Free to Send

We’re starting our “There is Freedom!” series and the core scripture we’re using is 2 Corinthians 3:17.

“Now, the ‘Lord’ I’m referring to is the Holy Spirit, and wherever he is Lord, there is freedom.” – 2 CORINTHIANS 3:17 (TPT)

Freedom comes with making the Holy Spirit Lord in your life. Being directed and guided and led by Him equates to life freedom. That includes sowing / giving / sending. We need to be free to send.

The Kingdom of God is a sending kingdom and a giving kingdom! It’s not a “hold on to and hope that you can make it” kingdom. The world teaches to acquire and accumulate and hold on to everything you can as a status symbol of your culture; it can also be the thought that you never know when something bad is going to hit. Regardless, the world says to hold on to, but the Kingdom of God says to give, to send.

Free to Send

“10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.” – 2 CORINTHIANS 9:10-11

In the past when I read that God “supplies seed to the sower”, I had always focused on the seed (that God’s going to give me what I need). That’s true, but what the Holy Spirit showed me is that if you become a sower, there will always be seed given to you.

See, it’s not just doing something to get it; it’s becoming like God Himself, a giver and sower! Think about it: God sowed Jesus into this earth to reap a harvest. If we become sowers, we’ll always have seed given.

Do you always want seed and to have resources? Then become someone who gives resources. 2 Corinthians 9:10 doesn’t say God provides seed to the hoarder; He provides seed to the sower. I’m not just talking money (although that’s part of it); I’m talking sowing your time (helping on a team at church, or praying for others, etc.), and your priorities. When God gives you something, it shouldn’t just end with you. It needs to flow THROUGH you because if He can get it THROUGH you, He’ll get it TO you.

Become like a water hose. As the spigot’s turned on, it flows through you. The water hose always has water as long as it’s flowing. It’s when the hose stops flowing water that it becomes dry. So, always be someone who the resources of Heaven can flow through to make an impact on earth.

The Kingdom of God is a sending kingdom and there’s freedom to send. That’s why, when our youth pastor/worship leader recently said he was leaving to become youth pastor in another city, I didn’t say “This is horrible! How could you do this to me?” See, I know he believes he’s doing what God’s called him to do. Since we’re sending, we’re making room for what God’s going to do at Hope City.

We’re a sending church so we’re going to SEND him and his wife to their next assignment! It’s just like we send people to the mission field and we give at our Pop-Up Grill every Friday to feed the homeless. We choose and want resources to flow through us so we can make an impact on this earth.

We are Kingdom people; therefore, we are sending / giving / sowing people. We can’t separate things and say “I want to be part of the kingdom but I don’t want to sow.” That’s not how the Kingdom functions. Jesus was the perfect example and representation of God here on this earth as a man. Everything Jesus did, God said, “That’s what I would do if I was there because I AM there and am doing it through Him.”

God sowed Jesus into this earth so that He could reap a harvest of all the Christians who have ever existed since Jesus rose from the dead – and eternity future – until we all go home. What a harvest from ONE seed! You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can’t count the number of apples in a seed. You have no idea how many will come from one seed sown, one gift given, one person sent.

Using our youth pastors as example: By SOWING them, we’re part of their harvest. Every person they come in contact with in their new assignment and beyond, because we have a right heart (we’re not upset at them for leaving but excited for them), we’re part of the harvest THEY sow into!

Think of the Pop-Up Grill: You may have never physically attended one, but if you’ve given funds to it, you are part of it!

Jesus Sowed from His Ministry

Jesus sowed from His ministry and was given more.

Jesus came to this earth to give of Himself and serve, not be served. Luke gives a great example of how Jesus sowed. Think about it: Jesus is just starting His ministry and has gathered 12 disciples. Realize that these 12 are not experienced ministers; they are relatively new into Jesus’s ministry. The “wisdom” of the world would say, “You’d better keep them and train them until they’re ready before you send them!” But look at what Jesus did:

“1 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” – LUKE 9:1-2

Early on, Jesus sowed the people who were in His ministry into the world, to make a difference.  And what happened?  He was given more. As you become a sower and sow, more will be given. Resources will flow. Look at the very next chapter in Luke…

“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.” – LUKE 10:1

Jesus had 12. He sowed them into the earth. Now, He’s got 70 that are ready to go out!  And that practice continued.

As you give to trips and outreaches, you’re sowers which means you’ll always have seed. As you continue sowing, your seed will keep growing and growing to reap the harvest from the seeds sown.

The word “sent” is from a Greek word translated “apostle” or “apostolic”. Some of the definitions of it are “to set apart to do something special”, “to send a message by someone”, “to send out with a mission to fulfill”, and (my favorite) “to equip and dispatch one with the full backing and authority of the sender”.

The people Jesus sent had the FULL BACKING AND AUTHORITY of Jesus. Today, Jesus has told us to go into all the world. We have the full backing and authority of Jesus in our lives to make an impact here on this earth! It’s not going out and just DOING something; it’s going out and BEING the Kingdom, sowing into lives.

When you pray for somebody, you’re not just praying and walking away. You’re sowing Kingdom seed into their life and you should expect a harvest. When I’m at the Pop-Up Grill, I’m not just saying a prayer and being done; I know I’m sowing Kingdom into their life. I’m sowing truth into their life so that truth can set them free. That seed is planted. Someday, the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance that prayer and they’ll think, “That’s the only place where I’ve gone where they didn’t judge me…they just gave me something and showed love to me. I’ve got to get there.”

When they come to Hope City, they’re able to find truth and freedom because of the seed that was sown.

We have to always be sowers so we can have more seed to give. The order of the Kingdom of God is sowing and reaping.

When I mow my lawn, I don’t think about each and every blade I’m cutting; I think about what it’s going to look like when it’s done. That’s the reason I do it; I get the joy of seeing it completed, and then I do it again…and again. The Kingdom of God sows AND reaps.

Consider the day of Pentecost (ACTS 2:41) when thousands of people were coming to the Kingdom.  How horrible would it have been if Peter had said, “Well, the job’s done.  Come on, guys, it’s just us.”?  The book of Acts is done by chapter 3. The Apostle Paul never happens.  How many would never hear the Gospel?

The Kingdom sowed into this world from a spiritual kingdom into a natural world to reap spiritual harvest.

So, when you go to your job God’s called you to do, He is fully backing you and supplying all the authority you need to do what you are called to do. It’s not just doing your task; the Kingdom of God is wanting to operate THROUGH you. The Kingdom is sown into you; don’t turn the faucet off. Let it flow.

Are you ready for the Holy Spirit to work through you? Have you made room for that to happen? Are you prepared for that? Do you expect that to happen? If you ever think that God’s not there with you and you’re alone, you’re wrong; Jesus said He’s always there (MATTHEW 28:18-20).

There’s freedom in sending. When you send or give, you aren’t losing it, you are preparing for more! This world says when you give up something, you’ve just lost it. The Kingdom says when you’ve sowed it, you’re making room for more.

When you give, you’re making room for more because you place God first in your heart. Luke 12:34 tells us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” You have to have your heart right; God wants your heart. If He knows He has your heart, how are some ways He can tell if He has your heart? Through your giving. Through your sowing. Through your time. Through what you place first in your life.

There are some physical ways that you can show spiritual truths, and that’s what He’s asking: Are you ready to send? Are you ready to sow? Are you ready to give what He’s asking you to do? Remember, He supplies seed to the sower.

To watch the July 17, 2022 service on which this post is based, CLICK HERE.