HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
Praise God for His faithfulness and goodness to HCC. I also praise God for each of you. You are faithful in prayer, faithful in giving and desire to see God pour out His Spirit in our church and His life through our church. It is encouraging seeing how many of us at the beginning of each year understand and embrace the value of prayer and fasting. Along with you, I know God has heard our cry and will answer throughout the year. Get ready for a fruitful year, both personally and in the life of our church.
In this year of Faith and Fruitfulness, I am reminded of at least two stories in the Gospels that speak of Jesus coming to a fig tree and finding it full of leaves but no fruit. One tree He cursed and it withered and died by the next day. In another parable the master found a tree in his orchard in the same condition and instructed his manager to cut it down and throw it into the fire. The manager said, "let me give special care to the tree, water it, fertilize it and see if it will produce fruit". The implication was that, in time, with that special attention the tree did indeed produce fruit.
A walk of faith will always produce a fruitful life. Sometimes we go through seasons of barrenness and must give special attention to our spiritual condition so that we become fruitful again or so that we are able to produce much fruit instead of just a little. We need a season of watering, feeding and pruning, and after we have done those things we can expect to see a stunning harvest. I believe that as a church we are entering a season where we can expect a stunning harvest in many ways; spiritually, financially, in souls and in personal growth.
When I was growing up we had two berry bushes at the end of our sidewalk in the back yard, one on each side of the walkway. I am not sure exactly what type of berry they were but we sure did enjoy picking bowlfuls and eating them all summer long. One year we noticed that the trees were not producing many at all. At first we thought the birds were beating us to the harvest. We decided that we would help them along by giving them some TLC. We trimmed the trees we watered almost every day and we put down some fertilizer. Anytime we saw birds in the tree we would chase them away. Within two months the transformation was amazing. Years later after I had left home those berry trees finally showed their age and my father had to cut them down. I remember how excited we were each year when we saw the fruit. I feel the same way when I see the Fruit of the Spirit in my own life and when I see God’s people reaping a harvest of good things because of their diligence to walk by faith and not by sight. There is nothing more thrilling than to watch my natural children and my spiritual children producing much fruit as they live for the Kingdom of God.
At the heart of a life of faith is a life lived in love. At the heart of all fruit that is produced is love. The Bible says now abides faith, hope and love but the GREATEST of these is love. Faith works by love. It is energized by love. Faith is put into motion by love.
God wants us to walk in love because love never fails. Faith walks in love because it believes that Love will never fail: Because God is Love and God never fails. The primary evidence of faith in our life is not the working of miracles not the presence of the Gifts of the Spirit – the proof of true faith is love. Remember love is the anchor component of the Fruit of the Spirit. Without love all of our acts of faith are just a bunch of noise. That which is perfect is love. Trying to walk by faith without love is proof of childish understanding concerning spiritual things. Those who are mature in the faith have a grown up understanding of Love. It is being rooted and grounded in love that enables us to live a life of faith. The heart of our year of Faith and Fruitfulness will be a true and pure love for God and people. The walk of faith can only be attained as we walk in Love. I just realized that I was emphasizing love in the month of February or Valentine month. I had not done that intentionally but I believe it was by God’s design. Now go walk by faith.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
In our year of Faith and Fruitfulness I am looking forward to sharing with you this month a sermon series entitled “Seed Secrets”.
Living the fruitful life that we have been promised and that God expects comes as we understand the one underlying principle that God has established; Seedtime and Harvest. Once you grasp this vital but simple principle you will begin to see your life change for the glory of God. A real harvest must be purposefully planted and carefully cultivated. The only things that grow by accident are weeds and wild things that produce fruit but not enough to actually sustain you for long periods of time. Genesis 8:22- “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
The Law of Sowing and Reaping is found throughout the scriptures. Understanding sowing and reaping and seedtime and harvest help us to understand God and His ways.
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.
The laws that apply to actual farming and crop production are the same principles we can apply to every area of our lives. It is that simple. God has given us Spiritual laws that function like His natural laws, like the law of Gravity. They are beneficial and productive if we apply them to our life. They will affect our salvation, our marriage, our finances, our relationships, everything.
The good news is that there is no area of our life that has to be left to chance. The outcome is determined by our input. The correct seed produces good things, the quality is never in question if we do things God’s way.
Throughout the Bible things are likened to the development of a seed. The word of God is designated as a seed-
Luke 8:11- “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
The Word of God is the seed that we need. In 2 Peter we are told that God has given us all things that pertain to life and to Godliness. The Word of God contains everything that we need to live the abundant Spiritual and natural life He has for us. While God has given us everything we need, we must remember that it does not come full grown it comes in seed form. God gives us His word, our job is to apply it to our life and then leave the amount of the harvest to Him.
Our faith is likened to a seed. Matthew 17: 20 (Amp) - He answered, “Because of your little faith [your lack of trust and confidence in the power of God]; for I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if you have [living] faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and [if it is God’s will] it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
Remember a little faith is the source of great things. People are always concerned about applying the Word of God to their life until they know all there is to know. The Word you know is the seed that you sow. A little word goes along way. If you sow nothing you have nothing. Apply what you know and continue to sow as your understanding grows.
One of Satan’s primary ways of ruining our harvest is to deceive us about seedtime and harvest and about sowing and reaping.
When the Bible speaks about sowing and reaping it says “Do not be deceived”. Satan tries to tell us that we can do whatever we want and it really will not make a difference. This goes against the entire idea of seed. You cannot plant an apple tree hoping to get a tomato. You cannot go against God’s ways and expect good fruit. The Bible reminds us that good trees bring forth good fruit and bad trees bring forth bad fruit. Satan mocks and scoffs at God’s ways all the time but that does not mean that God can be mocked. He always gets the last laugh when things function as He created them to work. The world scoffs and mocks at absolutes but seed always produces what it is. Remember- the Word is truth.
~ Somebody once said – “as you sow so shall you reap unless of course you are an amateur gardener”.
If the average farmer knew no more about the principles of farming than the average Christian does about producing a Spiritual harvest, he would never make it through the winter.
Our goal this year is to grow in our fruitfulness in every area of life; the principles of seedtime and harvest make that possible.
I look forward to what God is going to produce in our lives as we apply His Word (Seed) to our lives.
You are loved
Pastor Marvin & Dawn