In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that God is all energy, life, and power. Christ is described as being everything to believers - wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The preacher then discusses the concept of captivity and how the psalmist prays for God to turn their captivity, referencing the turning of the Red Sea and the Jordan River. The sermon concludes with a discussion on the Christian life, highlighting the importance of sowing seeds with tears and the promise of rejoicing and bringing in a harvest.

Father we're grateful tonight again for the assurance in our hearts that where'er we meet thee thou art found and every place is hallowed ground. We thank you Lord that you said that if we draw nigh to thee you'll draw nigh to us. And we're glad that the supplies are exactly the same for us as if there were a thousand people here. We're so glad that giving does not impoverish thee and withholding does not enrich thee. As we have sung these beautiful hymns we thank you again for this rock upon which we stand. We thank you for Jesus our shepherd, our saviour, our friend, our prophet, our priest, our king, our Lord, our life, our way, our end. Accept the praise we bring. We thank you too that you're not like this weather which is so unstable, one day warm and the next day freezing. You're not like the opinions of men which vary so very quickly, not like the wind which one hour is in one direction and the next hour in another. We thank you that your word is settled in heaven. We're glad that we have built on the foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ and upon the apostles and prophets and this word which shall from age to age endure. We think of the great world about us. Your word says the field is the world and today there are those who have gone forth and they've scattered the seed, seed that they'll never harvest and some have harvested where they did not sow. But you said that one day the sower and the reaper shall rejoice together. We thank you for this that with thee there is justice and righteousness. We thank you for those who have penetrated new areas of heathendom today where the gospel has been told for the very first time and the name that many use nearly very often in profanity has become a new word in some language, a new name about a person they've never known and a revelation that they've never heard of. We thank you for those who break these barriers down and press forward and tell others of this great emancipator the Lord Jesus who is able to save to the most all who come unto God by him. We pray again for our absent friends you know the reason for their absence. If they're sick we ask you to quicken their bodies by the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead. If they have other legitimate reasons for absence we pray your blessing on them and if they've only excuses we ask you to speak to their hearts. Again we thank you for the blessings of this day. We thank you for sight that we can see. We thank you for bodies that are fed and clothed. We thank you that we're not in areas torn by earthquakes and disasters. We would not accept these as the mere benefits that we ought to have. We recognize again they're in that scope of your mercy and and of your love and greatness and we thank you for them. We pray for those who are afflicted this way that you'll give comfort and strength to them and to those who minister to them. We ask again in the word of your word that the words of our mouths and the meditation of your our hearts may be acceptable. Grant Lord that this meeting may bring joy to your own heart that we may offer you an acceptable sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving and of adoration because we ask this in Jesus name. We look at a psalm tonight excuse me psalm 126 psalm 126 there are six verses in it. Let me read them they're not so very long. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen the Lord hath done great things for them the Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad turn again our captivity O Lord as the streams in the south they that sow in tears shall reap in joy he that go forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him. Well that are the six verses and as I read them I thought there are six movements in these six verses and it would be easier if there was one in each verse but all the six are in the last verse he that goeth so you have somebody going he that goeth forth weeping so he's going and he's weeping and he's bearing precious seed that's the outward journey and the return journey is he's coming again and with rejoicing and bringing his sheaves or bringing his trophies with him. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion I can't find anybody that identifies this captivity it could have been a captivity like the children of Israel had in Babylon or when they were for 400 years in Egypt or it could be captivity to a plague or a drought or some other thing but the fact is that the Lord had turned again the captivity now notice it's the captivity of Zion and I hadn't thought about that to be honest until today it's not a captivity of Jerusalem it's not the captivity of Judah it's not a captivity of Israel it is the captivity of Zion. Jerusalem is a rocky area and on the north side there's one hill by the name of Zion and if you read the Psalms and memorize them or just think on them you remember in Psalm 137 there's that famous saying that when we sat down by the waters of Babylon that they wept when they remembered Zion. Again the psalmist says walk about Zion and go round about her not around Jerusalem walk about Zion and go round about her tell all her towers tell all her towers mark well her bulwarks and consider her palaces and tell it to the generation following thee. Now why does he say when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion? Again it's not Jerusalem it's not Judah it's not Israel it is Zion. So there is one elevation outside of the city or part of the city which is called Zion. We used to sing a hymn I just recall it now in the old Methodist class meeting the hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the golden streets. Well all I can think of is that on Zion on the hill of Zion the temple was built and this is why it speaks of God delivering Zion and not necessarily just Jerusalem again or Judah or Israel but there on that mount on that peak the temple was built and the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion. And you know I again this is something historic but I believe it's something prophetic too. As I often say to people and I try to teach anyhow I say now you won't agree with me and where you disagree you know you're wrong but I think this is a type of church and I believe the church is in captivity today. She's in captivity. She's in captivity to men, she's in captivity to systems, she's certainly in captivity to money. If the money flow drops in the next year most of our churches will close down because they run on money they measure their success. Do you know how much we have in the bank? Do you know this? We're worshipping at the shrine of success, money, numbers and everything like that and God has never done that. God has always taken the remnant. Gideon thought man if I can get a great army to move for God and God says son just I like your enthusiasm sit down a minute. Man that was a big reduction when you think of the thousands and tens of thousands that he lost and oh Lord when are you going to quit this? The Lord says that's all right I can do more with a feeble group of men who are totally committed than a whole bunch of zealots and enthusiasts that are going to back out as soon as the enemy begins to attack. All right that's the thought because actually I want to talk about the last verse. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream. Now that can mean a number of things. Have you ever had a dream that you wish you could dream over? Or you woke up and said my I wish it was real. You know when you rode down main street in a chariot and everybody bowed to you and all you'd suddenly come into all those things you've dreamed of. But have you had a dream the other way you say oh thank God that'll never happen that was never true. They're like them that dream. Dreams can be so good and dreams can be so bad. But you see what it's really saying here is this you know I we never dreamed I never used that phrase you have I never dreamed this would happen. They never dream they get out of captivity. You know that 12th chapter in Acts where Peter's in jail there and he gets liberated and it says that what does it say in that 12th chapter he couldn't believe it. In essence it says that the angel said unto him gird thyself bind on thy sandals and so he did and he said unto him cast thy garment about thee and follow me and he went out and followed him and wist not that it was true. In other words I can't believe it. He couldn't believe it that's the ninth verse of chapter 12. And you see what you reap he went and knocked at the door. Peter continued knocking but when they opened the door and saw him they were astonished they couldn't believe it. Isn't that a great reward for the Lord's faithfulness that he couldn't believe he was out of jail and they wouldn't believe he was out of jail. Isn't that great after you've prayed and sweat and said Lord we believe you're going to do it believe you're going to do it. Hey Peter's at the oh come on go to bed you're having dreams aren't you. It can't be true. You know and then you have another marvellous illustration of this and I was reading it there I guess it's in don't read it now the 43rd chapter of where is it Exodus where or Genesis where it says that um Jacob oh he he he pulled a few fast tricks didn't he he was a shrewd old boy he stole a birthright he stole a blessing he cheated he lied. Do you know what happens what you sow you reap. Do you remember he had a son called Joseph and he was sold to the Ishmaelites and finally God manipulated it so that they had to go to Egypt for help. Isn't it amazing they were in the land of promise but they weren't satisfied with milk and honey and nuts and nutmegs and all the other things they had to go to Egypt for help. You know God has some strange ways of working. They were not satisfied they could not live on what they had you still need bread and butter with all the luxuries you may have you there are still basic necessities and they had to go to Egypt for help you remember how they went and when they got there they certainly had a lot of trouble. Oh yes the man said you've come to spy out our country. He's a very handsome man he's an Egyptian he spoke Egyptian he spoke through an interpreter he fooled them all the time like like Jacob had fooled others. Well if your father's such a good man you say you've one brother that isn't and that's a strange story and you have a father at home and he has a another son with him and you're all sons of a man who has a son that isn't there and a son that didn't come. Well all right off you go. Remember they put the the money back in the sack one of them opened it to feed his uh his old nag and when he opened it there was oh he was terrified. They went back to their father and told the story and he said well this is mysterious but take the money back and they all found money when they got back he'd put their money back into the sack and then when they went back again for help this shrewd man on the throne said well the only time you can get it next time is bring your brother. Well it'll kill my old father well then I'm sorry well then Simeon says let me stay as a bondsman we will we will come back let me stay here and then you remember Reuben came in and then Judah came in all arguing later with with the um king and then with the father and finally Joseph said well pardon me Jacob said it's going to kill me. My other son he said was bitten and devoured. Why didn't you tell the man you had a younger son because he asked us is the old man is your father yet alive have you another brother yes well we couldn't lie to him all right and you remember they went back again and then finally they came back and they said oh we want to tell you I've got to tell you something you know it's amazing that's a fantastic story it needs a lot of meditation really but you know it says that when they got into the presence of Joseph when he unveiled himself in his majesty they were uncomfortable well do you wonder all the dirty tricks they pulled on the other hand you'd have thought they'd have said oh how marvelous because he said he meant it for evil God meant it for good he said you definitely tried to injure me and God had this planned all the time you couldn't see it you know someone said that Joseph is a type of the Lord Jesus in his final glory because his 11 brothers have bowed down before him and one day the the 11 apostles are going to bow down before the Lord Jesus plus an extra one that was put in but remember when when they did go home and somebody ran in first and said father father now just just hold yourself very tight now you know this is going to shut your nose but do you know what what you don't mean they kept my youngest son no no uh that Joseph's still living he's still alive he's actually a king he sits on the throne we saw him he spoke to us he pulled his mask off he pulled his robes off and and he sent the other people out and you know he fooled that he'd been talking to an interpreter and he speaks our language because he does he was brought up with it and he put his arms around us and he embraced us i can't believe it dad come to the door look look look at all these you see what he sent us he gave us all a an ass or something a cart loaded with goods but he sent five or seven for you and he and he sent extra for our brother Benjamin seven times as much and when he saw the bounty he said my my he is yet alive and finally he went down and he saw him and he said now i can die because my son lived but he said i can't believe that he's alive you know we don't have any prayers that old man had prayed you don't know how many nightmares he had you don't know how many different ways he thought that Joseph had been destroyed he could have been torn apart he could still have been a slave camping under the Ishmaelites that old man had had a thousand miserable nights over it grief that nobody knew his heart had been torn and suddenly it's all restored to him remember the queen of sheba when she came they told a lot of tall stories and remember how she was taken around by the uh taken around by the um the king and finally she said uh well i want to tell you the the half has never yet been told and so again it's the same with us as it was in this psalm it's psalm 126 for the good ladies that have just come in when the lord turned again our captivity we were like them that dream you know it's going to be like that with us when we when we wake up in eternity it's going to be so shattering it's going to be so beyond anything i don't care if you've heard the most eloquent descriptive preachers you know painting the clouds with sunshine and weaving the stars and making and when we get there you know it's going to be so small it's going to be so far short of the glory that is yet to be revealed as the apostle says all right verse two says then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing but then said they among the heathen the lord hath done great things for them i don't know that any other place in history that a people ever go back totally from captivity into a place of joy and gladness and restoration like these people did here again reminding you for the ladies that came in when the lord turned again the captivity of zion it was not the captivity of jerusalem not the captivity of judah it wasn't the captivity of israel it was a captivity of zion which is a type of the church zion is a is a hill outside of jerusalem the temple was built on it and they loved it again and again you you turn up and see how many times in the scripture zion is mentioned and the psalmist said if i forget the old jerusalem well let my my my my right hand lose its cunning which was the essential hand for for hunting with let my hand be paralyzed and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth but you see when they were restored in all their majesty you know it it's almost impossible for us well it is impossible not almost it is impossible for us to consider the environment in which these people lived not only did they have no black roads and shops and unions and planes and all these things they were surrounded by heathen gods and people paid all kinds of homage to their gods but their gods never answered their gods never did anything that when the children of israel or when these people prayed god answered their prayers and it says then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen the lord has done great things for them then they replied the lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad notice what he says their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue with singing the tongue expresses what's in the heart as a man thinketh in his heart so he speaks and their hearts were so overflowing with joy that not only their mouths were filled with laughter that has no language but they had a language they had a language of praise and adoration and with their tongues they were extelling god and speaking of his majesty and when the people outside said god has done great things they said man you don't even know what he's done you haven't been in captivity as we have you've never tasted of the fullness and goodness of god and our mouths are filled we're laughing and not only laughing we're filled with praise and we're filled with adoration and where things were filled with thanksgiving so there you have the praise and then you have the prayer in verse four turn again our captivity o lord as streams in the south what streams well surely that must refer to the time that god turned the red sea for the children of israel and uh and the jordan because the lord had turned those rivers and they said this is our god you see what a mighty hand he has he doesn't even have to reach out of the clouds he speaks the word he spoke the word in creation let there be light and suddenly light comes into being you see god is if we could use it with a big big big big capital ee god is all energy he is all life he is all power christ is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption and otherwise he is all in all well then there's some captivity here again because he says turn our captivity or turn our final captivity o lord as you turn the streams in the south now here's a law for us i say the first the second verse two is praise and verse four is prayer and verse five is passion they that sow in tears shall reap in joy now let me express this again to share with the ladies that came in six movements in this next verse three outward going weeping daring and three on the return trip coming again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves coming rejoicing bringing is the return journey all right they that sow in tears shall reap in joy and this should be connected here he that goeth forth and weepeth daring precious seed again this is so difficult for us to appreciate we live in a day of mass production you just go over the fields not too far north and you'll see well at this time of the year maybe six massive plows great big fortunes and they're pulling plows with about 10 blades on and they go up and then there's another 10 there and man they cut a field up in half time they just slice that field up like that and then on they go they do it by contract they move right up the country a few months after you get the the same thing in these colossal what do you call them threshing machines binders and they take what a 12 or 15 foot swath as wide as this place nearly and right at the tail there's another and then there's another and before long they've taken 100 feet right off they they slice the field up but i remember a few years ago in we were in ireland and we were in a place called donny gall where they make that knobbly kind of treed and it's typical of the country there because that there was a whole family out an old man whose legs would hardly go but all of them had the same implement you know they had they had a sickle a half moon sickle and they sharpened it and the old man he got hold of that uh that tall those oats with loving care put his arms around he cut them there with that sickle and the mother was there and the children were there and there were boulders as large as this and just in between where there were little pockets of dirt they'd sown that seed and you know what that seed was very precious they didn't leave too much for the birds anybody else now it says he that goeth forth weeping bearing precious seed you see here's a law of harvesting you know it says in in hosea hosea what is it chapter um 10 i think it is look it up after it talks there about us sowing ourselves so unto yourself in righteousness now it doesn't say so in the church it doesn't say so in the world you can't do that it says so to yourselves in righteousness why because uh there's a salvation army hymn uh jesus tender lover of my soul a very beautiful hymn and the expression of the hymn writer there is this keeper of the garden of my heart now if you turn your eyes inward at this moment you know the eyes of your understanding the eyes of your knowledge look at the garden of your heart has it got fruit in it as well it got weeds in it you they made me the keeper of the vineyard my own vineyard i've not kept the trouble with preachers and evangelists is they go around with a set of sermons and things and you find their own lives run to waste why they're keeping somebody else's vineyard they're not keeping their own vineyard they're not weeding it they're not watering it they're not taking care of it they're not pruning it you remember the apostle says whatsoever things are lovely and whatsoever things are a good report think on these things you see again i emphasize the the side of human responsibility in the development of our spiritual lives let us lay aside every weight let us put on the whole armor of god let us keep ourselves in the love of god that's what the apostle says and and and i have to take care of this part of my nature if i don't those weeds are going to come back boy the scripture hebrews what 13 says lest there be new any root of bitterness dr sanctuary westminster used to say i i believe in the sanctified life all right but uh if you speak of the old man or the old nature being like a rotten tooth you can pull out well it would be nice if it was like that if you could get rid of indwelling sin like you get rid of your appendix when it kicks up you'd you'd go and have it out and say thank the lord that's taken care of once for all i believe it could stay like that but it doesn't necessarily stay like that because you see it's a spirit it's a disposition of worldliness it's a disposition of anger it's a disposition of lust it's a disposition of bitterness and jesus says if you if you if you were to cast the demons and devils out of the room and leave it empty then you'll find other spirits come in far worse than what went out therefore there must be the indwelling of the holy spirit of god and again he constrains us and he restrains us but we have to sow to ourselves in righteousness and what you sow you'll reap uh there's a law too that says if you if you sow uh what is it if you if you uh sow sparingly you you you uh reap sparingly and uh if you sow bountifully you reap bountifully that that's that's god's law where was i reading today where uh i can't think of the scripture for the moment now uh somewhere in matthew i marked it i guess in my no maybe i marked it in this bible let me just look and see if i can see it here no i can't i just don't remember i'll skip that anyhow let me let me go back to this they that sow in tears shall reap in joy do you remember that 61st chapter in isaiah where it says concerning the lord jesus he gives beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness they that so in tears shall reap in joy i think one of the greatest verses concerning the lord jesus in his passion is given there in that fifth chapter of hebrews in which it says in verse seven who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death was heard in that he feared you know that that's difficult to grasp in the first place in the days of his flesh he didn't need to have one he had 33 years in the days of his flesh he didn't need to have one not from his standpoint he could have stayed in eternity and as the heavens are high above the earth he was so high up there angels and cherubim and everybody worshiping and then uh as that lovely hymn says what condescension bringing us redemption when in the depth of night want not one faint hope in sight god gracious tender laid aside his splendor stooping to woo to win to save the last what condescension the greatest distance in the world is not between stars you can't measure them it's not between the sun and the moon and the the sun and the earth you can measure that's 93 million miles so we're told the greatest distance immeasurable distance is between the holiness of god and the sinfulness of man and it was bridged in a babe just about that length that little babe bridged the holiness of god and the sinfulness of man in the days of his flesh when he offered up prayers and supplication with with strong crying and tears well well when did he do it well i i can only think of two instances that would supply a satisfactory answer as far as i'm concerned anyhow and one would be either in the in the days of the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness or i think rather the days of the the period that he had there in the garden of gethsemane you see i i i don't like pictures of jesus i never had one in the house i never will because nobody ever gave us the right picture of jesus i don't like jesus that all the pictures of gentle jesus meek and mild don't believe jesus was like that at all i believe jesus was a big strong healthy man he wasn't attracted physically attracted physically in the way we think of it but you see there's such a thing again as tozer said about their old abe lincoln he was so he was so ugly he was beautiful his craggy features man i i remember once seeing a bust of him i wished a thousand times i bought it it was 12 and that was an awful lot of money for me 20 years ago but if i saw it now i'd buy it it was a magnificent that his features you know they speak of strength and character and you can have your smart man you know little mustaches curled and all the rest they have and sideburns and all the trimmings they don't come any near anywhere near the character the picture of jesus to me is a picture of a strong man a rugged man and he prayed with strong crying and tears you know that that's not that's not a good translation in fact there are lots of greek words you can't translate and this word here is he he prayed with passion he prayed with entreaty he prayed with with a massive burden upon his spirit uh there was a a very wonderful man he's given us some wonderful hymns john wesley translated some of the hymns of count zinzendorf the moravian and he was a very wonderful man a very talented rich man and on his estate he he brought a lot of refugees and he built homes and he cared for them and they were the people that had revival at herndon in 1737 he came to christ because in an art gallery he saw a picture of christ on the cross and underneath the artist had put this i did this for thee what hast thou done for me and dr tozer said i never accept that i i don't believe jesus ever asked for for discipleship on those levels jesus demanded loyalty jesus demanded you take up your cross there's nothing sentimental about jesus not in the way we think of sentiment jesus was praying here with strong crying and tears why because he was going to the cross no no no i don't believe that i don't believe that for a moment he measured the cost of the cross before he came to earth from the found before the foundation of the earth he had already taken measure of the sinfulness of men and what the cross was going to mean to him we sing some pretty sentimental hymns about the cross the only thing is that you've got to watch that uh you don't believe that jesus said what the hymn writers think i think he said i don't believe jesus was whimpering and whining i don't think he asked for compassion this cross is too heavy he weighed that cross i suggest you that when jesus here is praying with strong crying and tears i'm going to make this suggestion i never read it but it came to him in prayer today i believe that immediately jesus got there into the into the anguish of gethsemane oh it's true the hymn writer says none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters cross but you know what as soon as jesus got into that anguish of gethsemane he began to feel the awfulness of sin in the word of the psalmist all thy billows have gone i i suggest to you that the moment that jesus was was wrestling and saying if it'd be possible i'm going to suggest you that he saw every sin that ever came into the world he saw every broken life he saw every jailer he saw every harlot he saw every sin he saw every grave it didn't have to happen but it had happened i think to him i'd have been weeping not for his situation but those disciples man he trained them for three years and all he gets is desertion most of us don't like that we begin to cry we begin to ask for help we look here and look there i'm not saying it's wrong it's a sign that isn't too much strength for sure that jesus is praying with strong crying and tears unto one who is able to save him from death but it doesn't ask that he said to that that he wanted to be saved from death jesus is praying with strong crying and with tears again i believe because he had an awful awful vision of the sinfulness of men now an hour two hours maybe some of you three i don't know you're all into bed and as you do just whisper to yourself that 270 000 people died today without christ 270 make it make it an even quarter of a million people die every day without the knowledge of christ you know it says that this is a law in the christian life that he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing going forth and weeping i'll tell you the thing that came to my mind i can't just remember the chapter in matthew that i was reading today about those disciples when peter says well lord uh jesus just been saying a rich man can't enter into heaven i didn't say that he said how hardly he didn't say he won't he said they're extremely difficult and then he came a bit further down in the chapter and peter says well listen lord uh let me just remind you we gave up everything we had you know we packed up business as soon as you told us what do we get well all we've got is three years of folk joking at us laughing at us peter you made a bad investment i mean this fellow's going to die anyhow what are you going to do when he goes i mean come on face it we haven't got much out of this oh you talk about sowing well how long did peter so well he sold a lot of problems in the in the time that he was with jesus for those three years sure enough and he lived a lot a bit longer and we're told he had the honor of being crucified like jesus only better than jesus he was crucified upside down the bible doesn't say tradition says it if you can trust her she's a lying jane at times but maybe it was so but i'll tell you what jesus said there's no guesswork about it you're saying we've been sowing for three years what do we get out of it i'll tell you what you get out of it in the regeneration when the son of man sits on his throne you twelve are going to sit on thrones what do you think of that in god's name where is there a bigger investment well that's all he asked you and i to do you or at times you might feel like whimpering or forget it two minutes in eternity will clean all that up for us man we'll feel so foolish we'll feel that falling flat and saying lord you remember that day on the 12th of december 1976 i was under the weather and i thought things weren't going well and and even my husband aren't being too good or some friend hadn't done well and and you won't you you'll just look back man you'll look back and say what lord if there's any repentance in heaven i want to do it right now i repent that i ever murmured i thought a silly thought like that what are we going to get for what we've done well i'll tell you you're going to get your eyes open your understanding open and i hope your mouth will be open to worship and praise and adore the lamb because all i've asked is a little investment of your skinny little life and for that you're going to rule on thrones peter you'd have ended up with your head chopped off you're always speaking against you to spotting against the romans that have thrown you to the before you got through you sit down and think about it you know it's going to be exactly like that you know god is never any man's debtor he's never any man's debtor he that go forth and weeping bearing precious seed did you notice the news today or did you hear it that what did we lose this this past week we've lost the cattle crop on the on the west coast they're going to kill 150 million dollars worth of cattle they can't feed them there hasn't been enough rain and they're dying so they're going to cut the whole crop out and the raisin crop better get some raisins in the raisins were the rain came at the wrong time when it came at just the time they wanted to dry all the raisins and instead of that they're all messed up and there was another crop i forget which it is so so uh california has lost in the last few months over a billion dollars worth of harvest that we will need next year that will not be there and the man who predicted the earthquake last night he said he was sorry he made a mistake he missed it by an hour but he's predicted that southern california has one on the 20th of december which can't be very rosy to look at but but again you see we we think in terms in our modern terms do you know why it says bearing precious seed i make some suggestions to you one because sowing in the way they had to sow and reap was a very hazardous risky thing you see i say we go with big plows do you know how they went well i've seen men in india plowing and you know what it was it was a piece of wood with a sharp point pulled by another man and all they did was about stick the nose of that plow about an inch below ground and then somebody followed with the seed and it so happens there are things flying the sky called birds and they might take 50 of the precious seed you put in the ground but i'm told in the in this old testament scene that that when they hadn't had a good crop they would they would put their their seed on one side the golden grain this is for bread this is for something else but this is seed for next year you can't touch it and you know they'd have a severe winter they'd have a they'd have more problems than they thought of and that seed will all dry up and in the early spring mother would start rationing out the food and when the when the when the father went out with his seed basket she would run after him weeping and saying please don't put it in the ground the children can't live till the harvest comes give me it give me it and they said it was seeds and weeping all the way over those fields they knew what this meant he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing you see there's the there's the return journey he's going and he's weeping it says earlier in the chapter our mouth was filled our tongue with singing sent then said they it becomes personal here he that goeth forth weeping bearing precious seed well obviously he'd broken the ground up before that now remember once going up on the train from minneapolis to canada it was weather something like this and when we got up in the northern area where there are some marvelous wheat fields there they uh there was a farmer and he he had his coat up to his ears and he had a kind of a skull cap on and he had big gloves up here he had an old tractor and he had a radio on the side and i was sitting in the train window looking up and i could see him and when i went past i waved like this and he went you know and i didn't know whether he waved or he was disgusted he just did that and and then when i got further i and he was you know that that furrow he made must have been a mile long and i thought what a job i'm glad i'm not a farmer sitting there in the frost just driving that crazy machine you know slow slow slow his nose was red and oh man did i pity him and he just went and when i came back more than a week after he had finished that field it was all talk but you know he'd gone up and down up and down pulling with about three blades on a plow over acres it looked like a hundred acres or more in that field breaking what well the scripture says you to break up the fallow ground before you saw the seed and you see again you you think of breaking something you say hey are you going down by sears ask them to put this number in and get me this back in two days from san anton will you you know he had to do if he broke a plot he had to make a new one and in that time there was a delay and maybe the floods would come and he couldn't make his his seed he couldn't sow it and he went forth weeping he'd all kinds of problems somebody would steal some of the things he had in every frustration you can but you know what happened let me go back to the man who plowed about hundred acres as i went up to canada i went up again in the fall of the year and when i went do you know who was gathering the harvest all the in-laws and the outlaws all granny was there with a bonnet on there was a table spread in the middle of the field there were sandwiches and there were bottles of stuff to drink you know and they were having a whale of a time why well uh because you uh you do the sowing yourself but there's always a lot of folk when there's a harvest around oh they'll come and all the sweat is being done and the hard work and the toil and they were all there rejoicing in the field and i thought well i wonder which of those men is the man i saw with a thought he'd a light on his nose a big red nose and sitting like this the steering wheel jogging over that rough rough ground and now everybody's happy what does it say the the world has a saying if you laugh the world laughs with you and if you if you weep you weep alone well the apostle said paul may plant an apollos water but but god gives the increase and you know there's always an increase yeah you you don't know who did the but we see who does the reaping that god is just and god says that one day the sower and the reaper shall uh well it says here they'll doubtless i like that word there's no question about it as i said earlier today the church is in captivity everywhere the church is in cap in america we're in captivity it's free as well we're in captivity we're in bondage to old ideas it's difficult to tear down some of the stuff in our minds we think the only way of revival is swinging on chandeliers and having a whale of a time but it says here he that goeth forth and and weepeth bearing precious seed you know weeping is the forerunner of reaping but i'll tell you what if you announce you're going to a breakfast at five dollars a breakfast plate or a banquet at night for five dollars and you're going to preach on weeping you wouldn't get too many there they don't have headaches that night and indigestion and visitors coming in or something that that's not what we want and yet this is a law of god he that goeth forth you know it isn't possible to to even get the slightest idea of how many people you and i are in debt to tonight down the ages since the days of the apostles martyrs and prophets and people who died and uh just stunk they were they were left to rot that's all there was to it and yet you know why they they went through the hardship because they knew let's take this one classic case here again the the wonderful story of of young stephen the delayed actions of god are wonderful i'm sure the early church thought stephen was going to be their apostle paul he man he was young aggressive maybe not 20 years of age he was going to lead the the new army of jesus and before long they they stood there and uh and they saw jesus they saw pardon stephen and people threw rocks but wait a minute we always talk about stephen there and we talk about the apostle paul here he was saw but what about the hundreds of other spectators that were there all you know and i know is that saw that day was was haunted day night for months and now he couldn't sleep for the face of a man screaming no no no no face of a man whose face was as radiant as that lamp his face they saw the face like the face of an angel we had a pastor he was a little guy i don't think he doesn't i don't think he doesn't meant much for me except left a few thoughts in my mind but one thing he was always saying the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church that's it it's the blood of the martyr it's the seed of the church it's not education a man called me yesterday and told me about bishop kevengery that was in their church just a few months ago he's reputedly the kind of modern apostle of africa and uh and he said uh he he really was forthright and outright and downright in what he said and he said they'd hundreds of young people there college men university men bible school folk it was a three-day conference and he said young men most of you don't need to go to bible school you have enough knowledge even now you need to seek the face of god and get the anointing of god for the hour in which we live well that's it that's it but you see even the son of god himself he was no stranger to weeping he wept over jerusalem the apostle paul says i've told you night and day and i've told you with weeping they're enemies of the cross of christ he says i've been in this city for nearly three years and i've been from door to door even in other places and i've wept over the city i often think of that word of the psalmist in which he says store my tears in my bottle i think it's going to be a wonderful day when god uncorks that bottle when those tears come out more precious than any jewel that was ever in the crown of queen elizabeth or cleopatra all those tears the precious tears of jesus the tears of the apostle paul the tears that were wet by saints and men and women who not out of self-pity but but their desire to see the glory of god restored in the church the slaves to sin emancipated yeah they didn't look very good that day i'll tell you i believe as i meditated on it today i guess that scores of people left that martyrdom of young stephen with a great big question mark in their hearts and mind i believe that day the seed was sown in many many many many hearts that we won't know a thing about until we get to eternity and who knows what seed has been sown today all over the world no trumpet sounding down walter cronkite didn't mention it tonight but god in heaven saw it and you know i i i'm sure it's true as old um what was his name now the thomas cook i think it was of cliff college he wrote a book on soul winning and in it he says this that some men are so good at plowing fallow ground the lord won't let them reap and some men are so good at reaping god won't let them do the work of breaking up the fallow ground and sowing the seed and carrying the burden until people come to deliverance but again there's a law of sawing sawing and there's a law of reaping and sometimes the worst thing that comes into our lives is a very best thing the thing that does some breaking the thing that does some tearing up in order that the seed can get down and the roots can get down and then god waters and he's very jealous for that seed we wouldn't have thought one day when a little black boy left africa he will be the key to revival in certain areas of america though he hardly had a word of knowledge or just a few words of the scripture and this is the way god works i look often now at the somebody said the other week uh three weeks ago all the all the acorns started falling off the oak trees around our house and somebody said well that's a sign of an early winter and a bad one i see today the tv news said this is going to be maybe the most severe winter we've had for 20 years in the south it's going to be a pretty tough winter you know i look at all those little acorns and you know what it isn't true what our teachers told us at school that inside every acorn there's a tree actually inside every acorn there's a forest because if that tree gets up it grows and it multiplies and it spreads and it spreads and you can't tell you can't tell just where it's going to end so let's submit ourselves to him let him break up the fallow ground let him sow the seed in us that he wants to bring forth a harvest let us take the burden that he gives to us and if we have to sow in tears that's all right you may never see what we've sown but one day there's going to be a great day of sowing and reaping rejoicing together over the faithfulness of god what a great thing to be work us together with him the chance of being his servants his love slaves because if we go weeping he says that we'll doubtless there's no doubt about it he didn't say now he didn't say before you die that you talk about benefits in that great day when we stand there and see that redeemed company when we see the law of multiplication well i can think of many people who have led a key person to jesus christ that person only led one person to jesus christ that was the end of it and that person went out and won a thousand souls ten thousand souls i believe one day the lord will share that out between the man that led that person to christ and that person who has led to christ through that person and all those that care and god is going to share the spoil in that great day so let's be faithful let's keep taking root get deeper and deeper in him and believe as the word of god says but after all that's the promise of the 15th of john is that we shall bear fruit we should bear much fruit or plenty of fruit and our fruit shall remain permanence in fruit bearing father we thank you again for your word it stirs our hearts it makes us realize again lord that this is not these are not laws of men they're laws of your eternal kingdom we're glad again that it's not numbers that matter so much it's the faithfulness of those that you lead into light give the chance to bear heavy burdens give the chance by faith to break up the fallow ground and sow the seed and eventually we shall see the harvest because you are the lord of the harvest and we give you thanks for this grant us your blessing we pray in jesus name amen