Pastor Mac Hammond | October 3, 2021

Recap:
This weekend, Pastor Mac explored the final step in the process of sowing and reaping: the harvest. The harvest is the product of external change wrought by the Word of God sown into someone else. This is different from the fruit you will bear in your own life from the seed of God’s Word planted in your life. The fruit in your life is the peace of God and the joy of God, the fruit of the Spirit manifest. The harvest is receiving God’s promises in your life.

Dive Deeper:
Based on Jesus’ parable of the sower, we see that one out of four people will produce a harvest in life. That harvest is not the fruit that you bear in your own life. That fruit—the peace, joy, and love of God—is a harvest for other people to benefit from. Fruit bearing is the result of internal change, and just as an apple tree doesn’t produce apples for its own benefit, you produce fruit in your life that will benefit those around you.

Your harvest is the product of external change wrought by the Word of God sown in someone else. As you plant the seed of God’s Word in others, you’ll prepare a harvest of good things in your own life. Your harvest is God’s promises manifest in you. When you see that the fruit of your life is ready for others to harvest, that’s when you can put out your sickle of faith and bring in the harvest of God’s promises for you.

There is one way you can get seed in the ground before you produce fruit in your own life and that is through using your money to support the preaching of the Gospel. When you support others as they bring the Word of God before people you can’t reach on your own, you are supporting the Word being planted in others and preparing a harvest of good things in your life.

Read More:
Mark 4:3-20 KJV
3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:

4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.

9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.

11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:

12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?

14 The sower soweth the word.

15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

Discussion Questions:
1. Where are you in the process of seed time and harvest? Is your heart filled with hard ground, shallow, rocky, or good soil?
2. What can you do to prepare the soil of your heart to receive God’s Word and cultivate its growth in your life?
3. What can you do to plant the Word of God in other people’s lives?
4. Are you ready to bring in the harvest using the sickle of your faith?

Rewatch or catch up on the full sermon with the link below!