Working The Ground

The message was brought by Rev. Tim Powers on 7/21/25.  The background scripture for the message is Matthew 13:1-9.

1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because  they had no deepness of earth:6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they  had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The seed is the Word of God. It brings salvation. It brings sanctification. It brings growth. We all need to sow the Word–the seed. It’s important to be a good Christian because we are the only Bible some people read.  We know the Bible is under attack like no other book ever has been. The devil isn’t afraid of other books; he is afraid of God’s Word. He tries to snatch the Word before it can take hold in a person’s life.

Ground for sowing anything takes work. In a person’s life, prayer breaks up fallow ground. It needs to be made ready to receive seed. So keep praying. Keep inviting people to church. It may take time, but plow in hope of a harvest.

Growing up we had a tobacco field. It was rocky, making it hard to get it ready for planting. Those rocks were big, hard to get out of the way. Too many rocks are in the way in life sometimes. Get them out of the way. Our story speaks of stony ground. The seeds might sprout but they won’t grow.  With a stony heart you can’t get the Word to grow. It may take a long time when a person has a stony heart to see a harvest. Keep breaking up the ground by praying and inviting and living a life before them.

We have thorny ground. Thorns choke. People hear the Word. They receive it but if they’re not willing to get the heart’s thorns and thistles out of the way, they will choke everything else out, including the Word. They grab at you. They hurt you. You cannot bear fruit with them in your heart. Christians with open sin will see no fruit. People are watching us. We all fail. But open sin is different. Be careful not to live in the thorns and thistles.

Good ground takes time. Just like planting a crop, getting the field ready takes work and time. Our forefathers had to cut down trees to even have ground to plant in. Imagine all the clearing that had to take place. We have food today because someone got the ground ready. We’re planting today in the hearts of others–their ground. Keep working. Keep planting the seed of the Word. We may not see the fruit of what we’re planting. It may not happen in our lifetime.  In I Corinthians 3:6 Paul said I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. We sow. Someone else comes along and waters or helps pull some seeds.  But ALWAYS it is God who gives the increase, the One who saves.  I’ve never saved anyone.  All I can do is sow the seed to help bring them to God.

In the parable, the Sower didn’t know which ground the seed would fall on. He didn’t know where it was going. I remember using one of those old-time seeders. I would walk the fields to sow the seed. Sometimes the wind would pick some of it up and it would land on the hard packed road. Dad or granddad came along behind putting straw down in the field to keep the birds from grabbing the seed. They hovered around for the seed and that part that ended up on that hard packed road, they grabbed up.  Just like we worked together to sow that seed in the field, we all work together sowing the seed of the Word.  Let’s get hearts ready for God to work in them.  We’re laborers together.  Don’t give up!  Keep sowing the seed.