2024-04-07PM- A Sower Went Forth to Sow

The speaker opens to Matthew chapter 13 and asks for prayers for those in need. He then focuses on the parable of the sower, emphasizing the importance of fulfilling one's calling and not comparing oneself to others. The speaker uses the example of Archippus to illustrate this point. It is important to focus on fulfilling one's own ministry rather than wishing for someone else's. Lord. Let's open to Matthew chapter 13 tonight. Matthew chapter 13. Molly's excited about the preaching already. Thank you, Molly. I'm so glad for everyone that's here. I do want to remind everyone to please pray for Faye, Sister Leanne's friend. I got word yesterday that she's just doing worse and so she's really in need for her body and of course for her daughter-in-law. Don't forget to pray for Earl Volks. Certainly need the hand of God to move in his situation. Matthew chapter 13. Just verse 3 tonight. Just verse 3. Speaking of Jesus, and He spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow. A sower went forth to sow. Father, thank You so much, Lord, for our time tonight. Thank You that we understand that You will hear us when we worship You and You even allow small ones like us, little ones like us, God, feeble ones like us to worship You. And I thank You for the grace that's been bestowed in this place. The past sins that have been washed away and represented in this place by believers. I thank You, God, for the grace that saves through faith. I'm praying tonight that You'll move in this message. You know what needs to be said and You know what needs to be heard. I'm asking You to give me that which will help somebody in this place. That this message will work, Lord, the way You want it to. If it's just one word to somebody, I pray You'll put Your precious anointing upon it and Your will be accomplished in this place in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I want to try to preach tonight just simply for a title. I'm going to borrow the words of Jesus right there. A sower went forth to sow. It's a familiar place to us, of course. It's a parable of the sower who went out and sowed seed. But I really want to look at that first phrase there that Jesus spoke. Behold, a sower went forth to sow. His first word there is behold. He didn't just start into it and said a sower. He said, I want you to listen for a minute. I want you to look at this that I'm trying to show you something. Give some attention to what I'm trying to tell you here. Behold, a sower went forth to sow. That's a pretty simple statement. It's not very deep. It's not difficult to understand. But what happened was, is there was a man that Jesus is talking about who simply did what he was supposed to do. He's a sower. He sowed. I mean, this isn't profound. This isn't real deep preaching. It's not some big theological concept here tonight. It's not even the entire point of this parable. But the sower sowed seed for one reason. He's a sower. That's what he was supposed to do. When he got up in the morning, that was his vocation. I am a sower of seed. So it's not real. It's not a stretch for us to think that a sower would sow. Behold, a sower went forth to sow. Now, as this man went, you read through the parable, you see different scenarios of things that have happened. He may have watched as once he sowed seed on different parts, and he probably watched as the fowls came down from the air and devoured the seed. He maybe even noticed after a little while and got excited about some sprout coming up out of the ground in the stony areas and then watched with great disappointment as those plants withered away under the scorching heat of the sun. Probably got a little down about that. He probably even regretted when he saw the thorns and when things sprung up and the thorns choked out the seed that he had planted. He probably thought, I wasted my time by sowing seed in that area as he watched all of these things. And this man might conclude after he has surveyed all that he has done and the results that became of it, I am not very good at this. I am not a very good sower. I was given responsibility. I thought that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. And maybe even somebody else who was paying attention to this sower might question his ability as a sower. Maybe somebody might question his methods. I don't think he knows much what he is doing. He has been chosen to be a sower of the seed. He has been given this vocation. He has accepted this vocation. He carries seed with him. But look at him. He is throwing it on the stony ground. He is throwing it in the thorny patches. He is putting it in places that it doesn't even make sense that there would be anyone sowing seed. But he has kept on sowing seed because that is what the sower does. Somebody could even speak up and say, there are a whole lot better sowers out there than that fellow. There are better people that do this than what he does. And you know what? There is really no doubt. There likely was lots of people that were far more skilled a sower than this sower was according to what we read about him. This sower himself might even have known another sower and thought, man, if I could just learn to plant seed like that guy, I would be a whole lot better at my job because his return is so much higher than mine. And he could sit back and wonder and wish I was a better sower than what I am. But when Jesus told this parable, Jesus doesn't bother to comment about his skills or just about how effective that everyone perceived that this sower went. He simply says, behold, a sower went forth to sow. He did just what he was supposed to do. And because he did, because the sower went ahead and sowed when it seemed like things weren't going all that well, when the sower continued to throw seed out there like he knew he was supposed to be doing, because he did, other fell on good ground. And it brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. So it worked. It may not have been the best. He might not have brought forth the greatest yield. Somebody else might not have been all that impressed with his work. But he was a sower and he was sowing seed. In the book of Philemon, Paul writes a short letter there to Philemon. And there's a brief mention in that letter in the second verse of a man named Archippus. And the Apostle Paul refers to Archippus as a fellow soldier. And when he uses that term, a fellow soldier, in another place, he's talking about a companion in labor. This is a man that I've got confidence in. This is somebody that we've worked side by side. This is somebody that I know who he is. I know the kind of work that he does. And he's a fellow. So we're co-laborers. I'm a sower and he's a sower. In his letter to the Colossians church, right at the end of the letter at Colossians chapter 4, as he's closing the letter, he's gone through several things in the book of Colossians. He tells us how we have redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ, even the forgiveness of sins. In chapter 1 and verse 22, we have an exhortation to be holy and unblameable and unapprovable in His sight. This is the letter that Paul wrote to the church at Colossae. In chapter 3 and verse 1, Paul tells them, seek those things which are above. Set your affections on the things above, not on things on the earth. But he gets down to the closing letter and he gets to that place where he's signing off. And he's just about to sign it and say goodbye. But he says this, and say to Archippus, that fellow soldier, that other worker out there, say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received of the Lord, that thou fulfill it. Now, I don't know what happened to Archippus. I don't know what happened in this man's life. But he was trusted by Paul. He had worked with Paul. No doubt that they had some good times together and successful missions. But somewhere along the line, and as the Apostle Paul writes this letter and wraps it up, he says, before I go, somebody needs to get word to Archippus that you've got a mission. You've got a ministry. Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received of the Lord, that thou fulfill it. This was a call. There had to be a need in this man's life to remind him, look, Archippus, you've got a calling on your life. And you need to be seeing about that calling. Basically, here's what he's saying. Archippus, you're a sower. You need to pick up the bag. You need to start sowing the seed again. I don't know what he was going through at that point in his life. I don't know where he was. But Paul sent that precious reminder. Take heed to the ministry. Now Archippus, he knew Paul. I mean, he could have looked at what Paul wrote and somebody said, look, he called you out in this letter. He knows what you've been going through. Archippus, we've been counting on you, but you really haven't been stepping up lately. Archippus, we had confidence in you and we put you in place, but you know, you kind of backed off a little bit. And Archippus could have looked at this letter and thought, you know, I wish I could write letters like Paul, but I can't. I wish that I could plant churches like the Apostle Paul could plant churches. Why, I wish I could preach like Paul. I wish I could meet up with the scorners and the scoffers. And I wish I could debate like Paul. But nonetheless, Archippus, you've been called into this ministry. You've got something on your life that God has asked you to do. You have received it at one time. And now Archippus, it's time for you to pick up and to fulfill the ministry. Now it's easy for us to get caught up, look at what others are doing. It's easy to look and say, and look at a successful ministry and say, well, if I had that ministry, boy, I'd really be doing a whole lot better right now. I mean, if I had his ministry, no wonder. Look at him. He's so successful. But if I was like that, I could really get through and I could really pick up. But you know, I really don't have time to sit around and waste my days wishing that I could minister like somebody else or wishing that I had somebody else's ministry. I mean, sure, I've listened to Lord Shucraft and I've thought, oh, I wish I could communicate like that man. I've listened to Don Rich and I've thought, boy, if I could assemble a message like that man and deliver it like that man, that would just be awesome. I could go down the list. Bill Prescott, Chad McDonald, Dwayne Gallaher, the late L.D. Savage. I could just go through the list and name them. If I could preach like that, boy, I could really do something. And you could go down your list. You can think about the singer. I wish I could sing like that one. The organizer of events. I wish I could do something like that. The musician. Boy, if I could play music like he can. If I could teach like she can. If I can preach like him. If I could testify like they could. It would sure make a difference. And it's easy sometimes to get caught up in our own insufficiencies, especially after seeing somebody else really come through and succeed. There's a problem that pops up then too. Because then, once we get to feeling low and we see others that are high and we're feeling like we're not doing all that well, human nature takes over and begins to deflect away from our insufficiencies and begins to criticize how somebody else does it. You remember in John chapter 21, after the resurrection, Jesus had questioned Peter three times. Peter, do you love me? Yes. Yes, Lord. And after three times, it sure sounds like when I read it that Peter got awfully frustrated with the Lord. And he said, Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee. Jesus simply said unto him, feed my sheep. Peter, I've got a work for you to do. You're a sower and I need you to sow. Feed my sheep. That's it, Peter. That's all. Peter comes back. He looks over at John and he says, what about that man? What's he going to do? I mean, I've been denied yet. I've been questioned here in front of everybody. I'm not what I thought I would be. I wasn't near as strong as I thought I would be. And then when he gets grilled and when he gets his own inadequacies come to light, he starts pointing. Well, what about him? What's he going to do? Jesus had a simple answer for him. What is that to Thee? You follow Thou Me. Your responsibility, Peter, is to do what you are called to do. A sower went forth to sow. Now, I'm happy any time that I've had the opportunity to say something or to do something that has made a lasting blessing on somebody's life. I mean, in those times, it makes you feel good. It kind of becomes clear to you that you're doing His work and that He's blessed it. And I'd love to, every time I get up in this pulpit and I open up my Bible and I tell you where to turn, that I knock it out of the park every single time and that people just are in awe. I mean, I'd be thrilled if every time I got up to minister to people that it makes a significant difference, every single time, and that people walk away and say, I'm a different person than when I came into this. But the truth is, that's not where I am right now. Take tonight, for instance. That's not right where I am. Could I work on doing better? Absolutely. I sure could. But I've got to understand that it's not how I deliver it. It's not the methods that I use when I preach that makes the difference. It's not how loud I get. It's not how I figure out where to put in the loud parts and where to whisper real slow and slow in another part. That's not what makes the difference. So, brothers and sisters, it is the anointing that makes the difference in everything that we do. And you can have your way of doing things, and you can have that great way, or you can have that way that isn't all that great, and it's not very successful most of the time. But the truth of the matter is, we've got to have the anointing of the Holy Ghost in our ministries, so that when we do sow the seed, when we're doing what we ought to be doing, it is fruitful. Plain and simple, we've got to have the power and the anointing of God. We've got to allow ourselves to be used. We've got to be holy, and we've got to make ourselves available. You remember when Paul was on the road to Damascus, and that's when he had that fateful meeting with Jesus. And he saw the light, and he heard the voice, and he finally came to the conclusion that he says, what wilt thou have me to do? Brother Richard, it wasn't just what will you do for me? What will the Savior give to me? How can He service me? But his response back to Jesus, when He washed him clean of his sins, when He made the difference in his life, he said, what wilt thou have me to do? And he did it. Paul did it day after day, year after year. He wrote to the Corinthian church in chapter 7, verse 20. He said, let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. He said, remain there. Continue in it. If God has put His hand on your life, if God has put a calling in your life, if God has given you a bag and it's got precious seed, you need to go forth, you need to weep a little bit, and you need to sow the seed just like you are able to do it. In other words, sower, sow! Hallelujah. Does it become difficult at times? Well, of course it does. But I want you to think back to that time, that before Jesus went to the cross, He got up in the night, He went off to a garden, and He went so far as to be all by Himself. And it got rough in that garden. He ended up praying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done. And you know what happened in that garden. He was in agony. You know what happened. His sweat became as it were great drops of blood. There was a great struggle that the Son of God said, Father, if it be possible, and if You're willing, remove this cup from me. I'm determined. This is what I came to do. This is a task that has been asked of me. And I will do it. And the Bible says that there appeared an angel, an angel from heaven strengthening Him. And look, if you get in the point where you know you're supposed to be doing it, and it gets hard, and it gets difficult, and you don't know how you're going to do it, and you're struggling, God will send help from heaven, and He will gird you up. And when you don't have the grip for a handful of seed anymore, He will strengthen you. He will give you power. Help will come from heaven up above. What He's really looking for is Isaiah's response, Here am I. Send me. The sower went forth to sow. And the Lord said, Brother Ron Marine, he's not here tonight. I guess he wasn't able to make it. I know that they've been under the weather. But I was in conversation with him several weeks ago. He's a preacher brother of mine. And we've been friends for a long, long time, probably close to 30 years now. Brother Ron, a few weeks ago we were talking. He said, You know, I was never called or given the opportunity to be a camp meeting preacher. He said, That just wasn't my lot. That wasn't the call. His name wasn't to be put on the flyer. His name was not to be the keynote speaker of a camp meeting. But I want you to think about this, because if Ron Marine really had been that man, who would have shown up at the nursing home at a 90-some year old woman's side named Nellie, who prayed through just a couple weeks before she died. If Ron Marine would have been off preaching the camp meeting, getting the pats on the back and everybody telling him, Nobody in that nursing home probably knew much what was going on. But there was a soul that was snatched out of the fire simply because a sower went forth to sow. What if it hadn't happened? What if he would have been out there preaching somewhere else? Who would have been at the nursing home? Well, there wasn't very many of us going at that time. Who would have reached this woman when she came hobbling down the hall saying, I'm not justified? And she got an opportunity to pray. I want to read something here. A. W. Tozer, great preacher, great author. He prayed a prayer one time, and I won't read the whole thing because it's quite lengthy, but I do want you to listen. What I understand is he prayed this prayer after he was ordained to be a preacher. And it got serious. I've carried this prayer with me into my prayer closet before. And they said that he would carry this prayer with him and get it out every once in a while. And he would look at it. But this is what he prayed, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice and was afraid. It's a paraphrase of Habakkuk chapter 3. Thou hast called me to an awesome task in a grave and perilous hour. Thou art about to shake all nations and the earth and also heaven, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. O Lord, our Lord, Thou hast stooped to honor me to be Thy servant. I want you to think about that tonight. A sower went forth to sow. My God, I shall not waste time deploring my weaknesses nor my unfittedness for the work. The responsibility is not mine but Thine. Thou hast said, I knew Thee, I ordained Thee, I sanctified Thee. Thou hast also said, Thou shalt go to all that I shall send Thee and whatsoever I command Thee, Thou shalt speak. Who am I to argue with Thee or to call into question Thy sovereign choice? The decision is not mine but Thine. So be it, Lord. Thy will, not mine, be done. Lord Jesus, I come to Thee for spiritual preparation. Lay Thy hand upon me. Anoint me with the oil of the New Testament prophet. Forbid that I should become a religious scribe and thus lose my prophetic calling. Save me from the curse that lies dark across the face of the modern clergy, the curse of compromise, of imitation, of professionalism. Save me from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity, or the amount of its yearly offering. Help me to remember that I am a prophet, not a promoter, not a religious manager, but a prophet. Let me never become a slave to crowds. Heal my soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the itch of publicity. Save me from the bondage to things. Let me not waste my days puttering around the house. Lay Thy terror upon me, O God, and drive me to the place of prayer where I may wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. Deliver me from overeating and late sleeping. Teach me self-discipline that I may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now, O Lord of heaven and earth, I consecrate my remaining days to Thee. Let them be many or few as Thou wilt. Let me stand before the great or minister to the poor and lowly. That choice is not mine, and I would not influence it if I could. I am Thy servant to do Thy will, and that will is sweeter to me than position or riches or fame, and I choose it above all things on earth or in heaven. Though I am chosen of Thee and honored by a high and holy calling, let me never forget that I am but a man of dust and ashes, a man with all the natural faults and passions that plague the race of men. I pray Thee, therefore, my Lord and Redeemer, save me from myself and from all the injuries I may do myself while trying to be a blessing to others. Fill me with Thy power by the Holy Spirit, and I will go in Thy strength and tell of Thy righteousness, even Thine only. I will spread abroad the message of redeeming love while my normal powers endure. This was the prayer of a man who said, I'll do it. You called. I didn't choose it. I did not pick me for this. You did. I've had to remind myself of that many times. I didn't choose this. It's my responsibility. It is my opportunity to do something for the kingdom of God. In John chapter 9, verse 4, Jesus said, I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. Let Austin, would you come to the piano, please? Get us a song. Now, tonight my message is simple, just simple. A sower went forth to sow. That's all. Not a big job. I mean, he wasn't the guy who was out there buying the land. He wasn't overseeing the farms. He's just going out to sow. And anybody looking at what he did and how he did it, as I said, I don't even think he's that great at it. But the sower went forth to sow. And the next time it was sowing season, the sower went forth to sow. Because that's what I've been asked to do. Stand with me. I want to read one more verse here that has worked on me, and it's personal. You may not be able to make it as personal to you as it is to me, because it has my name in it. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. Sower, sow. Teacher, teach. Sager, teach. Preacher, preach. Brother Jamison led us last week, a couple weeks ago in the Zong. I'm working on the building. If I was a preacher, I'd tell you what I'd do. I'd keep right on preaching. If I was a sower, I'd tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to keep on sowing, because that's what sowers do. I don't want to get to the place at the end of the road and say, I used to be a sower. Yeah, I really wasn't even very good at it, but I tried. And I kind of got bored with it, or I got tired of it. More other things got in the way, and I felt like I just didn't want to do it anymore. But I want to encourage you tonight, sower, to sow. Father, thank You tonight for our time together. Thank You, Lord. I pray that I've brought it out like You wanted it. I pray that it's been a blessing to somebody here tonight. But I'm asking You this evening, Lord, to move on us as we pray. While we come around, I ask You, Lord, to move on souls. I pray You'll remind us, God, we're not here for ourselves. We're not here. We're here to sow. We're here to work. And I pray that You will awaken in us. Lord, when that desire wanes within us, when it starts to decrease and diminish in our minds and in our hearts, I pray You'll remind us that sower went forth to sow. And somewhere along the line, there was some fruit. Somewhere along the line, because the sower was persistent, there was a hundredfold somewhere. There was sixtyfold somewhere and thirtyfold another place. God, guide us tonight and inspire us to go forth and work in Your holy name, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all find us a place and let's talk to God. What would God have you to do? Sower, sower, sower, sower, sower, I want to encourage you tonight to sow. Laborer, I want to encourage you to labor in the kingdom of God.