Mark 4:26-29 He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like, A
man scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, whether he sleeps or
gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.  All by
itself the soil produces grain-first the stalk, then the head, then the
full kernel in the head.  As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the
sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

 I don't know about you but so far in my life I have noticed that the
world is made up of some very fascinating things.  What am I speaking of?
 Those things that you look at and say to yourself, "Wow!"  Let me give
you some examples that have crossed my life.
 The first one I can think of is the Grand Canyon.  When you are standing
there looking down, seeing its size and beauty, one tends to utter a
"Wow!"  The Grand Canyon is a big hole!  And as your standing on the edge
of the big hole you will grasp what I did.  There is no way that the
little itty-bitty river at the bottom of the canyon made this hole.  The
Grand Canyon is clearly the handiwork of God, probably made during the
flood, but clearly the handiwork of God.
 Then there is the next "Wow" thing that most of you are somewhat
familiar with.  I'm talking about our human bodies.  They are beautiful,
agile, so diverse and yet so the same.  Just focus on the hand for a
moment.  So sensitive that you can actually feel the fingerprints on your
fingers when you rub lightly and yet so strong.  It takes 5,000 foot
pounds of energy to break a bone in your hand.  Or just think about the
healing capacity of the human body.  Clearly our bodies deserve a big
"Wow."
 My favorite wow thing, and has been for many years now, is the seed.
Seeds come in all shapes, sizes, colors and are packaged in so many
different ways.  That alone is fascinating in and or itself.  But what
seeds do is truly remarkable.  You can take a seed and put it on your
table and it will do nothing but lie there.  For that matter, the
laboratory has analyzed seeds and can't find anything "living" in them.
Yet you take that seed and put some soil and water around it and it will
begin to grow, though there is nothing found "living" in the soil and
water either.  It is one of the truly fascinating things of life.
 My favorite seed to date is the peach pit.  To this day I still haven't
figured out how the peach pit does what it does.  Take a peach pit and
try to break into it.  I'm telling you, you are going to need a hammer or
some other instrument to get inside of it.  Yet when planted that pit
will produce a slender, tiny, soft sprout that will split that shell as
if it were nothing.  That deserves a "Wow."
 Of course all of the things that I've spoken of point to the wisdom and
power of God.  How else could such things, such wonderful things come
into being?  All things, if you look close enough and seek the right
answers, will give you a message of praise to God.
 Our text for this day leads us to contemplate the mystery of God or it
you would, to think about another "Wow" thing of the Lord.  It is a thing
that all too often we take for granted.  It is a thing that is to be
important in every one of our lives, especially our Christian lives.  It
is a thing we can't live without.  Our theme for today is: GOD'S MIGHTY
WORD.  1st. It is God's seed.  2nd. It has power.  3rd. It produces a
harvest.
 When you look at our text you find that once again we have two parables
of Jesus.  These earthly stories with spiritual meaning speak to us of
seeds.  So we have to ask ourselves that all important question, "What
does the seed represent?"
 Just to look at what our text tells us will help answer that question.
Notice that our parable starts with the words, "This is what the kingdom
of God is like."  To the second parable is added this phrase, "or what
parable shall we use to describe it?  The two parables combined help us
to grasp what is being spoken of.  In the first, the kingdom of God is
described as "seed scattered on the ground."  In the second the kingdom
of God is compared to "the mustard seed," a rather small seed.  So we
immediately notice two things about the seed.  It is a seed that sprouts
and grows.  Second, it is a seed that is small.
 There is really only one thing that can fit into this description.  The
thing I am thinking of is also a seed.  It is the seed of God that
sprouts and grows faith in a sinner's heart.  It is a seed that most
consider small and unimportant.  Yes, that seed is none other than God's
Holy Word.  God's Word is the seed that sprouts and grows faith in our
hearts.  But God's Word, especially in this world of ours, seems small
and unimportant.
 How true it is that the world thinks God's Word small and unimportant.
To the world the Bible is only one of hundreds of holy or sacred books.
To the world the Bible is only another book written by men, printed by
men and containing nothing more than the pious thoughts of men.
Unfortunately many Christians today seem to hold to that same philosophy.
 Many Christians today feel the Bible can be ignored or parts of the
Bible can be easily and readily tossed aside.  I say that only because
there are so many people who refuse to hear and listen to God's Word.  I
say that because all too often, even in our own church, Christians fail
to take the time to read and wrestle with the truths of the Bible.  It
may appear small and insignificant to the world, but I tell you it is
not.
 What sets the Word of God off from the other books is the power that it
has.  In the parable before us Jesus speaks of the Words power by telling
us that when that mustard seed is planted it grows large, so large that
the birds of the air can perch and take shelter in its branches.
 Just like the small mustard seed the Word of God when planted grows.  It
grows and spreads out its branches to form the Kingdom of God.  Such is
the Kingdom of God.  It is through the Word that the Kingdom is created,
maintained and sustained.  It is the word of God that brings to God's
children the rest and shelter found only in the truths of God.  It is the
Word of God that brings the Holy Christian Church, the communion of
Saints.  It is the Word of God that is God's seed for the planting and
growth of His Kingdom.
 Please note that this seed is a seed of power.  There are so many
passages that attest to this power of God found in the word.  "Your word
is a lamb to my feet and a light for my path."  Just think of what that
verse means!  Isaiah testifies concerning the power of the word, "It will
not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the
purpose for which I sent it."  God's Word always does what God determines
is best.  Through Jeremiah God says, "Is not my word like fire...and like
a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces."
 Or we could turn to the words of the New Testament to better grasp the
power and strength of God's Word.  Jesus when confronted by Satan said
spoke of the importance of the word.  "Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."  Is there real life,
real survival without the Word?  Again Jesus speaks of the word in his
High Priestly prayer in John, "Sanctify them by the truth, your word is
truth."  Those words tell us that it is the word that makes us holy and
brings us into God's kingdom.  Or finally we can turn our attention to
what is found in the book of Hebrews.  Such important words, "For the
word of God is living and active.  Shaper than any double-edged sword, it
penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges
the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  It is in the word that
everything is laid bare.
 Most important, it is in the word that we hear the beautiful and living
giving message of Jesus.  Jesus paid for our sins.  Jesus grants us
forgiveness and eternal life.  Jesus, the very power of the Word, takes
our peach pit hard hearts and with one little sprout of truth and hope
cracks them open and causes us to grow and bear fruit to God.  It is
especially the Gospel of Jesus that is so important.  To hear how Jesus
won the victory.  To hear how Jesus was raised from the dead and has
brought peace to all of mankind by grace through faith.  Of the Gospel
the Word proclaims, "It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone
who believes."
 The message of Jesus is so awesome and so life changing.  But make sure
that what you are hearing is the gospel, the truth of our salvation found
in and of Jesus and his defeat of sin, death and the devil.  The gospel
is the good news of our salvation.  Salvation by the grace of God in
Jesus and not a salvation by the works I do through the grace of God.
The true power of the Word is in the Gospel and the living truth of
Jesus.  We should not forget that both parables point to the power of the
seed of God, the power of the Word of God for our souls.
 Then let's turn to the first parable to grasp all the more the mystery
of this Word.  Please note that in this parable Jesus starts by telling
us that the Word or seed is sown by man.  That shouldn't be a surprise to
us after all didn't Jesus command us to "go and make disciples of all
nations?"  It is our duty to see that the seed of God's Word is spread.
In other words share what you have.  Don't make excuses and whimper about
it this call of God, just do it.  Just spread the seed of Jesus.
 When Jesus spoke of the man planting the seed the next thing he said
revealed a lot.  He said, "Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up,
the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how."  Just like the
real seeds in our world which grow when planted so is the Word of God.
The Word doesn't depend on you for power to grow.  God will cause the
seed to grow.  God just calls upon us to sow the seed and leave the rest
up to him.
 God is the power behind his Word.  When you sow the seed, God is the one
who determines whether or not it will grow.  God determines whether faith
is created and a soul is saved.  God changes the heart of sin into a
heart of love and grace.  God grants the increase or the decrease as He
sees fit.  Our job is not to work at the growing, but to leave the
growing up to God.  Our job is the sowing, to tell people of the wonder
of Jesus.
 But let me point out what 2 Corinthians 2 says, "For we are to God the
aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are
perishing.  To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the
fragrance of life."  Jesus can either be the sweet smell of life or the
smell of death.  The word can either be the hammer that crushes or food
that feeds.  Yet it is God who determines this and not us.  We are to
sow.  God will cause the growth.  God is the one who grants salvation and
faith and no one else.
 I pray we grasp the importance of God's Holy Word.  We need it to
continue our life of faith.  We need it to share with others that they
might, by the power of God have faith.  We need it because it is what God
has given us for our comfort, encouragement and real life.  Amen.