Preparing the Field - Lessons from the Farm Series 1

Once there were two farmers that during a drought, prayed for rain but only one of them went out and prepared his field. Which one trusted God to send the rain? This little story helps us to remember that while prayer is important; it is also important to put feet to prayers. Ex. You can't just pray for a job - you have to go out and apply for a job.

Prov. 24:27 - Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. (shows us to prioritize and do first things first)

Hos. 10:12 - Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. (if we sow righteousness we will reap mercy, we must till up good ground, not ground full of weeds, thorns & rocks, and we must do some planting)
           - fallow means tilled but unplanted or inactive

When getting ready to plant you must prepare the field first. You must PLOW the ground (break up sod or hard ground). You must then TILL the ground (break up the dirt further), You must then FERTILIZE the ground (to add nutrients to soil & help plants grow). When a farmer or gardener does this they do it believing a harvest will eventually be reaped. In the same way that the farmer in the story who prayed for rain and then prepared the field.

In this lesson we will look at three different fields in our lives and ways to prepare these fields for the service of God.

1. Field of Your Heart - need to get your heart right
      - Ps. 4:4 - (check your heart)
      - Ps. 51:10 - (ask God to clean your heart)
      - Ps. 19:14 - (good daily prayer)
      - Ps. 51:17 - (God wants us sorry for our sin)
      - Ps. 66:18 - (prayers are not heard if un-confessed sin is harboring)

2. Field of the Church - Ex. 26:1
      - God gave specific details about how tabernacle should look - He cares about our building

1 Tim. 3:14-15
      - Paul wrote to Timothy how he should behave in the house of God - covers a broad area including teaching children respect for the building, and adults and their attitudes & conduct

Ps. 100:4 - come to church being thankful & praising God

Ps. 96:8 - Come with an offering (financial, praise, thanksgiving)

Rom. 16:1 - Phebe was a servant - become a servant with a servant's heart - pitch in and help!!

3. Field of the World - 2 Cor. 6:1-10
       - you prepare this field by your testimony & conduct, no matter the circumstances of how others are acting
       - show compassion and charity towards others so the ministry is blameless - don't give people a reason not to like church or church people!
  
2 Cor. 9:6 - sow alot of seeds - the more seeds sown, the more likely to reap a harvest

Ps. 126:5-6 - weep over lost souls you know, pray for them to be reached by someone
       - the fact that there is weeping says it may be hard, there may be work for you to do to reach them

Luke 13:6-9 - a parable that shows not to give up on someone too soon - the vinedresser asks for time ( a year) to break up the ground around the plant and then fertilize it & if it still doesn't produce then it may be cut down
        - the way we break up the ground around a person is by being kind and showing compassion to their hard heart
        - the way we fertilize around them is by giving them the Word of God