Spring! And Not a Moment too Soon!

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat,
and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Genesis 8:22

"Time now, 2:30 pm. temperature, 59°!!! One would think we were in the Bahamas the way people are acting here. It has warmed up to 59° in Bettendorf today. For my friends in the south, this may not sound so inviting, but having lived through weeks of single digit temps this winter, this is a Godsend.

I think "Godsend" is a good word choice. I am so glad to hear of "global warming." With record low temps in the Midwest, I can only imagine how cold it would be without it. (tongue planted firmly in cheek) The Quad Cities is seeing its typical sign of spring. The eagles are leaving, the pelicans are arriving and the Rock River is flooding. Yep, that's typical.

God's promise to Noah was that there would always be "seedtime and harvest." This means something very special in our area. The Quad Cities is headquarters to John Deere Co. This is an agricultural area. We understand seeding and harvesting. As a church planter, spring is seed time for us too. Down south where I come from, churches usually do not see great growth in the summer. Folks, if it don't grow here in the summer, then it don't grow here. This season presents our church's best opportunity for growth.

We are praying for three things in particular; sowers in the field, fertile soil and rain from heaven. Nothing grows without those three ingredients. First, we pray for the sowers. Luke 10:2 says:

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

All Seasons Baptist Church is praying for labourers for the harvest. Second, we are praying for fertile soil.

Mark 4:20: And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

Finally, and most important, we need rain. That is we need the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the hearers.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) John7:37-39

The old song says, "All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One come down." That is what we need for the harvest. One might say, "Pastor, you did not mention the most important ingredient; the Seed." Friends, we have the seed. We just need to get busy sowing it.

Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you. Haggai 2:19

It is time to get the seed out of the barn.

Just a thought. Thank you for reading