HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
Colossians 4:5-6 - Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Let me clarify from the outset. I believe that right is right that wrong is wrong and that there is righteousness and that there is wickedness, that there is good and that there is evil.
God’s standard is the standard. He calls us to righteousness and holiness. Without holiness NO One will see the Lord.
Marriage is between one man and one woman. Any other relationship is not a marriage in any form it may try to take.
There are only two sexes – male and female. Sex and gender are the same thing.
Now with that said – the purpose of this message is out of my concern for the way that many Christians are approaching the issues in our culture and our response to people who are outside the faith. Especially those who do not believe as we do or live like we live. People who vocally and radically advocate for a way of life that is not according to the Word of God.
Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside,
~ Rod Loy - Behind every issue is an individual. It’s easy to talk about problems in broad terms - conflict, policy, growth, liability, structure. But if you zoom out too far, you forget the faces. Whether it’s immigration, trafficking, a discipline issue, or tension in your team, people are always at the center. Their stories. Their pain. Their worth. Great people never lose sight of the individual. Because people matter.
At the heart of all that we do as Christians is to live out the two Great Commands that God has given to all of us.
Matthew 22:37-39 - Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Mark 16:15-16 - And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
You might recognize these as the Great Commitment and the Great Commandment. We are not only called to love God but to love people enough to share the good news of the Gospel.
People matter to God. All people. People inside the family of God and people outside the family of God. The purpose of the Great Commission is to move people from outside the family of God to the inside of the family of God.
To do that we need to walk in wisdom towards those who are outside. In the way that we see them. In the way that we speak to them. In the way that we share the Gospel and in the way that we share our lives.
To many people in Christian circles put sin into categories. – I hear people say – I know that person is sinning sexually but at least they are not gay. – I have heard people say this about those having affairs. Well – If I had a spouse like that I would cheat too.
Sin is sin. Yes, the Bible does address certain sin as an abomination. Homosexuality is one of those.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 - Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? (all of them) Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators (Sexually immoral), nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
And such were some of you. BUT we were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. – That is my testimony.
That is my testimony. Thank God people spoke into our lives in the midst of our mess.
Thank God when I made a mess out of my life there were people who were kind to me, who spoke truthfully to me about my sin but who also chose to be a friend.
While the Bible is very clear about sin. We need to be better at how we are with people not like us. People who don’t know Jesus.
Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside,
We need to understand people. See their hurt and pain. Understand their need for Jesus and know how to speak into their lives.
The truth is that sometimes we don’t even treat people in our own camp very well when they present different than we like
Jesus was a friend of sinners. – adulterers, tax collectors, religious hypocrites.
We as Christians act like if we get around people who don’t know Jesus that we might get cooties.
The Bile says that Love covers a multitude of sins. How can the sins get covered if we don’t actually show love to people.
James 5:20 - let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 - And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
I am so thankful for the Love of Jesus that allowed His Blood to cover my sins.
The Standard of right and wrong is always God’s moral standards according to the Word of God.
But we must walk in wisdom and love in order to help People come to Jesus.
Right after Paul instructs us to walk in wisdom towards those who are outside, he shows us what that looks like.
Colossians 4:6 - Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
(NLT) - Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.
To many Christians have become salty in the bad way instead of adding flavor and enhancing they are mean and unkind.
Our speech is to always be with grace seasoned with salt. Salt actually causes people to want more. It adds to the flavor.
People know if you are a true friend or a fake friend.
I love the fact that God had prepared the tree that Zaccheus would climb long before he did.
Jesus going to Zaccheus house was scandalous to the religious. Zaccheus was a little big man. He had robbed and bullied many. He was insecure. He knew what he was. Yet he did all he could to see Jesus. Jesus sat and ate with him. They talked about things, laughed and had a serious conversation about his life. We know that Zaccheus made a turn around. – at the end of the story is where Jesus said- the Son of man came to seek and save that which was lost.
The lost need people who care enough to help them be found
People need to know that they have people who care and will treat them well.
We are to be kind, truthful and always treat people with dignity and honor. Even when they are unlovable. It was the kindness of Jessus that led to Zaccheus’s turn around and God’s kindness that led to ours.
Romans 2:4 (AMP) - Or do you have no regard for the wealth of His kindness and tolerance and patience [in withholding His wrath]? Are you [actually] unaware or ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness leads you to repentance [that is, to change your inner self, your old way of thinking—seek His purpose for your life]?
Jesus came to heal the sick.
Mark 2:15-17 - Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. He came to call them to turn around.
He sat with them, got to know them and ate with them. – Wow.
Jesus said it is not the healthy that need a physician.
A physician needs wisdom to diagnose, Skill to operate and a good bedside manner to set at ease and to communicate well.
How a doctor treats people personally is just as vital as how they treat them medically.
I have been in the hospital and spend time with Dr’s. I appreciate the ones with a great attitude that cares. I have met incredibly smart and capable doctors with a horrible bedside manner. I love the ones who make me feel cared for, give me assurance to calm my fears and talk to me like I matter to them.
The world is filled with hurting people. And unfortunately, we as Christians add to the pain instead of healing the hurt that sin and shame cause.
There are times that the world treats its own better than we as Christians do.
We need to be the ones that people can find hope in and then disciple them in the ways of God.
We have extremes in the church – on the left a permissiveness about sin. Accepting and giving our approval of things that are contrary to the word of God.
On the right there are those who speak of holiness but they are hateful and uncaring.
There is a better way a middle way between the two- the narrow way that is uncompromising but also loving and caring.
I am excited about the opportunities that lay before us to share the gospel.
People are open, hurting, and have questions and they are willing to engage in conversation like never before.
May we walk through the open doors that are before us. May we love people like Jesus does. May we be skilled, seasoned with salt and graceful. Most of all may we represent Christ well and with wisdom.
This November lets also be mindful of all the things that we have to be grateful for.
Remember that you are loved.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
Proverbs 25:11 - A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.
All of us like a pat on the back. An Atta – Boy
How many are thankful for those words that come at just the right time?
Encouragement is one of the gifts that God has given to believers to pass on to other people.
How many have ever gotten an unexpected word of encouragement and been thoroughly blessed by it at just the right time?
It’s wonderful. You know what that feels like and understand the difference that it makes in your life and the difference that it can make in others’ lives.
~ Mother Theresa said that - “being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat”.
Everybody needs encouragement. It doesn’t matter the level of success you’ve had or haven’t had; it doesn’t matter how well off you are or how well off you’re not.
The truth is everybody needs encouragement no matter how old you are or what you’ve accomplished. Everyone gets tired sometimes, feels lonely and has disappointments. Everybody at some point has failed and everyone has had a really blue day. Sometimes you just wake up and you’re not feeling good at all.
~ Ken Blanchard, one of the great ministers of our time, said, “Encouragement feeds people’s souls”.
Anytime you speak into someone’s life, something that blesses them or builds them up, it’s like feeding a hungry soul. Encouragement is a real gift to the one who has that gift of giving encouragement - and to the one who is receiving it.
The Bible says that encouragement is actually a ministry gift. It’s a gift that God has given to certain people and is also a tool that God has put into the life of every believer so that they can impact people at any time and at any moment.
Romans 12:8 (NLT) - If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
At any moment you and I can talk to someone or do something for somebody that builds them up. You may think you’re not the most talented person in the world but you have a mouth and all it takes is a kind word or a bit of inspiration that can change someone’s entire day.
Depending on your version of Romans 12:8, it’s called the gift of encouragement or the gift of exhortation. Literally, it’s speaking into someone’s life. Some people are better at this gift than others but the truth is all of us can work at being an encourager.
Those who are encouragers will make a name for themselves.
Acts 4:36 (NLT) - For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.
If you become an encourager, you will make a name for yourself that you won’t be able to shake. You will be known as someone who pours into others’ lives.
Barnabas was a priest; that’s what it means when it says he was a Levite.
He came from the tribe of Levi and was a priest that ministered to the nation. Mostly he did it with the sacraments and the sacrifices but there was something that stood out about this man.
Not only did he serve God and do the priestly duties that he was assigned, but there was also something about the Spirit of God that was on his life when he came into contact with other people; they were better for having been around him.
They called him the son of encouragement because whenever he was around people they were blessed. I believe every Christian wants to be that way with others.
Those who encourage others have unleashed a power that can change someone’s life.
There’s a story of a teacher who was always speaking positively to this one boy who struggled tremendously in her class.
He wasn’t the brightest in the class, didn’t have any learning disabilities but wasn’t one of those people who could make straight A’s and not study. He was one of those people who had to work for even the ‘C’ that he got. One day when he was handing in his work, the teacher said, “You know, you’re doing a great job. What are you planning to do when you go to college?” He looked at her and said, “I never really thought about going to college because I have to work so hard to do this, I’m just not smart enough and could never go to the next level”. She looked at him and said, “Son, I want to tell you something, not only are you smart, but when you don’t understand things, you work hard to do it and I believe in you. If you apply yourself, you’re going to go farther than you ever dreamed possible”.
From that time on, that young man’s whole thought began to change. His grades began to come up, he graduated and went on to college. He wound up getting a good job and having a good family. One day he said, “I credit that teacher for turning my life around because she encouraged me that I could and she challenged me to do my best. Because she did, I believed I could and I did”.
Every one of us need someone just like that teacher in our life.
There are people around you right now that no one will speak into their life; people who have been given up on, that no one wants to talk to. But you and I can be life changers.
Sometimes we think that being a Christian who makes the difference means that everywhere we go we have to see the miracles of God follow.
Although his Word says that these signs will follow those who believe, sometimes the simplest thing we can do is just be an encouragement to those who are near us.
That in itself can feel miraculous to the one being encouraged. Encouragement breaths life into a soul.
~ William Arthur Ward, one of the great poets said, - “Flatter me and I may not believe you; Criticize me and I may not like you; Ignore me and I may not forgive you; Encourage me and I will not forget you”.
As we come to the end of summer lets commit to being a “Barnabas” to others. Let’s all be encouragers.
Remember you are precious to God and to us.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
Proverbs 10:12 - Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.
~ Martin Luther King JR. – Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
1 John 3:15 - Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
1 John 4:19-20 - We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
For many people what is shocking, and disheartening is the rudeness, lack of courtesy, violence, general disinterests in kindness and basic morality and a lack of civility in our conversations.
It should not come as a surprise that a nation that has killed over 63 million babies through abortion since 1973 is now seeing people walk into schools and shopping malls and murdering our children. Many of these shootings are done by other children and teenagers or those in their early 20’s.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT) - You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.
4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
What a list!
This describes people today. What sticks out to me the most is that people are self-absorbed, prideful, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and they consider NOTHING sacred or holy.
The last days will be marked by people who love things, ideas, and certain ideologies but they do not really care for people, especially those who are different than them or who do not agree with them.
We see this in the world among people who do not know Jesus.
Unfortunately, we are seeing this even among the people of God.
As Christians we are going to have to deal with hate and understand what the Bible says about hate.
The Bible tells us that hate stirs up all kinds of trouble and problems. – We see this all around us.
It also tells us that you can’t claim to love God and hate other people. You can dislike people and what they do but we are not to hate them.
Hate is not a new thing that we are dealing with.
Jesus spoke about love to a religious world that valued rules more than it valued relationships.
When Jesus confronted the religious people of His day about their hypocrisy, they hated Him for it and tried to kill Him. They eventually had Him crucified.
Today we are told that we are to hate sin and to love the sinner, yet very few of us get this correct. Much of the time we wind up hating the person instead of helping a person deal with their sin in love.
Hate is what happens when there is a vacuum of love.
What starts out as righteous indignation turns into judgment that causes us to be the jury and the executioner.
Hate feeds off itself. – It will eat you alive. It will begin to consume every thought, action and words.
Someone who was once positive, loving understanding and compassionate about the lost is now angry, suspicious of everyone and everything and poisons even good relationships and conversations.
Hate is nothing new. Cain grew Jealous of Able and hated him. This led to the first murder.
The Bible says that whoever hates a brother, or a sister is a murderer.
That is a powerful statement. Hate at its highest point will lead to physical murder. But hate truly believes that the world would be a better place without certain kinds of people in it.
Now understand the Bible does recommend the death penalty for crimes like rape, incest, and murder. – This is not what we are talking about. That is a cry for justice.
Hate – To despise, intense dislike, to detest, loathe, abhor, to shrink back in horror. To find nothing good in. It is placing no value at all in someone or something.
I find it necessary to remind people that the opposite of love is not hate it is selfishness.
The opposite of hate is worship. –
To worship - is to adore, cherish, be drawn to, to honor and reverence. It is devotion, commitment and loyalty. It is to put someone in the highest place in our life.
The reality is that we live in a world where we must coexist with evil.
People believe and do unspeakably evil and wicked things.
We will be called to speak the truth.
We are called to compassionately help those impacted by this evil.
We are to be light in the darkness.
When we are confronted with hatred, we must continue to do good and to speak the truth in love.
Romans 12:21 - Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.
We are to overflow with Good words, good fruit and good deeds.
Many Christians are being overcome with the same spirit that is in the world.
We must remember that – GREATER is HE that is in us than he that is in the world.
As Christians we are overcomers. We are not to be overcome and overwhelmed with hate. We are called to overwhelm hate with Good.
By responding and living like Christ we don’t add to the problems, we disarm principalities and powers. This includes Satan’s weapon of hate. To win the world to Jesus we can’t fight battles the same way they do with the same weapons and think we will win.
Our weapons to defeat hatred are not carnal fleshly, feel-good things, they are mighty for pulling down the strongholds in people and in society.
Hear me – Hatred is a stronghold. – Make no mistake about it. But it is only a stronghold where it is permitted.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 - For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
I love this… We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
Teaching happens through our words AND our example.
You can’t do that if you try to fight hate with hate. - You do that with truth, love and compassion and an unyielding commitment to holiness both – personal holiness and holiness in thought and belief.
We must respond to hate by making sure we do not give more attention to the hate than we do the harvest.
Ultimately it is God’s job to take care of the evil in the world.
Matthew 13:24-30 - Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
In the process of trying to tear up what is bad many well-meaning Christians have uprooted and hurt many good people. That looked like weeds but were actually full of Good fruit.
Sometimes wheat and weeds look a lot alike in the early and developing stages.
I want to remind you that the majority of our time is not to be spent dealing with the weeds but to be nourishing the seeds and cultivating a harvest of good things.
The enemy is all about destruction and he wants to get us in on the process. God is all about life.
I love the response – let them grow and we will sort it all out at the end.
This is great wisdom. Dealing with Hate.
Know that You are dearly loved,
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
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