A Crucified Life - - Receives Its Increase From God

 

2 Corinthians 9:10

Now the One supplying seed to the one sowing and bread for food will supply and will multiply your seed for sowing and will increase the fruits of your righteousness. 

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 837

Increase: mature, to cause to grow, to augment

From the Greek word 'auxanó' (pronounced owx-an'-o): For the believer it is non-stop progress in discipleship, continually growing in the Lord as we walk our our Faith in Him.

    Hosea 10:12

Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.

    Ecclesiastes 11:6,7

  As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. 

  Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper.

    What is the seed that I must sow? The love of God to us through Christ Jesus. When do I sow it (plant it)? In the morning, the early part of the day, as the sun's rays hit the horizon. Early in life when our children are young and eager to learn, we sow the seed of Christ into their lives:

    Reading them Bible stories

    Worship music/songs 

    Praying together (teaching them to seek God at all times),            Studying the Bible together 

    Speaking words of Love within our homes and in all our relationships 

    Speaking words of Forgiveness to each other and to those who have done us wrong

    

    Throughout the day the seed gets watered and receives sunlight. Our seed gets watered when we weep, when we cry out to God to hear our prayers and answer them. 

    Sometimes our children turn from the path we have set them on, making their own decisions independent from the way we have raised them, making their own mistakes and finding their way back to God. Just like we did. How? Somebody was praying for them just like somebody was praying for us. 

    We let them go so they can grow. In the evening of life we draw near to God and strive to stay there. In his presence is where prayers get answered. We need to learn to listen in our prayers, as well as speak our needs and requests. 

    In order to reap the harvest of souls whom we have been teaching, leading and praying for, we need to remain near the One who supplied us in the first place. It is God who gives both the seed and the fruits of that seed. 

    Let us work together in His fields, doing the work He has set forth for us to do: Seek and to Save the Lost; Seek God's Kingdom; Seek His Face. The day is waning, the hours to complete this work are fast arriving and soon the harvest will be ended. 

HARVESTING SEEDS

Heart In Hand Overture - Christy Nockels

All of Me - River Valley Worship

What If Cartoons Got Saved? - Chris Rice

The B-I-B-L-E - Heritage Kids

Somebody's Prayin' - Ricky Skaggs

'Tis So Sweet to Trust In Jesus - classic hymn

Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross - classic hymn

Seek First - Jason Upton

    

A Crucified Life - - Is A Gatherer's Life

    2 Corinthians 8:15

As it is written: “He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall.”

    This word 'gathered' is used 384 times in the Bible and has quite a few definitions. But in this context the definition is:

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 4863

Gathered: to lead together, to collect, assemble; to come together, to receive with  hospitality

From the Greek word 'sunagó' (pronounced (soon-ag'-o). 

      Matthew 13:8

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

    Matthew 9:37,38

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

    2 Thessalonians 3:1

Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil men; for not all are of the faith.

    It's not a question of how many people we reach when we share the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. It's a question of obedience to the gospel ourselves. When we are faithful and fully committed to spreading the good news that God loves us and sent His Son to save us from the penalty of sin, then the Spirit will move on the hearts of the listeners. It's up to the hearer to respond to the Spirit.

    It's not about the quantity of souls gathered in by our actions, it's about our actions being done in love, sprinkling grace, mercy and compassion into our conversations. The fields that are ready to be harvested are the hearts of those people who are seeking a better Way, something, Someone they can believe and place their trust in.

    We know that 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus' and we encourage the people we meet in our lifetime, including the family we are born into and is born through us, to also lay claim to the promise of trusting in Christ. When they do, we are gathering a harvest that had been planted before ever we arrived on the scene. 

    Stop comparing your ministry to another's. Do what God has called you to do. Plant the seed of the Word of God when opportunities are given to do so. Water the seed you have planted with the tears of your prayers. Be prepared to harvest the seed others have planted, others have watered. 

    Preparation is preparedness. A crucified life has put aside that which is not profitable in the kingdom of God. What is not profitable in the kingdom of God? A couple of examples are:

~tainted faith (Matthew 5:13)

~lack of motivation to fully obey God's Word (Matthew 25:30)

    A crucified life follows the path of the crucified Savior, preaching the kingdom of God; the kingdom of Divine Love, Divine Forgiveness and Divine Grace. These tools are what is needed to gather in the harvest to which we are called. Let us be found faithful and not lacking in any way.

GATHERING THE HARVEST

Grave Clothes - Stephen McWhirter

Bringing In The Sheaves - Shiloh Worship

Shall We Gather At The River - Burl Ives

The Commission - CAIN

The Gospel - Ryan Stevenson

Come To The Table - Sidewalk Prophets

I Speak Jesus - Here Be Lions

One Gospel - CityAlight

Taste & See - Shane & Shane

Sinner Saved By Grace - Gaithers