# Reaping and Sowing

March 30, 2026

Ecclesiastes chapter number 11 tonight. Just for a bit, Ecclesiastes chapter number 11. We’re going to read verse 1 through verse number 6. If you don’t have a Bible, one of those chairs in front of you ought to have one; grab one. Ecclesiastes is right after Proverbs, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes.

Chapter number 11 tonight, and verse number one really, I think, is the topical sentence of the paragraph, if you will. Verse number seven starts a new paragraph, but it kind of sets the tone. Verse number one, we’ll talk about it for a minute, then we’ll just go verse by verse for a bit tonight. Please read Ecclesiastes 11.

If you are able, would you please stand just to show the word of God respect? Ecclesiastes 11. Me and Brother Go Forth are a little bit in mourning tonight because the Tennessee Vols got clobbered in basketball this afternoon. If you see some tears weeping or welling, it’s us. Amen. Come on now. Let’s get back. Let’s get to the Bible. Let’s get to the Bible. Amen. We’ll get back to the Bible here.

Please read Ecclesiastes 11. Verse number one: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth. If the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be. He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child—by the way, notice not fetus, but with child—that’s a baby in the womb there. Even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, whether they both shall be alike good.”

Just for a bit tonight. We’re going to talk about this saying of—I didn’t get a title for it, but you could maybe title it “Reaping and Sowing”—but we’ll dive into it for a bit tonight. Would you pray with me that God would speak to hearts tonight? Father, Lord, we come. We ask, would you bless your word tonight? Lord, this can be a little confusing for us, so make it just crystal clear what you’re saying here. Then, Lord, would you take it and apply it to our hearts, our minds, grow us by it, encourage us by it? Lord, help us to live godly lives according to it. Lord, thank you for what you do, and thank you for the guests being here tonight. What a blessing, Lord. Thank you for that. Bless them tonight. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

That’s interesting. The first verse really set the tone for this: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” Let me just read a couple of commentaries on that. Verse one said this: That is, be liberal. He’s not talking about political liberty; he’s talking about being giving, be liberal to the poor. And though it seems to be a thing ventured on the sea, yet it will bring you profit.

Adam Clarke, another commentary, said this: An allusion to the sowing of rice. You said the bread; it’s kind of like you put rice, which was sown upon muddy ground, or ground covered with water, and trodden in by the feet of cattle, and thus took root and grew, and was found after many days in a plentiful harvest. You see some of these fields in Vietnam, or one of these rice fields, things like that. You cast the bread like rice, and then the cattle all trample it down, and you get a good harvest coming from that.

The British Family Bible commentator says: “Bestow thy beneficence on those from whom there is no probability of return of kindness. For he that seeth in secret will, when thou hast forgotten it, restore unto thee with a happy increase.”

Some have said it like this: This is an interesting thing. They say they cast some bread upon the water, for after many days, it’s going to return to you. Some will say it’s like—has anybody ever been fishing in a little pond or a lake where they’ve stocked it and they feed it? And man, you say, “I caught a big old catfish out of there! I got a big old trout or a cat, whatever it may be, out of there.” Well, it’s a little bit cheating because they’ve been feeding it; they’ve been stocking it. Someone says it’s like that: you cast your bread, you throw your bread, you keep feeding them, and after a while, it’s going to come back; you will catch a big old fish, if you will.

Now, whether exactly which one it is, it’s hard to say, but the truth is still the same. You cast your bread upon the water, and after a while, after many days, it’s going to come back to you. You see, you keep giving out to people, and God will see to it that it comes back to you in abundance in His time. That’s what he’s saying.

That kind of reminds you over there in the New Testament, Galatians 6:9: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Same truth, just Old Testament here, New Testament there. It’s going to come back to you sooner or later. It might be a while. Notice what he said: “after many days.” It’s going to take a while, but what you give out sooner or later is going to come back to you in a harvest, plentiful. That’s what he’s saying.

Interesting story. They say during the Civil War, there was a rider on a horseback. He was coming up to a camp, approaching it. A guard stepped out and stopped him, had a gun on him, and he said, “Halt! Who goes there?”

The man on the horseback says, “A friend.”

He says, “Approach and give the password.”

The man on the horseback approached a little bit and he said, “Lincoln.” And it was dead silence. The sentry had his gun pointing toward him, and the sentry just kind of had to think it all through, and just dead silence. Finally, he said, “That’s the wrong password. If I did not know who you were, your life would pay the penalty for the mistake. But at the risk of my own life, I spare yours. Go back and get the right password.”

The man on the horseback rode away. He came back a little bit later, thanked him, and he said, “What’s the password?”

He said, “Massachusetts.”

He said, “Pass on, all is well.”

They say the man on the horseback said, “I cannot pass till I have given you a message. At the risk of your life, you spared my life. So I cannot help but ask you, do you have the right password for heaven?”

He said, “Yes, I do.”

The man on the horseback said, “Well, what is it?”

The guard said, “It’s Jesus Christ.”

He said, “Oh man, you got it! Where’d you learn that from?”

He said, “Sir, I learned that in your Sunday school class years ago back in Pennsylvania. And that’s why I spared your life.”

Now, friend, that’s the truth. He’s saying, you cast your bread upon water. It’s going to take a while, but sooner or later, the thing you’re sowing, it will come back to you in abundance, and that’s the truth of it all.

Here’s something about this: You cannot reap without sowing. We make a big deal about reaping, but it seems to me the Bible makes a big deal about the sowing. I like this when it talks about the parable of the four different types of ground.

Let me read for you how he starts out in Matthew 13:3. He said: “And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow.” Now when the Bible says “Behold,” that means stop everything; something big is about to happen. Behold, a sower went forth to sow. It’s almost like heaven stops and says, “Hey, someone out there is sowing seed.” Same thing over in Mark 4, verse number 3: “Hark, behold, there went out a sower to sow.”

This is a funny little story. They say there was a lady; she rented a little mother-in-law’s apartment off the side of a house. It was furnished and had a large, friendly dog that was part of the deal. When she rented the place, the dog lived there with her. She agreed, “No problem.”

She liked one chair in there; it was the most comfortable chair. The only problem was the dog liked that chair too. It’s funny; in our very first building, a little daycare building, there was a little lady that lived beside us. Her name was Mary Ann Dunn. She had a big dog she named “Trash Can” because he could eat anything. She said that dog was smart. If she sat on the couch, he would go to the door, act like he wanted to go potty. When she opened the door for him, he would jump on the couch.

A little similar to the lady in the chair: when the dog got in the chair she wanted, she would go to the window and say, “Cat! Cat!” The dog would get excited, start barking, and she would sit in the chair. But after a while, the dog would go to the window, get excited, start barking, and when she hopped up to look, the dog got the seat.

A little similar here. Hey, friend, you’re going to reap what you sow. You cast your bread upon the waters; after many days, it is going to come back to you.

Let’s keep going. That sets the tone for verse number one of Ecclesiastes 11. Let’s go verse by verse for a minute here. We’ll jump down to verse number two. I think there is a lot of wisdom in this verse, especially if you are investing—diversify. I think this is the verse that teaches to diversify, but with a little more to it than just that.

Notice what it says in verse number two: “Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.” I think he is teaching us to diversify, but he is saying, don’t just give to the ones you think will give back to you because you never know. It’s a shame when people are just nice to people who can be nice back to them. In school, that was the crowd that was nice to the popular people because the popular people could make them popular. But the down-and-outers, they were just mean to. He said, don’t do that. You never know what’s going to happen.

Look over, if you will, in Luke chapter number six. We often call it the Golden Rule. Notice what he says after that in Luke 6, verse number 31: “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” Watch this: “For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be called the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful, and to the evil.”

Hey, whatever happened, you’re just loving people no matter what they are or who they are. Just love people. Shame on us if we’re good to someone and befriend someone just because we think they might be able to be kind to us again or make us look good.

Sometimes I get tired of this thing of “who knows who.” Why don’t you just love people? He said you don’t know who’s going to come back, and you don’t know what else is going to happen with what you’re giving up. Just give out to people, is what he is saying.

Interesting story. They say a young man was traveling out toward the West. He stopped at a farmhouse and asked if he could stay there. They said sure and put him up for the night. In the meantime, another traveler, traveling to Colorado, stopped with his sick wife. The first man said, “Just let them have the bedroom; he’s sick. I’ll sleep out in the barn or on the floor,” and he did. The sick man told the host, “All I have is four bucks.” So he and his wife stayed in the room, and the first man stayed on the floor. The next morning, the host took care of them and fed them.

The first man, telling the story, said he remembered the host gave that sick man traveling to Colorado a hundred dollars—and a hundred dollars was a lot of money back then. He said, “Don’t worry about paying me back if you can’t.”

Twenty years later, that first man was traveling that area and looked up the man who owned that farmhouse. He was visiting with him, reminiscing about that night. It just so happened that the sick man came through and visited. The sick man had gotten better and became very wealthy. The sick man said, “I heard that you’ve had a financial reversal. I came by, and for every dollar of that $100, I’m going to give you $100.” He gave him $10,000.

Friend, that’s what he’s teaching there. You don’t know. You just cast your bread upon the waters; after many days, God takes care of all that.

Let’s look at verse number three. He said, “If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.” It’s going to happen. If they are full of rain, it’s going to happen sooner or later. “And if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” In other words, he’s saying things are going to happen that you can’t change. If the clouds are full, it’s going to rain; you can’t stop it. If the tree falls over on your fence, it’s going to be there, friend. You can’t stop all that, so just sow seed, is what he is saying. Don’t get lost in all that; it’s just going to be a part of life.

Let’s keep going, verse number four: “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” If you are looking for an excuse not to sow seed, or not to invest in people, not to give, not be kind—whatever it may be—you will find it. Satan will always give you an excuse why not to do something for someone, why not to be kind, why not to forgive. He’ll always give you an excuse, like, “I don’t want to be involved in this.” He’ll always give you an excuse why not to cast your bread upon the water. If you are looking for an excuse, Satan will always, always, always have an excuse for you. But can I say this? You can’t reap without sowing.

Let’s get verse number five in. Verse number five: “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.”

Can I just put it this way? Be careful of judging who God is working on and being good only to those that you think can give back to you. Be careful of that. It might be that person, Saul before he got saved—old Saul was mean and making havoc of the church. It would have been very easy to be mean to him, write him off, “Well, he’s a big jerk anyway.” But God was working in Saul’s heart. That’s why when he saw that light on the road to Damascus, it’s hard for you to kick against the pricks. He’s saying the Holy Spirit has been convicting you for a while, Saul.

Be careful sometimes you write people off. “Well, they’re just weird.” That may be the one God’s working in their heart. You just don’t know what God’s doing.

Someone says when I go into a room, I try to find the person that doesn’t have a friend, sitting over there by themselves, and try to befriend them. That’s a pretty good deal right there. You don’t know who God’s working in the heart. If it’s coming to salvation, He’s working at everybody’s heart. He is not willing that any should perish. Just love people where they are. Reach out to people where they are. Invest.

Someone said this, and I like this, talking about salvation: “You can’t witness to the wrong person. You just can’t.” By the way, they say the average person has to hear the gospel seven times before they get saved. You may be the third, fourth, or fifth time, but that’s part of it. Just invest in people. Someone said, “Be good to everyone because everyone’s having a tough time.” That’s the truth.

Verse number six. We’re going to be done tonight. Verse number six right there: “In the morning sow thy seed.” I don’t know what sowing seed looks like in your life, but he said in the morning time, just sow the seed. “And in the evening withhold not thine hand.” In other words, sow the seed in the nighttime, too, evening time. “For thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, whether they both shall be alike good.” Just sow the seed.

Curtis Hutchinson used to tell this story. He had a lady in his church whose husband was not saved. She came to Brother Hudson and asked, “Would you go witness to my husband?” He said, “Sure, be glad to. When do you think he’d be there?” She said, “I think the best place would be at work.” He worked at a hardware store.

So Curtis Hudson went there. He found the man back down in one of the aisles and said, “Hey, I’m Brother Hudson. Your wife goes to church, and I just wanted to meet you.” He gave the gospel to that man in the hardware store—that’s where I worked at. The man didn’t get saved; he listened, but he didn’t want to get saved. He said, “Well, I tried.”

Years and years later, a man came to Curtis Hudson. Years later, and he said, “Hey, I want to thank you for leading me to the Lord.” Brother Hudson said, “Well, praise the Lord! I’m glad to hear that. I’m thankful for it. I’m sorry, I don’t remember that.”

The man said, “Oh, you remember it with such-and-such a hardware store on the edge of town over there. You came back in the back aisle.” He said, “Oh, I remember. Yeah, yeah, I remember that.”

“I’m sorry, but you don’t look like that man.” By the way, that man didn’t get saved.

“No, I’m not that man. That man didn’t get saved. But I was on the other aisle listening in, and I heard you give the gospel. And I gave my heart to the Lord.” Friend, you just don’t know. You just sowed the seed.

Another story: There used to be a magazine called The Baptist Magazine. There are stories in there, but I don’t think they are printed anymore. I think it was out West, maybe in Kansas somewhere, but a church had a bus ministry, and one of the buses ran to a distant town, kind of like we run one bus to Laverne.

The bus worker was out visiting one day and found this boy, and he was so excited about it. He wanted to come to church. On Sunday, the bus came, and that boy hopped on the church bus, excited about it. He came to church. He heard about Jesus, how He loved him and died on the cross. He was a sinner needing to be saved, and he didn’t want to pay for his sins—that’s hell—but Jesus paid for sins and gave him a home. That little boy just loved it all, and Jesus loved him. That little boy said, “Man, I want to accept Jesus as my Savior.” The little boy got saved.

So excited about it, he got on the bus that afternoon and told the bus captain—it was a lady bus captain; ladies sometimes are just excellent at that. They dropped him off. That boy was so excited and went back the next Saturday. They got a new bus rider. Nobody would answer the door. They thought somebody was home, but nobody answered, so they didn’t come that Sunday.

The next Saturday, they went by and knocked again. They went by, and nobody answered. They went by one Saturday, they’d seen the boy out. The boy ran. The bus worker thought, “Man, I don’t know. I thought that boy got saved. He was loving it all.” You start thinking, “Well, maybe it was just a show. Maybe he didn’t really get saved, all the rest of that.” They tried many times, and nothing; they wouldn’t answer the door. Sometimes they knew someone was home, but they just wouldn’t answer. So they left him alone.

Years and years later, I think it was a Sunday night, church services were going on, and a well-dressed man came in the church. He had a suit on. He shook the usher’s hand in the back and said, “Hey, I’m glad to be here,” and greeted him. The man that came in, the well-dressed man, said, “Is Sister so-and-so here? She used to run a bus route to a little bitty town.” They said, “Oh, you’re probably talking about so-and-so. Could you bring me to her?”

They brought him to her. “Are you the lady that ran a bus route over on this little bit of town?”

She said, “Yeah, that’s probably me.”

He said, “Do you remember a little boy that came just one Sunday, and you took him to church, and he was so excited, and he asked the Lord?”

She said, “Yeah. I always wondered what in the world was going on because I kept going, and they would not even answer the door.”

He said, “Well, that boy was me. I went home, I was so excited about it all, and I told my dad about it. My dad got furious; he was angry. He said, ‘I better never catch you talking with him again.’ But you know what? Man, that was real in my heart. I never forgot about Jesus. He was in my heart; He changed my heart. I never forgot about Him. When I got old enough, I got in church myself.” He said, “I’m a preacher today, and I want to come back and thank you.”

Friend, you just cast your bread upon the water. After many days, you’ll reap from it.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Can I just encourage you: Let’s keep sowing the seed, whatever that means for you, in many different ways. Sowing the seed; after many days, it will come back. God spoke to my heart tonight. If that’s you tonight, just lift your hand. God bless you. Let’s spend some time with Him tonight. Don’t let the devil lie to you and say that it’s not worth it. It is worth it for Him. God sees it all.

Would you please stand? We’ll have a word of prayer. You just spend some time with Him. Come to an old-fashioned altar, however He leads you; let’s spend some time with Him. Father, thank you for Your word. Thank you for the truth of it. Thank you for overseeing and making sure it happens. Encourage us, challenge us through it, Lord, please. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. Would you spend some time with Him? Lord, I want to keep sowing the seed, however, whenever, whatever that means. I want to keep sowing this seed.

Original File: 2026-03-30 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - ＂Reaping and Sowing＂ Sunday PM 3⧸29⧸2026