The Multiplying Seed: What God Planted in You Was Never Meant to Stay in You

There comes a point in every believer’s growth when receiving must become giving. God teaches us, strengthens us, develops our gifts, walks us through difficult seasons, and reveals His truth to us. Yet none of that was intended to end with us. What God plants in one life is meant, in time, to become a seed planted in another.

In “The Multiplying Seed,” Pastor David Sellstrom brings The Remnant Church’s Activation Season to an important turning point. Throughout this season, we have been challenged to discover our gifts, understand our mission, defend our faith, stand watch, love one another, and sharpen one another. Now comes a harder question: Will what God has planted in us remain our private possession, or will we release it so it can become a harvest in someone else?

Jesus gives us the picture in John 12:24:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” — John 12:24, NKJV

A seed can remain safe for a very long time. It can be protected, stored, admired, and preserved. But as long as it remains intact, it remains alone. Its potential is enormous, but its harvest is nonexistent. The seed fulfills its purpose only when it is released into the ground.

That is the uncomfortable beauty of multiplication in the Kingdom of God.

A Seed That Refuses to Die Stays Only a Seed

We usually think of growth as gaining something. Jesus often describes spiritual growth in terms of surrender. We gain things as we follow Him, but we must also release others. Pride must die. The need for recognition must die. The desire to control outcomes must die.

Sometimes even our instinct to protect what God has entrusted to us must die.

When Jesus spoke about the grain of wheat, it was the first time he spoke about His own impending death. His crucifixion would be interpreted as defeat, but that ending would produce a harvest no one standing there could comprehend at the time. A single life—willingly given—would open the way of salvation to countless lives.

That pattern of death preceding multiplication runs throughout the Christian life. What feels like surrender can become the beginning of fruitfulness.

This is why the message of the multiplying seed is not a call to become busier. It is not another demand to add more activities to an already crowded life. It invites us to ask whether we are holding too tightly to something God intended us to give away.

Perhaps God has taught you something through years of walking with Him. Perhaps He has carried you through suffering and given you a testimony that could strengthen someone facing the same valley. Maybe He has developed a gift, skill, ministry, insight, or understanding of Scripture in you. You may have learned how to pray through a crisis, restore a marriage, raise children in faith, lead a ministry, encourage someone who is grieving, disciple a new believer, or remain faithful when God seems silent.

Those things are not merely possessions. They are seeds.

What God has planted in you was never meant to stay in you.

What You Never Bury, You Never Multiply

There is vulnerability in planting a seed because once it leaves your hand, you surrender control over what happens next. The farmer cannot dig it up every morning to see whether it is working. He plants it and trusts a process he cannot see.

That’s difficult for us. We like visible results. We want to know that the conversation mattered, the prayer worked, the person listened, the lesson was understood, or our investment produced something measurable. When we don’t see immediate change, we may assume nothing is happening.

Jesus describes a very different process in Mark 4:26–29:

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” — Mark 4:26–29, NKJV

Notice what the farmer does after scattering the seed: he sleeps.

He does not manufacture the growth. He does not command the seed to sprout, and he doesn’t stand over the soil demanding results. He faithfully plants, and then something happens beneath the surface that he cannot produce himself.

The same is true when we invest spiritually in another person. We can share truth, model faithfulness, tell our story, offer encouragement, teach Scripture, pray, mentor, correct in love, and create opportunities for growth. But we can’t transform another’s heart. That responsibility is God’s alone.

Paul described the same principle when he wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6, NKJV).

Our responsibility is faithfulness. The increase belongs to God.

Growth You Cannot See Is Still Growth You Can Trust

Jesus’ description of the seed contains another important detail: “first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.” Growth has stages.

That should change the way we think about discipleship.

Someone who has recently begun following Christ should not be expected to display the maturity of someone who has walked faithfully with Him for decades. A person who is just learning to hear God through His Word should not be condemned because every question has not been answered. Someone recovering from years of destructive choices may need time, grace, truth, accountability, and consistent relationships before the fruit becomes obvious.

The farmer does not look at the first green blade and become angry because there is no grain yet. He recognizes the blade as evidence that the process has begun.

We should learn to recognize spiritual blades as well.

The person you have been praying for may ask a question they never asked before. Someone who once resisted Scripture may suddenly become curious about it. A new believer may take one small step of obedience. A struggling friend may begin to trust God in one area while still wrestling deeply in another.

Do not despise the blade because you were hoping to see the harvest.

Growth you cannot see is still growth you can trust.

That does not mean becoming passive about discipleship. We continue planting. We continue watering. We continue encouraging and speaking truth. But we also recognize that the Holy Spirit can work beneath the surface where our eyes cannot see.

Your Testimony Is a Seed

One of the easiest things to keep locked away is our own story. We gladly tell people about our victories but often hide the painful chapters that preceded them. Yet some of the most powerful seeds we can plant come from being willing to say, “I was hurting. I was confused. I did not know what God was doing. But God met me there.”

Our testimony does not have to be polished to be useful.

Someone else may need to know how God carried you through grief. Another person may need to hear how you survived a season when your faith was weak. Someone struggling with shame may need to discover that another believer has walked through failure and found grace on the other side. Someone facing an impossible diagnosis, a broken relationship, financial loss, addiction, loneliness, or fear may need more than a theological explanation. They may need another Christian close enough to say, “I have been in a dark place too, and Jesus was faithful there.”

When we hide every scar, we may also hide seeds that God intends to use.

This does not mean every part of our life must become public. Wisdom and discernment matter. But it does mean we should remain willing to let God use what He has done in us for someone else's sake.

Your story may contain seeds for a harvest you will never fully see.

The Harvest Cannot Remain Dependent on the Farmer

Multiplication goes beyond helping another person grow. Eventually, a growing disciple must become someone who disciples others.

Paul gave Timothy this pattern:

“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” — 2 Timothy 2:2, NKJV

Look at the movement in that verse. Paul invested in Timothy. Timothy was to entrust what he received to faithful people. Those people were then expected to teach still others.

That is multiplication.

Addition occurs when one mature Christian continues doing all the teaching, serving, leading, mentoring, and reaching. Multiplication begins when that Christian is willing to place something meaningful into another believer’s hands and allow that person to carry it forward.

This requires trust, and trust can be uncomfortable. Others won’t do things the same way we do. They likely have different personalities, strengths, and approaches, and will probably make mistakes as they learn. Yet when we won’t release responsibility until that other person can clone us perfectly, we aren’t multiplying disciples. We are creating dependence.

A healthy disciple eventually becomes a disciple-maker.

A healthy leader develops other leaders.

A healthy ministry creates room for other gifts.

A healthy church does not merely gather people around gifted individuals. It equips people to carry the gospel, serve others, and develop still more disciples.

Disciple-making means giving away what you were given.

Release, Don’t Retain

This is already happening in a beautiful way within the church. When someone who has been taught begins teaching, when someone who has been encouraged begins encouraging others, when someone who has been discipled begins discipling, or when a leader willingly creates room for another person to lead, the seed multiplies.

The goal is not to make ourselves unnecessary. It is to make ourselves fruitful.

Jesus poured Himself into His disciples, knowing that the day would come when they would carry the message without His physical presence beside them. He prepared them to go. He entrusted them with responsibility. He sent them out. Then those disciples invested in others, and the gospel continued moving outward from one generation to the next.

We are part of that harvest today because someone before us was willing to release the seed.

Now it is our turn.

There may be something God has entrusted to you that is ready to be placed into someone else’s hands. Perhaps it is time to invite someone younger in the faith into your life. Perhaps you need to teach someone what you know instead of continuing to do the task yourself.

Maybe there is a ministry responsibility you should begin sharing, a conversation you have been postponing, or a testimony God has been nudging you to tell.

Ask yourself: What has God planted in me that I am still protecting instead of planting?

Then consider one person you are already investing in. Where are they in the growing process—blade, head, or full grain? Are you encouraging their growth, or expecting fruit before its season? If they are becoming mature, are you giving them something meaningful to carry forward?

Multiplication requires patience as the seed grows and courage when it's time to release it.

Activation Was Never the Finish Line

This is where Activation Season begins, leaning toward something larger. Discovering our gifts was not the destination. Finding our mission was not the destination. Learning to stand watch was not the destination. Loving and sharpening one another weren’t destinations either.

They were preparation.

God activates His people so that what He has placed within them can move beyond them. The gift becomes service. The testimony becomes encouragement. The lesson becomes discipleship. The disciple becomes a disciple-maker. The seed becomes a harvest, and within that harvest are more seeds.

That is how multiplication begins.

We may never know how far one faithful act will travel. A conversation today may influence a decision years from now. A person you encourage may eventually encourage hundreds of others. Someone you disciple may someday reach people you will never meet. A truth you faithfully plant may remain beneath the soil for a long season before finally breaking through.

We do not need to control the harvest. We need to be willing to plant.

Jesus said that if the seed remains protected and alone, it remains only a seed. But when it falls into the ground, something remarkable becomes possible: “it produces much grain.”

So the question may not be whether God has placed something valuable inside you. He has.

The question is what you are willing to do with it.

A seed that refuses to die stays only a seed. What you never bury, you never multiply. Growth you cannot see is still growth you can trust. And what God planted in you was never meant to stay in you.

Continue the Journey

If this message encouraged you, continue growing in your faith with Pastor David Sellstrom’s books, Weapons of Mass Distraction and The Authentic Gospel, and his latest book, The Way The Truth The Life, now available on Amazon.

These books expand on many of the biblical themes explored each week at The Remnant Church, offering practical, Scripture-centered teaching to help believers stand firm in a distracted world and remain anchored in the unchanging truth of God’s Word.

Whether you’re reading for personal growth, using them for a small group, or sharing them with a friend, these resources are designed to strengthen your walk with Christ.

Weapons of Mass Distraction: https://a.co/d/00k8lw3r 

The Authentic Gospel: https://a.co/d/06KrgIQX 

The Way The Truth The Life: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJMF8RW8