The ninety and nine

Matthew 18:11-14  For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.  (12)  What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?  (13)  And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.  (14)  Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

     This may surprise you but this verse has always bothered me.  Maybe it is because I have been connected to the church for so long.  Maybe it is because I have been around Christians for most of my life.  (Although I did not grow up in a Christian family I went to church as a child because of the bus ministry.)

     I am not sure why  it took me so long to get the true meaning of this parable.   I was shocked that Jesus would leave 99 vulnerable sheep to go look for the one who wandered off on their own.  If the sheep would have stayed with the others this would not have been a problem.  What if while he was gone th other 99 decided to leave, or wander off?  This was my thinking.

    Now don't get me wrong I love the idea of seeking the lost but not at the expense of losing the found.  That was at least my reasoning.

    This week it hit me.  The idea here is that Jesus had made preparation for the 99 to be taken care of.  He put them in a safe place.

    I guess I have gotten so use to the church taking care of its own needs that I saw no purpose in leaving them to go find the others.   There should be a point in ministry where you are able to leave Christians to themselves so that we can do "the will of the Father" and that is "to seek those that are lost".  

    If we are always trying to take care of the church then we are never spending time to pursue the lost.  Wow! This is such a simple yet profound revelation.

    It explains why a pastor or church leader gets frustrated because they can't spend time with the lost.   

    There is a place for discipleship in the church.  We are expected to train and help Christians grow.  The question is, "To what ends?"  The answer is not so that they can make it to heaven, this is settled in the decision to follow Christ.  The answer is that we train and lead Christians so that they can to go out and find the lost.

    What if just one Christian decided to reach one person who is lost?  Where would Christianity be.  We must admit that we spend far too much time MAINTAINING the found and not enough time SEEKING the lost.

    Jesus left the 99 to find the 1 because he had the 99 ready.  He expects us to do the same.

So what do you think?

Discipline to Destiny

Yesterday morning I came across this scripture in my devotion, Proverbs 12:1  "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid."

     At first I laughed because of how the translation, the  NIV,  is so plain spoken.  Next as I pondered on this verse it grew more and more clear.   

Proverbs is one of those books that seems to have an answer to all problems.  This is especially true when it comes to making right decisions.  The theme is wisdom, not just knowledge of a subject but application.  This is what true wisdom is.

When I read the word discipline my mind automatically went to punishment.  I think this does an injustice to the word.  Discipline is more than punishment but it is giving up something to get a better behavior.  It may means sacrificing something that is good for what is best.

Discipline does not have to have a negative con-nation about it.  Actually if used correctly it is very positive.  This could include disciplining a child to get the best behavior or disciplining ourselves to do the best thing.

 I found a quote that speaks volumes about this subject.  "Discipline is the bridge between Goals and Accomplishments".  Discipine is what brings our goals to reality.  It was what causes us to move from paper to action.

Goals often times are things we leave on paper hoping to see them accomplished.  We become distracted by the "same ole" life and never start moving toward the accomplishment of our goals.  We have great ideas but don't have the discipline to accomplish them.

The final quote that I found is "discipline NOT desire determines your destiny."  This is so true.  If what we desire could become reality just but desiring them we would see so much more accomplished. 

James reminds us in James 1:22 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. "

So then next time someone mentions discipline think positive and know that it is what causes us to chose the "greater good".

So what do you think?

Summer: Reaping

Summer: Reaping the Harvest

Characteristics:  Long days, Harvest, Growth

Benefits:  Reaping, Celebration

 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self–control.”  Galatians 5:22 

This is the season we have been waiting for.  Finally we get to see the "fruit of our labor".  It is hard to do so much in preparation and waiting on the harvest.  We can easily get impatient waiting.  It seems like it never comes.

    When I was a child I remember planting a bean in a cup.  We would water it daily and see what happens.  One day I got impatient, dug down and pulled the plant out.  The seed had busted but not broke ground.  This caused the plant to die.    Because of my impatience I lost harvest.

     Summer is coming if we have done the work for the harvest.  There is reaping and celebration during these times.  This is a time of growth.  It can be overwhelming but fun. 

     The work is not over.  The reaping must be done.  It takes time but it must be done.

      The summer time is also a time to enjoy the season.  There is a lot of work to be done  but we must enjoy the season.  

       We must keep a balance here.  If we don't reap then the harvest will die.  If we over work then we will be no good for the next season.

       Where are you in your season? We have seen winter, spring and summer next blog we will see fall. 

Spring: Preparing & Planting

Spring: Preparing & Planting

Characteristics: Transition, Preparation, New Life

Benefits: Planting, Preparation

“Lo, the winter is over; the rains are over and gone”
Song of Songs 2:11

     As soon as we leave the winter season we are so excited to see the spring.  Spring is a season of beauty.  We start seeing new life.  It is refreshing to see the change.

     Spring is a season of transition.  We are making transition from death to new life.  This is a time we plant and we make preparation for the harvest.

     The ground no longer has any hindrances to growth.  If we planted in the winter there would have been no growth.  The soil is not ripe and ready to plant.

      If we could only see the importance of the winter season.  A successful harvest is dependent on it.  This is also true for the spring.  If we don't plant then we won't have a harvest.

     Planting means preparing the ground and putting in the seed.  We can't waste this time.  This depends on the measure of what we sow. 

Galatians 6:7-9  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  (8)  For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.  (9)  And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

There is an important principle that we must learn.  We always reap what we sow.  We only reap what we do so.  So we must be careful and sow in measure of what we want to receive.

Winter: Resting

Winter Season: Season of Resting

Characteristics: Short days, Cold, Darkness, Death

Benefits: Intimacy, Evaluation, Sabbath, Planning, Automatic

 “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,”
Ephesians 4:22 

       The winter season is the hardest season to go through.  The times are hard, dry and cold.  In the winter season we see death.  This can be tough.  

       The importance of this season goes unnoticed by what happens.  Because of the death we want to avoid it and get out quickly.  But this is what prepares the other seasons.  Without the death then the land goes unusable. The other crop gets in the way.  There is no change.

     I believe our lives are like this.  We must die to somethings so that we can be ready for the other seasons.  We make room for blessings to happen so we get rid of areas that have clogged up our lives.

     This could be habits that have formed.  Things that take away our focus.

     We need this season to give us rest.  We need to recover for the drain of the other seasons.  

     Because the winter season is dark and sometimes lonely they bring us closer to the Lord.  We learn to depend on Him.   

     It is also a great time to take a Sabbath   Taking time off.  

     If this is the season you are in I hope that you learn to take advantage of the season.  Don't miss the opportunity to see what God has in store.  

      What do you think about the winter season?

Understanding the Seasons

As I sat around with some pastors one Wednesday morning we began to pick apart this idea of season.  We were blessed to have a minister in the room who was also a farmer.  Here are some things that we through out there when it comes to seasons.

A. We are all going through a season

Everyone is in a season in their life.  As close as I can tell we are in one of the four (winter, spring, summer, fall).

B. All seasons have a purpose

This is true in farming and life.  

To me this is one of the most important things to understand.  There is a purpose for all seasons.  Why is God taking us through the season?

C. If we don’t fulfill the purpose of the season then we will cause problems for the others seasons

A farmer must fulfill the purpose of the season to make it easier in other seasons.  Example: Winter season is a time for death and cleaning.  If there is not cleaning then the fruit will be limited.
     We must get the season right to set us up for the other seasons.  

D. Preparation is the key to have a successful season.

There is no time to sit back and relax.  We must always be working and getting ready.

E. We can bear fruit even if we don’t cultivate and plant the land that season.

Sometimes fruit grows without cultivation.  It is not much.  One day I went out in the yard and found cucumbers that had grown.  I didn't plant them nor prune them but they were there because of previous years.  There would have been more if I prepared them like I should.

F. If we want to bear an abundant fruit it is more than just sitting and waiting on the land to come up.

We must work to get the best fruit.  Farmers are always busy.

Here are some thoughts about seasons.  Let me know what you think and if you can add to this. 

Understanding the Seasons of Life

Seasons of Life

A few years ago I began to ponder this idea of seasons.  It was inspired from Psalms 1:3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Two things caught my attention from this passage 1) seasonal fruit 2) prosperity.   Fruit bearing is an important part of my life.   My life as a Christian will be judged by this.  According to Matthew 5 not just any fruit but good fruit.  

     Prosperity is to make progress and succeed.  Success is another important key to living a Christian life.  Success has been defined as taking what the Lord has given you and using it to the best of your ability.  Everyone wants to be successful.

    As I looked deeper I began to discover that as we look at the seasons of the year (winter, spring, summer, and fall) they relate to our lives.  To me this is not about ages of life but many time certain times in our lives.  

Galatians 6:9  reminds And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

     "In due season"  Different seasons serve different purposes in our life.  If we discover what each seasons mean in our life and where we are we can learn a lot.

    Another valuable verse is 2 Timothy 4:2 which challenges us to Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

    So hopefully as we look at this over the next few weeks we can understand more about these seasons.

So, what do you think?

Thanks

Pastor Hardee