You Are a Seed, So Sow Yourself: Take the Limits Off God

Sermon outline

Take the limits off God, act on what he tells you, and give him not just a tenth but the whole of yourself, because what you make happen for others God will make happen for you.

1. Revelation is never interpreted through the natural mind

   Revelation comes through your recreated spirit, because the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. If Peter had limited Christ to what his natural mind could accept, he would never have received supernatural provision. God wants to cancel your debt by his provision, not by the natural law of man, and the natural mind will always say the debt is too large and the mountain too big.

   Illustration: He has caught many fish of different kinds in different places and never once found a four-drachma coin in one.

   “Revelation is never interpreted through the natural mind.”

   • 1 Corinthians 2:14
   • Matthew 17:24-27

2. Action the instruction and take the limits off God

   Peter did not receive his miracle until he cast his hook into the sea. You always have to action what Jesus or the Holy Spirit prompts you to do, or you are a hearer and not a doer. Raise your level of faith, give as the Spirit directs, and stop putting limits on the God who does exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or imagine.

   Illustration: You may have come from a poor, struggling background and concluded from your formative years that you must keep on struggling. His answer is 'a thousand times no'.

   “Please don't put limits on God.”

   • James 1:22
   • Ephesians 3:20

3. Give God not only 10% but 100%

   God's gift of Jesus was unlimited, so we must be willing to give all that we are and have, putting him above every other relationship. That includes time, abilities and talents. Many listeners were disappointed by people in the church and sat down, but they will give account for the talents God gave them. Giving is no longer a formula dictated by duty.

   Illustration: He no longer sees giving as a duty but as a great joy, and says he teaches this to his children and grandchildren.

   “I don't see my giving to God anymore as a duty. I see it as a great joy.”

   • Luke 14:26

4. A new cycle of giving and receiving

   Tithing is part of covenant giving, but God wants to bring his people into a cycle in which their needs are met and his work flourishes in every country, so that people who have never heard the name of Jesus hear it. Israel gave special offerings in addition to the tithe. Go the extra mile where you fellowship with your abilities, talents, money and resources.

   Illustration: To come out of the pit and head for a palace life you have to learn the secret of giving to God. Bad things never change until good men and good women stand up and do what is right.

   “All God wants is a willing receiver.”

5. Begin to give yourself away

   You are a collection of parts, and when you sow a part of yourself back into God's world you activate the law of increase. Sow extra time into your family and you will reap love and affection. Sow diligence into your job and you will be promoted. Everything you have to give was first given to you.

   Illustration: Extra time sown into your family, and diligence sown into your job.

   “When you sow a part of yourself back into God's world, you activate the law of increase.”

   • Matthew 10:8

6. Accept the seed that God sowed

   God had a Son and wanted a family, so he planted his Son like a seed at Calvary. Christ came to reconcile humanity to God, and he says come as you are. Jesus is a seed within you that reproduces the nature of God. He speaks to people who are celebrated on the outside but dry on the inside, and says no materialism can fill that place.

   Illustration: People give you accolades and celebrate you, but when you are privately alone you know whether you are satisfied or dry.

   “God lost what he loved for a season to produce more of what he loved.”

   • 1 John 4:8
   • 2 Corinthians 8:9

7. Find somebody in trouble

   To the question 'what should I do?', his first answer is to find someone who is hurting. Everybody needs encouragement, a smile and to be treated decently. God is willing to become to you whatever you are willing to become to another person, and he promises to satisfy your soul in drought and water you like a garden.

   Illustration: You are the oil for someone's wounds and the map for someone who is lost.

   “What you make happen for others, God will positively and definitely make happen for you.”

   • Isaiah 58:10-11