thing as the Lord desired, and will seek to, that all days of my life I may within God's house remain." I'm not sure she wants to go on living here all the days of her life, but I think you know what the meaning is. Turn with me, please, to Genesis, the first chapter. Genesis chapter 1, beginning in verse 11. If any of you would like a Bible, please hold up your hands. The ushers will see that you get one. Genesis chapter one, beginning in verse 11. 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. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning the third day. Now turn with me please for the reading from the epistles, 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 9. 2 Corinthians chapter 9 beginning in verse 6. Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written, he has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion. And through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. I'm not preaching on giving today except the giving of the gospel. This applies to the spiritual giving as well as to the physical. And then back to Mark, the fourth chapter, for the reading from the gospels. Gospel according to Mark, chapter 4, beginning in verse 26. Jesus is teaching Mark 4, verse 26. He also said, this is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself, the soil produces grain. First the stock, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle in it, because the harvest has come. Verses 26, this is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground, night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up. The seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. First the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the ear. King James, I like the wording of that for that last phrase there. First the blade, then the green ear, then the full corn in the ear. And Jesus doesn't even tell us the name of the man who's doing that sowing there. And for that reason, I believe that he may have been talking about himself. That this is an autobiographical parable. about himself when he was a boy, and all of those of you who have been in Paul Pattison's classes in the spring of the year will understand what's going on here. How Jesus watched a farmer when he was just a little boy, sowing his seeds, scattering it, broadcasting it, and Jesus watched that fascinated. I mean, when Jesus' eyes lighted up as a little boy, you knew There just would have been something special about him at that point. And he wanted to know just what one of those little seeds did. How they grew. What they did when they were put into the ground and just disappeared in the ground. And when it was that they grew. Was it at night or was it in the daytime? When was it that they grew? And then suddenly, one morning, the little blade broke through the surface of the soil. And he would have been aware of that. And then he knew that that tiny seed had turned itself into a corn plant. For the first time when he saw that little blade come through there, then he would know that the seed had turned itself into a corn plant. Not a wheat plant, not a barley plant, not a tomato plant, not a briar plant. Each seed had seeded itself according to its kind into a corn plant because it was a grain of corn. Now you say, well, of course. Well, wait a minute, of course. Why of course? What a horrible thing it would have been if you really couldn't tell what was going to come up as a result of what you planted. Jesus would have thought that through carefully. And then it went on growing out of the blade stage into the green ear stage, and then finally on into the full corn in the ear stage. I think we can almost see Jesus slip out at night in the same way that some of Paul's boys and girls down there have wanted to see what was happening. And I don't know whether you've seen the boy or girl, but I have, who would pull it out to see what was happening on the other end and then put it back, of course. That's the kind of curiosity that would have been there. Could he hear it growing? Well, I've heard some pretty good old farmers say that on a certain type of night, you could hear corn growing. Now, these were solid, stable men. And I just have to take their word for that. I've said the same thing when I've talked about hearing snowfall. And I've seen some of you smile. But it is true. It is true. But I think Jesus probably slipped out there to see if he could see it move. or hear it move, that seed growing. He may have tried to pull it and see, just to learn how it was growing, when it was growing, and how it knew what kind of a plant to turn itself into. And then I think we can almost see him tearing open one of those little green ears to try to watch the kernels develop, to see how it is that the milk begins to come into the grain of corn and what the moisture content is. I may be talking to some people, who know what they're doing up at the School of Agriculture at Purdue at this point. But these were the kinds of questions that were in the mind of Jesus. And actually counting the numbers of ears, and then the number of kernels in each ear, and then totaling them up to see how one little grain could produce all this, all these other kernels, hundreds more. I think we can hear Jesus asking the farmers and others, But how does it grow? How? Same kind of questions that we're still asking in one way or another up at the School of Agriculture at Purdue. And finally, they don't say what we say today after they've gotten over that. Well, of course it does. Of course it does. Of course it does. But as you push them back, then finally they say, we do not know how. Verse 27. It grew day and night. He does not know how. Later on, Jesus would remember what God had said in Genesis 1. Let the land produce seed bearing plants that bear fruit with seed in it according to their various kinds. Each one bearing seed according to their own kinds. And that was a good thing. That they could sow one kind of seed and know it would produce that kind of plant. I say that Jesus would remember that later on as he grew up because, you see, he himself had been the one who had created those seeds. There was nothing created that wasn't created by him. He was the one who did the creating. So, and he had done it in such a way that they would demonstrate the very principle of his kingdom, the spiritual principle of his kingdom. We say, well, he had established certain principles of his kingdom and then he just happened to be walking along one day and he noticed that that'd be a good illustration. Uh-uh, uh-uh. It's the other way around. He created those seeds in the first place in such a way that they would illustrate the principles of his long-range plan for his world and how that was going to grow. He had purposely limited himself when he was born into this world from knowing those things so that he could grow up as we grew up, beginning to know those things. But he had also chosen a very special Hebrew word back in Genesis, that first chapter as we read it there. a very special Hebrew word that appears in the 97th psalm and the 11th verse also. It says that each seed was sown, and the word is zarah, and that word is used in no other place and way. That is, it is put into the ground, it is covered up, it disappears, but then it produces some of the same kind of thing that it has been before. And that particular Hebrew verb is restricted to that meaning. that it will produce the same kind of thing that it is, seeding after his own kind. And we say, of course. He says, wait a minute. That required some thought ahead of time. And I planned it that way. I planned it that way in terms of botany and the laws of nature and botany in order that it would illustrate and demonstrate and explain how it is that my kingdom is going to grow and going to develop. The farmers who were doing the sowing did not know this, and they would have been just as much amazed at the kinds of questions, the botanical questions, that Jesus was asking, as were those in the temple, when at the age of 12, he was asking them questions, not particularly about this at that time. The same kinds of questions, as far as botany is concerned, that we're doing research with there at Purdue today. Jesus had chosen to limit himself in his knowledge so that he could grow up just as you and I grow up today. But Jesus always saw a deeper meaning in these lessons from nature. He had created the laws of nature in such a way that they would teach us spiritual lessons if we will learn to observe them and recognize them and apply them to his spiritual kingdom. And so he hurries on here to point out that there's a lesson that he had created to teach us what the kingdom of heaven is like. And children, there are four more lessons that Jesus is teaching us for those of you who are drawing pictures to summarize everything that I'm preaching today. He did a beautiful job last week, and let me encourage you to go ahead this week. Lessons that Christ is teaching, and four more of them. The first is the point that we've already been talking about. that Jesus has created the world and the laws of nature in such a way as to illustrate, explain the principles of his kingdom and how it grows and develops. If we'll just learn to recognize those things and apply them, to read them and to understand them. Lessons like how a plant grows. And we've already hinted at this one too. That this is an autobiographical thing. Jesus is teaching us also about himself. And about he himself, how he himself grew. How he left heaven. How he was planted or sown on earth. How he grew in his mother's womb. He knew not how at that time. And then kept on growing in an amazing way in Nazareth and in Capernaum, in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. And then came his baptism at the Jordan River where he was identified. The stalk that came up and you could begin to see and know who it is. Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. Now for the first time people recognized him as being the sacrifice, the person his own son that the father had sent to take away the sin of the world. That was the blade stage of Jesus' own life for biography. when it was publicly announced that he would be God's sacrifice. And then came the green year stage of his life, as he began to fill out, and as he chose the disciples, as he cast out the demons, as he fought Satan and conquered him at every step in the road, as he healed the multitudes. It was a sour time too, when they reviled him and persecuted him, and they said all manner of evil against him falsely. And he was hot, and he was tired, and he was hungry, and he was hurt. But finally, it came to the full ear, full corn in the ear stage of his life. And just as soon as that grain was ripe, the sickle was put in, the harvest was come. Jesus was cut off. He was crucified. Did you ever see that? The biography of Jesus Christ in the seasons of the year and the crops as they're growing? He says, would you please learn to look and recognize these? Because so long as men live on earth, these things will be going on. And you can recognize the progress of my kingdom and the development of me and my kingdom by learning to read these lessons out of the routine carryings on of the world. That's why Jesus caused the laws of nature to work like that. That's why he had backed off after that particular day there in Genesis 1 and said, you know, it is all very good. That's what the kingdom of God is like. A third lesson Jesus is teaching us here is that this is the way it is to be with our own children. Maybe I'm talking primarily to parents now. But I'm also talking to all those who might someday be parents or who have been children of parents. Our own children are to grow the way Jesus grew, the way this grain grew. And that requires patience, wait on the Lord. That's why we sang that song. We'll probably be singing some more a little bit later on at the end. First comes those months of waiting and expectation. And it's hidden. We can't see. We're formed in secret, in the womb. But then comes the blade stage. When the baby's born, we know it's a boy, we know it's a girl, we begin to recognize who it is. Who it is. And second comes the green ear stage. And you mothers know especially, but so do you fathers. And we as a congregation welcome that. We want you to know that. Yeah, there's some sour sounds in that green ear stage, and some sour smells, and some sour conduct in that green ear stage. And Jesus, the Bible said, learned obedience through the things which he suffered. And again, it's a case of watching and waiting and working as they grow. It's again a time of waiting. And we don't expect those children to be mature overnight. I think that there would be some adults, it's been a while since they were children, who would like to go over and pull that little corn plant out and see what the roots are and then try to put it back. And they're impatient because we don't have instant maturity. And there may be parents a little bit like that. don't begrudge them time to grow up. Wait!" I've heard Margie say to a wife who was anxious because they were living in a home where the Christian people would come in and make an inspection from time to time, the people that he was working for. And there wasn't a particular inspection. It was just that this was a pretty high-ranking official. And she was anxious because a little six-year-old boy was sometimes crying and doing other things. And Margie, just after listening for a while, said, well, if a six-year-old boy can't be six years old when he's six years old, when can he be six years old? And if that man and woman can't recognize that, then they have a problem. But I'm afraid he's becoming like I was, and I don't want him to become like I was." That's pride. That's pride. Can't you wait? Grandfather and grandmother, what do they think? Well, there was a time when they had you, too. Can't you know that? That it requires patience? Jesus says, look, this is the way I grew, and that's the way we expect these children to grow. There'll be times when we'll have to slow them down here, when they're racing through from one end to the other, the church, and out in the grounds. But that's our responsibility, all of us, who were once that age. Particular responsibility of parents, yes. But it's our responsibility. And Jesus said they grow. And you need to be able to wait with that kind of patience. First it's the blade stage. And then it's the green corn in the ear stage. And then you watch for the growth, and you encourage the growth, and you rejoice in the growth, and you nourish towards that growth. And at every stage, you just know that you do not know how Christ is doing it. He's the one who's doing it. Oh, there's a lot of things that we as parents can do. And we have to do those things. But after all is said and done, it's Jesus that causes the growth. And we need to remember that with our own children most of all. And we're amazed at that. How did he ever turn out that way? I was just smiling not long ago at Bill Gothard's dad. who said in a sort of a half whisper over to me, I don't see how in the world we ever got him reared without knowing all these principles that he keeps spewing out all the time. And that's the way a person just sort of backs off and says, you know, only God could have caused that boy to be what he is. Only God could have caused that girl to be what she is. Grew? Just don't know how. Knew a lot of things, did a lot of things, but in the final analysis, it's his kingdom that the child is growing up into, and it is his kingdom that is growing up within that boy or that girl. I wish some of those who wrote the books on child development would be a little more careful on this point, and I'm not talking about any particular book. I've just seen so many who seem to say, now the whole responsibility is yours. But parents go to a certain point and they point the boy or girl to Christ and then they go to bed and they sleep and they get up in the morning and they realize, you know, the Lord has done this work and He's still doing it. Have that patience. Watch and wait and expect growth and development. Work towards it. and then rejoice when God produces it. And then admit after all is said and done that we still don't know how Jesus did the work. The fourth lesson that Jesus is teaching us here is one that we usually hear has to do with our witnessing. I'm sure the Apostle Paul had this in mind in 2 Corinthians 9 when he was talking about sowing and reaping generously. He's not just talking about sowing and reaping the money. That has to do with giving and the getting of money. I know that passage does. But he also speaks about the sowing and the reaping, the harvest of righteousness. Here again, we're so often impatient. We want instant fruit, we want instant growth, and we want instant spiritual maturity. And we think we know exactly how to bring that about. by converting a person, the bridge, the other means that God's given us, the testimony, and then the growth, teaching a person how to begin to study the Bible and apply it. And then the maturity, the blade, and then the green ear stage, and then the full corn in the ear stage. But here, Christ says, it's my word. that is the living seed, and you just get that word in there in such a way that it will begin answering the questions and show them where they can get that word, and then I will cause it to grow. You know not how. It is your responsibility to sow and to plow and to water, but God is the one who gives the increase. Never forget that. It is God who giveth the increase. It is God who is built into that life, that living seed, the quality, that causes it to begin to produce more of its own kind. Tony, sharing the gospel that God's put in her heart with a little friend in the middle of a move. When they're about as torn up as you can be. But she recognizes a need. And so that's in her heart. And she just can't help it. And she just shares that gospel that God has put in her heart. Tony Swayze. And the quality that causes a seed to produce more of its own kind. More of its own kind of faith and love and eternal life. Over and over again. I remember that summer that I was with Billy Graham out there in California. Not there only, but other places. As he finished preaching the Gospel, the Word always came through. I don't know whether you noticed or not, but it's still there. It began with the Word and it would always end with some quote from Scripture. He didn't call attention to it very often, but you look at it carefully, and it was always there. There was always some scripture. And then at the very end, he would sort of close his eyes, and as it were, almost back away. There would be quiet. And then he would open his eyes, and you would see people moving. And one of my responsibilities out there at the Coliseum Crusade, the first time I'd worked with them, was to talk with those people as they came in, in the infield. And over and over again, they were not aware of other people around them. There was some particular scripture that was in their mind. And I learned, and this is what I taught the counselors to do there, to look for the particular scripture that God had focused that mind on, to keep asking about it until they found that particular scripture. and then begin their counseling from that point on. But it was as though he had just sort of preached the word and then he backed off. And we just stand there praying. And then later, he would open his eyes and see the results. I was working from behind the scenes with the team at that time, and they'd encouraged me to watch and see what was going on. And I saw that. And really, that's what he's saying here. The farmer scatters the seed and then he goes and sleeps and it grows night and day and he knows not how. He just doesn't know. The seed causes the result. The seed of the word in that case. Jesus is teaching us about witnessing, evangelism. That's really why Margie and I will be going to Australia. and Amy, too, in these next two weeks, sowing and scattering seed and harvesting at the same time. So I want to ask every one of you to be doing that. But if I'm not doing it myself, how can I keep on asking you? And this is really what's happening. As God scatters us and sows his seed through us, then maybe that becomes a kind of bridge that would encourage you also to do that. As Tony's doing it, and I know many others of you are doing that, that you would share that gospel message with other people. Wherever in his world he wants you to be, and there should be no limit to that, there's no place in God's world, Christ's world, where we should not expect to find him working, or in outer space either if it came to that. We should always be expecting that. And as he takes us from place to place, then you'll come too. And he sort of pushes us out. And he says, you be ready because your turn is coming. And that'll be before long. The fourth lesson of Jesus teaching us in the parable here has to do with our own lives. Question. Have you found these same three stages of spiritual life and growth in your life? First, the blade stage, where you became a Christian, and you let other people know about it. You went public. Other people came to know that you were a Christian. You prepared a statement describing how you came to know Jesus. I didn't have anybody to tell me to do that. When I became a Christian back there at college. But I remember sitting down and writing a little paper, what Christ means to me. And that I began trying to tell other people. You prepared some kind of a statement that you could explain to other people what Christ had done to you. Eric did that not very long ago. He wrote that thing for the class. Teacher says, you need to make a certain kind of speech. And so he said, hey, this is a good idea. So he prepared his speech in such a way to explain what Jesus had done in his heart. And then he got in trouble. I know I won't say that. But anyhow, he shared it with the class. And it had quite a reaction in the class. And response, because I'm saying that even some of those who reacted will respond. Because you see, there was scripture there. You can't help. When you've spoken the word, you know that there's going to be response. The blade stage, can you remember when that took place in your own heart and life? If you can't, then think about it, because maybe it hasn't. Maybe it's still hidden there. You've heard the word, but maybe it's still hidden. And in that case, we'll pray about that at the close of the service today. But then came the green ear stage. when there was temptation and people could mock you and ridicule you. And you began finding that it wasn't always easy to memorize scripture. And some people say, I'm too young. And some people say, I'm too old. And some people say, I'm too in between and don't have time for it. But there's always some kind of a resistance there to the memorization of God's word. Memorize anything else in the world, your license plate, your telephone number, The figures you have to work with at business, I just can't memorize scripture. There's always resistance to the memorization of scripture and the reading of scripture even. I get the time all set up and I can't find my Bible. I find my Bible and then there isn't any place. And then I find the time and the place in the Bible and the telephone rings. And there's always this resistance in this green ear stage. And then prayer. And what do you pray for? And you have a prayer list and you get that prayer list all worked out and then you become a slave to the prayer list and forget to put the answers in as well as the requests. And so it becomes a dull, grinding, driving thing. Then I begin doing all this in order to get God to love me. I read the Bible and I pray and I share my faith and I do these things, the right things, for the wrong reasons. It's the green ear stage. It's all part of that green ear stage. But the Word is there, and it keeps coming in, and it keeps growing, and pretty soon there does come that full corn in the ear stage. We begin to sense some fruit, and the kernels begin to multiply, and somebody else hears Jesus talking through you to them, and they want to know Him, and they come to know Him. and you begin to enjoy Jesus Christ, and you begin to enjoy the Word of God all over again, and you begin to enjoy talking to Him in prayer, and you begin to enjoy worshiping Him with other people who belong to Him, and you no longer are afraid that it's going to become a legalistic thing. You just forget that and enjoy Him, and enjoy His Word, and enjoy talking to Him. Need to expect growth and continuing development. You need to know that. Years ago, I told you the story about the little girl. And some of you maybe have been there. And she fell out of bed one night. And the people downstairs heard her thump the floor. And they went up in time to pick her up and stop her tears. And somebody said to her, well, why did you fall out of bed? And she said, well, she guessed it was because she went to sleep too close to where she got in. I think a lot of Christians do that. They go to sleep in their Christian life too close to where they got in. And so 5, 10, 15 years later, they're still praying the same prayer that they prayed when they got in. And they haven't read much more of God's word than when they got in. And Jesus did tell this parable to explain our own personal life and growth. Every person who becomes a Christian grows in this way. This is normal Christian growth. So in the future, when you see a field of corn, or of soybeans, or of any other crop for that matter, in the spring, that's the blade stage. In the summer, that's the green ear stage. In the fall, That is the full corn-in-the-ear stage. Jesus, through that field of crops, is teaching us about His kingdom, about how it grows in us and how it grows around us. First, how His own life grew biographically. Second, about the life and growth of our own children. It requires patience. And third, about witnessing and what the scriptures say about waiting for that gospel to take root and grow and produce results. And fourth, about our own personal life and growth. The kingdom of God, he said, is like a man who scattered his seed night and day. Whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. First the blade, then the green ear, then the full corn in the ear. God, thank you for explaining to us not only what your long-range plan for your world is, but how that long-range plan will work out. God, we pray that you would bless every soul here. Any soul here this morning that's saying, Well, I'm not even sure that I've come to the blade stage where I really do know of the relationship between yourself and myself, that I am a Christian. God, hear that person as they make a prayer right now within their own hearts and pray it. A prayer that would go something like this, God, I'm not sure that I know you, the way that man's talking about right now. But I want to be sure of that. Would you forgive me for not being as you are, for not thinking as you think, and talking as you talk, and living as you live? Would you forgive me? Would you forgive me for the sin, the things that I've done against you, whether I knew them or not, Would you forgive me? As best I know how, I hereby trust in whatever it was you were doing on that cross to make everything right between yourself and myself. Instead of trusting in what I can do for you, I just hereby trust in what you've already done for me to make everything right. Come into my heart. Be my Savior and my Lord. God cause me to be known as one who belongs to you. Now I thank you for hearing this prayer. Now God bless each one of us as we keep on growing through the green corn in the year stage on through to the full corn in the year stage. God bless us as we recognize in the laws of botany around us, the very description that you've built into them for your building of your kingdom. In Jesus' name, Amen. In closing, let's sing together from Psalm 72 C. Psalm 72 C. We'll sing the first three stanzas, then pause for the benediction, and we'll sing the final stanza. Sing the first three stanzas of 72C, then pause for the benediction, and sing the last stanza. Let's rise to sing. On hilltops on a hill, little green like Lebanon, with fruit shall wait, few like the city shall attain. She shall, like grass, grow and extend. She shall, like grass, grow and extend. Long as the sun his name shall last, it shall endure through ages long, and men shall still in him be blessed. Blessed all the nation shall him call. Blessed all the nation shall him call. The grace of God the love of Jesus Christ, the communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be and abide with every one of you, now and forevermore. Amen. as the ages shall endure, for all the earth extend his fame. Amen, amen, forevermore. Amen, amen, forevermore.