Sowing & Reaping: Why Your Harvest Matches Your Habits (Galatians 6, Luke 6:38)

Ever feel like you are working hard but harvesting nothing that truly matters? In this powerful Christian Straight Talk episode, we confront the biblical law of sowing and reaping and ask the hard question: What field are you really planting your life in?

Through Galatians 6 and Luke 6:38, we unpack how Scripture defines sowing and reaping, how modern culture distorts it, and why your time, money, habits, and thought life are already predicting your harvest. Whether you are investing in career, image, applause, and material gain, or in prayer, Scripture, obedience, generosity, and family presence — the crop will match the seed.

We speak honestly about debt, materialism, prosperity culture, and misplaced ambition. Debt disciples you. Applause is addictive. The system trains you to plant in the wrong soil. But freedom begins when you move your best seed back into Kingdom ground.

This episode dives into:

• The biblical principle of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6 explained)

• Luke 6:38 and the truth about giving and return

• Kingdom mindset vs worldly ambition

• Obedience in different seasons of life

• Letting go of platforms and pride

• Breaking free from debt and financial pressure

• Practical steps to downsize, cut excess, and reset priorities

• Daily spiritual disciplines that water the seed

• Why altar moments fade without roots

• How thoughts shape habits, habits shape character, and character shapes destiny

We look at Moses learning to delegate, Abraham letting go, Elijah retracing his steps, and Jonah facing his call. Seasons change. Closed doors must be released. Clinging to what God has ended only hardens the soil.

If you are ready to move from emotional Christianity to rooted discipleship…

If you are ready to exchange worldly soil for Kingdom harvest…

If you are ready to plant with eternity in mind…

This conversation will challenge and equip you.

Subscribe, share with someone who needs courage, and leave a review to help others discover Christian Straight Talk. Join the movement. Join the Kingdom work.

Transcript

Warm Welcome And Platform Shout‑Outs

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Good morning, good morning, ladies. Hashtag Christian Straight Talk. We are here, we are behind the mics, we're on YouTube and uh other platforms that we are streaming to at this moment in time. Good morning. It is Thursday morning, the 29th of June, 1041. YouTubers, hello and welcome. And anybody uh that wants some more content, where can they go, Simon? What can they find us on?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

They can find us on a platform called Patreon then, which is come on. And we've been doing that now for I don't know, maybe a couple of months, Ben. So there's a massive amount of content on there, and it's really good in our Patreon platform. We're encouraging on this platform, but a Patreon platform is all about encouragement, it's all about being together, all about standing together, and um and and being part of something that's bigger than yourself, Ben, really. So it is, isn't it? Um we'll encourage you to look at that, just get onto the Patreon website, put in uh Christian Straight Talk and um and and join us, subscribe. It's uh only a fiver a month for the top level, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Ben I don't think you can get a coffee and a croissant in uh in uh some of the coffee houses for that, can you? And look what we're throwing out across the table. I know it's you can be dead forever.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

This yeah, this is you know, this will keep this will feed your spirit and and uh feed that hunger there inside of you. Yeah, it's great stuff, it's good stuff. And uh we've got our usual content and usual laughing and joking and and uh light odd stuff as well. So um if you want to see more of our faces, then you know that's the place to prime watch on. We do have good faces for radio, don't we?

Podcasting Reach And Patreon Invitation

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Fantastic radio faces, fantastic radio bodies. We are literally radio models, we are absolutely fit and ready to go behind the scenes. But good morning. Also, I've got we've got to mention, then we everybody in the world of podcasting. Thank you to all those on YouTube, all those that are on the live stream broadcast, and for everybody on Buzz Sprout. We want to say thank you for Buzz Sprout, and we want to say thank you to Spotify, you know, uh also Apple. When you look at Apple's uh um podcasting platform that they got out, you know it's fantastic. There's a lot of changes going on. They're saying um podcasting is a new radio, and we've been podcasting now for a good number of years, and generally we've done like 650 episodes, 10,000 or more full downloads were absolutely phenomenal. And we just want to put it out there this morning. If anybody, and obviously you do, you do enjoy what we we do because it we're seeing it through the stats. Could you jump onto Patreon? Could you just take a moment to jump onto Patreon and just go and find hashtag Christian StraightTalk on Patreon, subscribe. We've got behind the scenes stuff, we've got loads of stuff on there, and uh we really would appreciate that, and we thank you to everybody on the social networks. Good stuff, ain't it, Simon? I'm thinking I'm just thinking to myself, what's coming out of like before lockdown we got together, didn't we? Quite a while we've been podcasting there and it's going on.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Ben, when I listen to this stuff back, I I think to myself, where's that come from? And it's not come from us, has it? It's the Lord's just as as as people are downloading this, the Lord's downloading stuff into us so that we can banter across the table about about his uh about his son Jesus and and and all all the biblical stuff. And we are straight talking and we do shoot from the barrel of the truth and we don't mess about and no, we don't. Uh we're not coming at stuff from a theological standpoint, it's not at all from a standpoint of life, it's how the how the Bible and how how the the the life of Jesus affects you in particular and uh and and us in general.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Living in a living in a nation that is not for God whatsoever, and even looking at the the mainstream church, you think where where are we spiritually, where are we physically, what is going on, everything that's happening across the world, you know. So we just come straight out of our way our hearts are on that day, don't we? Whatever we talk about, we're open, we're honest, we don't hold anything back, we're not frightened talking about our feelings, we're not talking about how much we love Jesus, you know, and uh this morning we got an interesting word, innit? The word sowing.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Uh Ben, uh this is a huge subject this morning. It's um it's a big we reap what we sow, Ben, don't we?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

You know, in every way, in every shape and form.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

In everything. We've you know we are a consequence of our choices and decisions, aren't we, Ben?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

We really are, yeah. Decisions, our thoughts, our physical stretch, our money, our life, you know. You can look at this, can't you, in such a massive way, sowing and reaping. But what does the Bible say about sowing? What where should we be sowing as a Christian? What is the key?

Why Straight Talk: Faith Over Formal Theology

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Have a look at uh we'll have a look at Galatians six, six, seventh, and nine, then. Um it kind of points us in the right direction, doesn't it? We start at it start at six, it says, Be generous and do good. It says, Wow. So that's Galatians six, seventh, and nine, and it says, Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. He says, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. So he starts off pretty powerful, doesn't he, Ben? He does, he's not not messing about. Understand this, God ain't joking about. No, he's not. He's not being mocked. No, he says, For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And then he goes on to say, and let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of the faith. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

What do you make of that, Ben? Well, you know, I we want to encourage you wherever you are, on whatever platform you're listening to us, you don't give up. You don't give up, but you sow into the kingdom of God. And then the question is, what is the king in into Christ, into the into the word of God? You give everything you've got, and you you put your whole life, you put everything every ounce of energy, everything you got into doing good for Christ, following Jesus, and you will keep away from destruction. So if you're when you look at the state of the world and everything that's going on, when you sow into certain things of the world, you'll you'll reap what the world is giving. If you sow into the kingdom, you will get what the kingdom is giving, and the kingdom gives so much more than what the world does, but so often we want to sow into the world as Christians because we look at materialism, we see a lot of stuff happening in the church, and we sow what into what the world is doing, and then that comes and filters into the church, and then really we are reaping what the world is doing when actually the kingdom is not as big as it should be within the the church and in our own lives.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Yeah, because you will only you know, a farmer will only harvest what he plants.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

So if he plants, for example, cabbages He's only gonna get cabbages. He ain't gonna get potatoes or bananas, is he?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Do you know what I mean? So so it's where so I have to sew my life, I have to put my life completely in the kingdom. I have to put everything I've got on God. I've got to give him everything. I've got to find that freedom, you know, financially, uh relationship, every area of life. I have to give him absolutely everything. I've got to be a slave to righteousness, and that can be really frightening. You you reap what you sow, and it's like what you're saying, a farmer. Uh a farmer will not get nothing back if he doesn't put in the effort and plant whatever a CD has got. Well, if he doesn't do the work on the field, if he doesn't do the work in the harvest, he so as Christians, we have to go into that living word of God. It's not about going to church, it's about sowing your heart and giving your heart to the word of God and living for Jesus.

Introducing Sowing And Reaping

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Well, Ben, you know, you only get out what you put in. And you know you may think you if you buy a lottery ticket, you've got a chance of winning, you know, a few million, but you only in life you only get out what what you what you put in, and it it's exactly the same, and more so in the kingdom, because if you're not putting and I was I was funny enough, I was having this conversation, I was at um up in uh place called Norwich in the UK, talking to a good friend of mine, and uh there was a couple who should have been at this meeting, they weren't there, and uh I said, Where where you know where is uh where are these two people, you know, man and wife? They said, Well, they're um they're always moaning about uh about how they're attacked by the enemy, they're always moaning about you know nothing's going right in their lives. And yeah, and when I dug a little bit deeper, they're just not in the word, in the prayer. And so you're gonna reap that, aren't you? So if you we have to sow day after day after day. This is not a one-time thing. We have to sow day after day. Every day we've got to have some spiritual discipline. Yeah, you've got I know people don't like that word, but you've got to have spiritual discipline to so to, as you said, read the word, get into prayer, get into fellowship, seek the things of God.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

It has to seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything else shall be added unto thee. But afraid and not afraid to say the church is is is reaping what the world is giving because the church is going down the gender route, it's going down the money route, it's going down the business route. So, what you put your effort into, you will get through the front door of the church. You will get that.

Galatians 6 Read And Unpacked

SPEAKER_01 10:36

When was the last time you heard a sermon? I know you you probably preach a couple, but but you know what about Numbers 32 23? It says, Be sure your sin will find you out.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Oh Lord, help us, Jesus. Yeah. If you reap in that field, you're gonna You're gonna get caught.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

If you if you sow in that field, you're gonna reap in that field.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

That's right. So you you've got to sow in the field of of God, you've got to give your life. And the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of your glory. We're we are sinners saved by grace, but it's what am I giving my time to? That is the question, because that is it work, is it business? It's it certainly won't be family because I tell you why it won't be family, is because we're all caught in the money drive, we're all caught in the money. I've got this, I've got that, I've got a commute, I've got X amount of pounds to earn. So you sew yourself to the world as in I'm a slave to money.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

And and you and the Bible Jesus makes it very clear, and the Bible makes it very clear. It's not hard, it's simple. Yeah, but we we don't want to listen to it, do we?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

No, we don't want to listen to it.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

No, that uh Jesus says you can't serve two masters.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

No, so that it is critical when we're sewing, we sow in the word, we give our lives to Christ. You know, I'm I'm on a really interesting journey at the minute about literally asking God to strip me back of everything, to refocus, to recalibrate my thinking, my understanding. I want to be stripped back of everything. I don't want to have one foot in the world, one foot out of the world, doing this, doing that. I literally have got to be completely in Jesus, completely in him, completely surrendered, living by faith, completely trusting him, and seeking the kingdom of God because we have to give him 100% of our heart. It can't be, it can't be 50-50, it can't be 80%.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

We've said it time and time again, you know, you you can't be 80% faithful to your wife, can you? You know. All right, love, I'm 80%. I'm uh, you know, I'm I'm with you 80% of the time, but 20%, you know, I'm somewhere else. Come down the old massage bar or whatever. Do you know you can't you can't you can't do it, it can't happen.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

You have to be. And look what Jesus says completely into Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Ben, look what Jesus says in Luke 6 38, he says, give, and it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. It makes no it makes it quite simple. You know, whatever you put in, you'll get back, you'll get back.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

And you know what? When you put into the kingdom of God, it is very different to what the church and religion portrays it to be. Because the church and religion makes it all glitz, glamour, and hype and all that sort of stuff. But the Bible is very clear. We are servants, and when you serve, don't expect to get any pats on the back, don't expect to get all that. You do it in the in the cover of night, you can't do it in the cover of no one's looking at you, you are doing it because you love God so much and you're not interested in the back scratch.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

You're exactly right, because there's a caveat to that, yeah, to what Jesus said there is that if you're doing it just to get stuff back, then then you know I'm afraid it it's not counted, it's not on your side. You have to do it as a a daily thing, just as a matter of course, that you love the Lord, you love Jesus, and so nothing's too much trouble. So when he asks you to do something, oh no, it's all right, Jesus. I I did that yesterday. I you know, I I uh I went to church yesterday, you know. Imagine this labour, come on, it's gotta be it's got to be kingdom living.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

If if Jesus said to you, right, I want you to drop all your social networks, I want you to drop all the platforms that you're you're streaming to, drop everything that you're posting on, drop everything, and become nameless and faceless. And I want you to do the work that you're doing and not get any any likes, any any YouTube thumbs up, nothing. Just just go and do it for me. How how would that be across the that that would make all of us think, wouldn't it? Well, hang on a minute, I'm gonna do what I'm doing under the radar, completely off grid. I'm gonna go and serve the Lord and take no one with me, but I'm gonna sew into the kingdom because when you look at church and we have to be careful here and everything we do, be really careful that we don't get the pat on the back that makes you go, hang on, it's I now it's I instead of Well, there's a fine line, isn't there, Ben? So that thin line, that line of crossing over.

Kingdom Versus Worldly Sowing

SPEAKER_01 15:22

So I was out out talking, I've got a few talks coming up, and you always get people come up to you and then and but so uh uh uh and and want to say you know, well done and all that sort of thing. And I think you can take the encouragement. Take the encouragement, you have to give God the glory because without him, you know, you you ain't you ain't nowhere. And the see the thing is if we sow in the field of the flesh, then we will reap in the field of the flesh, like we said, but they'll you'll never have peace.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

No, because you're always chasing the tower of the flesh, ain't you? Yeah, you've got to sow in the kingdom, the kingdom of God gives you peace. You know, my God shall supply all my needs according to thy riches in glory. You know, we've all got jobs, we've all got places where we've got to run money, everyone's got to put bread on the table, we've got to put put pay the gas bill, the electric bill. Everyone's got bills to pay, haven't we?

SPEAKER_01 16:11

You st you pay the electric now, do you? No.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

That's we tapped onto the neighbour's electric. Still knocking the electric man and the gas man. No gas here, sir. You know, and then you you you think to yourself, so you can easily get caught in the world of work, can't you? You can easily get caught as a Christian in the world of business, and then suddenly you're you're building your business, you're building your life. So you're sewing into your own stream rather than sewing into the kingdom of God. When you sew into the kingdom, I actually wonder how many people are working in places that they shouldn't be working in and finding it really difficult because God has said, This is where I want you, this is the door I want you to walk through. But we are sowing our energy and our life into other areas of the field rather than sewing into the kingdom field, you know. And I wonder if that's why so many Christians are so unhappy and so tired and weary of life, because they're they're not sowing where God says, Look, this this is your field, this is your field. If you sow in this field in this prominence land, you'll have everything you've got, but it takes faith, doesn't it, to go, I'm gonna cut this stream off, and I'm gonna go to this field where no one knows me, and I'm gonna sow into this other area.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

I tell you what, sowing and reaping is is like it's yeah, it's really interesting because it's a huge subject, and and and we're not gonna do it absolute justice in in one podcast, but uh you know that comes because the blessing is where the Lord wants you, you know. So if you're hanging on to something and you're not not letting it go, and the Lord's told you the door is shut on that the door is shut.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Now that comes to a question, doesn't it? When when change seasons, the Bible talks about seasons, doesn't it? Farming is all about season, preparing the ground, letting the ground rest, planting, watering, harvesting. So that's the same as the kingdom of God. But why do we, as believers and humanity, get in the same job and we'll stay there for years, we'll live in the same house, we'll do the same thing day in, day out, and actually we're not happy because it becomes very robotic and we weren't created to be in the same tower block hour after hour. I I honestly believe that we need to be careful that we don't miss the season that God is offering us, and we we we're in a season of of darkness, of worry and fear because God is saying, I want you over here, but we're too frightened to react to that voice because we're we're we're we're trapped in this season and we've reaped and we put everything we've got into the business, into the kids going to this school, into that that place, this place, all over the place. So we're we are sewing. So when you take the word sewing, is what you're giving, what you're throwing into the ground.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

What um it's interesting because what is it you are in the hospice on a regular basis, you're speaking to people who've only got literally days or weeks of hours to live. What is it they say?

SPEAKER_00 19:18

I wish I hadn't worked so much. I wish I had I should have done this. I wish I'd done this, I wish I'd done that. And don't why didn't I do this?

SPEAKER_01 19:26

What we're saying to you out there, listen to this, don't be a wish I'd done that person.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

Don't get to that point of a few breaths.

Daily Discipline And Spiritual Habits

SPEAKER_01 19:32

You you're the same, Ben, and and you're going through that now. But you know, I've been involved in all many ministries, and and suddenly that I've just felt the Lord saying it's time to walk away. And I've been involved in ministries where it's been it's been amazing. You've just you've just yeah you just turn up. Yeah, you know, the dates and and times are set for you to speak and all that's but the Lord's just gone, no. So that that's also being obedient and and it's too walk walk away. You've it it's really tough when you do that.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

It is really tough because when it's going good, you think that that's it forever and a day. And but actually to to walk away from something that's flourishing because God is calling you into something else, that is that will take a lot to do. Because we are pushing in and it's looking good and it's building and it's moving, doesn't mean to say that that's exactly where God wants you to be, because that's what's happened to Moses, wasn't it? Jeffro said to Moses, delegation. You if you if you don't stop Moses, if you don't stop, you're gonna kill yourself, you're gonna wear yourself out.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

But another example is um is Abraham with his sons. Yeah, you know, he's was told he had to get rid of Ishmael, you know, let him go. And that's his son. His own flesh and blood. Because of blessings with Isaac.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Goodness gracious.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

So, you know, there are times in life where you've got to let people go, and you've got to let business go. You've got to make sure it's on the Lord, because it's no good just just selling up and disappearing. See, Fred, the Lord's told me you're off into Africa or somewhere, is it? No.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Now, this this is a real quite a deep and complicated conversation, actually. Because how many people are in ministry sowing from the pulpit and not reaping anything because they shouldn't be in the pulpit. But you can do anything when you've got someone sitting in a congregation with an open checkbook, keep fueling it, because money will run, you know, money will bankroll anything.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Well, it will go, it will only go so far, Ben.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

And and the thing is It'll go the worldly room.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

If the blessing's not not on it, if the Lord's not in it, then it it'll it will eventually it'll dry up.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

The world the well will dry.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah, and that is the Lord will still use it, but the real blessing's not on it.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

That comes back to Jacob's will where the lady from Samarian came up to Jesus and he said, Why are you still drawing? From this world, she said, because we've always done it. We've always drawn, we've always got water from this world. Jesus said, Well, the water, the world's drying up. I can give you living water, but but Jesus, we've always come to this world. Jacob built this well. My dad was the pastor of this church. Uh, my mum sat in this chair. I I was brought up in this church. This was our family business, and I've got to keep it running. And but the world is drying up.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

And but that you know what the thing is there, Ben? As if you're doing that, if you're sticking in somewhere where the Lord's told you to let go, you won't have any peace.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

There'll be no peace. And I've experienced that, and I know that. And I know that feeling. And you will literally, we're talking about sowing and reaping, but you will fight to keep the doors open of that organization of that church. And clearly it is game over, and you are doing everything you can so that that you keep that moot, that you keep that mood. Do you think you're fighting God then? A hundred percent so. You are fighting God.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

You are fighting God. He don't let go, does he? No, because he's gonna push you and mate you, and all of a sudden, you know, you're blaming him because things ain't going right. But really, all he wants is for you to lay that down and move in the direction that he wants you to be. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Look at that great prophet from Mount Carmel, Elijah.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Oh, we we don't go a podcast through it and mention all Elijah, but him.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

God said, What are you doing over there, Ben? I told you, but Lord, you fed me, you fed me, and I ran for 40 days and 40 nights. I ran like a warrior. I was anointed, I'm blessed, I'm still blessed, I'm still anointed, but God went, What are you doing in the what are you doing here? You come the wrong way. And what did God do? He took him back that route. So sometimes we have to go backwards, we have to go back.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

There's a big, even bigger example in the Bible. So you know, our friend who our friend who got swallowed up by uh whale, didn't we? Didn't he?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Yeah, look at that. So what we're talking about, Jonah.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

He ran from the Lord, didn't he? And believe me, when you run from what the Lord's got to do, the the the enemy will always provide a boat for you. He'll always provide a boat. He'll always provide a boat because he don't want you, he don't want you doing what the Lord wants, he'll always provide you know the first class ticket.

Counting The Cost: Time, Money, Mastery

SPEAKER_00 24:37

So the question is, innit? We ask ourselves, innit? Are we like Jonah? Are we like Elijah? Are we like the prophets of old? Are we like King David? David was sowing and reaping in areas he where he where he wanted to when he had a niche. You know, Jacob, another character, Moses, another character. You look at Joshua, uh, you look at all these characters of the Bible, and you can see that it is such a a fine line of sewing in the kingdom or sowing in the world. Yeah, I think you've there's a blurred line, isn't there, between the field the field of Jesus and almost the field of the world? Because where's the line?

SPEAKER_01 25:21

It's time to look at your life. It's time to look at your life and see where it's going, see what direction it's taking. Is it time does the Lord want you to get out of what you're doing? Yeah, you know, and and I I I see it all the time, we see it all the time where people want to get out of their jobs and jump into ministries. Well, God wants people in every walk of life.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

He He wants you in every walk of life. That is a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

And so maybe if you're in a ministry and you're scratching around and you you're coming alongside of people, and your first thought when you meet someone is not the kingdom, but is good is keys or give me a couple of quid to support me. You know, we have that networking over the network, Christian networking networking can be as cutthroat as any other network. So, or is the Lord saying, No, start to sew a few tents up like Paul? I want you to work, you know, go and deliver um uh you know supermarket deliveries and all that sort of thing, any anything really. Yeah, is he calling you into something different? Or are you just beating yourself up because everyone you meet, you you want them to give you a few quid every month to fund your lifestyle? To fund your lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

So that that is the question, isn't it? Because God says I shall supply all your needs according to thy riches in glory. So it comes back to a few things identifying who you are in Jesus, what field am I sewing in? What what field am I walking in? Is it barren? That's another area to look at, isn't it? Um I'm I'm sewing into a field that is barren.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Well, it's because the Lord don't want you there, or He's called you into that area just to give you a little test. Yeah, just to see how patient you are, do you know? But be careful because this is a book we don't like to read from. Bang on it. And and I think you know, we probably you've ripped it out of your book of Job. Uh 4-8, it says, even as I have seen, those who plough iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. Help me, Jesus. So, you know, if you're here's another is because there's so many roots this goes down. If you can't help yourself gossiping about people, you're in trouble. Because if you gossip about someone, especially someone, uh especially the Lord's anointed, you're touch not nine anointed.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

You could, you know, you're gonna reap from that, aren't you? Yeah, you definitely, without a doubt. The question, the the qu the stuff that's bubbling around in me so much when you're talking about all this, is that does my where where I live and where I do what I do, is this where God wants me to be? Where does God want us to be? Because how many of us are sowing into fields and the field isn't producing any fruit, it isn't producing any harvest. We are sowing into so many things. All of us we sow all day. We sow into the system, the system gives back. We we we're what what are we sowing in the field of God?

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Well, uh our heavenly father sows into us, doesn't he? He sows into us, yeah. He in and he sows into us life. And and it's very interesting uh when Jesus spoke about the parable of the sower, right? So he was talking about um someone who was uh who was uh sowing who was sowing seeds, right? And um he talked about four categories, yeah, didn't he? Three categories went nowhere, and one category reaped a hundredfold that was on good soil from I mean we're gonna we can do a podcast, whole podcast on that on that on that bit of scripture, but uh what I'm trying to say here is that that only twenty-five percent of the people that hear the word yes will will reap.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Because the rest so 75% 75% when you look at the percentage so that is a narrow road, isn't it, but now look at the church in the nation so 75% of what we would call Christianity are not allowing or the word is not falling on good ground, but there's only 25% of Christianity that the word is landing, the seed has gone out and it has landed on their heart and they've received it and they are acting on what the word of God says. Then we come to the question well, why is there such a 75% difference? It's because the sowers are not sowing the word of God as well. The preachers and the teachers so what are the sowers?

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Those seeds ain't being watered, are they?

SPEAKER_00 30:15

No, so they're not being watered.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Those seeds aren't being watered.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Those so the seed actually isn't being given out of the word of God.

Seasons, Calling, And Letting Go

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Yeah, mate, do you know we we we see these um we see these big conferences and big meetings, everything going on or whatever, and they do an altar call, and uh, you know, maybe it's a Saturday night and a bit of emotion. Uh people rush forward to give uh in inverted comments, say a little prayer, give their lives to the Lord, don't we? But what happens next? Where do I go from there? If that seed is not watered, it is gonna be like one of those three seeds. It's gonna be uh hit a rock or a hard place, it's gonna be kind of start growing and then be taken away by the birds, or it's gonna grow and the life and the world is gonna choke it. If it's not watered correctly, you ain't reaping correctly, are you?

SPEAKER_00 31:10

So, how do I water? How do I get water? You know, the Bible is very clear and it says you're like a tree planted by a stream. So you've got to be planted. God has got to plant you. So sowing and reaping, farming and agricultural uh language that Jesus used is really important because the audience that he was re reaching were farmers and fishermen, and they they understood that language, they understood the language. The gardener. So you you gotta look, ain't ya? Lord, who am I in you? Who am I? That is one of the questions. Because Lord, where I'm sewing, I don't seem to be getting a return. I'm sewing so much, I'm giving everything I've got. But then Jesus will say, Well, where are you giving it? Where are you giving your time? Where are you giving your finances? Where are you giving how much time? So we can all examine ourselves on that, Ben.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

That's a simple thing we can do.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Deep stuff. And it's simple.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

It's simple, but it's deep, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

So where do I give my time in the course of the day? Where do where does the Bible come in my life? What do I think about when I'm sitting in church? Am I clock watching or am I listening?

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Oh dear, that's you, you can you you're eating some big bombs there, man, aren't you? Am I am I sowing about in church?

SPEAKER_00 32:37

What am I thinking about in church? Certainly not listening to what's been going on because what's what's coming across the pulpits are not real seeds. So then we there's a circle of issues going on. People don't know who they are because the church, the majority, uh massive area is embracing the alphabet people.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Look, look what he says, Ben, in um in 2 Corinthians 9, 6 to 7. He says, but this I say, he who sparingly will reap. Sorry, he who who sorry, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Oh Lord helped. And he who sows bountifully will also reap boundly. So let each one give as he proposes, as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or out of necessity, but God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always having all sufficiency and all things may have abundance for every good Jesus. So so what he's saying is Ben, you know, and we're not just talking about money, and you you brought that point out, and I think you brought it out well. We're talking about time.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Time, effort, energy. We're talking about all that. That is the biggest commodity that you can't get back. Time. What are we because we are all everything we do, we are sewing our lives into something, and time you can't get back, you can't buy it. But we give ourselves to time into some situation, business, life, children, families, where is the biggest time? Where where are we sewing the time?

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Well, we need to be sewing into the kingdom that needs to be number one, doesn't it? You know, seek first the kingdom, and and and that's the number one commandment, isn't it? Love the Lord your God with all your heart. So that has to be can and everything else if all fall into place. So if you sit to someone down and go, you know, tell me where you spend your time, at what time are you giving the to the Lord?

When Ministry Isn’t Your Field

SPEAKER_00 34:37

And you know, the it'll what if the the people that sow the least time to the Lord reap the least from the Lord, it's exactly it you know, you it's so difficult when you look at this subject, sowing my time, business, got to leave the house at silly o'clock in the morning because I've signed on the dotted line to certain things in life. Ben Ben and I'm a commuting, I'm going at the ivory towers, I'm a slave to this to the matrix and there are many people in work now listening to this stuff, and I know and Simon knows how you feel. We know that feeling of being so trapped by work, so trapped by a choice, a knee-jerk reaction to something because I've got an opportunity, we get another five grand a year, we get another ten grand a year, I'm gonna be a CEO, I'm gonna be an owner of a business, I'm gonna be this, I'm gonna be that. So you sew yourself into that. And do you know what? We all know this, we all know this, that the system and the business, if you dropped off the peg tomorrow, there'd be someone sitting at your desk tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

Yeah. And we used we always used to say it in the police force, you know, because people uh used to give their art and soul life to the police force. Give themselves. What we used to say is it's like putting your when you leave, it's like because we you know you move from different departments to different departments, and it's like putting your fist in a bucket, bringing it out, and there's a little ripple, then all of a sudden it goes. It's calm, it's gone. And and a few months later people go, Oh, do you remember that? No, no, no, who's that?

SPEAKER_00 36:13

So never think so it's quite a frightening thing, really, to think that that me, you, and all of us have given ourselves timelessly we've given ourselves to the man to the man. We've give ourselves so we're sowing time to a man or a system. We said it the other week, didn't we, Ben?

SPEAKER_01 36:30

You know, where you where your treasure is, so is your heart. So we should be sowing for the kingdom. We now that should be sowing for the kingdom that is a massive thing to do. When you when when your time comes and you're standing before the Lord and Well done, good and faithful servant. Yeah, you've done great for the kingdom, Ben, because don't be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever you sow, you will reap. So if you're you know, and it's not a definition of madness, Ben. You know, you you if you can't be doing the same thing day in, day out, and expecting different results, it doesn't work. So if you're sowing into gossip, bad mouthing, if you're sowing into wrongful sex, drugs, alcohol, if you're sown into all that and still expecting your life to be blessed, blessed and peaceful, it ain't going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

There's some lifestyle choices. I honestly believe God is speaking to me loud and clear. I am making some serious decisions in my life. I am making some critical, life-changing decisions that I believe God is looking to me to, gently pointing me and and leading me. You know, every one of us, every one of us can get out. There may be many of us at this moment in time in an ivory tower or in a business or in a life, and we're thinking, I am literally trapped by this money lark. I am really unhappy. I'm I'm living a life that I'm not happy in. I'm I'm sowing into this business, I'm sowing into the the the towers of Bao. And I'm I'm just so depressed, I can't travel anymore, I can't do this, I'm depressed. You know, every one of us has something around us to make the change. Your house, sell your house, descale the size of your house, get rid of a car, sell a car, start to make changes because there is nothing more powerful than being free. Freedom.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Well, do you know what, Ben? We've been speaking about this for a few months. Serious conversation. I sat down and um I was gonna I'll speak on another point in a second, but but as you brought that up, there's uh I mentioned it last week. There's a great book out there. It's by Dave Ramsey, it's called Total Money Makeover. He's a Christian guy, and he tells you exactly what to do. He tells you, you know, get rid of your credit cards, cut them up. Definitely. He said you can use your debit cards, and then you know exactly what's going in out the out out of the bank. And and come last October, I had about I had four credit cards which which had money on it, um and I had a loan for a car, a van which had and I sold a van, got rid of the loan. I've I've down now just a few hundred quid on a couple of credit cards, and I've Ben I've the freedom it brings. I've been on all of them. I've had I didn't have to ever I'd I had money to spend and it the freedom that that brings and the rewards it brings is absolutely unbelievable. So what we're saying here, Ben has Ben is me and Ben have have have actually gone down the route.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

We're not just saying it, we're actually going down the path, a serious change of direction.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

And and I think if you're if you're listening to this and you're wrapped up in a bit of debt, a credit card, exactly, whatever, you've got to get yourself out of that.

The Parable Of The Sower Applied

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Because we've all sewn into the world, yeah. Because even when you look at the prosperity gospel, isn't it? The way that goes and certain teachings in church and that, it's telling you that God wants you to be rich materially and he wants you to have the biggest house, the biggest cars, all this and that. It's actually a trap, it's a trap, it's a huge trap, it's a trap, and you have something in your life at this moment in time where you will get free. You might go, well, hang on a minute, I actually can't because of A, B, and C and D. If you commit your heart, if you say to God now, Lord, I've sown into wrong areas, now I'm reaping, now I I've I'm actually a slave. So what I've sown into, I've become a slave to the system.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

You you yeah, you you you'll be a you're reaping the the prison of the system, ain't you? The prison of the system, and it just goes round and round and round, and you end up, if you're not careful, just paying off the minimum on credit cards each month and think, oh crock, thank goodness that's gone. And then and then the system says, Is a credit card.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

Let's bounce it off of that.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

Brand new credit card. Shine in. We've got five grand on this one, Ben. Put all your other credit cards on that one and just pay off that one. And what happens is all of a sudden, we've got three clean credit cards.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

I've got 15 grand.

SPEAKER_01 41:16

Oh, I'll just put a couple of quid on that. And before you know where you're you're in a worse position than you are, you get rid of them, cut them up, pay it all off. And it and you you might say, well, it's easy for you to say that, but you've got a target and you've got to be disciplined and you've got to target it.

SPEAKER_00 41:32

I I know what it's like to have everything strapped, racked, and stacked to the maximum. But when the where the change comes, say that again, strapped strapped, racked and stacked. I know what it's like to be literally got your back against the wall.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

And listen, we're round the mouth here, but it ain't funny. This is deadly. I know what it's like.

SPEAKER_00 41:57

And you know what is the breakthrough point? Is when you say to Jesus, I don't want this anymore. That is the point, and it might be a year down the line, but God will open that door. But when you say, Lord, I want to sew in the kingdom, I have to see change.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

That's a great point.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

Yeah, you it starts within your heart.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

You come to that point, don't you, Ben?

SPEAKER_00 42:17

And then suddenly you still look at the debt, you still look at everything and think, hang on, there's no change, but there is a change.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

Because there's an attitude change.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

There's an attitude change, and bigger than the attitude, your heart has changed, and God will, without any doubt, I guarantee you, open your eyes, you'll go, hang on a minute, I can sell that caravan. Hang on a minute, we can sell that car. Hang on a minute, I've got a classic car, hang on a minute, we can sell some mobile phones, I've got some tablets, not not tablets as in dropping in your mouth. I've got some iPad tablets we can sell. Well, it needs to be I've got a holiday home, I've got a um timeshare.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Very quickly, Ben, but here's the thing. I I said to uh my wife, scoot around the house, see what what bits of jewellery we got. And we and do you know what everyone's got a bit of jewelry somewhere and I pulled up a few of the old Belcher gold chains used to wear back in the day on a few of them? Little boxing glove hanging on the box. Pulled it all together, took it down to the old prestige um pawnbrokers, and and and before you know what, she's ringing me up saying, you know, we got I was driving back from here, and then I nearly drove off the road, but she's we can give you three grand for that.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

Yeah. Then all of a sudden you've freed up.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

You're freed up.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

So every one of us has something around using you can you can start, yeah. And when you start to make that move, you know, when you start to shift, when you start to get that shift moving, I'd tell you what, there's nothing more powerful than going for Jesus. But it will be challenging.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

Sewing in the right areas because you know, it is a sobering thought, Ben. You know, uh our Heavenly Father he records all our sewing, doesn't he? He records all the sewing, he records all the sewing, and and so. I loved it. I was listening to Billy Graham the other day and he said he said some people sow their wild oats all week and go to church on a Sunday and hope for a crop failure. You can't do it, it don't work like that.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

It don't work. You know what? We love old Billy. Do you know what? Talking on the money drum again, if you look took a house for an instance, right? If you look at most houses at this moment, there'll be equity sitting in there. But we are living in a culture that is driven by you've got to have a three-bedroom, a four-bedroom, you've got to have a loft conversion, you've got artificial grass, you've got to have a Crestpreet concrete drive, you've got to have two garages.

SPEAKER_01 44:36

Don't come niche the artificial grass, mate.

Watering The Seed: From Altar Call To Growth

SPEAKER_00 44:39

Do you know what? We've both got artificial grass, and it's the greatest investment I've ever done in my life. And if you look at your house and go, do you know what? I've got 150 grand in equity. If I sell this de scal, you could re there is so many ways of releasing money, but still having a nice home. But what happens is our eyes and our ears are looking on the other side of the fence. I want what the Joneses have got. I want the latest car, I want a new telly, I want a new sofa for Christmas. DFS, sign on the dotted line, it's yours. You don't have to pay for two years, do you? You have to pay for two years, but then when you pay, the springs are hanging out in the sofa. You're gonna pay at the end, you're gonna pay at the end. So every one of us, there is a way forward for every one of us. There is a way forward, you know, and I think the biggest area that we have fallen is sewing into materialistic stuff, giving our time and everything over to that when Jesus says, seek ye first the kingdom of God.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

That's the beast system, innit, Ben. That is that's the it's the system of the world. But why they want they want to wrap you up in in the world. They literally don't. Yeah, and but thinking about um your thoughts and all that sort of thing, there was a a guy came up with this thing, he said um he said, uh be careful of your thoughts because your thoughts then become your words. Of course, yeah, yeah. Careful of your words because they become your actions. Yes, your actions become your habits, and your habits become your character, and that and that the and that determines your destiny. So we have to be if we're thinking if we're thinking uh fleshly thoughts, then all of a sudden everything sort of the dial goes in the fleshly direction, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 46:24

But it's it goes in the flesh wobble. If we're thinking kingdom thoughts, so it it it is a change of thinking as well. Change of attitude, change of thinking is ch prayer saying, Lord, will you change my my habits? You know, Lord, can you break the addiction? Can you can you help my thoughts to be righteous and pure and on Jesus? Because let's face it, you know, the church ain't throwing out seeds of hope, is it really from the pulpit. It it's it in loads of areas, you know, a mat 95% of the church, I'd say in the UK, is is not throwing out the seed of the word of God. We're all guilty of that. And you know what? What we need is preachers and teachers and ministers to be encouraged us to get in the word of God and to focus on Jesus and to give him everything you got, de scowl, declutter, say, Lord, strip me back. Look at me, Lord, look at my heart, Lord, help my heart to be have a heart for God.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

It's a tough subject. As we come into land, you know, what better place to come into land than the cross? Because Jesus sowed his life on the cross, didn't he? He sowed his life on the cross. And and uh he reaped a harvest.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

A harvest. You think of that you know that's a showstopper, that one alone, and that's the conversation stopper to think that Christ came to this world. But he did say, didn't he in the garden, if it is possible, take this from me. And there may be many times in our lives we go, God, I I know the path I've got to go down for you. But do I really have to? Do I really yeah, you've got to walk it. But when you walk it, trust me. I'll strengthen you in your walk. I will get you debt free. Trust and believe. Stop sewing into the credit card, stop sewing into the business, stop sewing into the drug addiction, stop sewing in the alcohol, stop sewing into light, stop sewing into the world, and actually go, now I'm gonna get myself treasures in heaven.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

You said something a little bit further back, and and and that's what you just said is powerful. And and the thing is stop sewing into fear, but sew into belief, yeah, and trust, and just shout out wherever you are, no, no, no, I don't want this anymore. Break it, God. Break this, break this, break this, show me, father, where you want me to be. I want to break this shackle of debt, I want to break this shackle of of uh pornography, I want to break it.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

It's like an umbilical cord, innit? I'll just you Lord, cut the umbilical cord what what is feeding me. It you know, when you look at a baby, when you look at a child the way it grows, that umbilical cord, and I I believe many of us have got lots of umbilical cords like spokes going out, and it's feeding the flesh, it's feeding us, but Lord, cut all these worldly umbilical cords, and Lord, I want to be fed by you. Feed me. I want to be fed by the word. Hungry for you. I want to be thirsty and hungry for you.

Practical Audit: Where Your Time Goes

SPEAKER_01 49:26

And then when that happens, you'll be living a kingdom life, and your actual life will make someone hungry because your life, people will go, I want some of what he's got. Yeah, what's it what has he got?

SPEAKER_00 49:40

Be a kingdom person in freedom. We don't need the men's, the women's ministries, the kids' ministries. You know, we are all together, we are all kingdom people. It is about the king's domain and be an encourager in your life. You know, we've got so much more to talk about, but we're out of it. You know, we're off and um we're gonna go and sell some gold bullion to get freed up of some debt and and get all that.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

A few things in the church, just to just a case.

SPEAKER_00 50:07

Sell the lead off the roof. Sorry, Ealin, but I'm just gonna sell, get a few quid on the front of the building.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

And we're gonna dip into Patreon in a minute and we're gonna talk more about stuff. So, you know, join us, please. Join us and be part of our family, um, be part of something much more bigger than yourself.

SPEAKER_00 50:24

Uh the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. We love you so much. Thank you to everybody on YouTube, everyone on BuzzSprout, Spotify, iHeartRadio, everyone across the globe. We thank you so much wherever you are at this moment in time. Patreon, we we we thank you very much as well. And all those that uh listen to these podcasts, I see the stats yesterday. So many people listen, offer your mobile devices, and we thank you for all of you. We are so grateful for every one of you listening to this stuff. Hop onto hashtag Christian Straight Talk, find us on Patreon. Come on, let's be men and women of the kingdom of God. Have a great day. I'm so into straight talk. So into that. You'll reap encouragement.

SPEAKER_01 51:07

That's the truth.