AdAgrA 2020: A Living Parable

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AdAgrA: Adventist Agriculture Association

Scott Ritsema

Plenary

Grow Grow Grow: A Living Parable

Philip Samaan

The Seed and the Wayside Soil

Luke Fisher

Chantee Fisher

Restoration Farming

The Seed and the Stony Soil

Gabriel McClover

Vonnella McClover

“Unity” in Living Parables

The Seed and the Good Soil

Natasha Dysinger

Paul Dysinger

Sabbath School

The Seed and the Thorny Soil

Agriculture as Outreach


Loving Father, thank you for being with us all these evenings and now we come to the last 1. I'm beginning to like these people and feel comfortable with them and now I'm going to miss them. So may our paths cross at some point. I know 1 thing. As we think about nature and gardening and farming, we know in heaven we'll be tilling the soil like Adam.

When Eden lost will be restored in Jesus name. Amen. Well because I don't have much time tonight because we have other things planned I just want to tie loose ends and finish my sermon today. And I want you to know farming at home, following the example of my parents, was such a good example to help me in my ministry, in my life. For example, farming taught me integrity, authenticity, honesty.

I'm writing a book, How to Revive Vanishing Values. Such old-fashioned honesty and courtesy and respect. What do I mean by that? Well, the Bible says when you sell a measure of wheat, it must be shaken well and pressed down. That's what my dad did.

He showed me by example the virtue of integrity. And you know that. If you work with wheat, You could fill the container with wheat and it's all the way to the top. But when you shake it well and press it down, it comes down a few inches. It fills the spaces between the grains of wheat.

And my dad would never sell wheat unless he presses it hard and he shakes it. That's a good example. And then the other example from farming, When my dad would sell fruit, be they figs, pomegranates, apples, oranges, he never put the best fruit on the front to attract the customer and then in the middle it wasn't as good quality. He said that's not honest. I want people to know what they're buying, what they're paying for.

So he put good food on top, good food in the middle, good food at the bottom. So people were not surprised. I learned that from him to apply to my life and ministry. Then also, In working with thick trees and pomegranates and olives, he used to do a lot of grafting, a very interesting science to graft. And we'd do it together.

And after a few weeks, we'd go back to check on what happened with our grafting. And they all be sprouting with new leaves. But then 1 of them will be dry. Dad, how come all of them are alive except this 1 is dry? He said, let's find out.

He knew why. Let's find out. So we take the piece of cloth from around this branch, graft it in the tree, and there'll be a separation between the branch and the tree. That's the answer. When we are separate from Christ, the true vine, will dry up.

And remember, Philip, this text, when Jesus said, without me you can do nothing, I'm the vine and you're the branches. Unless you're connected with me, you're going to dry up and die because without me you can do nothing. That's how my dad taught me. We do things in the garden farm together and he will always teach me lessons. And the question becomes, am I grafted into Jesus?

Is Jesus' life flowing through me? Is my branch totally dependent on the vine. That's the lesson I learned from helping my dad with his fruit trees. Now, even watching my dad do the farming helped me in my preaching, in my calling to preach. How?

Because my dad told me, you believe that God is calling you to preach the gospel? Yes dad, I believe that. I believe that from the time I was a child. God called me. Never hesitate to believe in that.

He said, okay, look at this, look at this olive tree, look at this apple tree, look at that. You see a sermon should be like a tree. Whenever I prepare for a sermon, I think about that. First of all, your ideas have to be rooted in the earth, solid, rooted, roots. And a new sermon should be specific.

Don't preach many sermons at 1 time. Deal with 1 tree, 1 main idea. You know some preachers wander here and there and you don't know how to follow them no, you got to have 1 main idea 1 trunk and notice the trunk has branches These are secondary supportive ideas, the branches. Also don't forget about the, don't forget about the leaves. These are secondary ideas.

Don't forget about the flowers. The flowers are very important. Flowers promise we're going to have fruit. And the flowers represent stories and illustrations to brighten up the sermon, to open some windows for fresh air. That's why Jesus told many stories and parables.

My dad taught me to tell stories. People tell me, you tell a lot of stories. That makes it interesting. That's true. Because my dad taught me to tell stories and parables and experiences.

And then, finally, you got to have some fruit in your lectures, in your sermons, fruit. Every sermon should be fruitful. And the fruit means we have results that people draw closer to God and feel they want to follow Jesus. Commit themselves to Jesus. Every sermon should have an appeal.

Every sermon. Because a good tree has fruit. A good sermon should have fruit. And by the way, you know that Satan makes appeals all the time to us. 24-7 to seduce us, to deceive us.

The world makes appeals for us to follow the ways of Satan. Isn't that high time for us to make appeals for people to follow Jesus and be saved? There was a conference, a Seventh-day Adventist conference. I won't say, I don't want to be specific. And they invited me to speak at the camp meeting.

And he said, Dr. Saman, we hear some Rumors that you like to make appeals for Jesus. I said, I plead guilty for that. He said, well, I mean, that's OK. But you know, our people don't want appeals.

So can You just preach interesting sermons, but don't make appeals. Our people do not want appeals to accept Jesus. I said, well, I'm sorry you feel this way, but you see this is a part of my ministry. I want the fruit trees to have some fruit. No, no, just the flowers.

Well, flowers are nice, they look good, but you cannot feed just on flowers. You've got to have the fruit. Can you imagine if you went to the dining room for lunch today and all the cooks presented were some flowers. Like somebody said, he said, I like pomegranates. I said, do you have 1?

He said, no, I have the picture on the wall. Well, you know something? Flowers don't nourish you and feed you. I mean, some of them do, but I'm not talking about, on top of the real fruit. I mean, They have real fruits in the cafeteria.

And I appreciate that because I've arrived, I tell you this food here is amazing. The intention about make it healthy and tasty and plenty of it. They don't just have, and by the way, I don't see any cookies, I don't see any cakes and pies and, and, and, Twinkies and, you know, all this stuff. I see fruit, pears, strawberries, blueberries, peaches. I mean, what else do we have?

Grapes. I love this place. This is good. And so I told the conference president, I hear you. But you know, the devil is making appeals for people to follow him.

It's high time for us Christians to make a peace to follow Jesus. Yeah, I know it makes sense, but our people are touchy. They are sensitive. I said, well, you know, If you don't let me make appeals, I'm not coming. You don't mean that.

Yeah, I mean it. I'm serious. But we have nice hotels for you. We have high on air am. And told me the amount.

We'll treat you like a king. I said, even if you treat me like a king, if I can't make appeals, I can't come. My sermon will not be complete. I said, you know, I don't have to come. You know, think about it.

Pray about it. So we took this committee, prayed about it, thought about it. He called me back. He said, they're willing to tolerate your appeals if you present them in a loving way. Don't hurt anybody's feelings.

Don't make anybody feel uncomfortable. I said, I believe in this approach. I mean, I believe in being loving, but you got to speak the truth in love, with tears in your voice. It's interesting. My first sermon was about Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

And he said, do you really want to talk about repentance? I said, yes. I'll present in a very loving way. But I mean, that's kind of a hard subject. Our people haven't heard about repentance for years.

I said, that's the reason why we should hear about it. And I presented repentance in such a loving, caring, gentle way that the Holy Spirit touched people's hearts and I made an appeal at the end. If somebody desires to repent, It seems common sense, but common sense is not common anymore. And believe it or not, the Holy Spirit touched people's hearts and so many people need to repent. And hundreds of people came forward to repent.

What are we afraid of? Then you know on our farm in Syria, we had to deal with bugs. Do you deal with bugs or is your farming so perfect that bugs don't come around. Is that the case? All kinds of bugs.

Different seasons, different bugs. And we were dealing with Bumblebees. A bumblebee. I'm not calling it a bug, you know, just a bumblebee. And my dad said, we can learn a lot from the bumblebee to help you preach well when you become a pastor.

What do I learn about? He said, well, look at the bumblebee. First of all, to start with, it has antennas. I'm trying to see you. Are you the Dyson girl?

This is John and Pam? I can hardly see you. Light. Anyway, but I believe you. I believe you there.

And is that your son next to you? Is that Caleb? OK, good. Good. And you're the same lady who sat here every night.

And I met you at Andrews University. He said, when you start with the bumblebee, when it's the head, it has antennas. You know why? To discern how the audience feels, what the audience needs, antennas. That's why you saw me this evening walking around all over the place, talking to people, getting a sense of my audience.

I do this all the time. And I would have stayed there for a while, but very disciplined Pam Dysinger, our leader, she told me to come in. It's time for me to speak. And she was walking so fast. Why do you walk so fast?

And I was running after you to catch up with you. It's funny to look at an old man like me, 70 years old, chasing after you, running to catch up with you. Do you catch up with her sometimes? The head, with discerning eyes, and the head is introduction. Some pastors have introductions that take the whole body.

No, the introduction should be small in proportion to the whole sermon. It's a head. And what comes after the head? The neck. And the neck is the transitional point between the introduction and the body of the sermon.

Some sermons have no necks. Like the head and the body blend together and you try to get the listener from the introduction to the body of the sermon and they have to, there is no space to jump. What else does the bee have? What does it have? Oh yes, you know What it has?

It has of course the body, the main ideas, the main branches of the sermon, the body. And then it has wings. Every sermon should soar. Some sermons never get off the ground. Every sermon has to soar.

Just let people think about God's love, how uplifting, how exciting, they soar with excitement and joy, but some sermons soar but they never land. Like you take a flight from here to Chicago and the plane soars with its wings but it can never land and there's a crash. Every sermon must soar because of the wings. And every sermon must land, Which means feet, I should say legs, to be anchored in reality. They can land, they are real, they are practical, they work.

That's why the sermon today, I said, let me tell you how this works for me. I cannot talk about anything unless it works for me. And what's the last thing about a bumblebee? The very last thing. What is it?

Stinger. A Stinger. Did you say that? And that's what you think, a stinger. Every sermon must have a stinger.

Why? Because the Word of God is a two-edged sword, you see. You cannot end a sermon without the Holy Spirit convicting the heart. Stings you to make it effective and appeal to, so you can open your heart to be cut by the Holy Spirit. So I learned this from nature.

You know, At Collegedale Adventist Church in Collegedale where I work, they invite Dr. John Nixon, an African American, to be the pastor of the university church. He always made appeals for people to give their hearts to Jesus, to repent. Very serious. I mean, he really wouldn't stop preaching, wouldn't end the sermon, without making appeal for people to come to Jesus and to repent and make things right with God.

Then, he was called to School of Religion where I work. His office was next to mine and 1 time he shared this experience with me. He said, I was shopping at village market. If you visit Southern, there's a village market where you buy groceries and things. He said, 1 of my sisters from the church, 1 of my churchmen before I start teaching religion, she said, ''Oh, Pastor Nixon, I am so happy.

I am so happy and relieved for you and for me. He said, Why sister, you so happy? She said, Whenever you preached, You made me feel convicted. You made me feel uncomfortable. I come to church to relax and enjoy myself and listen to a smooth sermon.

So I don't have to bother with my conviction. You make me feel uncomfortable. And I said to him, that's the best compliment he received. Your preaching appealed to my heart to convict me to repent and submit to Jesus, but I didn't come to church for that. I just came to church to just relax and hear sermons that sooth my feelings.

I don't want conviction. I don't want conviction. Every bee in your fields and farms and gardens must have a stinger. And every tree must have fruit. Lessons from farming.

From my calling to ministry, to preaching. Now then, the secret of all what we're talking about is you got to hold on to Jesus for dear life. If I ever were to leave you with 1 sentence, hold on to Jesus tenaciously for dear life. I love the word tenacity. Oswald Chambers, in his book, My Atmosphere is High, defined tenacity as not holding on for the fear of falling off.

But tenacity is embracing Jesus, refusing to believe he'll ever be conquered. Because Jesus will never be conquered, you will not be conquered because you're attached to him. No wonder Dietrich Bonhoeffer said true discipleship is adherence to Christ. Adhesive, you're glued to Jesus. I'm saying this because I want to be realistic.

We're going to face difficult times, challenges, obstacles. You got to hold on to Jesus. A story is told about a preacher, the hobby of collecting shells on the shore where he lived. You know, shells represent us. Represent all of us, we are all shells.

Some of us are bigger, prettier, but we are all shells. And shells are stepped on. Have you been stepped on before? People walk on shells. Sometimes they are buried in the sand.

Sometimes they are pushed back and forth by the waves and the wind. Shells represent us. What would a shell do by itself? As he walked further collecting shells, he saw a rock in front of him, situated between the crashing waves and the sand. And maybe there was a mountain beneath that rock.

And he saw on the top of the mountain a shell he liked. Pretty shell. Casually he tried to pick it and walk away, and the shell was stuck. He tried harder, he couldn't get it loose. He put all the shells aside with both hands now, with his fingers, tried to pry it loose, but he couldn't.

Because the shell was stuck in the rock. Please, we're stuck on many things today but above all let's be stuck in Jesus. We're a shell, but if we're stuck in Jesus, we become immovable like the rock. We become a part of the rock. That's our hope.

Well, let me conclude with this news item. I saw it with my own eyes on television, so please believe it, it happened. I'm talking about being attached to Christ, attachment and adherence, that's our only hope. There is no other hope. And so this pilot took off on this small plane with his co-pilot alone on the plane.

The plane got up to 5, 000, 6, 000 feet. And then the pilot heard some noise in the back of the plane. And he asked his co-pilot to go and check the problem. When he went to the back, apparently the door was open, and as the plane was moving this way and that way, he was sucked out of the plane. And the senior pilot realized that he lost his co-pilot.

He waved at the tower, said, I have an emergency. I've got to go back and land. I lost my pilot. So what happened in reality is the co-pilot was sucked out of the plane. He grabbed on to the landing gear of the plane, grabbed on for dear life.

And he wrapped his legs around the landing gear. As the plane was going back to the airport because of the emergency, workers at the airport saw an object entangled in the landing gear of the plane. When the plane landed, They realized it was the coal pile, alive, healthy, okay, shaken up, but okay. And they try to pry his hands loose from the hard, cold, and responsive steel. Cold, hard and responsive.

Holding on to the cold and responsive steel for dear life. He won't let go. And I thought to myself, if you want to make it in this world and be ready for Christ's coming, if this Copilot to make it held on to this unresponsive, cold, hard steel that he could not get his hands to let go of that. How much more we should grasp the loving, warm, responsive, powerful hand of Jesus and not let go? That's what Jesus said, He come to me, I'll hold you with a firm grip that will never let go.

You're going to have prayer session? I'm going to appeal to you. How many here, as we come to the last sermon want to allow the loving, responsive, warm, powerful hand of Jesus? Grasp your hand and walk with you from day to day. And how many say, Lord, I believe you promise.

If you hold my hand, you'll hold me with a firm grip that will never let go. I want to be attached to Jesus. I want to adhere to Jesus. I want to be stuck in the law. Would you please raise your hand?

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Series

Plenary

The Seed and the Good Soil

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Grow Grow Grow: A Living Parable

1h 14m

The Seed and the Wayside Soil

1h 13m

Restoration Farming

45m

The Seed and the Stony Soil

1h 4m

“Unity” in Living Parables

42m

The Seed and the Good Soil

28m

Sabbath School

27m

The Seed and the Thorny Soil

1h 3m

Agriculture as Outreach

1h 16m

Sound Doctrine