THE SOWER & THE SEED

You can learn thousand lessons from one parable. Every time you read a parable, there is always something new. Today in this service, Apostle Edmonds comprehends three requirements of the sower and the seed from the parable of "The Sower and The Seed". As you listen, ponder who are you in this parable? Listen to the above audio for the full message and be blessed!

THE SOWER AND THE SEED 
Mathew 13v3-9 You can learn thousand lessons from one parable. If you think you already know this parable, and you want to apply the way you used to know it, you are already wrong because the Lord has something new in mind for today. Every time you read a parable; it has something new for you. When you read the parable of Jesus and if you do not keep your mind open, then it will become like what the Bible says “Ichabod” which means the glory of the God has departed.  

There are two ways to understand a parable. One is the contextual way and another is the application understanding. The application understanding has to do with putting something to action or operating what you learnt. Not just understanding the context. However, to operate what you read in the Bible, you need to understand the context (the events determining the meaning of that text). Contextual understanding is always there but application understanding is not always there. 
  
The sower and the seed is the title. The ground is not even in view here. The seed is the word of God. (Mathew 13v18). People go to church but church is not in them. Christ in us is the hope of glory. How much of Christ is in you? People believe in His first step of glory. Believing is admission to the kingdom of God. But we have to live in the kingdom of God. Understanding the Bible study has prime importance because what you understand is what you believe, what you understand is the faith you generate, what you understand is what you exhibit. It is so important that you understand. When the word of God pokes you, it shows that you are good Christian and you are hearing the voice of God. Teachers who always pamper the students will have bunch of failures.  
  
Application understanding is the realm of hearer-doer. The one, who hears, does what he has heard. So, your weight in the spirit is not how you sound or what you know but how much of God’s word you have done (Application Understanding). If you claim to understand the word of God, apply it. That’s your weight in the spiritual scale of God.  
  
When we talk about misconception, people hear something and understand something else. So, in understanding you have to understand this rule. When someone is talking to you, get out of your shell, get out of your reasoning and understand what they are saying, understand them in their concept and the relationship will be great. Don’t understand people in your understanding.  
  
Misunderstanding will really take you out of the understanding. It will steal things away from you. It will steal friends and people who love and care for you. The sower sows but the very first ground, there is no understanding. So, no matter how much time you spend in church if there is no understanding, your life is not going to go forward. Your situation will remain the same because understanding is the key. Understand the mind of God, understand His precepts and that is why we pray saying “Our spirits are receptive; our minds are open to receive your engrafted word”. It is not just a recitation. It is a requirement for us when we come into the presence of God.  
  
In the very first interpretation of a parable, the first requirement is understanding. And understanding does not have any weight if it does not have application value. You got to apply what you understood. The second one is joy (Mathew 13v20). You don’t only need to have understanding; you need to have joy too. The third requirement is firm root in the word of God. These are the three important requirements for the sower and the seeds.  
  
Who are you in this parable? You cannot be the seed even though you are born of God and so you are either sower or the ground. However, in our understanding with God, we start with the latter and end in the earlier. We were all grounds where the word of God was sowed. To know if you are a sower or not, you need to know what a sower is not. A sower is not the one with knowledge or with the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the one with the gifts of the Holy Spirit or the one with good leadership attributes. But a sower is the one with the readiness of the heart, joy, understanding the word of God depth and root. That’s a sower. Every time you sow and you have these qualities, the result is inevitable.  
  
Having said this, the seed quality is genuine and excellent so there is no doubt the seed is going to produce result. But the ground is determining factor. Here the spirit of the Lord says to everyone in the body of Christ to watch how a sower sows. He never picks and chooses where to sow. His work is to sow. So, learn to stay at the edge of the description. We are sowers as it has to do with the body of Christ. We sow the word of God. When you sow there is harvest time. If you put the word of God in your heart or in your family or business, there is harvest time. Anywhere you apply the word of God, harvest time is sure. For where there is sowing, there must be harvest (reaping). Mind what you sow and what others sow in you. But keep sowing the word of God. Do not relent. Do not give up. May be the first hand you poured was on the way side. But don’t feel for that because the seed is always genuine. When you sow the seed, you may find some response from your loved ones and before long when the situation comes, what you expected them to stand, they did not stand because there is no root. No problem with the seed still. You still didn’t do anything wrong. Keep sowing. Then you come to the third ground where responsibilities and desires of this life took the word away. Here the ground was not the problem. The people who are with your loved ones and the influence upon them are the problem. Still do not give up. The seed quality is still genuine. Then, comes the last ground where you get the real fruit (Mathew 13v23).  
  
In the first ground, you would have felt something will happen but nothing happened because there was no understanding. Second ground you saw some blades (leaf) and got excited but when the situation came, they could not stand. Then the third ground where they agreed hundred percent to, what you said but the desires and things of the world choked the word you sowed. Then you come to fruitful season. In this ground first you get hundred percent, then sixty and then thirty. Why? This ground is good. In Genesis, Abel and Cain were the first fruit of the man and woman created by God. And, there God’s harvest was only fifty percent among Cain and Abel. One was with God and other was not with God. What did God do to deserve fifty percent? The first fruit of Adam was a problem. And then when we talk about Esau and Jacob, the fight began before they were named.  
Many of you are in your own understanding. But if you get out of it and get into “The Understanding” which is God’s word, God’s precept and when you get familiar and conversant with it, you will know the areas where you need to change, where you need to transform. When God got only fifty percent but still is sowing, why can’t you sow? Father is a sower and you are His sons/daughters, so you should also be a sower. Father kept on sowing and in Jesus He reaped hundred-fold. And Christ said unto the Father that He lost none that Father had given to Him except for the one who was destined to be lost (Judas Iscariot). Jesus was the seed that gave God hundred-fold. So, we are the generation that gives God hundred-fold harvests. The display was there in Act chapter also, when the Holy Spirit came. When the Holy Spirit came many things were happening. At one time three thousand plus souls were saved! So, don’t get worried. Listen to the Father who kept sowing and sowing. Keep sowing the Word. Your prayers, your tears, your sacrifices etc. are seeds and you will reap (Acts 19v19)