“For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
(1 Corinthians 1:18)
“We need, men so possessed by the Spirit of God that God can think His thoughts through our minds, that He can plan His will through our actions, that He can direct His strategy of world evangelization through His Church.”
(Alan Redpath)
In a time today on April 20, 2020 when so many distractions around us tempt, if not just momentarily, to take a stance, justify a cause, feel compelled to criticize this political figure or another, we need to check and see if like my laptop, if I’m still plugged in. I can get so unfocused that my spiritual battery is low to the point things aren’t as bright as they were, as when I was…..plugged in.
Let’s face it, much of the activity of the last six weeks HAS distracted us, and at a time when we really need to be focused on our calling, and why we’re still here, the warnings are clear.
The Bible says in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world.” and in Galatians 1:4 that: “[Christ] gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age [cosmos].”
In other words, the world was such a great danger to our souls that this danger caused Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to go to the cross to deliver us from our sins, and therein lies the dilemma.
It is easier today, as we all navigate through this crisis, looking around and seeing the churches closed, the social activity rules in place, etc. It’s so convenient to discount to such a degree that we aren’t doing what we’ve been called to do, to tell people about our testimony in how it relates today, right now, especially when people, saved and even more unsaved need to see a “present tense” Jesus.
I believe Romans 8:28 is a litmus test for us right now, and if so, are we ready to wear it or wrestle with it? All this meandering leads to this… do you believe in Divine appointment?
Okay, so I must confess that I broke a ‘promise’ to myself made two days ago that I wasn’t going to post any of these devotional thoughts until the Lord, “put it on my heart” and then…my wife Patty, always sensitive to the Lord, messages me a Facebook reminder….
A photo taken Six years ago today when we lived in Lomita on Lomita Blvd. I still remember when our landlord at the time came up to me and asked when I was going to take this front yard message down. (This was not a hostile confrontation by any means. I asked him why, and he answered, “Because it could be offensive to someone driving by.” I remember looking at him and sharing with him 1 Corinthians 1:18 and how true was what he was saying. He walked away, never bringing it up again.
Sometimes we get an opportunity to connect Scripture with a situation, and sometimes the opportunity may come with an unbeliever, and when that door opens, remember Jesus says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
We need to always be ready, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..” (1 Peter 3:15).
Are we gladly receiving and doing our role God has given to us?
Remember when Jesus said to His disciples, “…The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:37,38). The Lord was speaking at the end of an age when the “dispensation of the law was coming to an end.” In other words things were on the change and everything was pointing at Jesus Christ who was going to go to the cross. He said that He needed harvesters to go out into Israel. After Jesus’s death on the Cross, it everything became a different picture.
For this age of grace He gives His parable of the sower who went forth to sow seed. “…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel…” (Mark 16:15) This is the message for our age.
This is our time for sowing the Word of God. My business and your business is just sowing the seed. It is the Lord’s business to do the converting. We are seed-sowers. We are not harvesters.
Harvest speaks of judgment, and it speaks of the end of an age. Our business today is to be out sowing the seed.
This is a message reminder, ironically through Facebook on their yearly reminders of what was going on, such and such a time ago, a message sent through a Facebook reminder…
Could this be a reminder to me, and maybe you to ask ourselves the question, have we been faithfully laboring in our roles as sowers?
It sure caused me to reflect back, looking at this photo, seeing the bold display and remembering the conversation with my landlord, that the Lord could use the sowing of the Cross and the words shared in love to emblazen it into the heart of at least that one man?
I happen to believe so, I know this because God’s Word says:
“So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55:11)
I wish so much that I could get this message across to people. I wish I could motivate all believers to do what God has called us to do. Our business is to sow the seed of the Word of God, especially in the times we are living in right now.
Walking the Berean Road 