“Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.  But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.”

We have been thinking about what is involved with sharing the good news. When opportunities come up we share our testimony and the truth of the gospel of salvation. As I mentioned before it might be our personal testimony, a tract, movie or inviting someone to a  church service. We might have prayed for someone’s salvation and the seed is spread, but things will happen.

The farmer must be patient. Isn’t that the hardest part of farming? One must be patient and wait for the crops to grow and produce fruit. Wait and watch. Particularly in our society, we seek instant gratification. This waiting period is the time lots of worries, decisions and concerns arise. Often as faithful servants of Christ, we wait. We are persistent in prayers, and wait, water, and weed and wait. We wonder what will happened and when. Patience is hard for many like me. I like to see things happen quicker. I get impatient when folks don’t respond to the Good News, but compared to the eternal God, He is in no hurry with His timetable. A day is like 1000 years and a 1000 years as a day.

Late in 1950s Dr. and Mrs. David Dorr began medical work in the disputed Gaza strip. There were no baptisms. The work with the Muslims did not produce conversions.  Although a British missionary had worked there for half a century “A man was baptized once.” someone told them, but he was killed and the British government had to send troops and tanks to quell the riots.”

It was 10 years later the Dorrs and their missionary colleagues could praise God for student nurses who had accepted Christ returned to hospitals in Lebanon, Kuwait, and Yemen to witness. A Bedouin believer went into the Sinai region to tell other Bedouins about Jesus. A dentist named Suhail who emigrated to Canada, then traveled to Liberia where he preached radio sermons in Arabic to his national brothers in the Middle East. If growth is in God’s hands so is his timing, persistence, patience and perseverance.

“Where two or three are gathered in the name of the Lord praying,” Jesus says, “there I am in their midst.” That is His promise. Certainly, we are not going to be a super church. The myth, in our culture, is “bigger means better”. I hope you know that. Many times, big only means bigger problems. We will not be a larger church for various reasons. It is out in the country. The Cities are growing. There is only so many people in the area. We live in a traditional established community. We need to look at the quality of spiritual growth as opposed to quantity of numerical growth. The Lord can take David and kill a giant when the whole area was in terror.

The Lord can take Gideon, a weak terrified unknown farmer and make his little band of soldiers overcome a multitude of the enemy that were so many they couldn’t count.

Jesus can take a motley crew of 12 disciples and start teaching and training them to overcome the world. Why? Because they have a big God.

The Kingdom of heaven is like that. It starts very small and sometimes almost unnoticed, but it starts. Your faith and walk in Christ begins with little faith. What happens is His work in us, in His time, and for His purpose.