Beginnings. Though there are some good things going on around us, our nation and world are in a terrible mess. I was feeling particularly troubled by that when we got our stay-at-home order back in 2020. Thankfully God’s word spoke to me powerfully during those days and led me to some important realizations. I realizedContinue reading “Empowering Subjects of the King to Change the World—1”
Tag Archives: evangelism
The Angels Good News—4
The Effect. When the angel announced the good news that a Savior had been born—Christ, the Lord—the immediate response was worship. The announcement had another important effect as well, namely, the shepherds words, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us” (LukeContinue reading “The Angels Good News—4”
Sowing and Reaping–7
The Sum. The phrase “sowing and reaping” refers to the agricultural matter of planting seed and producing a harvest of crop, something very familiar to the people in the Bible. It is also used figuratively in the Bible to describe various spiritual activities, including the matter of people coming to “believe and be saved” orContinue reading “Sowing and Reaping–7”
Sowing and Reaping–6
The Farmers. We have noticed that sowing and reaping is a metaphor in Scripture that is applied to some different activities. Our focus has been on its application to evangelism. We noted that the basic principle of the metaphor is that sowing seed leads to reaping fruit, if the soil is good. So far weContinue reading “Sowing and Reaping–6”
Sowing and Reaping—5
Growth. So far in this series of posts we have considered agriculture in the ancient world, noted the basic truth that sowing leads to reaping, identified the seed as the word of the kingdom, and explored the different types or soils or hearts that receive the word. Our consideration of the soils led us toContinue reading “Sowing and Reaping—5”
Sowing and Reaping—4
The Soils. The best place to consider how the soil affects sowing and reaping is the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23; Mark 4:1-9, 13-20; Luke 8:4-8, 11-15). Several aspects of ancient farming, which we explored in the first post in this series, are reflected in this important parable. For example, we noted thatContinue reading “Sowing and Reaping—4”
Sowing and Reaping—3
The Seed. In this series (begins here) we have discussed literal farming in the ancient world, the basic principle of sowing and reaping, and a number of related lessons. Our focus in the series is the passages that use sowing and reaping figuratively to describe people coming to Christ. Today we will explore the seed.Continue reading “Sowing and Reaping—3”
Sowing and Reaping—2
The Principle (John 4:35-38). The Bible uses the ancient practice of farmers sowing and reaping to help us understand how people embrace Christ. One rich passage about this is: 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields areContinue reading “Sowing and Reaping—2”
Sowing and Reaping—1
Understanding Agriculture in the Ancient World. The Bible compares the work and growth of the kingdom to sowing and reaping. This agricultural figure of speech can help us in our work in the Lord’s harvest field. We will draw better and more biblical conclusions from the passages that use this metaphor, however, if we firstContinue reading “Sowing and Reaping—1”
Motivation for the Mission—9
Glory to God. We have been exploring motivations for the mission of telling others about Christ in hopes that we can find motivation to actually do so (series begins here). Another great motivation for telling about him is knowing that when we do, it gives glory to God. We might surmise that telling others aboutContinue reading “Motivation for the Mission—9”
Empowering Subjects 