Principles of Plowing | Preston Morrison | Gateway Church

I felt it would give me a really strong burden to preach a message about plowing and the title the messages principles of plowing principles of plowing and here is the person that this message is for far the Lord really gave me two types of people the first person that this message is really for is a person who's in the midst of a tough season of plowing and they're this close to quitting the other person is somebody who's standing on the edge of a new field they know God is asking them to plow but they can see how intimidating it is and they're not sure they really want to okay there is actually a third person this message is for anybody who's not in a season of plowing that has any friends or family whatsoever because at least one of your friends or family is in a very difficult season of plowing and if you love them you'll take good notes for them okay but if you're in a really tough season right now plowing I really want you to lean in because I believe the God of the universe is literally going to deliver some mail into your mailbox all right now let me help you understand the difference between a stormy season and a plowing season because a couple months ago I preached on the stormy seasons of life and if you're taking notes write this down a stormy season is marked by chaos in scary conditions okay so everything's crazy there's a lot going on and and it's just scary that there's things that are standing before you that that bring fear it's just it's a hard season but it's really more of chaotic and scary season a plowing season is marked by crushing in difficult conditions a plowing season is marked by crushing and difficult conditions now we're gonna walk through six principles of plowing but here's what you need to know before we jump into them if you are right now in fact in the midst of a plowing season and you want to quit you need to remember this that in God's kingdom plowing always precedes promotion okay so you just remember that as we walk through this all right and let that motivate you to take really good notes something not about quitting but God has you because he's in the business of promoting good stewards who plow well in difficult fields here's the first principle we need to talk about plowing isn't a bad thing plowing isn't a bad thing too many of us see plowing like a curse even worse many of us think that plowing is divine punishment that when God's mad at you he gives you something hard to do that is not true at all in fact when you read through Scripture the more difficult the thing God asks you to do the greater the compliment he's giving you God is a perfect steward so when he gives you a plow a field to plow he's actually giving you a divine compliment because he sang listen I know you can take this really ugly nasty difficult field and make it a fruit producing field for me my glory and my kingdom plowing isn't a bad thing at all now in my opinion there are four types of fields that we can receive here's the first I call it pavement okay it's just straight concrete and nothing is going to grow on concrete all right the next type of field I would say I would call it potential okay so it has a ton of potential but it's gonna take an incredible amount of plowing the third type of field is the already plowed field okay and the fourth type of field I would call the plentiful field it's already producing fruit now let's just take a quick poll if the god of the universe we're in the business of coming to us and asking us which of the four types of fields we would like to receive from him how many of us would say we would pick the plentiful field just put your hand up okay put it up I okay be honest God is in the room so if you lie look out for lightning okay how many of us would actually say give me the one that has potential that needs to be plowed okay this is good like only a couple of us would be an honest that's good most of us would say give me the the field that's already producing fruit the plentiful field and God says no I'm sorry that's not an option which of the other three would you like can we say well give me the one that's already plowed and listen occasionally God does give you a field that's already been plowed as a reward but more often than not what God does is he gives you a field that needs to be plowed as a responsibility with future reward to come this is what he does it's not to mine punishment when God asked you to plow now I want to show you Jeremiah 14 verse 4 I hadn't ever seen this before I'm gonna read out of the King James Version so if you haven't read out of the King James Version get your English accent in your head back and we'll walk it through because the ground is chapped chopped because the ground is chapped for there was no rain in the earth the ploughman were ashamed they covered their heads now this word chapped is the Hebrew word hot ah which means parched and and scorched incredibly dry okay let me kind of help you understand what it's saying there because out of the King James it's a little hard but the ploughman were ashamed because they couldn't do what they were supposed to do plow why couldn't they do it because the ground was too hard you can't plow concrete so somebody needs to hear today all right because you think when God asked you to plow it was punishment anytime God gives you a field to plow you need to know he's already made it rain he has already made it rain in that field he's not giving you a punishment going you know what you frustrate me just plow for the rest of eternity no no when God asks you to plow it's because God's going to give you the opportunity to do so and then he is going to bless you with the reward that comes with reaping here's how you really know plowing is not a bad thing the more you plow the more room there is to reap down the road and anytime God asks you it's a plow it's not because he's neglected the field he's already prepared it with rain God only asks you to plow a good ground that will eventually produce much fruit but between the fruit and today there's a lot of plowing in between here's the second principle and this is gonna surprise some of you it's gonna sound really random second principle of plowing never ever plow with a donkey aren't you glad I didn't use the King James Version for this point if I was feeling salty this morning I would've and I would have been quoting scripture never plow with a donkey some of you are thinking this is the most random thing I've ever heard in church it's actually the Bible let me show it to you Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 10 you must not plow with an ox and a donkey harness together I told you the Bible covers everything like if the Bible talks about oxen and donkeys plowing together it covers everything in life now why is this important okay one of the things I learned in the the most difficult plowing season I've ever gone through which was planting this church the first two years here was one of the biggest things I learned about friends in a plowing season you don't need a hundred friends who will talk with you and have coffee with you you need two or three friends on the harshest of days who will saddle up get beneath the yoke and help you plow your field that's what you need you don't need a hundred friends who will party with you you need a couple of oxen who will plow with you that is nasty and that wasn't in my notes you should write that down okay listen why should we not plow with the donkey okay I'll just bust Chuck myself go back to when we were planning this church I was really frustrated with the Lord I was angry it was taking too long the plowing process was killing me it was humiliating me and I felt like I was dying on the vine and one day after service I got on my truck and I am just lambasted the Lord I'm just laying into him and I said I understand you know this is taking forever you know let's just be done with this season and move to the night and I'll never forget I felt the Holy Spirit's a precedent you need to understand how plowing works the first row is always the hardest one and takes the longest and it felt like he gave me a picture and it was before there were GPS tractors in the field and it was the picture of a person in a field many many hundreds of years ago and he said Freston when when a plow man would plow he would catch an object in the distance and would line up with it and because he didn't have GPS and because he wasn't driving a tractor trailer he could only go two or three steps before he would look up and make sure he was still in line with the object off in the distance and he would keep going to or three steps until he got to the end of the first line now two things Preston I never want you to forget first thing I am the object off in a distance you are measuring everything by and when I am the object off in the distance everything moves a little bit slower but the second thing I don't ever want you to forget is the reason the first row takes so long is every row after runs parallel to the first so think about this in marriage the first year in marriage is one of the most important because each year if you just let it go is gonna run parallel to the first now when we talk about plowing with donkeys I want to show you visually how donkeys plow ok remember the picture of a leg Lord gave me was a straight line him in the distance two or three steps at a time looking up making sure it's a straight line okay here's how donkeys plow it's craziness it's craziness and here's what you need to know because you might be thinking how do I know I'm plowing with a donkey okay here's how you know when things get hard oxen get to work donkeys want to watch I'll show it to you in Scripture this is the Bible people job 1 verse 14 random verse but look at the picture a messenger arrived at job's home with this news your oxen were plowing with the donkeys feeding beside them ok you don't need when you're in a ploughing season you don't need people in your life for whom they think their greatest strength is their opinion if their hands aren't in the dirt you need to take a relational timeout during the ploughing season don't hit your yoke - a donkey you will regret it forever now if you're sitting there thinking I think I'm married to a donkey different message okay but I'll just say this we can all be donkeys in some season and oxen in another season okay so we don't abandon the donkey when we're married to them okay listen this is a really important principle far too often when we get into ploughing seasons we look for people who will tell us wanna hear what we want to hear the number one way you spot a donkey and a ploughing season is they tell you what you want to hear the Bible says do not plow with that person because the field you are plowing isn't yours it's God's you don't need their opinion you need his third principle of plowing this is gonna seem really obvious but it needs to be said plowing is hard bowing is really really hard when I sit down with Church liners I've kind of gotten a reputation in regards to how I deal with them and it's related to when I sit down with a church planner I say the same thing every time the first sentence out of my mouth is the same sentence to every church planner I sit down with and here's the first sentence of the first paragraph they'll come in sit down on my office or a coffee or whatever and if it's husband and wife I mean they're like honeymooners all over again this is gonna be amazing we're gonna take over the earth for Jesus and it's awesome it's awesome and you should feel that way because the god of the universe is with you but when they sit down with me here's how I start the conversation this is going to be the worst thing you ever do in your life it is going to be the hardest thing you ever do in your life this is not a honeymoon you're going to want to quit pretty much every day for the next couple of years you're barely gonna have enough money to make it I know you raised all this money to start but I promised you he's gonna take you to the very end of that money to prove a point you don't need it you need him it's gonna be horrible now I just let it breathe and every time they say the same thing gee thanks for the encouragement press and here's what I say next if you go into this thinking it's gonna be easy then on the hardest of days you're gonna be tempted to quit and I'd rather have you going in knowing it's gonna be hard one of the smartest things pastor Robert did for me and getting me ready to plant as he told me pressin I wrote my letter of resignation several times literally thought I was going insane some mornings this is going to kill you but there's good news it's designed to and so I told sure explainers hey this plowing is gonna be so much harder than you think that way on the hardest and ugliest of days they look and they just go yeah we knew it was gonna be hard I do this with young couples too they come into my office for premarital counseling and they're just lovey-dovey and everything's just all awesome and they think plowing is everything that happens before I do and reaping is everything that happens after I say no no first session they listen this is gonna be horrible like awful like this is going to kill you it's designed to God designed marriage in part to suck out all the selfishness and if that doesn't work he blesses you with something called children why do I say it I'm not trying to rain on their parade they're gonna be incredible and miraculous moments but if you go into it thinking it's gonna be easy the first time the enemy punches you in the mouth you'll be looking for somebody else to get married to can't happen like that I'd rather us go in thinking of plowing is hard this is going to cost me my life that way on the hard days we're not surprised in tempted to quit plowing is hard and and I promise that I really feel like there's somebody in this room and watching this online that you think that the reason plowing has been so hard is because something's wrong with you and if there is nobody else listening this message I couldn't care less you need to hear the god of the universe say to you the reason timing is so hard has nothing to do with you or your strength this field is just bigger than you can wrap your mind around it's not because you're weak it's just because plowing is hard and the harder plowing is and you need to hear this if you don't write any other one-liner down in this message if you're in a ploughing season this is the one I want you to write down hard plowing is godly write this down okay I'm gonna state exactly the way he gave it to me doing hard things prepares you for big things doing hard things prepares you for big things God is preparing you during this plowing don't give up on his work here's what proverbs 20 verse 4 says about plying being hard he says those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest what does that mean if plowing were easy the lazy wouldn't do it the reason lazy don't plow is because plowing is hard so take it as a compliment no matter how long your ploughing season is lasting no matter how hard it seems no matter how close to quitting you feel you are if you are still plowing understand what you're doing is amazing and incredible you haven't given up no matter how hard it's gotten following is a difficult thing it's designed to be and if you go into it knowing that you'll be less inclined to quit on the hardest of days here's the next principle of plowing plowing demands committed resolved plowing commands demands committed resolve Jesus in Luke 9 verse 62 said anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God now understand I'm aware of the context of this first I'm not just yanking a verse out of context ok I understand the context Jesus is talking about anybody who puts their hands to the plow as a follower of mine and looks back at evil and goes that way is not fit for the kingdom I understand that's the context but you need to understand he's also addressing a principle of plowing that plowing demands committed resolve it demands it ok so what does that mean for us well let me give you a word that we need to talk about that is really important in plowing seasons options options one of the most dangerous things in a plowing season on the hardest of days is when we think we have other options now one of the ways to keep from paying attention to other options this is just advice if you're an applying season this is what I tell church planners get off of social media in a plowing season one of the most dangerous things you can do in a ploughing season is get on social media and look at the pictures on Instagram of everybody else's reaping season let me just also say that those who portray being in a season of reaping are always reaping sometimes they're pretending but the devil will use even they're pretending to Jack with you okay just think about it how many people actually take pictures and put them on social media of their worst day during plowing no no they pick the best day of reaping and go check me out and what they really want is they want you to see what's behind them and how awesome it is okay listen when you're plowing and things are really hard one of the worst things you can do is pay attention to what everybody else is doing don't worry about what they're doing God's asked you to plow in this season if you have to get off social media get off and here's another important thing to know about options and plowing seasons don't use other options as ultimate UM's with God he won't respond to an ultimatum now bus Chuck myself there were a couple of moments in the first two years when I was planning this church where I was so frustrated with God that I literally said to him in my quiet time several mornings it's not something I'm necessarily proud of at all but just we're just human and I just I threw this card out well if this plowing season is gonna go much longer I'm going back to Dallas incidentally that's how a child talks when things get hard I'm gonna quit I got a much better option back there God I was basically saying to him you better in this plowing season right now or else and I know God is sweet with all of you but I am pretty sure he was in my office that morning going you're such an idiot person I don't respond to ultimatums and if you want to take the easy route by doing anything other than what I asked you to do that involves the plow in this field then go ahead and try but trust and believe you'll be miserable anywhere I haven't called you to be so you keep your hand on that plow okay listen let's apply this to marriage I've seen too many divorces happen as essentially an ultimatum with a spouse going you know I have other options right rather than keeping the hand on the plow and doing the hard work they bow out and look for an already plowed field and can I just give you a heads up that when you're in a tough clowing season in one field any other field look sexy but trust and believe when you get over there that grass isn't green it's been spray-painted the best field to be in is the field God has called you to no matter how bad the plowing is plowing demands committed resolve this is my field it doesn't matter how many other fields there are and how much better they look right now this is the field where God has me this is the behavior in perspective we must have when things get harshest here's the next one point number five plowing prepares you like nothing else can plowing prepares you like nothing else can if you're taking notes I want you to write this one-liner down easy does not prepare you for awesome everybody wants awesome I gotta ask what's the dream it gets easy to come up with a big dream in the kingdom but don't we all kind of want the dream without the difficulty listen easy never prepares you for awesome difficulty oftentimes is the best way to prepare to steward the dream God has for you it prepares you like nothing else now I want to show you him first Kings chapter 19 when we think about in the Old Testament men or women of God who are at like the top of the list of hearing God's voice and delivering the Word of God Elijah has to be towards the top of the list right in first Kings 19 God has just told Elijah I've chosen your successor and I want you to go find him and tell him he is to be your successor first Kings 19 verse 19 as we picked this up Elijah is doing what God said and I want you to see what his successor Elijah is doing when he finds him first Kings chapter 19 verse 19 so Elijah departed from there and found elisha the son of shaphat now some of you are in counseling because you don't think your parents love you you would know your parents actually don't love you if they named you Shafaat okay so things are better than you think they are he found elisha the son of shaphat who was doing what plowing he was not just plowing he was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen 24 oxen and he was with the 12th and Elisha passed by him and cast his cloak upon him and there he became Elijah's successor listen to me what was he doing when God promoted him he was plowing and he wasn't just plowing he had 24 oxen can you imagine how big the rocks in the soil had to have been to need 24 oxen and not to this was a gnarly field some theologians believe he just came from a wealthy family that's just wasteful I believe there were some big rocks and nasty briars 24 oxen he was plowing in the field listen to me closely especially if you were in a ploughing season and deep down you feel God has called you to some significant things that expand the boundaries of his kingdom the only way you are going to experience promotion in his kingdom when the time is right is if you steward what goes down during the plowing season of your life and here's how I would say I think on the earth most human beings measure a man or a woman by the size of their barns and what comes in during the harvest but with all of my heart I believe this is how God measures a man or a woman what is your behavior during the plowing season I don't care press on how big your barn is I want to know how do you behave in the harshest of conditions on the most difficult of days with the plow in your hand expanding my kingdom son that's one of the biggest ways I measure you and what kind of a man you are powerin prepares you like nothing else can okay so then why do we fight it if plank prepares you better than anything else can why do we take it like it's punishment why don't we get more excited when God gives us a field that demands plowing why don't we start celebrate and doing the rain dance then why must we wait to see the fruit listen this ploughing season of your life was divinely planned and if you'll be faithful and plow this field and incidentally understand you do realize if you get after it in a season of plowing you can make the season of plowing shorter there the field has a specific size that brings us to the last point principle of ploughing ploughing doesn't last forever fouling doesn't last forever and if you are here and your world is being rocked because the season has lasted longer than you ever imagined it would it's not just a storm you're plowing in a storm and you feel like it should have been over by now you need to hear plowing doesn't last forever I'll show it to you in scripture Isaiah chapter 28 verse 24 such a sweet couple of verses God puts in his word does a farmer always plow and never sow is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting does he not finally plant his seeds the black cumin the cumin the wheat the barley and Emmer we each in its proper way and each in its proper place what is God saying ploughing doesn't last forever it has a design purpose and maybe you're in a ploughing season with one of your children and it's wearing you out and you're frustrated and your two other children are easy compared to this one here's what concerns me about that perspective every single one of us goes through different seasons in life and one of those children may be Anna ploughing season down the road but here's what happens if we resent ploughing and we're in a situation like that we begin to resent the child that causes us to plow more than the others because we expected it to be easy forgetting the fact that when God gives you a field to plow it's like a kiss on the forehead and he's saying I know you can take this ugly nasty harsh field and do something fruitful with it don't listen to the voice of the enemy that God's punishing you God's blessing you and if you're here today and you're ready to quit in this moment right here right now I don't want them to take it the wrong way but I don't care about anybody else in this room I just care about you you're ready to quit I'm done you can to church today and said I can't do this anymore this is exhausting it's humiliating I can't do it anymore I want you just to look around look around this room if that's you you just look around I remember days in the first two years the first year of planning this church we are in an 850 seat room had 67 people in the room I've never done anything harder more humiliating in my entire life I can't tell you how many days I wanted to quit to just bounce to give up I didn't understand what God was doing [Music] look around if I would have quit you wouldn't be here in this moment with the god of the universe who is looking you in the face saying don't quit don't quit you can't see what's ahead I'm going to bless you in ways you can't wrap your mind around but in order to reap that harvest you've got to keep plowing you have to this isn't a self-help message you have to understand that we are in the business the kingdom business of expanding the kingdom of God and you cannot take new ground without ploughing and what a tragedy would it be to have a church any church who was more about obtaining property inheriting property then going into dark places and plowing the nastiest of grounds listen to me closely if you're ready to quit Jesus made one of the most amazing statements for you and for me in moments where we want to quit because the plowing is killing us he said come to me all who are heavy exhausted be down ready to quit come to me and I will give you rest because my yoke is easy and my burden is light do you understand if you're here and you're ready to quit cuz the plowing is more than you can handle do you understand what Jesus is saying he's saying hey I know you got a couple of great friends who are oxen in your life but you know what I love more than anything if you let me be an ox for you I'll put that yoke on my neck and we will plow this field together you and me and our father's kingdom is going to get the glory our heavenly father will get all of the glory we can't quit so don't let him help you this too shall pass the fruit will come if you refuse to quit why you plough

Channel: Gateway Church

Views: 1,749

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Keywords: Preston, Morrison, gateway, church, gateway church, scottsdale, tempe, gateway church sermons, church online, arizona church, arizona churches, scottsdale churches, tempe churches, phoenix churches, gateway people, gateway life, Preston Morrison, Robert Morris, Pastor Robert Morris, Pastor Preston Morrison, Preston Morrison sermons, church sermons, a season of plowing, plow, plowing, principles of plowing, sowing and reaping sermons, sermons on plowing

Id: LnYXJj1Te2Q

Length: 33min 0sec (1980 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 04 2019