The Parable of the Sower is one of the more familiar parables. There have been thousands of sermons about it. I will take a somewhat different approach than is usual.
First the scripture.
There is an old proverbial story about the settling of the west. A shoe company in Chicago sent a traveling salesman into the territories to sell shoes. Later he returned to having not sold anything. When asked “Why?” He replied. “Those people don’t wear shoes.” The fired him and sent another salesman with the same results. Not wanting to give up the company sent one more salesman. A week later the received a telegram from him saying. “Send twice as many shoes. These people don’t wear shoes!”
My friend, The Rt. Rev. Philip Weeks would say that the American church has just enough Christianity to inoculate against the real thing. God wants us to be “All in!”
life is full of tragedy, problems, and challenges. We the support of family, and friends to thrive.
I spent 6 years in a parish in the Delta farming region of northeast Louisiana. One of the main crops is corn. From corn kernel of corn an average of 500 are on each ear! Thus an abundant crop. The farmers don’t worry about the few kernels on the path or among the weeds. Neither does God. The Kingdom expands exponentially!
one of my all time favorite stories in from and episode of The Rest of the Story by Paul Harvey. There was in the late 188Os a family who lost ,other and father in a house fire. The brother and sister children were sent to an orphanage. Soon after the brother died of influenza. The little girl devolved into insanity. The orphanage didn’t know what to do and housed her in a room in the basement. There was a woman whose duty it was to bring her food and slip it under the door. In time Dwight L. Moody came to town. Being a good Christian woman she attended. The sermon urgered people to do something for the Gospel, even if a small thing. Thus she began to read the Bible to the girl when she brought the food. In time the girl recovered. He name was Ann Sullivan. She. Grew up to be Helen Keller’s teacher!
In addition to the information in the slide the Seek and Find store was able to fund another ministry. The Community Cupboard serve red 1/3 of the emergency food needs of the city of Rochester NY. It became its own independent nonprofit and is still there 40+ years later.
