Let’s Talk Tomatoes

Memorial day is the day to plant a garden.

 

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love.

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

Tomato seed – very small – talk about it

Tomatoes are one of my favorite items to plant in my garden.

• Many people consider the tomato to be a vegetable, but scientifically speaking it is a fruit.

 

The first time I planted a garden, I went and bought some tomatoes seeds and planted them in the ground.

• The plants got about 2 feet high and gave us only a few tomatoes.
• I had planted them in a good spot, with lots of water and fertilizer, so I didn’t understand why my tomato crop was so small.
• Then I did some research.
• I started studying tomatoes,
• I studied not only the seed, and the soil needs of the plant, but more importantly I studied how a tomato grows and what I could do to encourage and even cause the plant to grow quicker and larger.

 

Tomato plants are not really designed if you will to be grown in a cold climate such as where we live.

• They love warm climates and do incredibly well in places in the world where it is warm all year.
• This is because they have all year and not just a few months for their roots to grow deep into the soil.
• Our season here is too short for this to happen.

 

So there are a few things that you have to do if you want to have lots of big juicy tomatoes in your garden.

• It all starts with the seed.

 

My tomato plants last year were over 6 ft. tall.

• All from this little seed.
• My wife and I canned dozens of quarts of big fat juicy tomatoes that we have used all year that came from a packet of seeds this size – (show seed)

 

I have found that there are a few things to understand about tomato plants if you want big tomatoes.

• First you have to plant this seed early.
• Months before you plant the rest of your garden you have to plant these little seeds.
• If you want to have big juicy tomatoes you can’t wait until the last minute to plant your seeds.

 

You know some people think it’s ok to put God off until the last minute.

• You know… Live like you want to live regardless of what God thinks or how He feels, and then at the last minute, expect Him to just make it all ok.
• 2 Cor 6:2 now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
• Some people put God off over and over again until it’s too late.
• Parable of the foolish virgins?

 

I have started my seed in egg containers in my office windows as early as March.

 

There’s a reason why I put my seedlings in the window.

1. They will get heat from the sun, which warms the soil and causes the seed to germinate.
2. The seedlings need the sun to shine on them when the leaves begin to grow.
   1. I like watching the way the plants grow in the direction that the sun is shinning from.  They reach for the sun.

 

Someone said, “Well that’s a pretty small container to plant a plant that is going to get 6 ft. high”.

 

• And you are right, but understand something; I’ve got some transplanting to do before I put this little plant in my garden.
• And here is one of the biggest tricks to growing really big juicy tomatoes from seed.
• It happens when we transplant this little tiny plant to a larger pot.

 

When you transplant a tomato plant, you do something with it that is different than any other plant.

First:

• You pinch off all the branches except for the top leaves.

Second

• You place the plant deep down into the soil all the way up to the top leaves.
• You bury most of the plant…
• The little hairs that line the stem are all capable of becoming roots.

 

A large, vigorous tomato plant requires a correspondingly robust root system. Such plants need less water and can stand up to the wind and rains of summer storms. Fine hairs lining tomato seedling stems are all capable of developing into roots. Therefore, the greater the stem portion buried at planting time, the bigger the root system, thus improving the plants growth and production.

 

So before I plant the tomato plant in the garden, I have transplanted it this way about 3 times burying all of the roots and most of the stem so that the root system which is where the plant gets it water and nutrients and its ability to withstand the summer storms come from.

 

Now how many of you know that I’m not really here to talk to you about tomatoes?

 

But what we are here for is to learn how to not only become the best Christians that we become, but to also bear fruit in our lives that He would be pleased with.

 

You know when God starts working in a person’s life; it may not look like much to many of us.

 

I am amazed actually at what God is able to do in a person’s life when all He has to work with is this much right here (show tomato seed).

 

You and I would look at this right here (show tomato seed) and say, “nothing much will come of that.”

 

But what you and I may not understand is that within the walls of this tiny seed is a tiny embryonic plant complete with root, stem and leaves, ready to sprout when suitable conditions appear.

 

• Seed Coat
• Stored food
• Seed Leaf
• Shoot
• Stem.
• Everything needed is already in the seed.
• All that is necessary are the right environmental conditions to cause the stem and the leaf to begin to push upwards and the root to begin growing downward.
• So if we are talking about a tomato seed, all we need are warm soil, and enough moisture.
• It’s just a tiny seed, but if you put it in the right environment, it has the potential to do some amazing things!

 

 

 

 

I’m amazed sometimes at what God is able to do in many people’s lives.

• Here is why you can’t go around judging anyone.
• Here is why you can’t look at someone’s life and say, “that’s not much to work with.”

 

Matthew 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

 

Do you know why there is a greater punishment for calling someone a fool?

• It’s because in the original translation, a fool was someone who was totally worthless.
• They were without value.
• Be careful that you don’t misunderstand the value of the seed.
• Be careful that you see the potential that exists in every single human being on this planet.

 

It may not look like much to you, but inside there is everything He needs to grow an amazing miracle that will produce more fruit than you can harvest.

• Deep inside each and every one of us is everything that God needs for the miracle of germination to take place in our lives.

 

You may not see it

• You may not recognize it
• You may not understand it
• But given the right environment, a miracle is about to happen in someone’s life.

 

So it all starts with the seed,

• But then you have to bury the seed.
• All the way into the soil.

 

Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

My wife made fun of me this year because I put a heating pad under my seedlings to cause the soil to get warm.

• Our winter this year just wouldn’t end and the sun was barely shining so I put a little heating pad under the plants to trick them into believing that spring was here and this caused them to germinate sooner than they would have if I left them in that cold office window.
• Here is why I come to church
• Here is why I worship Him
• Here is why I believe it is important to get into an atmosphere where His presence is operating.

 

We need the warmth of His spirit to cause some things to germinate in our lives.

• The Bible says that God Inhabits the Praises of His people.

 

I’ve seen some amazing miracles happen when people got into an atmosphere of praise.

• I’ve seen people filled with the Holy Ghost in a Spirit filled worship service.
• I’ve seen physical healings take place when the church went to praising Him.
• I’ve seen lives completely changed all because God placed the warmth of His Spirit under their lives as they entered into a place of Worship.

 

But understand something,

• Just because you have been baptized doesn’t mean that God is finished with you.
• Just because you are feeling the warmth of His presence and love in your life does not mean that He is finished with you either.

 

He’s got some transplanting He wants to do in your life.

• He wants to get your roots down deeper into the soil.
• The problem with just dropping some seeds in the ground and walking away is that the roots are not going to grow deep enough in most soils.
• This means that it’s not going to get enough water.
• John 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

God’s desire for every one of us is that from our lives would come a fountain of living water.

• See, you can’t have fruit in your life if you don’t have water.
• V 39 tells us that he wasn’t talking about literal water, but He was speaking about the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost if you will.

 

So how do we get more water to this tomato plant?

• We bury it deeper into the soil.
• The little hairs surrounding the stem will become roots to water and nourish the plant and it’s coming fruit.

 

Have you ever walked into a church service where the presence of God is so real that you got goose bumps?

• All those little hair follicles begin to stand up.
• What are they doing?
• I believe they sensing the presence of something deeper and are reaching out to Him.

 

I say it all the time; “God is not in the business of leaving you where He left you!”

• He’s still working on you.
• He wants to plant you deeper.
• Deeper in your relationship with Him.
• Deeper in understanding of His Word.
• Deeper into a place where your true potential can be reached in Him.
• Deeper where you have to desire and depend upon His Spirit in your life.

 

See, God understands that the deeper your relationship with Him is, and the deeper your spiritual roots are, the more fruit will come from your life.

 

He didn’t just plant you and I in the Church so we could be some big old plant with no fruit,

• But He places us here so that fruit could come from our lives.
• Fruit with some seeds in it.
• Fruit that has the potential to reach some other people.
• Fruit that is capable of reproducing itself in the Kingdom.
• Fruit that is not only sweet to eat if you will, but who also has some life sustaining nutrients in it.

 

Some of us have had some transplanting happen in our lives.

You know what I’m talking about when it comes to being buried deeper.

There’s a root system that you have today that you didn’t have earlier in your life or walk with God.

 

• You’ve been through some things.
• You’ve had a few setbacks.
• You’ve faced some transplanting’s in your life and walk with God.

 

But you’ve grown by it.

• Your life is stronger whether you can see it or not.
• Your walk with God is deeper because of it.
• You have a different root system than you did before.

 

And as a result you are capable of greater things in Him!