Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

February 23
Monday


WAITING FOR
THE HARVEST

READ
Mark 4:26-29
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First the blade, then the
head, after that the full
grain.... The harvest
has come. 4:28-29
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In the book What's Gone Wrong With the Harvest? James Engel and Wilbert Norton illustrate on a graph how people often go through a series of preconversion stages before stepping over the line of faith and receiving Jesus as their Savior.

When we hear individuals share their conversion experience, we may conclude that faith happened all at once. But their salvation frequently carries an extended back-story of spiritual pilgrimage before they made that decision. They needed time to reflect on the gospel. For them, coming to the Savior was a process.

This is similar to the process of farming: Months of waiting come to an end and workers stream into the fields to help with the harvest. One of our Lord's parables illustrates how faith--like a crop--needs time to develop. Responding to the gospel is like a seed that grows "first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain," until finally, "the harvest has come" (Mark 4:28-29).

Because people may need time and multiple exposures to the gospel before they are ready to make a decision, we need to be sensitive to where they are in their faith-journey. In the meantime, we can cultivate spiritual interest, pray for them, and wait for the harvst! __Dennis Fisher
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````````````````Have you thought of where you're going````````````
````````````````````When this earthly life is past?`````````````````
``````````````````Will the seed that you are sowing```````````````
```````````````Bring a harvest that will last? __Jacobson```````````

We sow the seed--God produces the harvest.

****************Today's Bible Reading __ Mark 4:26-29************

26 And He said, "The
kingdom of God is as if a
man should scatter seed on
the ground, 27 and should
sleep by night and rise by
day, and the seed should
sprout and grow, he himself
does not know how. 28 For
the earth yields crops by
itself; first the blade, then
the head, after that the full
grain in the head. 29 But
when the grain ripens,
immediately he puts in the
sickle, because the harvest
has come."


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Jesus often used the sower-seed metaphor to illustrate the kingdom
of God. Here in Mark 4, He taught three parables--the Parable
of the Soils, or commonly the Sower (vv.3-20), the Parable of the
growing Seed (vv.26-29), and the Parable of the Mustard Seed
(vv.30-32). Elsewhere He taught the Parable of the Weeds (Matt.
13:24-30,36-43). The seed is the Word of God (Mark 4:14; Luke
8:11). Whether the seed germinates, sprouts, grows, and becomes
fruitful will depend on the characteristics of the soils (Mark 4:13-
20). When planted on good soil (a receptive heart, Matt. 13:23;
Mark 4:20), the life-bearing seed grows steadily and produces grain
without any human effort (Mark 4:28-29). This is the unseen work of
God--a work of grace. __Sim Kay Tee