Worship Call 0650 Sowing and Reaping

Robert, crush, mutilate, destroy! 2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." According to ancient Jewish legend, one day Abraham was shown his father, Terah's room of many idols. Young Abraham, thinking that perhaps he could discover intimacy with them, made some desirable delicacies and placed them before the idols. When nothing happened, he realized that these idols were nothing more than clay -- they could do nothing for him or anyone else for that matter. So he proceeded to destroy all the idols, except for one. When Terah received word of this, he went to Abraham and said, "Son, what did you do to my idols?!" "I brought them delicacies," Abraham replied, "and then the biggest idol became envious of the others, and destroyed them all." Terah, furious with Abraham, said, "You're lying to me! How can idols made by my own hands do such things?" "You're right father." Replied Abraham, "Now tell me, then, why do we worship idols that can not eat, drink or even move?" This kind of idol worship may sound far removed from us, but we too, have our idols. They may not be made of clay but they are very real! The love of money, possessions, success, leisure, food, sensuality, security and outward beauty -- the love of tradition and even our friends and family -- the pursuit of our goals and dreams are among some just off the top of my head. Most of these are not bad things in and of themselves, don't get me wrong. But if we are not careful, they can all easily become idols in our lives! What is the object of our affections today? What takes up the majority of our time, effort, and resources? These are our idols. Anything that we allow to run our life becomes our god. Robert, there is only One God we ought to be worshiping -- and He will not have any other god's before Him! Let's crush our idols today. We need to get right with the Lord so that we may be used mightily for His Kingdom! Your family in the Lord with much agape love, George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah (George, Obi and Elianna, Baltimore, Maryland -- Baht Rivka, Israel)

This is another fine Day in the Lord!

Worship call 0650

Wednesday May 11, 2022

Sowing and reaping

It does not take much work in figuring out to know that the sowing and reaping is the work of Evangelism, and the harvest is that of the Souls who responds to the salvation call.

Jesus talks about the food that they do not know.

Man’s diet in an agricultural community is what He collected during the harvest to make his bread.

Food for the body is but logistics. Food sustains this vessel which houses the soul and the spirit. The body requires sleep. The body requires food and water. But such things are not what we center our lives on. It is the work of the Lord in sowing and reaping for an eternal harvest.

The harvest is obviously the end of age gathering of the saints.

Mark 13:24–27 (NASB95) — 24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken. 26 “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 “And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.

The Sowing and the harvesting are driven home in Matthew 13 beginning with the sower of the seed.

Matthew 13:1–9 (NASB95) — 1 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. 3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 “Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 “But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 “Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 “And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 “He who has ears, let him hear.”

It Jesus explains

Matthew 13:18–23 (NASB95) — 18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

Then Jesus goes into the wheat and the tares

Matthew 13:24–30 (NASB95) — 24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29 “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

And Jesus explains

Matthew 13:36–43 (NASB95) — 36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 37 And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

And it is the seed which is sown is the word from God.

Matthew 4:4 (NASB95) — 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”

Let us return back to our passage.

John 4:35–36 (NASB95) — 35 “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 “Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

There should be a sense of urgency within the hearts of both the Sowers and the reapers. There is work to be done by both and little time between the sowing and the reaping.

We may go downtown and roll our eyes at the street preachers, thinking they are over the top. But they are taking the word to the streets just as the two prophets will one day be in the streets declaring the word of the Lord.

There is much at work going on not only in the world but in the cosmos to bring a soul into the harvest.

Now it could be all left up to the Holy Spirit. Bam! And it is done. And arguably we may wonder, that if the Holy Spirit is in Charge who needs man and who needs the spiritual beings called angels at all?

No. The Lord does not need the workers but He none the less called us into divine partnership “Metacoi” that we might partake in the Joy of the work of the Lord.

Jesus did the sowing with the woman alone. How long was it between seed time and harvest? An hour? Couple hours?

How long did the reapers have to wait before the harvest came to them? And when they come, they will be ready to harvest for the Kingdom.

NOW is the time!

Every day we are in Partnership with the Lord. We follow the Leading of the Holy Spirit to make our divine appointments that we do not even know has been made by the Lord.

Those appointments maybe us being used by the spirit to spread the word, the gospel, or even just showing others the Christ in us.

Or the appointment may be for the gathering as we present the gospel and receiving back no reluctance to be gathered into the harvest.

I hope this makes you as excited as it does me this morning.

Knowing that this day is the day that the Lord has made. A Day when we can rejoice in our labor. A day when though the world is becoming more darker in unrighteousness and wickedness that we have a job to do. And it is not about holding on to our comfort, but it is about the Kingdom to come and working in the fields to bring in the harvest.

“Ah, No, that’s not me. I’ll leave that work up to the pastors and the evangelists and maybe the Sunday school teachers along with those street preachers. I’m saved and that is all I need to be happy with.”

Maybe so. But the work of the Lord in working in the fields is a paid position.

Mark 4:20–25 (NASB95) — 20 “And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 21 And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? 22 “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. 23 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. 25 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

2 Corinthians 5:10 (NASB95) — 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

We may spend our whole life going to the well day after day, and working the ground that produces thorns and thistles to make our bread and one day we will return to the dust and what is it that we have?

We can live a life of useless toil as Solomon describes

Ecclesiastes 1:1–3 (NASB95) — 1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” 3 What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?

As imitators of Christ who gives his disciples not only those who were in attendance watching those Samaritans come to the faith, but to you and I as we go about our lives sowing and reaping in partnership with The spirit of God to bring in a harvest for the kingdom to come.

Oh incidentally. The Samaritans would be the last ones that these disciples would have expected to believe and be saved. They learned the same lesson Jonah had learned when the Assyrians were eager to believe.

Yes to the Jew first and to the Greeks. Salvation comes out of Israel they are the bright and shining light on the hill. It is through the seed of Abraham that all families on the earth will be blessed. Jesus Christ is the first fruits and the second harvest began at Pentecost and the sowing and reaping continues to this day.

No, this day is not a day of sorrow. It is a day of rejoicing for the fellow workers with and in Christ.

Isaiah 9:3 (NASB95) — 3 You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.