First of all, relax! I am not going to take another offering! You are a very generous group of people, and we have given faithfully to God for many years. This morning we are going to talk about reaping the crop we have sown.

Every now and then someone will say, “Well, if God wants to bless me, I will sure let Him.” Or, if God wants to heal me, I know that He will heal me when my time is ready.”

Actually, there are specific steps to receive all that God has for us. God is not aimlessly wandering around the world randomly blessing people. Not at all! He gives us specific instructions on how to receive His blessings.

Please don’t take me wrong! Roberta and I often talk about our amazement at how God has blessed us in many unexpected ways. Just Friday evening we ate out at a Mexican restaurant in Oklahoma City. As we were finishing our meal the waitress stopped and drew our attention to a couple in a booth not far from us. She asked if we knew the people. Initially we said, “No,” but then she added, “they just paid for your meal.” That will make you look closer – but no, we didn’t recognize them. Then they turned and waved at us – so we waved back. As they walked toward our table we suddenly recognized them. They were members of a church we served at briefly as an interim pastor about 15 years ago.

We told them we were a little taken aback. We have blessed others this way… but this was only the second time in 43 years of marriage for us. When we mentioned that to our friends the lady responded, “Well, I guess it was your time to receive!”

Seed time… harvest. We planted our ministry at that time and several times through the years she has called us for prayer and guidance. At the proper time we received a return.

Money given to God is never wasted – whether it is placed in the church offering or given to someone in need. If your intent is to give to God, then God is pleased.

According to the scriptures our tithe belongs in the “storehouse.” The storehouse is generally considered the church you attend. We plant our time, money, prayers and energies into our church and we should reap the harvest of the pastor’s reaching, teaching and counsel. As a member of the church we also benefit from the prayers of the church family when we are in need. Some of our members use the building for family gatherings. All of this is entirely scriptural and appropriate.

 To the spiritually uninformed, money given to charities may appear to be wasted, but when it is given in obedience to the Word of God and as seed sown, then it is perfectly scriptural and spiritual to expect a return on our harvest.

We should give carefully and wisely. You would not sow 50 bushels of wheat on a football field and expect to have a good harvest. That ground has not been prepared to produce wheat. It has been prepared to produce the harvest of a national championship. The same is true of sowing your money (or other gifts) into a ministry. If a minister does not teach a Biblical based gospel, don’t send him or her any money! First of all, God can’t bless that ministry. It is contrary to His teaching.

Secondly, 2 John 10, 11 very explicitly warn us. Listen to this: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

The King James is even stronger: If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Satan is a deceiver… and he often uses people to do his dirty work. In these verses Satan’s deceit is described: he brings in an error concerning the person or office of the Lord Jesus. The person Satan uses is also called a deceiver and an antichrist! He deludes souls, and undermines the glory and kingdom of the Lord Christ. You should not think of is as strange, but anticipate it happening by being prepared to defend your belief.  

Give cheerfully, not in a grudging manner. If a basketball team has 5 trying to be stars in the same game, it’s a sure bet that they will loose. However, if a team of 5 function as a unit they can be unstoppable.

Giving grudgingly is like trying to be a star. God is the star. Our role is to listen to God and then give when, where and how much He asks us to give.

Giving is not limited to money. A lot of things are spiritual seed. Certainly money is. But we can also count time, talent, used clothing, prayers and a meal at a Mexican Restaurant.

There appears to be two schools of thought concerning following Christ. One thought is, “How far away can I get from God and still make it to heaven.” It’s not a good thought, but it will probably get you there.

The other thought would be, “How close can I get to God so I can experience all of His power today?”

If you really want to make a difference in this world, go for thought # 2!

Can we lose by doing all of God’s will? I don’t think so! God is able to make all grace abound toward us, in us, and all around us!

God is not short on cash! He really wants to bless you and me in every way. But He needs our faith and faithfulness as key ingredients!

God can make us have enough in all things; and to be content with what we have.

Since God gives seed to the sower, He also gives us enough for ourselves and extra so we can experience the joy and satisfaction of giving to the needs of others. This giving to the needs of others is seed sown. Our tithes are God’s money anyway, and this is the act of obedience that opens God’s storehouse of love towards us.

Sowing in love and obedience does two things:

I. It draws people to Christ.

One young lady had struggled and struggled with becoming a Christian. It just didn’t make good sense to her. She had seen too many hypocrites and had written off the church.

But one day she wrote to her aunt and reported that she had received Jesus as her Savior. The aunt was ecstatic! She asked, “What happened? What persuaded you to change your thinking?” The response was fascinating… she told her aunt, “Just being around some authentic Christians and seeing the love of Christ in them helped me understand that I needed a Savior.”

II. It blesses you personally.

            The Christian should always be alert to God and the people around them so they can meet needs as soon as possible – and often as discretely as possible.

It is our true nature to feel concern for our friends in their troubles and to help them. Paul was often in bonds, imprisonments, and in need. Through all of this, he learned to be content, accept the situation and make the best of it.  (Philippians 4:10-19)

My younger brother quoted one of his friends: “I find old age to be a bit of a disappointment!” We just have to make the best of it, right?

Wanting things we do not have can lead to frustration and disappointment if we are not careful. Joyce Meyer noted that sometimes people go shopping and buy things they don’t need because they are depressed. Then when they get home they wonder what they are going to do with all that junk… and try to find an empty drawer to put it in!

Learn to gather in your harvest:

          Jesus taught that there is a close relationship between love for God and obedience and service. A disobedient Christian will not receive many blessings from the Lord!

          “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7: 7, 8

A farmer does not admire a mature crop in the field and say, “Well, I guess if the Lord wants to bless me with that wheat He will put it in a truck and bring it to the house.” Not at all! Around Loyal the farmers check their wheat every day so they can get after it just as soon as possible.

The spiritual harvest is different, however, for motive is very important to God.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?  You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  James 4:1-3

          Let’s set some boundaries here. As we increase our faithfulness and diligence, more money and other blessings will come our way.  By definition, a tithe is 10%.  So if a person has an income of $10,000 a year, the tithe on that will be $1,000.  If he or she gives another 5% as offering (your seed money) then that will be another $500.00.  He/she will then have $8,500 left for other things (after taxes, of course).

          Let’s assume he makes $100,000 a year, tithes 10% and gives offering of 5%.  Now what happens?  He has $85,000 left over and God is pleased to let him enjoy the fruit of his labor.

          The problem is that making the $100,000 a year requires more energy and sacrifice on the part of the person earning the money.  I’ve had some jobs in my lifetime that paid well, but trust me, they did not approach $100 K.  I would have had to go to a different school than nursing school – or studied something other than theology!

          If you are making that kind of money in your business, I suspect your have taken some risks and made some major investments. The neat thing is that God really does not care where you set your sights. If you are following His will and willing to make the sacrifices necessary, you can make the money. But around here those who do that are rare birds. And many have lost everything because they tried to earn that kind of money and do it without keeping God first place in their lives.

          The scriptures tell us not to seek wealth – but to serve one another in love. Yet we all know people in the higher tax brackets that have fabulous wealth at their disposal – and it is obvious that God raised them up to help finance the work of the kingdom of God on earth.

Pastor Leon