Planting and Harvesting

Planting and Harvesting

When we plant our seeds for the Gospel/Salvation, is there a reference in the Bible stating that even if we do not see a direct result but God “WILL” gather a harvest (small or large) from it regardless:confused:? In other Words, if I’m spreading the Gospel, will God make it so others are helped by my spreading of the Gospel in some way or is it possible that all of my seeds may prove fruitless?

Reference: Mark 4:13-20

I understand I may not get a direct seed planted (that comes to fruition) but “off-handedly” turned into a seed (of fruition) for someone else from a chain of events leading up to that fruition.

I have a program, which I have posted about on another thread, where I have tracks laying out the basic outline of the Gospel/Salvation (including remaining faithful) and offer a free Bible from me per request (multiple bibles even). I drive and walk around neighborhoods in my town placing the tracts I created on cars and in mail boxes, also I have “Quick Reference bullets” (directing you to different subjects in the bible for self study) that I give out, and plan to continue to do so as long as the Lord wills. Can I be sure at least one "person’s seed" will produce some sort of “fruit” pleasing to the Lord from this?

In a previous thread I discussed with other about “me not doing enough”, and I understand that by Faith we are saved and Faith produces works. Regardless of being saved through Faith, I would like to know I am doing some good for my own self, to help me have peace of mind (I hope that is not arrogant of me).

Here’s another plug for my tract on the Gospel/Salvation below. I hope it doesn’t seem overly legalistic, I placed together what I thought made sense for someone one learning the core basis of the Gospel/Salvation:

Order a FREE “New King James Version” Bible
(,O.T. & N.T., “Quick Study Reference” tract included) No shipping fee!Send request to: [email protected], www.myspace.com/genesisbibles, or Genesis Bibles (Care of Jared Jeffers) PO Box 515 Cedartown, GA 30125
Please include your name and mailing address & request if multiple Bibles are needed.

The Wonder of Salvation/“How can I understand unless someone guides me?”

Acts 8:29-39
29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” 34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. (NKJV)


The Gospel (The Good News!)

Luke 24:45-47
45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (NKJV)

Hear

John 6:44-45
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. (NKJV)
Acts 16:13-15
13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us. (NKJV)
Acts 18:8
8 Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. (NKJV)
Romans 10:14-17
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?”17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (NKJV)


Believe

John 6:29
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (NKJV)
John 8:24
24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (NKJV)
Acts 16:20-34
30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. (NKJV)

Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (NKJV)
Ephesians 2:8
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (NKJV)
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (NKJV)


Repent

Luke 13:3
3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. (NKJV)
Acts 3:19
19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (NKJV)
Acts 8:22
22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. (NKJV)


Confess

Matthew 10:32-33
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. (NKJV)
Romans 10:10-11
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” (NKJV)


Baptism

Matthew 28:19
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (NKJV)
Mark 16:15-16
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (NKJV)
Romans 6:3-5
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection (NKJV)
Galatians 3:26-27
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (NKJV)
1 Peter 3:20-21
20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (NKJV)


Remain Faithful

Acts 17:11-12
11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. (NKJV)
Hebrews 5:8-9
8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (NKJV)
James 1:22
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (NKJV)
James 2:24-26
24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (NKJV)
1 John 5:3
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. (NKJV)
 
Dear Jaerod,

We must always remember that the Lord has the final say in what happens to His Word but we do have the promise in Isaiah 55:11 which states "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." I also remind you about Jesus' teaching on the Holy Spirit in John 16:5-15(go read it) where He goes into a lot of detail explaining what the purpose of the Holy Spirit is.
Remember that we are the hands, feet, mouth etc, of the Lord Jesus here on earth and that we must be willing vessels to fulfill His purpose. We are about God's work not ours. So it really is a team effort when we apply ourselves in the Kingdom of God and in His business, and without one of this partners, this work is doomed. Then we operate in our own strength.

Then on the topic of not doing enough, you must be very careful that you are so busy with the "things" of the Lord, that you completely forget about the Lord of the "things". I will always remember what my mom told me the day I went to do military service, she said "you say you know the Bible, but do you know the God of the Bible?" and this will always be in my head. On another thread I made the comment that the devil keeps us so busy that we totally forget what it is all about. Remember what Jesus also said in Matt 7:21-23 where it basically boils down to people who said that they have done this and that but that He(Jesus) knew them not.

Your relationship with God, the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit must come absolutely first because it will be out of this relationship that you will be inspired to do what the Father would want you to do. This is what it means to be in my Fathers will!!

In the years that I have been involved in the Lord's work, I have seen men and women that sprinted away, running full steam just to do something for the Lord, just to run out of steam later. Then they would become despondent and find it very difficult to get back into the race and this is why I say, your relationship first. These guys where running away from the Lord, not with the Lord and this is what is important! To run with the Lord even if we feel it is going a bit to slow for us. Remember it is God's business.

Then last but not least, I just want to remind you again what our main commission is:

Matt 10:5-15 ...go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.... and then Matt 28:16-20, Luke. 24:36-49, John. 20:19-23 where Jesus give detailed instructions about this commission.

O I almost forget Paul's comment about this: 1Cor.3:6 "I have planted, Apollos watered; BUT GOD GAVE THE INCREASE."

Blessings to you my brother and keep up the good work!

Yours in His service
Albert
 
When we plant our seeds for the Gospel/Salvation, is there a reference in the Bible stating that even if we do not see a direct result but God “WILL” gather a harvest (small or large) from it regardless:confused:? In other Words, if I’m spreading the Gospel, will God make it so others are helped by my spreading of the Gospel in some way or is it possible that all of my seeds may prove fruitless?

We must remember that if we are planting the right seeds, then those seeds, will not be our seeds, but His Seeds.


The seeds are not ours and the crop is not ours. All the glory goes to Him.


All Praise The Ancient Of Days
 
We must remember that if we are planting the right seeds, then those seeds, will not be our seeds, but His Seeds.


The seeds are not ours and the crop is not ours. All the glory goes to Him.


All Praise The Ancient Of Days

I know all glory goes tothe Father.
 
Inevitably, some seed will fall on good soil a flourish while others will whither away.

Your mission is to share your faith and leave the rest to God.

How do you know you are doing you are doing your part well?

Pray for guidance to speak or to be still according how God moves you.

Learn to recognize when God is guiding you in a certain direction. Then have confidence that God will accomplish great things thru you , despite your mistakes. :)

Pray God's will be done. God can even use our mistakes to do good.

I have encountered Christians who are seeing right from wrong through their own eyes. They think they are serving God because they are depending on their own understanding. But, when they go directly against Scriptures, they are following their own will, not God's.

I believe the key is to be open to the Holy Spirit and pray for God to take control.

Ginger
 
Never underestimate the value of presenting people with the opportunity to respond to God. Even if they reject it, the fact remains that the opportunity was there. Even seeds that don't "germinate" can serve a purpose. Try putting a grain of wheat in your shoe. It won't grow, but it will make its presence felt until you do something about it. At the very least, you will reap a reward yourself for faithfully sowing. No seed sown in faith in God is in vain. I think we will all be surprised in Heaven at the results of things we did in His Name which, at the time, seemed insignificant or ineffective.
 
Thank You

Thank you so much for all of the encouragement. I have recently seen some fruition around me. It has very quickly become a very exciting time!
 
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