Title: PEOPLE OF THE SEED
Mark 4:26
And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil”
Introduction: The Literal Seeds
Germination is the growth of an embryonic plant contained within a seed; it results in the formation of the
seedling.
Seeds require soil, sunlight, and water to germinate and
then literally grow on their own.
Eg. Story of a Seed.
MAIN POINTS
1. SEEDS: The Natural and The Spiritual
2. Casting Good Seeds
3. The Seed of Life
Seeds are used for propagating more plants. This purpose is clearly
conveyed in the words, “be fruitful and multiply.”
How do seeds propagate?
I. SEEDS: The Natural and The Spiritual.
In the lineage and history of the Bible, seed is also translated as
“offspring.”
A. The Natural Seeds.
Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
In Genesis 13:14-15, the Lord said to Abram:
Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.
This covenant was a land covenant and an inheritance for the
Jewish people, the natural seeds of Abraham, to inhabit and to prosper.
B. The Spiritual Seeds:
The Spiritual Seeds are the people of the Seed.
The “kingdom of God” is like a “man” who casts seed upon the soil…”
The people of the seed are the men and women characterized, not with the natural but with the supernatural. They are people whose lives reveal the kingdom of God because they belong to the kingdom of God. They are the men and women who have the kingdom’s seeds.
The seeds in their hands:
1. Seeds of Faith.
They are living the life of faith so they can sow faith.
God says in Deuteronomy 22:9, “Do not plant two kinds of seed in
your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the
fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.”
In the spiritual realm, we can equate the two seeds to FAITH and FEAR.
Fear defiles faith!
“Do not plant both faith and fear in your life; otherwise, your harvest will be defiled.”
A field planted with mingled seed would be in the same condition as a double-minded person who is unstable in all he or she does.
2. Seeds of Peace.
Matthew 5:9 KJV – “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
James 3:18 NLT – “And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”
When James encouraged his readers to “sow in peace,” he was referring to the Old Testament notion of shalom, a state of wholeness, health and completion. As a common greeting or blessing, it expressed a wish for prosperity, physical health, salvation and harmonious relationships.
He was known as a peacemaker (Acts 15:13-21; Galatians 2:9-10), so he stresses the importance of peace.
Jesus promised that God will bless the peacemakers.
3. Seeds of Righteousness.
Hosea 10:12 NLT ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love.’
This is a principle that runs throughout the Bible. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7–8).
Hosea is saying that if they would sow in righteousness, they would reap in mercy.
We cannot live by the Devil’s standards and then expect to reap a reward from God!
4. Seeds of Light and Gladness
Psalm 97:11 NASBS – “Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart.”
Light is the source of guidance and a symbol of well-being. It also manifests the Lord’s presence.
אוֹר – Light
= ‘ôr – ore means illumination or concretely luminary in every sense, including happiness.
In ancient Hebrew: אור – AR = Order or Box.
Boxes are used to store items and keep them in order. LIGHT is also necessary for order.
John 12: 35 – …walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you.
1 John 1:7 – “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Matthew 5:16 – “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
What kind of light are you shining?
5. The Good Seed – Word of God.
2 Timothy 4:2 KJV – “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”
2 Timothy 4:2 NLT – Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
What seeds have you been planting in your life? Is today the day that
the seed of the Lord takes hold in your life and brings a harvest—a
harvest that brings new life and provision where there’s been no
provision?
II. CASTING GOOD SEEDS.
“The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;”
We have the seeds of the kingdom. The seeds of FAITH, PEACE, RIGHTEOUSNESS, LIGHT and the WORD that need to be sown.
- Seeds are small, and when planted in the right conditions, their potential is great.
“Then the Lord said, ‘If you have FAITH like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you’” (Luke 17:6).
- Seeds can remain dormant so we must exhibit patience and wait on God’s timing to grow. Keep on planting and walking by faith, believing that what we’ve sown into our lives, our children’s lives and people’s lives will grow into a bountiful harvest.
- What you sow is what you get. “Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so.
The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds” (Gen.1:11-12).
- We did not create the seed, yet we reap the harvest. We are guardians of the seed and are charged with planting it in fertile soil to reap a harvest for the Kingdom of God.
III. THE SEED OF LIFE
Seed is the essence of all life. Almost everything that is alive comes from a seed. Life has built into itself the capacity to replicate and multiply abundantly – “30, 60, or even 100 times of what was sown.” This has always been part of God’s Kingdom plan for creation.
That single seed, over our lifetime, will grow into the tree of Life – the same Tree of Life God told Adam and Eve would supply their needs in the Garden. But we also need to nourish that Tree so it can grow, be healthy, and produce an ABUNDANT crop of fruit with seeds in our lives.
Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10: 10).
‘Abundantly’ in Greek is perissos, and it means “superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above, more than enough, profuse, extraordinary, above the ordinary, and more than sufficient.”
This is the abundant life God planned for His believers from before the beginning of time. It grows in us and multiplies when the seed is sown by the Sower into the heart that receives, growing up into a Tree of Life.
Who is the Seed of Life?
Galatians 3:16 – Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his SEED. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your SEED,” that is, Christ.
Jesus is the Seed of Life. In the heart that receives this seed and nurtures it, this seed will grow up into a Tree of Life.
Witness Lee writes: “Jesus is the reality of the Tree of Life sown as the seed of divine life into the believers for the growth of this life within them, that they may experience the transformation of life to make them treasures of life for God’s building of life”.
Like every tree in the Garden, the Tree of Life within us will produce many seeds. We are called to sow these seeds in other’s hearts. That is God’s plan for replication, multiplication, and the advancement of His Kingdom.
Jesus is the seed of life; Jesus grows into the tree of life in each of us – “An oak of righteousness, a planting for the display of His glory”, created to sow seeds.
We sow faith, peace, righteousness, light and the good seeds by preaching and teaching, sharing Scripture and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, acts of kindness and service; and praying for healing, deliverance, encouragement, and for others to receive the Father’s love. This is seed sowing.
As we sow the seed into the world around us, we are, at the same time, nurturing and nourishing the seed within us. The more we sow, the bigger the Tree of Life grows, and the more we can sow.
“I am the seed bearer. I have been given the enormous privilege and responsibility of sowing the Seed of Life.”
John 12:24 – “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
We have to die in our unbelief, pride and self-righteousness in order to bear fruit and sow seeds. Unless there is death to self we cannot bear fruit.
2,000 years ago, the True Seed came and died on the cross for our pride, unbelief and unrighteousness and He rose from death and became the Seed of Life.
Whosoever therefore has the Seed of Life, whoever has the heart that recognizes the death of the True seed, will bring forth fruits 30 folds, 60 folds, 100 folds.
CONCLUSION:
“We must be clear about why we are seed or people of the seed. It is not because of the life intrinsic in ourselves. It is rather due to our ability to carry the true Seed.
We become “people of the Kingdom” only when the King moves into the castle of our life. We become the “people of the Seed” only when the Seed of Life is planted into the throne of our hearts. Multiplication DNA is not resident in our talents, gifts, intellect, strength, skills, or sparkling personalities. It is only in the true “Seed” sown into us.
Part of our Kingdom mission is, in turn, to sow these seeds of faith, peace, righteousness, light and the Word into the hearts around us.
