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Brothers and sisters in Christ,
When I was finishing my degree at Carleton University I was a
member of Campus Crusade for Christ. We enjoyed times of  prayer and fellowship with each other. We studied God’s Wordand supported one another in the harsh environment of a secular university.
We were a small group of about 40 members but we had a very
large mission.Our goal was to reach out to this secular university with theGospel. We wanted to help students develop a relationship withGod as they struggled to find out who they were and where theywere going.
We held a number of events and Bible studies during the year but 
the face of Campus Crusade was found each week at our book table. We would set it up on the fourth floor of the Universitycentre and there we would offer literature and tapes; as well as free baked goods – a very popular attraction for starving students.More important than the things we offered were the people whowere at the book table. We were trained to share our faith andanswer questions that people might have about Christianity. Wemade ourselves available to people for coffee and long termrelationships so that we could share the Gospel with them for morethan five seconds on the fourth floor.
We rejoiced in our mission and with every person who came to
know and accept Jesus as Lord in their lives. But these successeswere few. Every year a handful of people would reach the pointwhere they could accept the free gift of the Gospel. At that tablewe would see a hundred people each week – and thousands over 
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the course of a year. Out of all this we were able to reach 10 andmaybe 20 people each year.
 Let’s put this in perspective
if I dump a thousand pucks on the
ice and I put 10 or 20 of my slap shots in the net, I’m going tothink long and hard about giving up my dream of playing in the NHL on a team that doesn’t wear blue and white.
 At Campus Crusade we reached out to thousands of people with
the Gospel – but so few came to know the love and grace of God intheir lives. It was easy to be discouraged. Often we felt defeated.All that energy, all those prayers, and all those people who walkedaway.
What about you? What about the lost in your lives? The family,
friends and neighbours you have witnessed to and prayed for.What about the people who walk into the doors of HopeFellowship, stay for a while, and then leave?
 It’s frustrating. It’s discouraging. Today we are celebrating 
Pentecost. God has given his Spirit to the church and put His power behind our mission to the world. We go out with the HolySpirit as our guide and enabler. We bring the Gospel to the world.We bring the Gospel to our cities. We bring the Gospel to our homes. But it’s still the same story: All that energy, all those prayers, and all those people who walk away.
 Jesus’ followers experienced the same kind of frustration. There
were the Twelve who left everything to follow Jesus and assist inhis ministry. There was also a large group of women whoaccompanied him including Mary, Joanna and Susanna. They allworked hard and gave up much in order to support Jesus ministry.They went from town to town, and Jesus – the promised Messiah –  proclaimed the good news to them. And with all that energy, and
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all those prayers, and with Jesus himself proclaiming the message, people were walking away.
The Parable of the Sower is a response to the disappointment we
feel, both then and now. It’s about all those people who walk away.Jesus saw the frustration in the hearts and on the faces of hisdisciples – and he knows that we have the same feelings today.And so Jesus encourages us with these words:
Keep working for the harvest.
 I know what you’re thinking. MORE WORK. You’re not feeling 
very encouraged, are you. But bear with me for about 16 minutesor so and we will see how the Parable of the Sower offersencouragement for weary, discouraged workers on the missionfield.
 I don’t want to bore you with the technical details of the Greek text 
today but when we look at this passage we see that the maincharacter in the parable is not the seeds and it’s not the land – It’sthe farmer. And because the farmer in this parable represents everyChristian, I’d like to take some time and look at two things thisfarmer does and how it relates to what we are called to do today.
The first thing that the farmer would have done is spread the seed.
2,000 years ago – around planting time – the farmer would take a bag of wheat seed collected from the year before and go out to thefield. In the hot sun, he would spread the seed everywhere. Itdidn’t matter where he threw the seed because he still had a lot of work to do. And so the first thing he would do is cover the entirefield.
There are a couple things we learn from this. The first comes from
verse 11. Jesus tells us that “the seed is the word of God.” TheBible. Genesis to Revelation. It tells us about everything that
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