What We Sow is What We Reap

Jesus Himself said a remarkable few sentences in Mark 4:26-29:26

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Quite astonishing truths contained in these four verses! The seed, plant, harvest principles are going on 24/7,unrelentingly, never ceasing, always producing from the seed that was sown–the kingdom of God, the spirit realm is going on 24/7, relentlessly, never ceasing, always producing from the seed that was sown.

Galatians 6:7-10

7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good,for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then,as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith

How simple is this: “...for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (emphasis mine). Completely self-explanatory isn’t it. Why on earth do some Christian people then lie, steal, cheat, manipulate, lack integrity, frustrate others with inappropriate behaviour, be selfish (the list goes on) AND then they wonder why things aren’t going well for them. Honestly, I can understand the unsaved / the ‘world’ doing this,even though I have met many, many truly decent,honest worldly people, with high integrity–same as you have!

But Christian people, sowing wrong crops (unscriptural behaviour) is a real tragedy, especially when Jesus is relying on us to deliver the Fathers preferred outcomes, His Divine intention and intent into the worldly marketplace.

This certainly adds a whole new weight to Ephesians 4:32

32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.Is kindness, tender-heartedness and forgiveness a crop you’d like to sow and then reap a lot more of?

And solid weight also to:

10 So then,as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10

Wow–imagine those seeds of “doing good to everyone” coming up all of the time...

I wonder why this particular farmer above planted these acres and acres of barley. Maybe, just maybe, he wanted barley...? Life certainly becomes more predictable as our deliberately sowed “crops” of what we ourselves wanted to harvest, start to roll on in.

As we settle into our New Year of 2023, may I encourage you to please be very conscious of your actions, behaviour and speech. Image a whole twelve months of deliberate focus on ‘what I am sowing is what I am reaping’- and I really love Ephesians 6:8: ...8knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord,whether he is a bond-servant or is free.

One of the great traps people fall in to,in all of this,is the notion that “when they do good to someone that, that person will return the obligation and do good back to them. Wrong idea! Ephesians 6:8 explains very clearly that it’s the Lord that involves Himself in the “receiving back process”. Stay connected to God’s economy and don’t look to people themselves. Interesting isn’t it.

Happy New Year with Psalm 115

I’ve been thinking a lot about what this year holds for us all. I think I was in bed at midnight when the clock turned over, but I certainly had been considering the enormous impact of focus, deliberateness, intent, intentionality, perseverance etc. As you know, we hit 1000 weeks of radio this year! What if, way back then we’d decided ...“yeah, nah...radio’s not really for us...?”I googled “royalty free photos Sydney fireworks” and this came up. What a joyous burst of colour, excitement and expectation for a great year ahead.We so gravitate to the image (and more importantly embrace the feelings) of what this level of joy, freedom and expectation does for us... yes, bring it on!So,with that in mind,please get your Bible and slowly read over Psalm 115

Re-read verses 9-16 in particular a few times. The repeated mentions of what is such a solid complete trust,fear/reverence of God – such focus on God with NO mention of circumstances, positioning in life, age, mental capacity, social standing–except for the all-encompassing mention ‘of both small and great’– v13.

So,what does 2023 have in store for us? I believe it’s a year for each of us to really knuckle down and commit to truly solidifying our Christian walk, removing the fluff, washing off ‘the grime of life and the world’ with the constant washing of water by the word, (Eph 5:26). It’s a year of growing our total trust in God and reliance on Jesus; a year of focusing on the still small voice on the inside–1 Kings 19:12. It’s a year of deliberate words,gesture and actions–specific seed sowing, maturing in Christian behaviour.Yes, I think its going to be a year of real solid work, commitment and focus BUT I also expect the Lord to help us, shield us, bless us, increase us, care for our children and give us our part of His earth, verses 9-16.

It might perhaps be a very full or even a hard year BUT I really do sense it’s going to be a great year in Jesus!Perhaps the best year of your life so far. May Psalm 115, vs 9-16 be yours this year, especially so as a result of the re-energised focus you have on obeying Jesus and His Word.

Radio-Across the Christmas Period

I had boxing day and the day after,off work,and I really wanted to address the “recording booth” issue that we’ve always been niggled by. Long story short–I want my own space for recording–I can buy one all set up for about $5k (no!) or I can have a crack at building my own for about $700 approx.

Obviously, I took the latter and with two days to (mostly) get it pretty right–hey presto–we have our own recording booth–FINALLY! And it’s even pretty square as well!

I’m actually pretty happy about this-its 2m high, 1200mm deep and everything fits pretty well. Sound proofed with the proper stuff and with the recording shield in place anyway, combined with the acoustic dampening, we are good to go!

Set up nicely on the carpet in my garage–we live in a very quiet suburb and I can record away merrily. I’m actually just about to record Easter messages–the stations will need them quite soon!

Whilst I didn’t get much time off at all, I did manage to use it quite effectively and SO did enjoy working in my back shed for a bit with my tools and my thoughts! Lynda and Kim came out at the right time and held ‘bits of wood’ for me so it was actually a fairly therapeutic couple of days, which frankly I really needed.

Please do take advantage of the programs I’ve been putting into dropbox for our church family. I was particularly blessed by the“What Drives You” series which is on now until early March. A detailed look into the motivators that Paul had underwriting his own life. Plus a few thoughts on some others that also proactively strengthen us forward. Every day we apply the Lord’s Word is another brick in the wall of “well done, thou good and faithful servant”.

I just uploaded program 990 into the Dropbox a few days ago – so we are getting close to our 1000 weeks of radio. Obviously we need to be a few months ahead for the stations hence program 1000 will air in approx.mid June. But please make use of the Dropbox - there is some useful content in there.

Cutting Posts up at the Block

I had a great day out with my dear friend Warren. He and Emma needed some posts to make into garden bed poles–funny that–I knew just where to get them from! We had a really good day together; cleaned up after Tas Networks had dropped trees along the easement and now Warren gets to make Emma all these lovely garden bed. He was so happy

Seriously - The really good part for Lynda and I was to be able to sow some really first-class timber into the lives of a couple of God’s best kids – this wonderful couple do so much for so many people–over decades!-it was a real joy to be able to do something for them–and just simply bless them with it all! Praise the Lord. God is so good to us all.

Council

Now that Christmas holidays is over, I’ve recommenced discussions with Break O’Day Council and am currently wading through the paperwork for a planning application and crossovers (driveway entrances). Long way to go but at least we’ve started! More of that later.