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

There’s something about seeds and seasons that reveals natural laws and cycles that parallel spiritual as as well as the hidden qualities of God if we study them out.

Mark 4:26-29 - 26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He can’t really see it working...there’s a clear process it goes through - first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. Those are measuring sticks to see that it’s growing.

1. A SEED IS MEANT TO SOW
When you sow something...you bury it. You have to dig up the dirt and cover it.

If a seed is afraid to be buried it will never become what it was created to become.

The great heroes of the faith spent time in the dark before getting to the light. They must have felt buried. Forgotten. David spent years in obscurity in the pasture before he would become king.

Development happens in the dark. We live in a culture of overexposure. Most people are overexposed and under-developed

All seeds have potential

We all love the idea of potential, to know that our lives have potential.

Potential - latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness. - latent is existing but not yet developed. It’s hidden.

You can’t determine the potential of a seed just by looking at it. A seed is only potential until you put it into the ground.

A SEED HAS TO DIE BEFORE IT LIVES
1 Corinthians 15:36 - “...What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.”

Caterpillar in similar fashion goes into the dark of the cocoon...there’s a time period in the dark before it emerges in the new life it was created for.

A seed is unrecognizable as a seed...it’s now a plant.
- You should be unrecognizable as a new believer in Christ.

If we think we’ve been buried to die instead of buried to grow, we will try to get out of the soil and circumvent the process. - You have to see the soil as a garden not a grave.

2. A SEED IS MEANT TO GROW
Mark 4:28 - The earth produces by itself - The power is in the soil. What you are planted in matters. The soil matters.

Psalm 92:12-14 - The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green

They are planted in the House of the Lord. - Who are you surrounding yourself with? What group are you in? What kind of people are you surrounding yourself with?

Whatever soil you are in is going to feed you.
- That’s why your environment matters.

We get impatient with the process because we want the fruits without the roots but you have to have roots to get to the fruit.

A seed can’t do anything on its own. - That’s why Jesus said - Even Jesus said...the son cannot do anything apart from the Father.

John 15:5-8 - 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

I AM A SEED.
I WAS CREATED TO BEAR FRUIT.
TRUST THE PROCESS

Mark 4:27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how.

If it’s going to take time anyway and we can’t rush the process. We need to just get some permission to rest and let the soil do the work.

How many of you can look at your own life and say, "I don’t know how God has done some of the things he has done, but he’s done it."

You’re going to get there. Trust the processes. Trust God to do the work.