Matthew 9:37-38 “Then He [Jesus] said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Pastor Herk continues by asking: How do we do that? “Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” It is our spirit-attitude and godly-purpose every morning for every day, walking in a way, fully serving the Lord, that is worthy of His love and grace in Christ. Focused on pleasing God as a living sacrifice, not on pleasing ourselves. The question is: Are you established in our faith and is that your desire and main goal in life? Think about that. Jesus said in John 4:34,35b, “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” Is to finish God’s work our food (our nourishment, nutrition and sustenance) also? Growing in the knowledge of and relationship with God and Christ crucified, and serving Him in His work is love in action.
If we are going to truly live for the Lord, then we are going to have to allow our lives to be directed by Him. How we know how God is directing our lives and His truly direction for our lives? Through the prayer, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, He speaks to us. We have to persevere in seeking God, so that He can reveal His will and purpose for us to us. When we seek God, then we receive spiritual wisdom and divine understanding from God. Pray is more than just sitting down and talking to God. He has something that He wants to say and reveal to you. Sometimes, we need to say nothing, except “here I am Lord, speak to me and let me know your will” and just listen. Knowing God’s will is not impossible. The Word of God tells us His will also.
In Matthew 22:35-39, “an expert in the law, tested [Jesus] with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
So, the way you live should always be honoring and pleasing to God. Does it? No. But, should it? Yes, because God is holy and just and He calls us to be holy, righteous and faithful – honoring God’s name in a fallen world and giving Him glory by adhering to the precepts that are set forth in His holy Word of sacred Scripture. Every moment of our lives should holy consecrated to the Lord (set apart for the purposes of God and His kingdom). Does that mean that every moment of our lives, we are focused on God? No, but on this side of glory, doing the best that we can do to please the Lord., as His children. God should never be an after-thought or an optional extra. Our relationship with our Savior should motivate us, lead us and empower us to live our lives for Him. That is when we are producing good fruit in good works for God, all the while growing and learning more about God better and better, maturing in faith and likeness of Christ.
In Galatians 5:16-25, the Apostle Paul tells us: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery [drug abuse], hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
In your interactions with family, friends, neighbors and those in your sphere of influence, do you show and do they see in you a selfless love of Christ? Do they say: “There is a joyful, God-loving and God-serving individual”. Do you respect God in your moral thought-life? Do you honor God in your godly home by what you allow in … what you look at, what you watch, what you listen to, what you touch, what you take into your body? The word sinful is defined as: (1). Tainted with sin; wicked; iniquitous; criminal; unholy; as sinful men. a person laden with iniquity! (2). Containing sin, or consisting in sin; contrary to the laws of God; as sinful actions; sinful thoughts; sinful words. Do you live a “righteous life? The word “righteous” is defined as Just; accordant to the divine law of God. Applied to persons, it denotes one who is holy in heart, and observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous man or woman. Righteousness is living “right” in the eyes of the Lord, your Creator God and Heavenly Father in thought, word and being. Do you honor or dishonor your Lord God with your life?
We live in a “fallen in sin world”, but the repentant “born-again” Believer is in the world, yet not of the world, in holiness, redeemed and set apart by God for God’s purposes and redemptive work in His plan of salvation for the world in which we live. When you hear the name of your Most High Maker and Sustainer Father God or Lord Jesus (the Savior of the entire world) used as a vile swear word or spoken vainly (without effect; to no purpose; ineffectually; idly; foolishly), how does that make you feel? Do you treasure and defend the name that is above any other name? God’s people need to correct this and speak up against all sinful expression or exhibition, speaking the truth in love because: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” - John 3:16-18, 36.
Let's conclude Pastor Herk's great message on perseverance in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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