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Amen. All right, the title of this message this morning is tilling and sowing. Look down at your Bible, if you would, at verse six. Notice what the Bible reads in Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse six. In the morning, sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. So while we were on this mission trip, I noticed that I've heard it said before that it is important that we go to receptive areas for soul winning, and that's true. The Bible makes very clear that when we go out to start a real work for God, we should start off with the poor, with the ghetto, with those who are lowly and want to hear the gospel. The Bible shows us clearly the apostles and Jesus Christ going onto the harlots and publicans so that they would hear the message of salvation, but we also want the whole entire area to get the opportunity to hear the gospel. This is why I titled this sermon Tilling and Sowing, because I have a pet peeve, and one of those pet peeves is when I hear people talk about that this place is unreceptive, therefore we're not going to do it. And mind you, Hawaii is not unreceptive, Hawaii is a very receptive place to hear the gospel, but of course there are places that are more and less receptive anywhere. Obviously people who are wealthier and have more abundance of financial gain, they're less likely to hear the gospel, but that doesn't mean they won't be saved. The Bible clearly teaches how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of heaven, nevertheless, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Did you know there are wealthy people in the Bible who got saved? Abraham was known as a wealthy man, Job was known as a wealthy person, and we can point out person after person of wealthy people being saved. So we should not, as the saying goes, throw the baby out with the bathwater. We need to truly love our neighbors as ourself, and not all of us live in a ghetto. I mean, I think my neighborhood is middle-low class, and some may say that I'm in a middle class, and it's fine to be whatever, if you're in a high class neighborhood, low class neighborhood, middle class neighborhood, wherever you are, they're with to be content. Obviously we need to find contentment in our lives, but with this subject of evangelism, soul winning, I want us to hear this church to know, the whole island is getting knocked, if and at all possible, I want to knock every single door in Oahu. There's some 1.2 million people on this island, and I know that we do not have access to a lot of houses, because of gated communities, because of wealthy celebrities that have made it so it's not possible to get to their house, but there are lots of people who are not necessarily low class people, but they are normal, average, blue collar, white collar, middle, high income earners that need to hear the gospel, and notice what it said, in the morning, sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not, weather shall prosper, either this or that. So let's take first what I want us to know, tilling, because the title of this message is tilling and sowing. What is tilling? Well, the dictionary definition teaches that tilling involves turning over the first six to ten inches of soil before planting new crops. This practice works surface crop residue, animal manure, weeds deep into the field, blending it into the soil, it also helps aerate the worms. So basically you find ground and you pick it up and loose up to about six to ten inches of the soil, because let me ask you this, raise your hand if you've done any real legitimate farming. I'm talking where you have to produce a crop, a product, something. Raise your hand if you've done any real farming. Not too many people, right? I've done some real farming where you have to produce a certain amount of annual income, annual cropage, and if you do not, the operation as a whole will fail. Any and every farmer knows that when it comes to tilling, this is a foundational have to. You can't even start the next year crop until you have tilled the ground. Now obviously we live in a very fertile place here in Hawaii. In where I'm from on the island of Kauai, known as the Garden Island, there's a saying, you can take a seed from virtually anywhere in the planet, throw it on the ground, and do nothing and it will grow. And it's amazing. I've actually seen it done. I took a seed, and I'm not going to say what it was, but I threw it on the ground and it grew. I did nothing to it because Kauai is the rainiest place in the world. Averages some 900 inches of water. I mean, Hawaii is known for our red dirt soil, right? Red dirt is very unique to our islands. Obviously in the rest of the world, they all have their different soil types. But the reason why our soil here in Hawaii is red in color, it's obviously not like pure red, like what I call Power Ranger red. It's like a mixture of red and brown. And we have a company here in Hawaii known as Red Dirt Shirts, right? Where the color of the shirt is just the color of red dirt because eventually a bunch of construction workers got sick and tired of having to clean their shirts. They just say, let's dip it in the red dirt and we'll make a company out of it. And I think that's a really cool thing. But red, the redness in the dirt occurs from oxidization of the iron bearing minerals in the ground. So think about rust, right? We have a lot of rust problem here in Hawaii. You put a car outside and if you don't wash it on average once a week or once every month, the salt air is going to kill your car. It's going to rust it. And oxidization is a process in which oxygen mixes up and rusts in the iron in the ground, which turns the ground red. This is why we in Hawaii are very blessed to have very fertile ground physically. Now spiritually, this is different. Yes, it is true that this place I believe is receptive, but let's define that word receptive. What I believe receptive means is not only that people get saved because it is true. Receptive means people end up putting their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and getting saved. But I believe what receptive means is people willing to hear the message of salvation to allow you to show them the gospel. Because I know that where I was in Arizona and in California, you would go months without seeing people saved. You'd go weeks without even having to present the gospel to someone because everyone is living a life of lap of luxury. They think that things are fine and nothing can go bad and they just are simply like, no, thank you. I'm not interested. And you know what? At the end of the day, we want to make sure that though the physical ground here in Oahu and in Hawaii is receptive, we want to do the same thing in a spiritual sense. So what do I mean? Well, before I go into the spiritual application, I will say this. It is important that farmers who are going out and cultivating a certain type of crop because different crops yield and need different minerals and yield and need different elements. And basically, if you ask an average farmer, depending on what he's growing, you need to make sure your pH balance is either neutral or in preference to your plant that you're growing because not every plant grows the same, right? But plants crave iron. And not only that, the land needs to have certain nutrients and minerals that are built inside of it. For instance, we need a nitrogen source, which is a source of animal waste, cow manure, whatever it is, goat manure. We use rabbit manure where I was in Kauai. We have a sulfate source, which is like your hard and soft rock. That's different depending on what it is you're trying to do. We have potassium source. That's obvious. We have plenty of coconuts here. And a lot of people don't know that you think about a banana for bringing you potassium, and it does. But actually coconuts have a huge source of potassium as well. And then we have a calcium source, which is lime or gymsum or something like that. And when you have all these things in order, then you can see a real lively ground, a very healthy floor, a very healthy foundation to start your growing process. So on a spiritual application, how can we understand this? The way I see this is that a church needs to dung the field. A church needs to separate themselves from the rest of the other churches and the other false religions and other false prophets. You know, I know that if you go to your average Christian church here on this island and you ask any of the members, don't talk to the pastor, ask any of the members about salvation, not the Bible, not secondary doctrines or things that are like the second coming of Christ or things like that. Just ask him about salvation. You'd be surprised how many people are going to these churches and aren't even saved. Well, that's not a mystery to us because we understand there are wolves in sheep's clothing going around preaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. They're all in it for the money. And I don't think I need to tell you guys that. You guys have seen this, observed that and know this. So it is our job as preachers, evangelists, pastors, missionaries, deacons to dung the field and let the people of this place know that we are different in the right way. We're not different just to be different. We're not trying to just do things according to how other people do things. But the Bible says we're not of this world. So our churches should not be patterned after the world. Every morning we read the morning announcements, right? And we talk about the importance of our family integration. Other churches do not integrate the family as a whole into the church service. Why? Because they're following a worldly pattern of business and other types of like school, like public schooling systems. And they're doing that to think that it's wiser to do so. They never got that from the Bible. And that's another sermon for another time. The importance of family integration. But we can go deep into the problems of all those churches. But more importantly, we don't need to study false religion. We don't need to know their wrongdoings. What we need to know is what the Bible clearly teaches. So that way, when false information, false doctrine, false teaching makes its way to us, we know the truth and the truth has made us free. So that's how we can dung the field. As we go around, we need to let people know when you knock on someone's door and they're like, hey, I'm David from Sure Foundation Baptist Church out inviting people to our church. More importantly, you mind if I ask you about salvation or do you go to church or anything? And they're like, yeah, I go to church. Oh, OK. What church do you go to? Well, I go to New Hope. I go to Calvary Chapel. I go to fill in the blank, right? You do want to make sure you separate yourself right away. And I know I tend to when I'm at the door, use this line to help drop people's shoulders. I tell them, well, OK, more importantly, we're not trying to take you from your church or nothing like that. But I want them to know that what's most important to the gospel. Let's say we go through the plan of salvation. They get saved. I do tell them that you want to get out of that church. What? You can't tell people to get out of their churches. Well, if that church has never showed them the plan of salvation, that isn't a church. What is the church? The church is the pillar and ground of the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ has died for the church. We need to let people know that we serve the Lord Jesus Christ above everyone. We're not trying to just make a rock concert. We're not trying to get anyone to come. We're trying to get the saved to come and fellowship with the saints so that we can do a real work and till the ground out there and let people know that the truth is not in a Lutheran church, an Episcopal church for crying out a lot of Jehovah's Witness church. We need to separate ourselves really quickly with that. But turn, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 1. Jeremiah chapter 1. This is an example of someone tilling the ground. Notice what it says in Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 4. It reads, Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Pause there really quick. Did he say, I ordained you a prophet unto Israel? Did he say, I ordained you a prophet unto Judah? He says, I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations, to all people. And it goes on to read, Then said I, Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. Well, the Lord said unto me, Say not that I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I know, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said unto me, Now watch this, behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to what? Root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to plant. So notice, God is telling Jeremiah, what do you do first? Do you start planting? No, first you need to pull down. You need to root out. You need to destroy false religion. You need to separate yourself really quickly from even what the nation of Judah was doing. Judah was going and being apostate. They were not serving the Lord Jesus Christ. They were not serving the Lord. They were out serving false gods, and God told Jeremiah, you're going to be a prophet unto all nations to show that it's not about your ethnicity or your people group, but it's about the true Lord Jesus Christ, and you are to pull down, root out all the bad seed, all the bad ground, all the bad trees, and so on and so forth. This is Jeremiah. Turn, if you would, to 2 Kings. This is not unique to just one person. This isn't an isolated situation in the Bible. And some people would look at us and say like, oh, you guys are being mean. You guys are being hateful. Nowhere does the Bible tell you to call out false religion, call out false teachers and all this stuff. Just do your thing in your church and let them do what they want to do. But is that what God told us to do? No, he told Jeremiah not to do that. He told him specifically to do that. Pastors today need to do the exact same thing. If we're going to go and start to do a real work for God somewhere, we need to first till the ground, pull up, root out, destroy that which is bad. Move the soil. Let's aerate. Let's get the right minerals in there and let's get the right things going. But notice if you would at 2 Kings, chapter 23, turn if you would to 2 Kings, chapter 23, King Josiah did the exact same thing. And arguably my favorite king is David. It's not because I'm named after David, but because he's known as a man after God's own heart. But you know who my second favorite king in the Bible was? Is Josiah. He was known as a man also after God's own heart. And let's see the attributes, the actions in which King Josiah did that the Lord was pleased with. So look down at your Bible, if you would, at verse 4. 2 Kings, chapter 23, verse 4. It reads, And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the hosts of heaven, and burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the king of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places, in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem. Then also he burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the plants, and to all the hosts of heaven. And he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord without Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. And he break down the houses of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the city of Judah, and defiled the high places, where the priests had burned incense from Geba to Beersheba, and break down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. Nevertheless, the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. And he deviled Tophat, which is the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, had the entering in of the house of the Lord, but the chamber of Nathan Molech, the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire, and the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made. And the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king beat down, and break them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kijon. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. And he break in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made both the altar and the high place. He break down, and burned the high places, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord, which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the man of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. And he said, Let him alone, let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the king of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. And the king commanded, what commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Surely there was not holding such a Passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah wherein this Passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem, moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hociah the priest found in the house. And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses. Neither after him arose there any like him. Notwithstanding the Lord turned from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him therewithal. So is King Josiah this hateful mean guy? I mean, I hate every false way, and I hate people who are trying to deceive people on salvation. I mean, we just read basically 20 verses of 2 Kings chapter 23, and it says clearly in verse 25, and like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart. So what he did was right. He tilled the ground, he pulled the groves, he killed the priest, and constantly in saying he ground him to powder, he ground him to powder, threw it in the brook kydron, threw it in the brook kydron, rounded to powder. That is our job is to let people know that we love you by telling you the truth, and we are going to till this ground. And until then, that is the only way we will see what we would call reception in salvation. Why? Because this brings me into my next point. If you do not start your foundation right, if you do not till your ground and call out false doctrine, call out false prophets, call out false churches, then you have no good ground to sow your seed in. Because that's the next point I want us to understand is we have to sow if we expect to reap. You know, salvation is a process for people, right? Some people first need to hear the truth. Then they need to be watered. Then someone can pull and reap a harvest. I know myself personally, I wasn't given the gospel in one sitting and saved. I had heard the gospel multiple times throughout my life, but didn't understand it. Why? Because no one sat me down and explained it. But I got line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. Someone in my life gave me a verse. Then someone else in my life came and watered that thought. And then someone else came and explained this all and reaped the harvest. And then I got saved. Praise the Lord. God liken salvation unto farming. I mean, we are the husband men. The Lord Jesus Christ is the true husband men. He's the vine. We are the branches and we need to bring forth fruit. Turn if you would to Luke chapter 8. But if you don't start by tilling the ground, how, how will people know what's different between you and an Episcopal? What's different between you and a Lutheran? I mean, I know for the longest time, I didn't know the difference. I put it all into the, you know, generic term Christian. And I know today lots of people do the same thing. You go to the Lutheran church, you go to just any like Protestant type of church. And you ask them simply, why are you Lutheran? They don't know why. They don't know what a Lutheran is. In most cases, they know their grandmother went there. So they go there. They know that it's the church nearest them. So they go there. They don't understand the history, what it actually goes deep into because they don't necessarily care, but we care that they know the truth. Now, once you've tilled the ground next, you need to sow seeds. I don't want to hear this. This place is unreceptive. Well, you know what? Sometimes when you till ground, it takes a long time for a plant to grow. You know, it's not like you till the ground and then you expect to harvest the next day. No, you need to till the ground. You need to sow the field. You need to water the field, nurture it, bring in it constantly and constantly. And then eventually you will see plants. Now, obviously, in the analogy of this island, there are places that have never heard the true word of God. There are places that they can't differentiate between what the Protestant things and what the Bible clearly teaches. But if you went and first pointed out their problems and like, no, that church isn't legit, this church isn't legit and so on and so forth, then when you give them the truth, the word of God, which the Bible likens the word of God as a seed, then they'll be able to receive. Then they can hear it. They're like, oh, OK, that makes sense. Now, look down at Luke Chapter eight, verse five. This is the famous parable of the sower, which explains the subject of planting. Notice what it reads in verse five. A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside and it was trodden down and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock. And as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up with it and choked it. And other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit and hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, he that out of the earth to hear, let him hear. I'm going to pause there really quickly. We'll go into the the interpretation of the parable. But Jesus is likening salvation unto farming. And it's funny about this parable. I've heard this parable misinterpreted virtually my whole life. And then when I understood the truth and was saved and it could understand the things of God, then I was able to look at this parable and understand it. So Jesus just said right there, he that out of the earth to hear, let him hear. So obviously, people can look at the Bible and get a completely wrong teaching out of it. Let's see what Jesus meant by this parable of the sower. And his disciples asked him, saying, what might this parable be? And he said unto you, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables that seeing they might not see and hearing they may not understand might not understand. Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they that hear then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved. Pause first group. OK, these are people who are unsaved. Now notice it says now those were by the wayside. So they threw the seed on the ground, right? But that was not a ground in which that could receive seed. Why? They that hear then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts lest they should what believe and be saved. So obviously, the cares of this world, the things of this world, when you knock on the door and you try to give someone the gospel and they don't even want to hear it, the devil has closed their mind. The devil is working on that person to suppress, to stop them from hearing the message of God. The Bible says that the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even through the dividing asunder of soul and spirit as a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the hearts of men. So obviously, the word of God can cut through everything in your life. But if you don't even hear the message, then the devil will make sure you don't get the opportunity to be saved. He'll give you a football game. He'll give you family endeavors. He'll give you a career and finance and all these things to keep you away from learning the truth of salvation. Let's go into the next group. It simply says in verse 13, they on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptations fall away. So pause. This group of people is saved. Well, how do you know? It says simply right there, they on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy. They're happy. They are happy to accept the word of God. Here's the difference. The ground they are on is a rocky ground. The ground has not been tilled. It has not been brought to life. It's not been separated from other things. Well, how do you know that's what it means? Look, it says in these have no root, root which for a while believe and in time of what temptation fall away. That does not mean they stop being saved. That does not mean they God took their salvation. That just means that when tribulation, persecution comes, they are ashamed for the cause of Christ. They are embarrassed. They don't want to be seen as known as a Christian. So they fall away as in you would not even know this person was a Christian because he looks and acts like the rest of the world. Now that doesn't mean they're not saved. And I've heard so many people explain that this group of person is not safe because when someone came and asked are you a Christian? They said no. That means they never believed. Funny, Peter, who was one of the greatest disciples denied the Lord Jesus Christ to his face three times. Are you going to say he was not saved? Of course, they would never make that claim. But once again, they lack understanding because they don't understand the simplicity of the gospel. Let's keep going. Notice what it says in verse 14. And they which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. Because what are we talking about? We're talking about tilling and sowing. We're not talking about reaping right now. We're not talking about the actual leading someone to the Lord. Although that is priority number one. When we go out, we want to pull a harvest. But how do you expect to pull a harvest if you don't till the ground? How do you expect to pull a harvest if you don't sow the seed? The Word of God is the seed. And I know that when I go around preaching the gospel, right? They don't want to hear it a lot of the times, right? They're just like, nah, I'm busy. And it may be truly that they're busy. We don't want to leave them on a bad note. But always, always, always try to leave them with one verse, with one thought, with one truth from the Bible, because that will be a seed sown in their heart or watering of a plant that's already there that can become saved one day. And notice what it says. It says, and that which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard, so they've heard the Word of God, go forth and are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. So obviously, thorns and thistles and things like that came after the fall of man, right? It says the land is cursed. Therefore, now it will bring thorns and thistles. So that represents the cares of this world. They're walking around not doing anything for the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe they won't be embarrassed or maybe they won't be denying Him, but they don't go and share their faith. They don't go and show that they're a Christian because they don't want to be associated with that. And you know what the end result of that is? They're not fruitful. What does it mean to be fruitful? See, some people only think to be fruitful means to show the signs of the fruit of the Spirit. Joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, these things, right? Which that's true. Those are the fruits of the Spirit. But we have fruit, right? When you see a husband, wife married with lots of kids, you would call that a fruitful marriage. They reproduce lots of kids. And Christianity is the same way throughout the whole Bible. What is the very first promise to mankind? Be fruitful and multiply. Multiplication is what God is expecting of us. You can go and preach to someone, get them saved. But let's hope the ground is tilled, the seed was sown on good ground. It's not that everyone is different. Everyone has different personalities, different upbringings, different backgrounds, and different stages of life that we're all in. But we're trying to not only just get people saved, but we want saved people to go out and share their faith with others to reproduce. And let's see what the final group of people are like. Notice what it says in verse 15. But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. So we want to make sure that the people of Oahu, the people of Hawaii know that there hath been a prophet among them, as Jeremiah was known as a prophet unto the nations. He needed to pull down as King Josiah did, pull down the false religion, be a light under the Gentiles. And that's the next point I want to go into. Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians 9, because you would think to yourself naturally, right, that why didn't the people of God do this in the past? The people of God, the Jews, the people of Israel failed at this task. That is why the new covenant came into the scene because Jesus Christ came unto his own and his own received him not. They were supposed to do this job. They were supposed to be a light under the Gentiles. They were supposed to preach the message of the Lord to the other people, but they didn't. They failed in their task. But notice what it says in 1 Corinthians, actually you turn if you would, to Matthew chapter 10. It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, who goeth the warfare at any time at his own charges? Who planted the vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth the flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say these things as an ant, or saith not the law the same also. For it is written the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn to God to care for oxen, or saith it all together for our sakes. For our sakes, no doubt this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of this hope. If you don't go out and spread the seed, you will not see the fruits. You can't go out into a field and just expect to reap fruit. You can't just go out and be like, oh, I'm just going to be reaping harvests everywhere I go all the time. No, you have to plant. You have to till. You have to water. And then you can also reap. The Jewish people failed at this. The people of Israel failed at this. They weren't going around planting, tilling, sowing. They just were expecting people to come to them only. Now, nevertheless, there is some truth to people coming to the nation of Israel to know who the Lord was, but it was supposed to be so that others would get saved. It says, for instance, in Hebrews, chapter five, verse 11, of whom we have many things to say, and remember, this is the epistle to the Hebrew people and hard to be uttered, seeing your dull of hearing for when the time you had to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and out of strong meat for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth unto them that are a full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. And I'm not going to go into the subject of replacement theology, which is clearly taught throughout the whole New Testament. But I do want us to understand that we don't want to do what they did. We want to be different. The Bible says we are a peculiar people, that we are to be. You know, Jesus says, I'm going to take the kingdom from you and give it to a nation, bringing forth the what fruits thereof. So we want to bring forth fruit, but we cannot expect only to repurpose. We need to clean house till ground. So seed water plants and repurpose. I'm going to keep emphasizing this because God wants us to understand as farmers that this is the process in which plants can grow. So when I hear someone say it's unreceptive in this area, I just think to myself like, OK, have you planted seeds? Someone's got to do this work, right? Now, of course, like I said in the beginning, it is most important that we emphasize the receptive areas. We emphasize, Isaac, you want to check the front door really quick. You want to emphasize the poor areas. You want to emphasize the people that are willing to hear. But you don't stop there. You don't end there. You move forward. And inevitably think about people who talk about nations that are unreceptive to the gospel where it is illegal to preach the gospel. There are lots of places in the world where you can't even go and preach the gospel. And then some evangelists will be like, I want to go there to preach the gospel. That's not wise. It's wiser to get the surrounding area saved and hear the message of the truth so that as time moves forward, you can radiate inwards. It's not wise to go into the lion's den and try to till ground. I mean, I'm not saying it can't happen. With God, all things are possible. But wisdom would say, go where you can go till the ground. And the natural demographic of people will start doing more for God. And then it'll start working its way into receptive areas. So with that being said, this is the last part, the hard work. It's hard work to go to the unreceptive places. It's hard work to get the door slammed on your face for months on end, for weeks on end to be scolded out, screamed out. But you got to remember, right, when you knock on someone's door and let's say there's a father and son. Right. And the father is just, you know, being defensive and is trying to keep his family safe. And he doesn't know who we are or what we're coming to show. We're his best friend, but he doesn't know that and gets mean and aggressive. And let's say you leave him with a verse. Who's to say that that son, that doesn't resonate with him? Who's to say that that son that's sitting there listening won't one day put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be a difference into that place? See, that's what I'm trying to get at. Just because people are mean, rude, arrogant or upset at us for what we're doing and we're in an area that is considered unreceptive, do we just not do it then? No, someone's got to do the work. And we need to be willing to take it upon ourselves to do the work. This is a job, right? And we're going to go out to even the hard places to till the ground, to sow the seed, to water the plants, to see one day fruits coming to fruition. And not only that, you'll see a reward. You're at Matthew chapter 10. Turn if you would to Matthew chapter 10 and look if you would at verse 39. Let me get there myself. Matthew chapter 10 verse 39. The Bible reads, He that findeth his life shall lose it. And he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me. He that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth the prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth the righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive the righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water, only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. I know in my life, and I can maybe say that some of you have experienced this too, where you go out and you think no one gets saved that day. No one even listens to the plan of salvation that it was a waste of time. I felt that way before where it's like I go put three hours in and no one wants to listen. And I think to myself like what a waste of time. It's not even like, you know, anyone got saved. No one even got to hear the word of God, but you got to remember that's not time wasted. Because even if you're not able to present even a verse, right, you are going to get a reward for your time spent. Because every time you go out, the Bible says, he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again, rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Doubtless, without doubt, you will see people saved. You will see people put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Lord willing, become fruitful Christians themselves. If you go forth weeping, bearing precious seed. Do you care about that neighborhood? Do you care about those people who slammed the door on your face, who got rude with you, who got aggressive with you? I do. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They don't understand that they're shooting the messenger. But hopefully someone in that house was willing to realize the severity and the importance of what came to them. Because God forbid the people in that house don't get saved, they're going to remember this face. They're going to remember that someone tried to bring them the gospel. And the Lord says that if you go and do your part, you will see a reward. Paul says the same thing in Philippians chapter 4 verse 15. It says, Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. I'm going to pause really quick. That's in reference to financially contributing to Paul. They were helping him out. He says no church financially contributed to me except for the Philippians, which was a blessing. But more importantly, this was Paul's attitude to them. For even in Thessalonica, he sent once and again into my necessity, not because I desired a gift. So he's saying, I didn't want you to give me financial gain. I didn't want you to give me things, though that's appropriate, and that's fine if an evangelist or a pastor gets paid for their service. The Bible elsewhere talks about they that preach the gospel live in the gospel. And if I sow it unto you spiritual things, is it strange that I reap your carnal things? So he's basically just teaching like that's appropriate and fine, but that's not what he was looking for. What was Paul looking for? But I desire, what? Desire fruit that may abound to your account. You know, when I go out and preach the gospel and see people saved, I desire fruit on their account. Because did you know that your loved ones, people who gave you the gospel, who got you saved, they got saved from someone, right? And you can go and get someone saved, right? So we're all in this work together. One man sows, one man waters, but God gives the increase. We're all in this work together. Someone needs to clean the ground. Someone needs to till and clean house. Someone needs to plant the seed. Someone needs to water it and someone will reap it. But is the one who's reaping more important than the one who's tilling? Not at all. They're all equally important. Can in the, I guess sports analogy, can the center say that I don't need the point guard? Obviously both people are important and all works together for good to them that love God. And who knows? I mean, I truly believe this. I begged the Lord one day that someone I see saved, that someone I led to the Lord would surpass me in my Christianity and become one of the greatest soul winners of his generation. What a blessing that would be. Think about it. Could you imagine you gave the gospel to someone, right? And they get saved and you don't see them for a long time. Five years goes by, 10 years goes by. You forgot who he even was and vice versa. But then that person inevitably gets the bigger picture and becomes a fire breathing preacher and soul winner and sees hundreds of people saved. What a great view. That fruit is held on your account. The reason all those people got saved was because you got that preacher saved. And think you mothers and ladies who have children don't realize that you may be raising the next John the Baptist, so to say, or the disciple John, or you might be having the next Jeremiah. You don't know. We as Bible believing Christians understand the importance of rearing our children, right? Of leading our children into the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And when you do so, your son, your daughter may become great people of God. But first, let's never forget the importance of tilling the ground and then sowing the seed. And with that being said, let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for salvation. Thank you so much for allowing us to be here. Help us to go around to till the ground, to call out false doctrine and false prophets for who and what they are, but also to sow seed and to see people saved. If it be your will, help guide us to those who want to hear so we can reap harvest, but to avoid those who don't want to hear because we truly want to see as many people saved as we can. But we want to make sure that it's in your timing and it's on your will and all of this we say Jesus Christ in me pray. Amen.