Welcome to the PMF Workshop for the week of October 19, 2020. I’m your host, T. M. Moore. Each week we provide teaching, encouragement, and resources to help you in working your Personal Mission Field. By adopting the perspectives and practicing the disciplines we present in the Workshop, you can become more consistent and effective in realizing the presence, promise, and power of God’s Kingdom in your daily life.

Today’s Workshop is entitled, “Sow What?” Our text is Psalm 126.5, 6:

Those who sow in tears
Shall reap in joy.
He who continually goes forth weeping,
Bearing seed for sowing,
Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
Bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126.5 ,6

In the Lord’s field
In the parable of the wheat and tares, the Lord Jesus explained three key ideas that can help us in working our own Personal Mission Fields (Matt. 13.18-23, 36-43).

First, He explained that “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man” (v. 37). Here Jesus points to the work He would continue to do, once He had risen from the dead and returned to the Father. He would continue to sow good seeds into the world, and He would do so through the good seeds sown in His disciples. This is what we see happening in the book of Acts, and what has been happening throughout the course of history since that time. Jesus, the “First High Sower,” as Colum Cille referred to Him (Altus Prosator), is continuing to work His mission field by sowing good seeds into the world.

Second, Jesus taught that “the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom” (v. 38). That is, you and I and all who believe in Jesus and have received the Kingdom of God from Him and have been transferred into it (Dan. 7.13-18; Col 1.13). The good seeds of the Kingdom take root and grow strong so that they bear fruit and sow more good seed into the field.

Third, Jesus explained that the “field is the world” (v. 38). Throughout the world, Jesus has sown sons and daughters of the Kingdom. They grow up in a particular part of the world, within which they bear fruit and sow seeds into the world as they abide in Christ, join Him in His yoke, and take up the work of sowing good seed into their sector of the world field (Jn. 15.4-8; Matt. 11.28-30).

Every fruit-bearing plant yields seeds which, as they are sown, germinate and grow into more fruit- and seed-bearing plants.

Jesus has sown us as His good seed into the world. He is looking for us to bear good fruit and to sow good seed throughout that sector of the field in which we have been planted. Like the psalmist of old, we are called to sow our field with the expectation that there will be a harvest. The more we sow, the more our Personal Mission Field will show the growing presence of the Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

But what, precisely, do we have to sow? What kind of “seed” produces fruit- and seed-bearing plants for the glory of God? We’re ready to sow, and maybe even eager to do so. But, sow what?

Let’s have a look.

What to sow
Psalm 126 launches us into the work of sowing good seed into our part of the Lord’s field. It begins with a vision of a fruitful field – a vision of transformation, of what God might do through your work of sowing. The psalmist is reflecting on a time when God delivered His people from captivity (v. 1). He says that, when they finally came back from captivity, “We were like those who dream.” When they were in captivity, all they could think about was getting home, and all the blessings that would return to them there.

The captive people of Israel nurtured a strong vision of what God could do when He “replanted” them in their land. And when He did, it was like a dream come true.

What’s your dream, your vision, for what God can do in your Personal Mission Field? Do you see the love of Jesus flowing to the people around you? Do you see your fellow believers being encouraged in their walk with and work for the Lord? Do you see unbelieving friends or co-workers hearing the Gospel and coming to faith in Jesus? Do you see your home, your workplace, your community being transformed by righteousness, peace, and joy? What’s your vision? The more you sow a vision of restoration and fruitfulness for your daily walk with the Lord, the greater will be the likelihood of that vision coming to pass.

Second, the psalmist tells us to bear “seed for sowing” into our Personal Mission Field. I think we can safely say that, for us, this means sowing to the Spirit those things He uses in furthering the Kingdom of which He is the motive power. Paul ways, “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” (Gal. 6.8). He follows this immediately by telling us not to “grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Gal. 6.9). So, he concludes, “as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6.10). Doing good works of love is the kind of sowing the Spirit can use to plant more fruit- and seed-bearing plants in the field of the world.

Finally, of course, we sow the Word of the Lord and His Kingdom, especially in the form of the Gospel. Talking to people about Jesus should become increasingly what characterizes our relationships. This doesn’t mean preaching and threatening judgment, but just sharing with people about Jesus, Who He is, how He blesses, what He has done for us, and how they can know Him. The more of this good seed we sow, the greater is the likelihood that some of those who hear us and know us will come to know Jesus through our work of sowing.

In all your sowing of your field, sow abundant prayers into the throne room of the Lord. The more we pray about our work of sowing – gaining a vision for transformation, doing good to others, sharing the Good News of Jesus – the more consistent we will become, as the Spirit takes our prayers and makes them effective to empower us for working our Personal Mission Field.

Dream it. Sow it. Pray daily about it. And watch what God can do to bring more of His Kingdom and glory to light in that part of the world field to which you have been assigned. 

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Have you mapped out your Personal Mission Field? Watch this brief video, download the worksheet, and get started today.

Tell us about what’s going on in your Personal Mission Field. What challenges are you facing? How has the Lord been leading or using you? Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your Personal Mission Field stories, and we might be able to use them to encourage one another in the Personal Mission Field Workshop.

For the Fellowship of Ailbe, and for the Personal Mission Field Workshop, this has been T. M. Moore.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.