(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do you want me to go? Actually, no. Do you want me to go? No. All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Stronghold Baptist Church. If you can grab your hymnals and open up to Song 161. Can someone watch me? I have to come sleep. Song 161. Can someone watch me? I have to come sleep. Song 161, Our Great Savior. Song 161. All right, let's sing this on the first. Jesus, what a friend for sinners. Jesus, lover of my soul. Friends, make hell with those a-sailing. Be my Savior, praise behold. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. Jesus, what a strength in weakness laid behind my self in Him. Tended, fine, and sometimes failing. Be my strength like injury quits. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. Jesus, what a helping song while the billows warmly roll. Even when my heart is breaking, my comfort helps my soul. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. Let's sing the fourth. Slow it down. Jesus, what a God and keeper while the tempest still is high. Storms about me, night foretakes me. Be my pilot, here's my cry. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. On the last, Jesus, I do now receive Him. More than all in Him I find. He hath granted me forgiveness. I am His and He is mine. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for this church, Father. Thank you so much for allowing us to go out and preach the gospel, Lord. Lord, I just pray for the souls I got saved, Lord. That they can come into church, Lord, and grow and just live a more fruitful Christian life, Lord. Father, I just pray that service can give you glory and sing and the preaching can give you glory, Lord. That you can fill Pastor Burgess with your spirit when he comes up to preach. I pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. All right, let's turn to our next song, Psalm 174. Psalm 174, my Jesus, I love you. Psalm 174. On the verse. My Jesus, I love you. I know thou art mine. For me, O the folly, a sin I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. I love thee because thou hast first loved me. And purchased my pardon on Calvary street. I love thee for wearing the horns of my crown. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. Thou love thee in life, I will love thee in death. And praise thee as long as thou lettest me round. And stay with the dead, do I hold on my crown. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. In mansions of glory and endless delight. I'll ever adore thee in heaven's surprise. I'll sing with the glitzy, crown on my crown. If ever I love thee, my Jesus is now. Amen. All right, very good singing this afternoon. Get one out to you. And if you open up to the first page, you'll see our service time is listed there. Sunday morning at 1030, Sunday afternoon again at 4 p.m. Wednesday night at 7 is our Bible study. We've got the Soling opportunities listed there, as well as the salvation and baptism for the month of March, as well as for the year. Let's go ahead and count up any Soling report from today. You went out Soling today, had any salvation? Just slip your hand up real quick. We'll get that counted up. One here. How many? One? Anybody else? Two. All right, amen. Anybody else? Thank you. I forgot to add her in the salvation count. Did I miss anyone else for today? All right, how about previous to today? Anything to report earlier in the week? Did your crew had three from yesterday? Amen. Very good. Very good. And? Oh, you had one from today. Okay, excellent. Excellent. Cool. We have a very, very good prayer request update, and I'm always excited when we have good outcomes when we're praying for people on a prayer request. And this one has to do with Brother Mo. And Brother Mo, why don't you just stand up and share just real briefly what is the good news? What is it that they found at your most recent visit? Amen. Yes, sir. They diagnosed me with a stage three. Right. She's a failure. That was previously. Previously. And to them, it can't be reversed. It can't be changed. But, however, when I went to doctor Tuesday, they done lab report, blood report, and urine report, and everything. They found no problem. Amen. Nothing. Amen. Praise the Lord. That's good. Absolutely, they said. And they just didn't want to give up. And I keep asking them, what is my stage? And he says, everything is normal. Amen. Amen. Everything is normal. So absolutely, all the tests and was maybe 25 to 30 items that everything on. Amazing. Yes. I was so excited. And he says, we really don't want to see you, but just to make sure you're OK, we will see you in six months. Yes. And we're going to repeat all of these labs and doing this. So I am blessed with the name of God. I mean, I know that was God. They don't want to say it. Right. Who cares? I know. Yes. That's good. That's very good. Amen. So thank you all who have been praying for Moa. That's obviously big news there. So he's on our list here. You can see his stage three kidney disease. He's been having those problems now for a while. And your first was stage two. Yes, sir. And then it was stage three. It was elevated. Within a couple of weeks. Within a couple of weeks. I remember that. And I was worried about going down. Right. Right. And then you stabilized, but now they're not picking up anything. So very good news. Thank you. That's exciting. You're excited. It's not that kind of church, though. We're very excited about this news. But we don't typically run up and down the aisle. Although we'll make an exception, because this is really good news. We're happy to hear about Brother Moby and healed. That is good. And the live streamers, you just totally missed out. I mean, you couldn't even see that little guy running around. You're like, what happened? I don't know. All right. That's very exciting. Brother Moby told me that before church started. And thank you for sharing that. You said it better than I could have. It's been a long process for you. So very, very, very good news. And I love being able to remove people from our list because of good news. I mentioned this morning, Sister Emily's grandmother, she reported, got saved. So I think it was either yesterday or two days ago. And that's a big deal. Someone's grandparent, not doing very well. We've been praying for her health just to be able to even be able to hear the gospel. She's kind of older and not doing well. And apparently, Mrs. Johnson had a very good opportunity to preach the gospel to her. And it was reported that she accepted Christ. So that's also very good news. And someone that's been removed from the prayer list as a result of definitely prayers answered there. So appreciate the prayers. I know February was the prayer challenge month. But hopefully you're not just ditching the prayer requests now that it's March. Take these home with you. You know, great testimony. Prayer works. It's why we pray for people because God is real. God is there. God is hearing us. And, you know, we ask whatsoever we will, according to His will. You know, He's going to hear us. He will hear our requests and hear our petitions and definitely steps in. So that's good news. So bring these home with you. Please continue to pray for everyone that is still on our prayer list here. And if you have anyone that you would like to add to the prayer list, there are prayer requests. I'm not sure if I'm incorrect about this or correct. On the new visitor cards that we got, I ordered some new ones. And I think on the back they have prayer requests. Does anyone know if that's true? Has anyone noticed that? Or am I the only one that noticed that? On one side it's got all the new contact information for new visitors. And I think the other side has prayers. So if you need one, if you want to submit one, you can always drop a prayer request in the offering plate when the offering plate goes around. Or just deliver it to me personally if you'd rather do that. But please, either way, write it down so that I don't forget. I'm starting to feel like I'm getting a little bit older because I'm having some memory problems if I don't have stuff written down. So please, if you need something, have it in writing for me. And I'll do my best to make sure it gets translated into the bulletin here. Continuing here on the next page, congratulations to DJ and Geraldine. And hopefully you all had a chance to congratulate them personally. And it's nice having them back here with us. And Geraldine, for the first time, essentially being part of our church now. And it's good to have you here as well. And we hope God blesses your marriage. And what's the blessing that they gave Rebecca, that you'd be the mother of thousands of millions or something? That was the blessing that they gave to Rebecca. You're like, I don't know if I'm up for that. But we hope that God blesses you with children. And congratulations on your wedding. And then redeeming the time challenge is for the month of March. Trying to find an area where you could get rid of a waste of time. Things that you're doing that just make no sense for you to be doing. And really just serve no purpose whatsoever. Try to get rid of that and do things that are going to be of value to you. Think about it. Look at those things. Look at your schedule. Analyze your schedule. Put some effort into this and say, where am I wasting time? And try to cut out, even if you don't completely eliminate, just scale back. You know, redeem the time. So redeeming the time challenge. You're redeeming time so you could use it for better purposes. And that'll help you for all the rest of the challenges that we got scheduled for the rest of the year. Bible memory passage, Hebrews chapter 2. We're getting about halfway through this passage. You can memorize the whole thing, word perfect, and be able to quote it out loud. You'll earn a prize for that. We had a baby shower this afternoon for Mrs. Doty. There are still sandwiches left in the refrigerator. Please make sure that we have zero sandwiches left at the end of the day today when you go home. Help yourself to sandwich or two or three or ten or however many left. I don't know, whatever. Don't trample people on the way to the fridge if you want to get them. If you first come, first serve. I don't know exactly how many are left. I just don't want to see any more in that refrigerator when we leave here today. So help yourself. And also be conscious. If you do take sandwiches, please be aware of any mess that you might create. And try to keep the mess as much as possible on the hard floor or out front, outside, for the people who are going to be cleaning the building tonight. Appreciate that. And then the zoo homeschool field trip is this Friday. Already mentioned this morning. Repeat myself again. 945 is the target to get downtown, to get to the zoo. And we will cover your parking expense. Go to the parking lot that is not covered. It's open. Not the covered parking garage, but the open spaces. And we will make sure that your parking is paid for. But you've got to get there for sure before 10 so that we're not holding everybody else up and everyone knows and standing around waiting for you to show up. Now, if you're running late, I understand. Things happen. Things can come up. It doesn't mean you're not going to be able to go to the zoo. Just show up when you can. But do your best to get there on time. What I am saying, though, is that I can't promise you that we're going to be able to pay for your parking if you're not there on time. I think it's like 12 bucks or something. That might have to just come out of your pocket if you're not able to make it there on time because I'm not going to be there. But the rest of the group is going to be doing the zoo thing and doing that field trip. So that's all I've got to say about that. And then the birthday party for my son is going to be that following Saturday. This is coming up Saturday, the 26th from noon to 4. Kids party, but everyone's welcome if you'd like to come and hang out with us. Just let me know. If you're planning on coming, please let my wife know. She's doing all the food for the party, so we're serving lunch. So if you are planning on attending that, do us a favor and let her know that you plan on being there so that we can have enough food prepared for everyone that's going to be there. And if you need my address, then you can talk to me about that if you don't already have it. And happy to see you there. April 16th is the soul-winning marathon. That's going to be in Macon, Georgia. We have details to come very soon about that. There is another church in Georgia that's going to be joining us. So I've been in communication with another pastor. Small, small church, but they're pretty far down south in Georgia and is interested in bringing up members of their church to join us. So the more people we have that attend this that are able to do the talking, the better, because you're going to help train other people from another church, as we've already done with some other people, just more. It's going to be an encouragement for a lot of people who aren't necessarily always going soul-winning and things like that, and you're going to be able to help out other people a lot. And this is what we need, and this is what we want. We want to be able to equip. If we can do it, hey, if you've got the experience and you've got the knowledge, I'm all for it. I want to be equipping as many people as possible around the state, in the areas we can. We've got churches that are established. Hey, awesome, let's help out people. I want to try to find more pastors that are into soul-winning, that want to start doing it, if they haven't done it before, that if they have done it before, maybe they've let it fall by the wayside, and maybe they're full of people who have never done it before. Great, we'll help. If you ever become aware of churches that are like-minded, at least they've got the right gospel. They're a King James church, and they want to do soul-winning. I don't care what they believe about end times events or anything like that. We need to work with these people to help. If they want to join up with us to do some soul-winning, absolutely, 100%, amen and amen. We need more laborers out there overall. I don't have a plan of attack on trying to find out. I'll probably do some type of paid marketing or media or something to try to encourage people who are saved, who believe the right way, that want to start doing more in this area. I mean, the area of soul-winning. I'm going to come up with a better plan soon, but I'm hoping then that we can get people from our church to do more events like this where we could meet up with other churches if anybody responds and is saying, yes, we would like to do this, to do some soul-winning training. For this event specifically, I already know there's going to be some people there that it's going to be very beneficial. If you can, and it's a Saturday, it's on a schedule, it's April 16th, it's the day before Easter. If you have the time available, please consider spending it with us to go down and preach the gospel and be a blessing to other people and help to train them how to give the gospel as well. May 9th through the 14th is our camping trip. If you have not signed up for this, the sign-up sheet is gone. I have it at my house. Let me know if you plan on attending this. We still have open spots. So if you have never signed up, you're saying, you know what, I think maybe I'll be able to do this, let me know and we will secure your campsite for you. It's going to be awesome. We got a stellar line-up of preachers for that week and we got lots of little prizes and stuff for the kids and activities. It's going to be a blast. You don't want to miss this if you can make it out May 9th through the 14th. Church anniversary picnic of June 25th. And Pastor Anderson is going to be out here on July 10th, Sunday, July 10th, preaching both services. So be sure you're here for that. Hopefully we'll have a record-breaking attendance and you will enjoy some ice cream. I'll make sure we're stocked up for two services before I head out, because I'm actually going to be preaching at Faithful Word Baptist Church while he's here. And so, yeah, hopefully we'll get some good attendance on those days. And it should be a lot of fun. On the back, we've got the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries for the month of March. And that is about it for announcements. So I'm going to turn the service back over to Brother Peter who's going to lead us in our next song. All right, church, if you can open up your hand notes for song number 41. Song number 41, Sweet By and By. Song number 41. Song number 41. In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore. We shall sing on that beautiful shore. The melody is song of the blessed. And our spirit shall sorrow no more. Not a sigh for the blessing of rest. In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore. To our countiful Father above we will offer our tribute of praise. For the glorious gift of his love and the blessing that followed our days. In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore. Right this time when it's like their Sunday afternoon offering. That's for the Wednesday. Church, while the offering plate is being passed around, if you can open up your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 13. Book of Matthew, chapter 13. And as we do customary here at Stronghold Baptist Church, we'll read the entire chapter. I'm going to ask brother Devin if he can please do that for us. Matthew, chapter 13. And forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched. And because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them. But other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit. Some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and eyes should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it, yet hath he not root in himself, but deareth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that receives seed among the thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receives seed into the good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some in hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. The wild men slept, his enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? And he said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh the tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Another parable spake he unto them, The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables, and without a parable spake he not unto them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house, and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth this good seed is the son of man. The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field. The which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man, this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas, and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Let's pray. Brother Kevin, would you mind praying for us please? Alright, we started off here in Matthew chapter 13, and we're going to be looking a little bit at this parable of the sower. Very famous parable, parable of the sower. And we're starting off here, because it's probably the most famous passage as far as the subject matter I'm preaching on today, what we're preaching on today just in general is sowing and reaping. It's the concept of sowing and reaping, what the Bible has to say about it. We're looking at a lot of different passages that talk about sowing and reaping. It's a very important concept. It's very important for our church. It's very important as a believer to understand this concept, especially starting off with what the Bible is talking about right here in Matthew chapter 13. There's also a lot of misunderstandings and a lot of, I think, false teachings that come out of this parable. But let's dig into this. Let's reread the parable. I know we read this whole chapter. Look at verse number 3. We're going to reread this parable. The Bible says, But other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some in hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. So this is Jesus Christ preaching this parable, teaching this, and a lot of people didn't understand what this parable was about. Now, it's a simple parable. He's just talking about a sower going forth. He's just sowing seed as he goes by, and some of it falls on good ground, some of it falls on bad ground. You know, all these different types of ground, and what happens as a result of the seed being sown. Now, what's interesting in this passage alone, this is kind of a side note, is the disciples then ask Him in verse 10, you know, why, He says, and the disciples came and said unto them, Why speakest thou unto them in parable? So they even just asked the question. And many people, I think, fail to understand the reason for this. When you understand the reason for this, you know, for many people, you might have your mind blown because of what Jesus actually says. The reason is why He even speaks to people in parables. And if we keep reading, we'll see what His answer is, because most people are going to think, oh, it's just to make people understand things better, right? He's just using an analogy, and He's using something that people know real well. They know sowing, they know planting, they know all this stuff, so it's going to help them understand better, right? Isn't that why Jesus uses parables? No. No, that's not why He uses parables. That's not what He said, at least. Let's see what Jesus said. And, you know, you might just be like, this is common sense, passive versions. I mean, of course, it's so He can help them understand it better. No. Look down at the Bible. What does He say? He answered. Who answered? Jesus answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they, seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand. Why do I speak to them in parables? Because they don't even understand. Because they're not saved, because they don't understand the spiritual things. Hey, the spiritual things for you, I'm going to tell you those things. They're for you to know. You're going to understand this. They don't know, so I'm just going to say parables, because they can't even understand it anyways. They're not going to be able to comprehend this. And then it says in verse 14, and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saying, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive, for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. He's saying, I'm speaking in parables so that they don't understand, because Isaiah here said that their heart is dull, their ears are dull of hearing. And they don't want to hear anymore. There's a lot of people out there that were actually listening to what Jesus was saying. They didn't really want to know the truth. They didn't really want to hear it, so Jesus is like, okay, well I'm not going to tell you then. And I'm just going to speak this great truth in a mystery, in a parable, which is not as clear, which is not as explicit, which is not just, oh wow, why don't you just tell them the exact full truth then? Because he didn't want them to understand. That's why. Well that doesn't sound like Jesus. It's what the Bible says. I don't care if you've never heard that before, or if you've never seen that before, it's true. This is why he spoke to them in parables. And that may go against the grain for what you've thought your entire life, you know, hey, for a long time that's what I thought. But you've got to go with what scripture says. He says, and then he says, but blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. And then he goes on to tell them what is the meaning. Verse number 18 says, hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. So now he's going to explain it to his disciples. He doesn't, you know, the parable he taught broadly to everybody that was around. When he goes in and gives the explanation and tells them, okay, here's who the sower is, what the seed is, here's what's going on, here's what everything actually means, he's talking to his disciples. He's not speaking to the public at large, now he's breaking it down and giving the real teaching behind this parable. And it's no surprise to me, as with so many parables, many teachers, you know, biblical teachers, scholars, theologians, will tell you all manner of different things about these parables and what they mean. Most often they get it wrong because they don't understand because their eyes are closed. That's very common. So be careful who you get your teaching from. First of all, you know, I'm not saying don't read any books or don't listen to anybody, I'm not saying that at all, but just be able to gauge or test the source of where you're getting your information from. You know, the Bible talks about testing the spirits, whether they be of God. It also talks, you know, the apostle Paul was telling, I believe it was Timothy, to make full proof of your ministry. So the way that you do it, you do the work, you get converts, you get, you know, people are able to judge whether or not you're a false prophet by the fruit that you bring forth. So if you're bringing forth good fruits, if you're bringing forth good converts, you should be able to ask anyone else under your teaching, hey, what does it take to be saved? Hey, how do, you know, start asking the converts the questions and they're going to bear witness to the source where they came from. That's how you judge these things. So when you find someone, it's like, hey, you know, the fruit is good. Great. Now you know you've got somebody that's, you know, of God, then I would say, you know, I'm going to listen to this person then. I'm going to trust them, I'm going to hear what they have to say as opposed to someone who all of their followers believe in work salvation. Well, guess what? I don't want to follow that guy. I don't want to listen to what he has to say because he's blind. If he has no converts that are actually saved, that actually believe salvation by grace through faith alone, then I don't care what he has to say about anything in the Bible. I mean, I might as well just go to the Jews and ask them what the Bible means. And unfortunately, there's a lot of Christians that do that very thing. There's so-called Christian churches that invite, you know, rabbis when the Bible says, you know, call no man your rabbi on the earth and bring them in. So here, explain the Bible to us. Those are the same people that Jesus was speaking to in parables so that they wouldn't understand. So let's get the real explanation. Okay, now there are some people that I believe still misunderstand this passage even though they may be saved. Okay, so I'm not just saying everybody who believes something different than what I'm going to teach you right now is just unsaved. That's not what I'm saying. But follow along. I think it's very clear. I don't think there should be any doubt about what this parable is teaching, especially when Jesus gives us the explanation. But let's look at this. Verse number 18. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. So the seed is the word. It's the word of the kingdom. It's the word of God. It's basically the gospel. Okay, and I'm not going to go through the effort of going back to Luke and looking at the other account, the telling of the story in scripture. But you can pick up some extra details on, you know, slightly different words being used, meaning the same thing, same story, to get a better understanding of what's being done here. But he's saying when someone hears it and they don't understand it, then basically Satan's going to come along and take that word of the sower in your heart. Because when we go out, when you preach the gospel, when you're preaching the word of the kingdom, you're depositing that seed into their heart. But sometimes people just don't get it. They don't understand. The ground wasn't ready to receive that seed and bring forth fruit. It just wasn't ready. So then Satan's going to come along and be like, nope, I don't want this to stay here by chance that maybe it will produce fruit later. He's going to try to steal that away, right? This is what's being taught. Verse number 20. But, so this is a different situation, but he that received the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it. So here's someone that not only do they hear, they receive. And I'm telling you, you're not going to be able to receive unless you understand. These people understand they receive. That's why they're happy about it, because they understand. They understand the gospel. They understand the good news. They understand the free gift. They understand salvation. They receive it. You know what that tells me? They're saved. They received the word of God. They received the gospel. They received Christ. They received the word. They received the seed that was sown, right? How are we born again of incorruptible seed? They received the seed. And I think it is in Luke where it says they believe, because that is key. I probably should have had that in my notes here. Someone else go ahead and look up this passage in Luke. Find the parallel for this in Luke while I'm still continuing to go through this. And then let me know, because I don't really want to pass that over. I wasn't necessarily planning on going over this, but now I want to. I'm sorry? You got the verse? You know what I'm talking about? Luke 8.11 Yes, thank you. Luke 8.11 starts off with, now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God, right? So in Matthew we see the seed is the word of the kingdom. Here it's saying the word of God. It's synonymous. It's still talking about 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. In Luke it's making it a little bit more clear of exactly what's going on here with the words that are being used. It still lines up perfectly with Matthew, but you can see here he's saying, oh okay, these people obviously do not believe and get saved, because they didn't understand. We understand that from Matthew, they didn't understand, so the devil takes it away. Obviously they didn't believe because they couldn't understand. Verse 13 says, they on the rock are they which when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root, which for a while, what? Believe, and in time of temptation, fall away. So did these people believe? Yes. You say, but then it said they disbelieved for a while, but did they believe? Yes. What do we have to do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. They received it. They believed it. Now what happens sometimes when people get saved? Well, does everybody start going to church and everybody get all the sin out of life and everybody dedicate their life to serving the Lord? Does everybody do that? No. Of course not. Not everybody does. Hey, you know what? I didn't do that. When I got saved, you're going to tell me I wasn't saved? Oh, but now you're, yeah, now, now I am. Now I am serving God. Now I am doing more with my life, but I wasn't always. Once you believe, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the Bible says in the book of Ephesians. You are sealed with that Holy Ghost until the day of redemption, when God comes to redeem your body. All the way from the time you receive that seal, when you get saved, you keep that seal until the day of redemption. That's the way it works. It's very simple. This person is saved. Let's go back to Matthew chapter 13, verse number... I'll start reading there in verse 21. Yet hath he no root in himself, but doereth for a while, for when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns, is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. Now, both of these examples are people who, they receive, but they only last for a certain amount of time, before they end up just kind of going back the way of the world, backsliding, and just living their life not sold out for the Lord. Right? This first example of someone who received, they don't get very far before, you know, they start seeing the persecutions, and then it's like, you know what, it's easier for me to just go along to get along, so that's what I'm going to do. The next example, it says, they becometh unfruitful. You know what that means? They were fruitful before. So if you're going to argue with me about that one example of someone being saved, well, they couldn't be saved, or whatever, I don't believe that they're saved. Well, this example of someone who becomes unfruitful, what kind of fruit were they bearing before they became unfruitful? The only type of fruit that they can, based on the seed that was sown in their heart, that they received and brought forth that new life, they could only reproduce after their own kind. Right? Now, where in the Bible says that every single person, every new life or new creature is automatically going to reproduce others? It doesn't. Where do we see that in real life? That doesn't always happen. We see trees, apple trees, orange trees, right? What happens? They bear fruit. Does every single fruit that's produced on a tree become another tree that bears fruit? No. Of course not. I mean, you'd have a lot of trees then, right, if that happened for every single fruit. No. Some do, right? I mean, that's how they keep going, right? That's how they keep surviving. Even with no men to, you know, labor and do the ground and keep at everything, you could have trees reproducing all over the world in uninhabited places. Why? Because they bear fruit, the fruit falls to the ground, and some of the ground is going to be good enough for that to bring forth a new tree. Very simple concept, right? But if something falls to the ground from that tree, is it ever going to produce a different tree? No. You're never going to have a lemon tree produce an orange. They're real similar. They're citrus. But you're never going to have that happen. It just, everything brings forth after its own kind. The person who becomes unfruitful, they are bearing seed or bearing fruit. They were bearing fruit when they were fruit. It was good fruit. Because the Bible says that a good tree cannot produce corrupt fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Can't happen. Matthew chapter 7, if you want to look at that, that's where Jesus talked about being able to discern or identify false prophets. False prophets, they can't bring forth, some unsaved heretic cannot lead someone to Christ and get them saved. Reprobate Judas Iscariot could not lead anybody to Christ and get them saved. Because he was bad fruit. He was a devil from the beginning. He could only bring forth other devils. Like Jesus said to the Pharisees, you know, you can pass sea and land to make one proselyte and when you do, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourself. In Matthew 23, when he's rebuking the Pharisees, he says that you go and you do all this labor and work to just make one follower, one convert, one proselyte and they make them twofold more child of hell. Why? Because they can't bring forth good fruit. So you cannot tell me that this person is not saved. They were bringing forth fruit and then they stopped. If you're living for Christ right now and you're bringing forth fruit, you're getting people saved, you're leading people to Christ, you're doing all this work, but then something happens and you just start backsliding and then you get out of church and then you're just kind of hanging out and then you're just getting real busy on your job and just doing everything else in life, you're going to become unfruitful. Oh, that means you never were saved to begin with. Nonsense. Stupid. No. That's not what that means. It means you let your flesh take over. That's what that means. Because we still have the flesh while you have the Spirit and the flesh warth against the Spirit, these two are contrary one to the other, so you cannot do the things that you would. And then finally we get to the good ground. All right, verse 23. But he that received seed in the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth, some in hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. All kinds of different examples of people who received the word of God and then what they do with it from there on. We cannot look at how fruitful someone is to determine whether or not they're saved, first of all. Now, if they're bearing good fruit, that shows you that they came from a good source, a good seed, right? Or not. If they're bearing bad fruit, then it's going to let you know they came from a bad source. But not every new creature or new life becomes a tree to produce other fruit, so you can't always gauge by that. Let's say the apple tree that becomes a tree but never bears fruit, if it doesn't bear fruit, it doesn't mean it's not an apple tree. The apples are going to let you know, hey, this is an apple tree, but it still doesn't make it no longer an apple tree. It's going to be like the fig tree that Jesus saw that wasn't producing figs. Now, of course, Jesus expected it to be producing figs, and Jesus cursed the tree and was just like, look, I'm done with you. Why are you covering the ground? But it still was a fig tree. God wants you and expects you to be fruitful in your life, but if you don't bring forth the fruit that he wants you to, it doesn't mean that you're not saved. And people will tell you, oh, no, this parable, only that last seed is the person that got saved. It doesn't say that anywhere in here. In fact, it says it shows and demonstrates the opposite. Only the first person is not saved. Everyone else accepted the word of God. Everyone else received it. Everyone else did. They received it. They accepted it. They believed it. But what do you do with it? That's up to you. Let's jump down to verse number 31. There's another parable. It says, another parable put forth unto them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs and becometh a tree so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Now, we started off, I'm going to get a little bit higher level in general. I wanted to go through that parable real quick of Matthew 13 because there's a lot of misunderstanding about the parable. I think it's very clear who it's talking about, what it's referring to, and people bringing forth fruit. But on a higher level, just in general, with sowing and reaping in the Bible, very frequently you're going to find the... What is it? Why can't my brain... I'm sorry. My brain is really slow today for some reason. You're going to find a symbolism. Symbolism. I was having a hard time earlier today too with the same word. The symbolism of sowing a seed and the gospel and bringing forth fruit. That symbolic meaning is found all throughout scripture. Obviously it's being used here with the sower going forth to sow. He's sowing the word of God. People are either receiving it or not receiving it. And then everything else that goes along with that and bearing fruit. The other concept with the seed being sown is the concept of you start with something very small and then that in turn can produce a lot of results. So when you do sowing, you can get a very high yield back from a very, very, very small thing. And this is a very important concept for us to remember. We see it out in nature. It's one of those great things. You could take the smallest seeds. Like here we're talking about the mustard seed. Mustard is the least of all seeds. It's the smallest seed. It's so tiny, yet when it's grown, it says here it becomes the greatest among herbs. It even becomes a tree. So now it's like home to all these other birds and everything else. It started off tiny, but look at how great this has become. Well, you could apply this in many, many ways even in your own life. You know, sowing a seed per se can be a lot of different things. Just your actions in general and what you do with your life and how you choose to spend your time and especially the words that you use and who you speak to, how you speak to them are seeds that you could be throwing out to people that are going to have an impact on their life and sometimes the smallest thing can end up turning great. Now, the thing is with the sowing seeds, this concept of sowing and reaping, it's a two-way street in the sense of it's not just good things. It's good or bad. And we need to remember that sometimes you might think, well, this isn't really that big of a deal like when it comes to something simple. I don't think it's that big of a deal. Just some small little pets in that I have, not a big problem. Yeah, start sowing that seed. It's going to work just like any other seed. If it grows up and comes to fruition, it could bring back a lot of negative back on yourself the same way that that little bit of good, that little bit of positive that you sow can also produce a high yield. Turn, if you would, to Galatians chapter 6. I covered this verse a couple of weeks ago in Genesis 26, verse 12. The Bible says, Then Isaac sowed in that land and received in the same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. So, you know, he sowed a little bit, received 100 times back the result of his sowing, of his labor, of his work. And this is how that process works. You know, you plant something. Now it takes time, right, just like sowing a seed. You want to plant a tree or a fruit, you know, anything that's going to give you a return. You start off small, but you don't get results the next day. You're going to have to wait for it to come back to you. And unfortunately, if we don't keep this concept in mind, two things happen. One, people could get discouraged. You say, I'm starting to do right. I'm starting to live for God. I'm going to church. I'm making good choices. I'm trying to get sold out and serve the Lord, but I don't see anything good happening in my life. In fact, things are going to seem to be getting worse. You're looking too short-term, right, and people get discouraged. And then they're going to quit and say, well, I tried it. I thought this was going to be the answer to all my problems. I thought I was doing the right thing, but nothing worked out for me, so forget it. Many, many people go down that path and that thought process, and it gets them out of church and it gets them out of serving God to where now you're not planting any good seed. You stopped, right? Or, on the other hand, people might have, you know, the bad attitude of, well, I commit this sin or this sin or this sin, and nothing happened to me, right? I got away with it. It must not be that big of a deal, or maybe it's not even a sin. You know, you start telling yourself these lies and trying to justify yourself, and then you just, it emboldens people sometimes to continue doing things we don't realize is that God also isn't necessarily going to, you know, punish you right away. You might have to wait for that to come back on you, and you start sowing bad seeds, evil seeds. You're going to watch out when it comes back on your own head because it's going to come back way worse than what you started with. So don't think that you're getting away with it just because you don't see the result right away. Galatians 6, verse number 7, the Bible says, Be not deceived. Don't be tricked. Don't be fooled. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Take it to the bank. It's a fact. Whatever you're putting out there, whatever you're sowing, you will reap of the same because God's not mocked. He said it will come back on your own head. Now, the world will falsely attribute this and call it karma, right? And I don't get upset when people use that phrase, but I like to correct at least a Christian because the world talks about karma. That's a false religion. You know, that's like Hinduism. We're not Hindus or Buddhists or whatever. We don't believe in yin yang and karma. We believe in reaping what you sow. That's the truth, and that's the biblical concept. Now, it may be real similar to these other concepts, and people may call it karma, but it's not karma. It's the fact that God's not mocked. And when you start sowing things, whether it's going to be good or bad, it will come back to you, and you're going to reap of that. Now, this is good and bad news, right? And the good news is that you have the free will to choose what you're going to do and how you're going to spend your time and what type of seed you're going to sow. And the other good news is that if you sow good, it doesn't take a lot to receive a lot more back. I mean, that's great. I quoted this verse to you or read it to you about Isaac. When the Lord blessed him, he received a hundredfold back. What a great investment. I mean, people think like in terms of finances, let's say you make a financial investment and you make 20% back on your investment. Hey, that's a pretty good investment, right? Wow, I made 20%. I made 30%. How about a hundredfold? That's awesome. Man, I want some of that. Well, start sowing righteousness so that you could reap. There's a higher return on your investment. You might have to wait for it. You might even have to wait until you physically pass away in this lifetime to receive the rewards of all the seeds that you've sown. But man, I mean, if it's going to take that long to receive of it, how long has that been growing and building and becoming fruitful when you're standing at the judgment seat of Christ, receiving of the rewards of what you've done on this earth? Don't lose sight of that. We need to walk by faith and not by sight. That's why we need to keep these things in mind so when you're doing the right thing, you can keep doing the right thing knowing there is an end. I can't see it right now, but the Bible tells us over and over and over again this is the way things work, and I'm trusting this. I'm trusting this to be true, and it's going to guide me. And obviously, it's not even just in the afterlife where you're going to receive benefit. You also will receive blessings in this life, too. And they come in different forms. When you reap good or when you sow good things, you're going to reap good as well. The Bible says here in verse number 8, For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap. If we faint not, he's saying, hang in there. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Do good. Keep sowing that good seed. Overcome evil with good. When you're faced with the challenges and the trials and the persecutions, keep doing good anyways. Because if you decide to do evil, well, now you're going to have to reap from that. Every day we're sowing. Turn if you go to Hosea, Hosea chapter 10. In the Old Testament, you've got the major prophets. You find Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. And then you're going to have Daniel, and then you're going to have Hosea. And, well, you turn to chapter 8. We're going to look at chapter 8 real quick. Chapter 8 and chapter 10 also talk about sowing and reaping. Hosea chapter 8, verse number 7, the Bible says, For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. It hath no stalk, the bud shall yield no meal. If so be it yield, the stranger shall swallow it up. Now, and flip over to chapter 10. We're going to see the children of Israel here in the book of Hosea are very similar to Isaiah. It's around a similar time frame if you're following along with our Wednesday night Bible study, where the children of Israel were doing a lot of wickedness in the Lord's eyes, and they're going to receive judgment for it. And they're saying here, look, they've sown the wind, and they're going to reap the whirlwind. Obviously, when the wind blows, you can feel the wind, whatever, but the whirlwind, that tornado that comes back, is, you know, a hundred times as powerful as the wind is, and the amount of destruction that they're going to face as a result of them sowing to the wind is going to be immense. And we're going to see a greater insight into that in chapter 10. Look at verse number 12. The Bible says, Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy. So this is the command. He's warning them to do this. Hey, sow in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Well, that's pretty encouraging, right? He said, just keep sowing righteousness, you're going to reap in mercy, and God is going to rain righteousness down upon you. Amen. That sounds good to me. Verse 13, though, he says, so verse 12, this is what you need to do. It's a command. Hey, sow to righteousness. Verse 13 says, ye have plowed wickedness. So you've already done this. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity. Ye have eaten the fruit of lies because thou didst trust in thy way. So you trusted in your own way. Instead of trusting in the Lord, you trusted your own way in the multitude of thy mighty men. They trusted their own strength, their own might, not looking to the Lord. They plowed wickedness, they've reaped iniquity. Verse 14, therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as shellmen spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness. In a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off. Talk about the whirlwind coming back. Talk about the mother dashed in pieces upon her children. I mean, that's a horrific sight. That's something, I mean, let that, maybe not sink in for too long, but let that sink in. That is not something, obviously, that anyone would ever want to have to experience or even hear about happening. It's a horrible sight. But this is what happened. This is what happens when, you know, the children of Israel, in this context, what they did was they turned from the Lord. They started turning to idols. They trusted in their own way. They didn't trust in the Lord. They trusted all their own devices, the multitude of their mighty men. They were plowing wickedness. They kept on doing evil and doing wickedly. Well, you know what, it came back on their own heads and it came back in a fierce way, in a strong way, which follows suit with the rest of the teaching of Scripture. You know, you can't just keep on doing these things and expect everything to be just fine. Just on Wednesday night, we were in Isaiah chapters 46 and 47 talking about Babylon. Babylon was lifted up in pride. And Babylon thought, hey, I'm this great princess and I'm never going to have anything bad happen to me. I'm not going to be a widow or have any problems or anything like that. And you read those chapters, what happens? Well, of course, widowhood and the loss of children. The Bible says they come in one day. And all of a sudden, they're brought down and they end up reaping what they've sown. And when God was rebuking them, the message was coming through about Babylon saying, look, I delivered my people to you to punish them, but you didn't have mercy on them. You took things way too far, so then God goes and brings a judgment back on their own heads because they sowed wickedly. They did wrong. They were doing abominations, so then God brings it down severely. Things can get so bad, in fact. Turn, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 29 where God can make the ground so bad as a result of that wickedness to where it can't even be sown anymore. We think about the sowing. You're going to reap what you sow, right? And here is an example of a nation sowing so badly that it's just essentially wiped out and destroyed to where now you can't even plant there anymore. The ability for that life to be brought forth, for that seed to bring forth life is terminated. It's no longer possible. Deuteronomy 29, verse number 23, the Bible says, Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, for they went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not and whom He had not given unto them, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book, and the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger and in wrath and in great indignation and cast them into another land as it is this day. And that's a judgment actually coming upon the children of Israel, but it's relating the destruction to Sodom and Gomorrah and the lands that were about them to where He says this land is going to be destroyed so bad that you won't even be able to sow seed in it. And, you know, with the whole symbolism of sowing seed and bringing forth life, Sodom was a place that had gotten so bad, it was so reprobate that God made sure that He says, You know what? Nothing is going to bring life there at all. They were rejected. They were burned out. They were hell-fired, held brimstone, hell-fired brimstone coming down and destroying that land and making it uninhabitable, making it so that no life can be brought forth at all. And spiritually, there are people who are reprobate. They're rejected by God, and they can't have that. That seed will never bear fruit in their heart. It'll never be able to pierce through the ground because the ground's already been polluted. It's done. It's toast. It's given over to that reprobate mind. Therefore, they cannot believe. And that's more of a sermon for another day. I don't want to get too far into that, but it is interesting to see this since sowing the seed is so highly symbolic of salvation and, you know, the sowing and reaping. Turn, if you would, now to... You're in Deuteronomy 29. Flip back to Deuteronomy 22. We're going to see some Old Testament symbolic references to sowing seed, and in fact, it's part of the law, and this might be a part of the law where you never fully understood why some of these things are in here, and when you understand the symbolism, I think it makes it really clear as to why this is here because it has a lot more to do with the symbolic meaning than it has to do with the practical application. At least, that's my belief with this stuff. I'm going to read for you from Leviticus 19. The Bible says, Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind. Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed. That's like mixed seed, so different seeds together. Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee. Now, the garment mingled with linen and woolen, you've probably heard that quite a bit or you've seen that online. The atheists love to use that passage to be like, oh, you want to point to these Old Testament laws? Well, you're wearing mixed fabrics, and they just say polyester. I don't know why they just go with polyester. They're like, well, you wear polyester. Is your tie polyester? Something stupid like that. And it's like, well, first of all, that's not woolen and linen. Polyester is not woolen and linen mixed together, first of all. They just like thinking that you can't mix anything together at all. No, it's specific here. But there's a greater meaning to this. And you're in Deuteronomy 22. We're going to see kind of a reiteration of what I just read in Leviticus 19. Look at verse number 9. The Bible says, Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seed, so different seeds, lest the fruit of thy seed, which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of diverse sorts, as of woolen and linen together. Now, all of these things, I believe the reason why God has this in his law, just like the Bible says, you shall not muzzle the ox when it treadeth out the corn, and we understand in the New Testament. Does God care really about that ox? Is that the purpose of that law? No. It was written for our sake. So that law about not muzzling the ox, yes, it was part of the law. But the whole purpose of it being part of the law was to teach you a greater meaning that had to do with something else than just that ox. You'd be like, well, that's pretty stupid. Why can't I muzzle the ox? Who cares? Well, it matters because it's teaching you something greater. Same thing here. The purpose of having this mixing and not wanting to mix this stuff, especially when you look at the seed, what does the seed represent? The seed represents the word of God. You don't want to mix the seed with anything else, with any other seed, and just mingle the two together and just say, OK, well, yeah, here we go. Let's just see what comes as a result. It needs to be isolated. And we can't go out. When you preach the gospel, you've got to preach the truth. You can't start mixing in any lies or any error to what you're preaching because now you've corrupted that seed. The word of God is incorruptible. We don't want to defile the seed by adding some other seed or something else or some other commentary. Look, you preach the gospel. You preach the word of God. And similarly, when you look at the garment of woolen and linen together, well, the woolen comes from animals. It's going to be animal-based, right? You're shaving the wool off a sheep, and linen is going to come from the plants. So if you think about it this way, again, in regards to salvation, you've got the work of your hands from the field, from the plant, which is like the works that Cain brought forth, right? And Abel brought forth the sacrifice, which was the animal sacrifice that God was well pleased with. Again, another picture of salvation. What does it take? It's the sacrifice. It's, you know, the woolen would be the proper one. You can't mix the salvation by grace with the works. And God's saying, keep those two. And God's saying, keep those two separate. Make sure that if you've got linen, oh, it's over here, and you've got woolen over here, why? Because it's representing works versus faith, works versus sacrifice, works versus gift, right? Don't start mixing the two together and mingling the two together. That's why we see the seed, and that's why you have the ox and the ass, right? The ass is going to be obstinate. The ass is going to be, you know, not like the ox or the sheep or the, you know, the animal that's going to be used to go along and get the work done. The ass is going to be in contradiction. So it's not that you couldn't have these, you know, like there's not much more of a, there's not a whole lot of practical application. I think that's kind of, I don't know if anyone would ever want to do that anyways. I mean, you've got different sized animals and everything else, so you might think, I'm going to do that to begin with. The reason why it's in the law is because it's teaching us something greater. It's teaching a greater truth on keeping the Word of God, keeping salvation, pure. Keeping it right and not mixing it with anything else. Turn, if you would, to Ecclesiastes chapter 11. We're almost done. There's a few other places I want to point to here about sowing and reaping. I meant to bring this up earlier in the sermon. Why are we talking, spending so much time even talking about sowing and reaping? Because you're always sowing. You're always sowing. One way or another, you're always going to be sowing. The fruit of your labor, you're sowing one way or another. You might not even realize, you've got to think about it in the right context, but just when you go to work, the decisions you make, the way that you live, the way that you work, you're sowing. You're having an impact on other people, especially the words that come out of your mouth, you're sowing words. We need to be aware that this is happening, and we will reap, and God's not going to be mocked. We want to make sure we're sowing good and not evil. And, you know, Jesus said this also. If we're not, basically he said, if we're not with him, we're against him. He said in Matthew 12, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scatterth abroad. So when it comes to the reaping, which is what we're trying to do when we go out and win souls to Christ, we're trying to reap that new soul, that new spirit. We're trying to reap for the Lord. And if we're not gathering and trying to gather together, we're actually scattering. So you think, well, I'm not doing anything. I'm just bowing out. I just don't want to do this. I'm just going to become unfruitful and not have anything to do with it. No, you actually are hindering the cause of Christ. By not participating, you're actually according to Jesus against him. You're not with me, you're against me. Hey, if you're with me, get with me and get working. You want to say you're with me, get to it. I had you turn to Ecclesiastes, right? Ecclesiastes chapter 11. I'm going to read for you from Psalm 126, verse 5, a real famous passage. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. It's not always easy to go forth and sow and to sow righteousness and to sow good things, but even if you're doing sow in tears, the Bible says you're going to reap in joy because when you're sowing good seed, you will doubtless come again. The Bible says here he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. You will reap, and it will be good, and it's going to be rejoicing. Ecclesiastes chapter 11 is going to teach us we need to go forth and sow and not have any excuses. No excuses. Look at verse number 4. He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. What does that mean? If you're looking to any other thing, say, oh, well, I don't think I could go out and sow any seed today because, I mean, it might rain. The weather isn't looking that nice. I mean, I don't know. I listened to the news. The weatherman said we've got a 50-50 chance of rain. I don't know. I don't like those odds very much. God didn't say to go forth and serve him by sowing only when it's convenient for you, only when it's nice, only when it's going to be comfortable, only when it's spring and fall, only when you're not going to sweat. No. Do it. Because if you're paying attention to all these other things instead of the task at hand, you could come up with any excuse in the world not to sow, not to do what you're supposed to do. Verse 5 says, As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. 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 the Bible's also saying, you know, it's not for you to determine when is the right time to sow. Now, maybe if you're sowing physical seed, right, I know this a little bit, I'm not a farmer by any stretch of the imagination, okay, but I have planted grass seed before, and I read the instructions on the bag for my grass seed, and the instructions say, if you know it's supposed to rain for the next couple days, like you don't plant it, why? Because it's going to wash it away or whatever, right? So physical seed, you might be trying to time it just right, thinking, well, I don't want the seed to get ruined, I want it all to produce the best result. But when it comes to spiritual seed, God's saying, don't worry about that. You don't have to pick the time. You don't know what God's doing in the background. You don't know what other factors are at play. You just do it. He says, in the morning, plant the seed. In the evening, plant the seed. You don't know if one's going to work, if the other's going to work, if they're both going to work together. You don't know. And that's why He brings up, you don't know how the child grows in the womb, how the bones are growing. You don't know how that works. God knows how that works. Let Him do that. Let God bring forth the life that's going to happen when you bear that seed. But you know what? Leave it up to Him, and don't try to use your own understanding and saying, well, I'm not going to sow this seed. Here's a practical application. When you see someone that you can talk to on the street or at someone's house or whatever, and you see some guy walking up to you and he's full of muscles and tatted up and looks like a gang banger, going, oh, this guy's not going to want to listen at all. So I'm just not going to sow the seed there. You don't make that decision. You bear the seed. You sow the seed. You don't know how they're going to respond. You don't start using your own judgment and say, well, I'm not going to... No, you just do it. Let it happen. I don't know how many examples I could tell you about firsthand where I've walked up to someone thinking, this person will not listen to me. And they do. And they receive Christ, and they get saved time and time and time again. And you know what? Praise God. I love when that happens. I like being wrong about how I judge a person when I do it anyway, when I preach the gospel anyways. When you just go forward, and you know what? I'm just going to do it. I'm going to do it because God said to do it. Don't withhold. Don't hold back. Don't think, use your own understanding whether or not you should do it, because God says, in the morning, sow the seed. In the evening, sow the seed. Don't withhold. Just do it. Because you don't know everything. So you just do it anyways, and besides, if you can just keep on sowing anyways, your chances will just overall go up. The great thing is, when you sow that seed, there's an unlimited supply. God providing that seed, just, hey, keep on going. It's everlasting. You're never going to run out. So you're not going to waste any. You're not wasting any. Let's, you know, throw it out, handfuls. You know, I sent my little grass seed thing to, like, well, I don't want too many coming out at once, right? I don't want to, I need to make this last. I need to make sure that I can cover this because it costs money to do all this. No, I mean, when it's the gospel, it's like, let's just dump this bag up. Let's get this all over the place. Let's keep on going, right? And just spread far and wide and broad. That's what God wants you to do. Just take no thought for any other circumstances. Go ahead and sow that seed. Sow abundantly. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9, 6, But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. If you don't sow very much, don't expect the huge harvests. Now, you can, by sowing one seed, get back a lot from that one seed. But it's still going to be limited to how much that one can produce. But if you are sowing bountifully, it says that he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. I mean, I don't want to just see one spiritual tree in my lifetime be the result of my sowing. Now, if I get just one spiritual tree, praise God, that's good, right? It's going to be good for me. There's going to be a lot of fruit that's going to come back that I'm going to benefit from by planting that seed and seeing that through and working the ground to see it come through to fruition. So it's good. But I don't want to just stop at that one, right? It's not like, and this is why you don't have to wait for the perfect opportunity to give someone a gospel. It's like, well, no, I don't know. I don't know if the timing's not right. I just don't feel it. Don't go off your feelings. Because you know what you might be feeling? Scared, intimidated, I don't really want to do this. You might be feeling your flesh going, yeah, don't do that right now. That feeling that you think is God might not really be God. Because you know what God's command is? Don't look at the clouds. Don't look for these other things to keep you from sowing the seed. Just sow. That's from God. So when God's telling you, hey, give the gospel to that person, yeah, you could say that's probably from God. Hey, get that person, that person, that person, that person. Do it. Keep sowing that seed. That matches with what we see here. Oh, I don't know if the timing's right. Well, you know what? How about you try now? And then you could try again later when you think the timing's going to be right. And then you could try again if that doesn't work. And then you could try again. And then you could try again because you know what? You still got that seed. You don't lose it. But what happens if you're like, well, I don't know if the timing's right. Well, I don't think it's the right time. Well, I don't think I should talk to them. And then they die. You've lost all your chances. Wouldn't it have been better to at least tried and failed? I mean, because maybe they, maybe you would have been wrong about the timing and they would have accepted it. And instead of going to hell, they'd be in heaven. But you just figured you'd know better and you're going to wait for the right time. No. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Now is the time to go forth and bear that precious seed. Now is the time to sow. Now. What about now? Because now is past. No, now. Now. It's always now. It's always now. Never done. You keep going until the day you breathe your last breath. It's always time. Lots of symbolism in Scripture on sowing and reaping. Be aware of a couple things. One, and hopefully you understand those laws a little bit better now. Why is this even in Scripture? Why? Because it symbolizes salvation. We don't want to be mixing the truth of God's Word, what it takes to be saved with some works or with some other things that are just going to be, they're not of God, mixing seeds together, confusing things, confounding things. Also remember, you know, if you're not for Christ, you're against Him. If you're not sowing, you're actually scattering. You're kind of doing a disservice to the cause. So get in the battle. Get in the fight. Get in the garden, if you will. Get in the harvest. Sow. Sow the seed. When you sow, expect a large return. Whether it's good or bad, you know, just remember that so that we could be sowing righteousness and sowing truth, and it's always the right time to do right. It's always the right time to sow the right Word. Don't wait for the perfect opportunity. Do it right away. Do it right away. All right, let's have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we love you. Thank you so much for your Word. Thank you for all the great teachings that you give us. Lord, I pray that you please help us to put your Word into practice in our life. I pray that you please help us to have more boldness, to be able to just preach the truth on a regular basis, Lord, morning, night, and not to give regard to whether or not we think a person will be receptive. That's not our job. Our job is just to preach a Word. Help us to gain more knowledge and more wisdom. Help us to be able to be more effective at preaching a Word so that with greater understanding we'll be able to explain things better, dear Lord, and to help other people along the way to come to the truth and the light of the Gospel. God, we love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen. All right, I'm going to turn the service back over to Brother Peter. He's going to lead us to our last song. Don't forget, we've got some sandwiches still in that refrigerator. Help yourself to those. And all right. All right, church, if you could open up your hymnals. Song number 316. Song 316 at the bottom of the page there. I have decided to follow Jesus. Song 316. All right, let's sing this out on the first. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back. The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me. No turning back, no turning back. Amen, church. Great singing. Amen, you guys. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.