Episode Transcript
Proverbs chapter 12 verse 11 the title of the message tonight is tilling your land tilling your land I Find much pleasure in the homeliness of the Proverbs plain speech and forthright words about issues that I face and you face day in and day out is a True gift from God.
I'm very grateful for them and the Proverbs they correct my thinking They remind me of things that I've forgotten and then they point me in the direction that I need to go And tonight's verse offers much wisdom to us as it speaks to us about the man that tills his land Solomon says he that tilleth his land He that tilleth his land The Hebrew word translated till here literally means work work So Solomon is speaking about a someone who works his land and we use that The terminology about working the land and we'll get out and work the land So we're looking at tilling here.
It doesn't necessarily mean or it's certainly not exclusively limited to even though it includes tilling the land with a till with plows Plowshares or what have you but it means to work the land and all manner of Working it whether it's grazing cattle upon it mining it You know improving it Developing the land For commercial use or what have you that all goes into working the land?
And so that's what Solomon is talking about tonight in verse 4 it says I'm still not verse 4.
It's in in verse 11 it says he that that tills his land and it goes on to say he's going to be satisfied with bread in Being satisfied with bread or food Of course is a very good thing And since being satisfied with bread is a good thing that means tilling your land is a good thing, right?
out of all the things That the Holy Spirit told us about Adams purpose in Adams occupation that God had assigned him is that God wanted Adam to till the ground in Genesis 3 23 Genesis 3 23 The Bible says therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground From whence he was taken So God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden This is after he sinned but he sent him forth to or for the purpose of Tilling the ground that he was taken that Adam was taken out of when you till your land the Bible says you'll be satisfied with bread So notice that God sent Adam to till the ground from whence Adam was taken so God took Adam from the ground and Then Adam took bread from the ground you see how that works God took Adam from the ground and then he sends Adam back to that same ground He says now you go get your bread from this ground Everything in this life you have to understand.
This is to be translated liberally This is to be taken as a a truth.
There's one interpretation that has Numerous applications.
That's how the Proverbs are.
That's how the scriptures are everything in this life every product that you buy on Amazon every service that you pay for Every person that you know every animal every building material Everything that you love and enjoy in this earth comes from the ground Everything the food you eat comes from the ground the air you breathe comes from the ground the clothes you wear The car you drive the people you love it all comes from the ground But for you to get that food Somebody had to work that ground For you to wear those clothes somebody had to work the ground for you to drive that car Somebody had to work the ground steel doesn't Grow wild on the side of the road Somebody had to mine it out.
Somebody had to smelt someone had to fashion it.
It has to be worked The land must be worked And we see then that the ground That or the land that God is speaking of that a man tills that land is full of potential And the tilling of that land is taking the potential out of it.
You see Land is full of potential products services people animal Everything is all bound up in that land and God puts man here To to work that potential out of it The Bible is talking to us tonight about he that works his land in work isn't limited to agriculture So this Hebrew word is translated as various Forms of work in the Bible depending on the text in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 13 a God told Israel thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and That word translated serve is the same word translated till tonight.
So you see how that word works You don't till the Lord, right?
but but you serve you work for the Lord and so In fact, the the vast majority of times that this word is translated in the Bible It's translated as serve not till So you must till your land you must work your land to get the bread out of it Salma said he that tills his land look back in your text shall be satisfied With bread shall be satisfied with bread I'm so thankful that I'm satisfied with bread.
I used to work with a man At DPS that he was a refugee he came from Cambodia and He got over here in fact I had him come give it his testimony once the church years ago a long time ago and He talked about how hungry he was in the refugee camp He go to bed so hungry and I'm thankful that I'm satisfied with bread My wife's a good cook and I love to come home and and I love to see what Tammy has fixed us for supper And when I eat I enjoy eating until I'm full But I have to work the land Before I can eat the bread I do in in people who Who live off the government?
Somebody else has to work the land before they can eat the bread, but that land has to be worked It's a principle that cannot be avoided and as I said before There's this liberal application here you see there's a yet when you're interpreting a scripture It's got to be spread across as far as it goes Within the grammar and within the truths that God gives it and then it's always applied first Physically as it's literally written and then spiritually as it's ultimately intended and in this case here land goes beyond the ground and Bread goes beyond the belly.
I'm gonna repeat that again land goes beyond the ground and Bread goes beyond the belly the land in our proverb tonight.
Remember everything comes out of that ground so the land is full of potential tonight when I I Rolled in from work.
I noticed that my sweet potato vines had died due to a freeze that we had and I like eating the sweet potato leaves and stuff during the summer and then when the the cold kills the vine Then that's time for me to harvest the sweet potatoes so I just had a big old bucket full of vines and I'd tumped that bucket over and I'd Gathered the sweet potatoes in tonight out of that bucket and I brought them inside But they didn't grow there on their own free will I?
Had that bucket full of dirt and in that bucket there was all this potential but I had to To improve the dirt in that bucket.
I had to make an investment in that bucket.
I had to take a Sweet potatoes that were eyeing that were about to go bad and I just stuck them in there.
It's all I did But I made some investment I kept it watered And guess what happened all I brought some potential out of that bucket of dirt Once I pulled all that out and dumped it now, it's just dirt again But you know what if I reinvest and I work that dirt some more I can pull some more potential out of it and so when we're looking at land, we're looking at undeveloped potential and When you're looking at undeveloped potential then you realize there must be work as you work the land you have to work undeveloped potential to draw that out but The the land in our proverb it speaks About untapped potential that God has put into every one of us You are the land Not just the ground you walk on but the person you are God brought Adam out of the ground.
What is Adam?
He's land He was land tilling the land But the land is more improved that walks on the ground and the unimproved ground that he walks on and there's Potential in every one of you who are made out of the ground that God had Adam till Every person here tonight and there are Inside of you.
There are a lot of precious Resources inside you but it takes work to get those resources out When I was a young man, there was a law enforcement officer inside of me But I had to work to get them out.
I Mean you just don't stumble into that stuff I had to work my mind to gain the knowledge I needed I had to work my body to gain the skills I needed the potential was there but that land had to be tilled when I was born again Through faith in Christ God the Holy Spirit put a pastor and evangelist inside of me But I had to work to get them out I had to till that land with devotion to prayer and the the study of God's Word and guess what to keep Stepping up here in this pulpit every week.
I have to keep working that land It doesn't grow wild you don't just roll out of bed and sermons pop into your head doesn't work that way The the ground has to be worked God gives the potential He gives us the ability to work then he gives us the obligation To work and he sends us out like he did Adam to till that land I have no doubt that there are a lot more occupations inside me But I won't live long enough to till my land and see those come to pass I could have grown a lot more things other than the sweet potatoes out of that bucket of dirt I could have grown tomatoes out of it peppers out of it I could have put a small tree in it and had a dwarf fruit tree in it There's all kinds of potential that was bound up in that dirt But I had to select I had to choose what potential I was going to work out of that bucket of dirt and you and I Have to choose what potential by the grace of God we're going to work out of ourselves But I would have I would have loved to have been a physical therapist out of joy being an attorney I would have enjoyed being a number of other things the potential is within me but the grounds hard and it takes time to till it and Tilling is not easy work So I've gotten everything out of the bucket that I think I'm going to get but I can still improve it I can still improve it but tilling is not easy work There are roots There are rocks I had to contend with them.
I mean I use the same Garden bed, but I tell you what even though I use the same garden bed, and I refortify it with Nutrients and all each year and and get out there when I go out there to turn it over and everything I still have to deal with stuff.
I still got to put pull roots out.
I still got to pull weeds out It's it's it's work to till that ground Literally, it's work to till the ground inside us.
It's work to till the ground spiritually as well.
It takes work To be satisfied with bread years ago I had a friend who lost his job and I encouraged him to immediately go out and find another job and he said no God hasn't given me peace to do that and to make a long story short he ended up losing his home and and you know, you don't you don't have to Have God give you peace for looking for work When he's already given you the mandate to work you see he sent Adam from the Garden of Eden to till it Now we all came from Adam and when he sent Adam out of that garden to till the ground that means Everybody that comes from Adam is obligated to work for their Sustenance and again tilling is not easy There's the you know, he said I don't have peace God hasn't given me peace about getting a job yet Well, listen, there's a lot of times.
I don't feel peaceful about going to work a lot of times There's a lot of times.
I don't want to go to work at all Is anybody besides me refill that way?
I just making sure I wasn't long Jeff works from the house and he doesn't have peace about going to work Brother Jeff do you feel safe at home brother?
Okay, he's gonna make sure all right But you know what it's work even there at the house where brother Jeff said it's still work You're still dealing with people you still got obligations.
And again, there's a lot of times.
I don't want to go to work at all But bread doesn't come By talking to the ground It comes by tilling it and tilling isn't easy instead of tilling his ground my friend took it easy for a while and And next thing, you know, he he ended up being homeless And still is to this day Very very sad Tilling the ground Is difficult it's hard work And he had to do it season after season after season To keep getting that production from that land You don't till your ground one season and it just produce for you from now on.
You've got to keep working it and Today my friend can't work because he's physically ill Another man I know worked for a fire department for years and In his youth while he was strong and young He quit the fire department.
He pulled all this money out of his retirement and Consumed it and Instead of continuing to till his land He took what seemed to be an easier road at the time And in the end He ended up living in a small worn-out camper trailer in a trailer park there in Tyler, Texas And Again I knew this man fairly well a friend of mine Jimmy Duckland Was very very close to him and he was helping supplement the man's income because he He wasted his his tilling years.
He just wasted them and In Jimmy was suggesting jobs to him that he might want to go do he said well, I want to work He said well, how about do this?
No, I don't want I'm not gonna do that.
Well, then how about do this?
No, I'm not gonna do that So he ended up not working at all And he got older and his health declined and he was trying to live off $400 a month in disability Which he couldn't do and had either of these men been wise in Till the hard ground in their working years and Saved what they tilled what they produce but consistently consistently Tilling and and and and a lot of people have this this aversion to consistency to season after season of tilling a Lot of people they'll get a job They'll have a honeymoon with that job and next thing, you know, they start finding things wrong with that job They'll become disgruntled with that job And I know a man that every time I called him every single time I called him He either just quit his job just started a new job or was looking for a new job every single time and You cannot build wealth you cannot accumulate wealth doing that Because when you quit one job You're living off what you made from that job till you finally find another job and finally get a paycheck on payday from that job You burn up everything you make And a lot of people they get so disgruntled they say well, I'm gonna quit that now I'm gonna quit that they find things wrong with it That's one of the things the man did at the trailer park all everything was somebody else's fault There was always a reason why he can't do ABC and D But you've got to work that land rocks roots and all I Tell you there's been so many times.
I've wanted to quit in my life over and over and over again so many times But you know what you can't You just got to get up Put your boots on and go to work It's that simple.
Here's a kingdom truth If you work your land Then your land will work for you If you work your land Then your land will work for you You don't want to work down at Walmart being a greeter work your land You've got potential in you get in there and develop it Get an education get some kind of skill some kind of trade Develop who you are develop yourself mentally develop yourself spiritually develop yourself physically We should always be tilling our ground physically mentally spiritually Always be tilling our land if you work your land and your land will work for you make an investment in your own life Make an investment in your literal ground make an investment where you're working at today.
I Guarantee, you'll get more out of your job where you're working at right now if you'll tilt it and you'll cultivate it guarantee you will When Jimmy left When Jimmy retired when when when I would take a day off Jimmy would be in charge and Well when Jimmy retired I had to find somebody else to take his place to take over when I'm gone and I Chose a chose a man who was a senior man there and And I said, you know, I'd like for you to be able to take over when I'm gone I think you'd you know do a fine job and all and He got so nervous thinking about the extra responsibility It bothered him and he did not want the extra responsibility And and it was sad to me because he could have made more money But instead of doing that he's coming to the same place of business on the same days that now somebody else is coming to That tomorrow when I'm off They'll be making that money and he'll be sitting in that same office Because afraid to improve afraid to grow afraid to learn Then we get set on these little spots and we think you know, my my trees this big I don't want any bigger We're afraid to cultivate and fertilize and grow it and have it produce more fruit But if you work your land your land will work for you Remember tilling goes beyond the land and bread goes beyond the belly Being satisfied of course the land it represents all of our untapped potential But bread represents the satisfaction with life in general that we have Tilling the ground was God's purpose for Adam God sent him forth to till the ground So if you don't till then your life will be unfulfilled and if your life is unfulfilled you will suffer from depression You may try to mask that depression You may try to entertain that depression out of you drink that depression out of you I talked to a man this week whose 28 year old friend just died from drinking himself to death but due to depression 28 year old man But everybody needs purpose After growing depressed and disabled the man in the camper trailer I was telling you about he took his own life two weeks ago so sad Just a little older than me Took his own life.
He wasn't satisfied with bread He wasn't satisfied with life He grown disgruntled and had no purpose other than waking up in a camper shell Genesis 2 15 says of the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it And That word dress is the same word Translated till in the same word translated serve That we're looking at tonight Before Adam sinned God put him in the garden to dress it to work the ground After Adam sinned God sent him out of the garden to do the same thing to dress it to work the ground So before sin he was to work it in paradise After sin he was to work it in a post Paradise earth What do we learn from that Tilling is not our punishment Tilling is our purpose We should be improving our own lives our own education our own personal growth So I'm not good at learning well, don't just sit at the house and Watch TV Get out and plant something in your backyard make your backyard more productive do something and improve your ground improve your service to God improve it if you've got if you have If you have unused time in your life, and you're just sitting around the house thinking I'm bored.
I Have nothing to do I have no place to go.
Do you know what that time is when you're not doing something?
It's your land.
It's your untapped potential Cultivate that time instead of complaining about having nothing to do do what the adults used to say you're bored I find you something to do Get out and find you something to do Start calling people who are sick or on the prayer list start writing cards to people start being an encouragement to people Start coming up to the church.
There's plenty of work up here.
We got trim That's been sitting back there hadn't been put up in years That we paid someone to put up and he left the church Still not put up Man, there's so much stuff to do so much stuff to do whether you hear whether you're at the house Don't leave your time untilled We're made to till we won't be satisfied unless we do look back in your text Let's begin to close now so the person who tills his ground he's going to be satisfied with bread Push that out further the person who?
Cultivates who works the potential God gives him he's going to find satisfaction in life But he that follow the vain persons now Here's the contradiction and that's the person who follows vain persons that is the person who follows the example of empty worthless people People who are not full of bread.
They're just full of foolish ideas The person who follows these people instead of following the wise ones who till their land Who don't waste their God-given potential man?
I hate seeing a young person waste their God-given potential.
I hate it But that person who does that the back of Texas void of understanding Which means they don't know how the system works.
They don't get it.
They don't they don't get how God created Adam to do this and and you know I love I Love Being home and working in my book more than anything else you know there's also satisfaction about being driven and Have to get up early and go somewhere and in work and problem-solve and provide a service There's satisfaction out of out of working there should be satisfaction out of making yourself useful for something And and God put that drive in us in a person that doesn't understand that God-given drive and they avoid it They they're they're the person that's void of understanding.
They don't understand how life works how man works how God created us and what he created us for and and and so they're just void of that understanding and Being void of that understanding they follow vain persons meaning they instead of following scripture they they follow the example of vain men Reminds me when the Apostle Paul when he says you you follow us you follow me as I follow Christ They weren't literally going to follow him, but they were following his example and and Being void that understanding they follow vain persons instead of scripture and by doing so they're not satisfied They're not satisfied with life They're not satisfied with bread a lot of times literally Proverbs 13 20 says he that walketh with wise men shall be wise But a companion of fools shall be destroyed and we'll get to that in the future god willing But understand that God created us to till our land.
We should seek to always improve the ground he's given us Proverbs 9 6 as we close says That instead of following vain persons.
We should quote forsake the foolish and Live and go in the way of understanding take the route that God's given us Till your land Be satisfied with life Live it to the fullest Living it to the fullest isn't being busy It's being fruitful Father we thank you so much for your perfect will I Thank you Lord even now as I'm praying Lord I think of all the people I see on Social media who are constantly snapping pictures of themselves doing fun things traveling here traveling there Doing something fun Entertainment living the high life.
So it seems Yet deep down inside they have to keep doing it and keep doing it and keep doing it it never satisfies them And a lot of them Lord as you know Are empty on the inside they're miserable and that's why they have to keep doing it and doing it and doing it Trying to make people think Lord that they're so happy They're so full of joy But Lord we know real joy father comes from serving you it comes from tilling our ground for your glory And father I pray Lord you'll help all of us to get our hands dirty To dig deep into the potential that you've given every one of us and to constantly cultivate the ground That we're in May we bear much fruit?
abiding in your son and working with our hands in Jesus precious name amen
