04/07/24 Sermon Recap: Sermon, Memes & Notes.

The harvest is many, but the workers are few.

Matthew 9:37-38: “Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

There is an end-times harvest. There are people that God wants saved before He comes again, and it is up to us, His people, the Body of Christ to help bring the lost back to Him by being Christ’s love to others. There is more to the end times than just stockpiling ammo, food, water, and toiletries...there are lives at stake.

Are you stockpiling worldly goods or eternal souls?

When you are squeezed, what comes out?

Why is it weird that when you squeeze a Christian anything but Christ should come out? We are to repay evil with goodness. When someone gives you evil and you respond with goodness, the Bible says that’s hot coals on their head. Proverbs 25:21-22: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.” If you respond to evil with evil, they can justify their behavior on why they did it. When you learn how to return good for evil you are a light that glorifies your Father in Heaven. When you start to exhibit a life like Jesus did, people will wonder what you have that makes you be good especially when they don’t deserve it.

When you are squeezed does Christ come out?

Be wise, have extra oil to stay burning while we wait for His return.

We are to do good works and burn for Jesus, but we must do it in such a way that we have some extra oil left over. In the Parable of the Virgins in Matthew 25, every single one of the 10 fell asleep. They all grew weary in waiting for the Bridegroom’s return. In the same way we can grow weary, thinking life will just go on as it always has, but there is a day coming when Jesus will return. Will you be one of the 5 who was wise and had extra oil so you will be burning when He does? Or will you be one of the remaining 5 whose lamp has gone out, who He “does not know”. When Jesus sees you, does He see Himself? Are you known by HIM?

Do you have enough oil to stay burning for Jesus as we wait for His return?

Don't just hear the word, do it.

Jesus used the same words wise and foolish in the Parable of the Virgins, and also in Matthew 7:24-27: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” While this passage is often preached as believers vs. unbelievers (building your house on the rock of Jesus Christ, or on this world), what if instead He is talking about church folk? What if the wise are Christians who hear the word and do it, and the foolish are Christians who hear the word and don’t do it? We can be knowers of the word and not doers of it.

Are you a hearer and doer or just a hearer only?

Christianity is not meant to be a culture, it's meant to be a transformation.

The problem with Cultural Christianity is that Jesus never meant for it to be a culture, He meant it to be a transformation of your heart. Too often we get caught up with the cultural version instead of the real thing, to the point that we can’t even identify the real thing. Have we allowed the word of God to actually hit us to where we hear what Jesus is saying, and instead of just blowing it off, we actually do it? We have to live lives where we don’t just preach the gospel, we represent it.

Can you identify real Christianity? Are you representing it in your life?

Love is long-suffering, it patiently endures lasting offense or hardship.

If you do things for your image instead of His, you will not experience transformation. The only things that will remain when the fire of God’s love comes in are the things that are precious, the things done for Him. When you begin to allow that love to hit you, it will show up in the place of loving people. What does the Bible say about love? It says that love is long-suffering, and according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary that means, “patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship.” God’s love allows us to endure, and endurance leads to transformation.

Are you patiently enduring lasting offense or hardship?