Several years ago I stood here in this pulpit and told you about the need to start a work in Mexico. I said we needed to start by getting a preacher and covering his salary at $100 a month for one year. That night we had a deacon’s meeting. And when we started the meeting, one of our deacons stood up and he said, “Pastor, I can give that $1,200. Let me tell you why. Years ago when I was a teenage boy I left home and went out to California. I didn’t have a job, ran out of money, and was nearly starving to death when I saw a little Mexican boy with a wagonload of watermelons. I said to him, ‘Would you give me one of those watermelons to eat?’ I was so hungry that I almost ate the rind. And ever since then I have been looking for a way to pay that little boy back. And if you would let me I would like to give that $100 a month this year.”
You know I got to thinking about that. I don’t suppose one watermelon seed ever produced so much as that one. A watermelon seed is such a small thing. They tell me that it takes 5,000 of them to weigh a pound. That little boy in California one day raked back the soil and dropped a tiny watermelon seed down in the ground. That little seed in the ground took off its coat, sprouted, and eventually produced a watermelon that fed a man. That created generosity that led to the support of a pastor and the building of a church and the salvation of many, many souls.
You know all giving is like planting seeds in the ground. And when we plant that seed in the ground, God does something wonderful and great. He makes it grow and multiply and that’s why the Bible says, “He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly. And he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully.” God in some marvelous way multiplies our gifts if they are gifts that grow out of gratitude.