Genesis 8:22 - 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.

God wants to teach us through the way he created the earth -
unchanging principles and laws, cycles of weather and seasons, how he does things.

Sowing and Reaping is a universal principle. It’s in the earth. Christians and non-christians alike either reap the benefits or suffer the consequences.

3 Principles of Sowing

1. YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW

Genesis 1:11 - 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.”

"According to its kind." If I sow an apple seed expecting to get an orange I’m crazy. You would think I’m crazy. But there are people who try to sow one thing and expect to get another.

Galatians 6:7 - 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

We can be deceived into thinking this principle isn’t true. This principle is illustrated in scripture at least 66 times.

Job 4:8 - As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

Proverbs 22:8 NLT - Those who plant injustice will harvest disaster, and their reign of terror will come to an end.

Proverbs 26:27 - Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling

Proverbs 11:18 - The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.

but there is also good seed sown!

Hosea 10:12 - Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

Galatians 6:8 - 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Two areas we can sow: to the flesh or to the Spirit. - and what you so TO you reap FROM.

Paul is coming off of Galatians 5 where he’s been talking about the fruit of the flesh (a result of sowing to the flesh) and the fruit of the Spirit (a result of sowing to the Spirit).

List 1: Fruit of the flesh - Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, hostility, jealousy, arguing, envy, selfish ambition drunkenness and others

List 2: Fruit of the Spirit - Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control

God will forgive if we will ask, but often times people will mess up, ask for forgiveness, and think that their actions have no future consequences. Everything we do has a cause and effect…we will reap what we sow!

Paul isn’t saying, "People reap what they sow—unless they ask for forgiveness." Forgiveness doesn't erase what you’ve sown and doesn’t remove consequences due to sowing and reaping.

Forgiveness is relational. Consequences are circumstantial.
God forgives us based on relationship but many times our circumstances are a result of poor sowing in the past.

When we draw near to the Lord, He reveals how to respond correctly to painful circumstances. Unprecedented spiritual growth will often result.

The good news is you can begin to sow different seeds today! You can sow to the Spirit and change the narrative. You can reap a future harvest of righteousness.

What we sow REALLY matters

What we sow in our minds. If you sow the word of God into your heart, the fruits of righteousness will grow in you…adversely if you allow negative thoughts in you reap depression, anxiety, poor self image etc.

Studies have proven that how you think has drastic effects on how you act. Action follows belief. So what you are sowing in your thought life really matters.

Philippians 4:8 NLT - Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

What we sow with our mouths. How do you talk to your spouse, kids, coworkers? Are we sowing seeds of the flesh but expecting fruit of righteousness? You can’t speak death into someone and expect to reap a harvest of life.

James 3:12 - 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

What we sow with our actions. When you sow to the flesh, you are sowing into your life the appetite for sin that will result in a greater craving for sin. When you sow to the spirit, you develop a greater craving for things of the spirit.

You develop an appetite for whatever you constantly feed yourself.

2. YOU REAP LATER THAN YOU SOW

There is a strong temptation to expect immediate returns on something sown. The best marriages you see, the best families you see, the people who seem to be blessed in their lives, what you are seeing is the result of sowing earlier than the time of reaping.

If you have been sowing and you aren’t seeing the results you want to see,
1. Be faithful. Keep doing the right thing.
2. Be patient. The right thing at the wrong time is still the wrong thing. When the time is right the seed will break through. Impatience will always produce fruit that will work against the promise
3. Check your heart. Sow for the sake of righteousness, not to get a reward.

Galatians 6:9 - 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

3. YOU REAP MORE THAN YOU SOW

This again is a law found in nature that mirrors the nature of God.
God is a God of over and above!

You plant a seed and it doesn’t grow a seed. The ratio isn’t 1 to 1. You grow a plant that has fruit and each piece of fruit has multiple seeds in it
containing the same potential for more.

If you want more, you sow more!

2 Corinthians 9:6 - The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Proverbs 11:24 NKJV - There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.

Luke 6:38 - “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Again it’s the principle of sowing and reaping and the benefit of more. The reality is: What you keep is all you have. What you sow God multiplies.

It's what you sow that multiplies. Not what you keep in the barn. - Adrian Rogers

If you sow to the Spirit you will reap from the Spirit. What areas of your life are there deficits in…or are there bad crops from previous sowing that you must change what you sow?

Wherever there is a deficit, that’s where you need to sow.