any fruit? “and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.” But this we do know, “God gave the increase.”, that’s right it is through the gracious love and power of God that there is any life of fruit from those seeds and all that labor. The reason it is a mystery to us is because we have no control of life, we have no power to give life to nothing, only God can give life. So much is the same to the human soul as God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, He also breaths into a dead spirit the breath of life as His Spirit (the Holy Spirit) quickens a dead spirit. Until He does there is no life at all, just as God delivers life to our dried-up seeds His Spirit delivers life to a lost soul with a dead spirit. Beloved, no matter what your work is, no matter how much labor you use, do not be discouraged if you do not see the results you expected, you can only do your part, God does the rest. Never get discouraged at the outcome, it’s all a mystery to us, we do not know the workings of God until we see the results. Do not be discouraged and think your words were not powerful enough because salvation is not accomplished by our words, but by the word of God. “but of incorruptible, by the word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Even the Apostle Paul had to admit that his own words were not as powerful as God’s words, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:4. It is the same in teaching bible doctrine, both are seeds that God must give the increase. Biblical doctrine is a gift from God, if it was not, then we would all believe the same, but we do not. Bible doctrine is a revelation that only the Holy Spirit can give, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26

Beloved, we are only workers for the Lord, we are planting the seeds and watering the seeds, and as much love and care that we give them, we cannot make them grow or produce fruit. Life in the Lord is a mystery and we must continually understand our limits. God must do His mysterious work of giving the life to those that He has chosen too. But, as heartbreaking as it sometimes is that some seed may never grow, how rejoicing it is when one lost sinner comes to know and believe in Jesus Christ as their Saviour or to come to the acknowledgement of biblical Truth. “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:10 

Faith is a must.

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Doubters and unbelievers never please God, because only with real faith can we please God. God wants our unwavering faith in Him, in all that He is, in all that we ask, and in all that we do. The faith it takes to believe in God is spiritual faith, that is the faith given to every sinner that God saves. Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” As we all know fruits of any kind are produced and spiritual fruits are produced by the Holy Spirit and therefore the natural human soul does not have them. Humanly speaking everyone has a faith but they do not have saving faith and this is why the Holy Spirit gives it to us. This is why the natural person will never on their own have enough faith to be saved, and why salvation is a gift of the Holy Spirit and not produced by a lost soul. A lost soul will never do anything pleasing to God, because without salvation they have no faith in God. However, it is never pleasing to God when a soul that He has saved and Jesus has redeemed does not have enough faith to trust Him. God said of a Christian with a wavering faith, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)” Heb. 10:23. How could we ever trust God to save us, to keep us, and never leave nor forsake us, if He was not faithful without doubt? Our salvation is our most needed possession in a Christians life, and salvation is all about trusting God. That is why God said, “…for he that cometh to God must believe that he is…”. What about our prayer to God, do we without doubt or question trust God to hear and answer our prayers? Why pray to God about anything when there is one single molecule doubt? This is why God said, “without faith it is impossible to please him” and He did not mean weak faith, faith mixed with doubt, but with unwavering faith. Look at James 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” When we as Christians pray to God, we must put our human pride behind us, we cannot trust in ourselves if we ask God to handle something. One of the hardest things for Christians to do is to give-up total control to God, but we must remember “without faith it is impossible to please him”, that is faith in Him without our help. We must always be reminded that worry after prayer is sinful, because either we trust God in our prayer or we do not. “For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” God went on to say in James 1:7 - 8 “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” We must ever be reminded what God said in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” If we must see evidence from God, then we have little faith in God and are wavering. God knows, He knows what you have need of before you ever ask, He knows what it takes to make all things work together in your life before you ever ask. God knows what is good for you and what is bad for you before you ever ask. God knows every detail about you and what will happen, not only today or tomorrow or the next day, but every day of your life. Paul wrote in Php. 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” The question is not can He, but do we have enough faith to believe He can, we better have! We all know that putting things in God’s hands and not worrying about them are not easy, but if our faith is strong enough in God then it is not. If you want a measuring stick to measure your faith it is how much faith do you have in God’s ability without any doubt. This is very important for believers, because God said we must have that faith and when we do, “…he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Please listen very close to 2 Peter 1:3-7 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.”

“…for he that cometh to God must believe that he is…”