Harvest

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again radio friends, how in the world are you? Doin’ alright today? Well, I’m fine; happy in the Lord. My own soul has been blessed as I waited before my blessed Lord asking Him to give me something special for you, my beloved friends.

Oh, I want His blessing and His truth and His power and His love, most of all God’s love, to come through my voice to you. There’re so many people who are down and discouraged and hurting and harassed and pushed around that, uh, that just need a word of comfort and encouragement and love and I want to be that kind of a person. Indeed I do.

Well, we’re looking at Colossians for some, what I call, ‘random wrap-up thoughts’. No outline to this, just some things that stand out. The last time we got together we said that one of those outstanding truths is you can know the will of God. Colossians 1:9.

Colossians 1:10, to continue with our wrap-up thoughts, tells me that you can be fruitful where you are. “That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might.” You can be fruitful, which is another way of saying ‘successful’ in God’s sight, where you are and you can grow at the same time.

Now, our tendency is to look for greener pastures. “The grass,” the, the old saying goes, “is always greener on the other side of the fence.” I’ve often chuckled as I’ve seen cattle reaching over a fence to get at some grass on the other side. Have you ever seen that, you people that have been on the farm, now and then?

And we, of course, are just as ridiculous when we search for something other than what we now have in the hope that, uh, things will be better and they’ll be easier and we’ll be more successful.
Now, I’m not against changing locations or changing jobs cause I’ve done that in my life as I felt led by the Spirit of God. That isn’t my point. The point is, however, that you can be fruitful until God moves you, let us say. Until God moves you, you can be fruitful and grow in the knowledge of your Lord right where you are.

“That you might walk worthy of the Lord.” Now there’s your first clue to fruitfulness on the job. See, what I’m to do on the job is not only to give the boss a good day’s work for the pay he gives me. But beyond that, and before that concept, is the idea of honoring the Lord in everything. “Walk worthy.” That word “walk” means live every minute of every day. You wanna read it that way? That you might live every minute of every day in a manner that’s worthy of your Lord. And the result will be that it’s pleasing to people around you.

Isn’t that something? Well now you, you uh, you survey your job with that concept in mind and you’re going to see that it will change your attitude toward the boss, toward the job, toward your fellow workers.
If you’re gonna be worthy of your Lord your attitude toward your job is going to change. You’re not gonna be growling about it and say, “Oh I got this lousy job.” You know, bad-mouthing the job is an American trait; I am convinced. And we do it all the time.

Even in Christian work you know, you dear friends, some of you are in Christian organizations and you’ll, you’ll find at coffee breaks; people are bad-mouthing their job! “Ahhh, it’s a lousy job. I wish it were different…(grumbling noises).” And you growl about it and then you go back to work. Well, no wonder things don’t go well.

You wanna honor God? Start honoring Him in terms of your attitude towards your job! It’s yours from Him! Had you ever thought of that? It’s your job from Him at this time! He has given it to you to do so that you could honor Him! My, what a concept that is.

And even if I’m operating an automatic machine that simply feeds wire in one end and, and millions of tiny little cap screws out the other; even if I’m just sitting there operating an automatic machine or if I’m doing something else that’s equally boring I can do it for Him!

“Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do it heartily, as for the Lord,” says Paul in Colossians three. So the job that you’re on, the situation in which you find yourself, is from God for the purpose-not of harassing you, not of burdening you, but it’s for the purpose of giving you an opportunity to honor Him. Walk worthy of your Lord.

Oftentimes I have been checked by the question, “Is this thing worthy of being a Christian?”So simple a question but so profound in it’s meaning and in it’s consequences. Is this thing that I’m about to say or do, is this worthy of the name that I bear? Walk worthy of your Lord.

To be fruitful on the job starts with your inner attitude and the orientation you have toward honoring God on the job, or in the home, or wherever you may be. Then, he says being fruitful in “every good work.”
Our Lord Jesus had in mind your fruitfulness. He said, “Ye have not chosen Me but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.” He used much of the, of the passage in John fifteen in talking about fruitfulness. “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him; the same bringeth forth much fruit.” “Every branch in Me that beareth fruit God purges {or prunes} it,” Jesus went on to say, “that it may bring forth much fruit.” “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” So it’s some fruit, more fruit, and much fruit.

Jesus spoke in terms of fruitfulness. Ahhh, what does it mean to be ‘fruitful’ in your life? Had you thought about that? Well now, take the simple concept of, of fruit-bearing. You plant an apple seed what do you get? You get an apple tree and what does it bear? It bears more apples that have more seeds.

So it’s a re-duplication of the original life isn’t it? It’s a re-duplication of the original life, so when you walk closely with your Lord He enables you to produce the kind of results in other people’s lives which, in turn, produce more fruit. The fruit of a Christian, I’ve often said, is another Christian. Second Timothy two-two is the principle often used by many in this connection. “The things which thou hast heard of me among, uh, among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.”

So the, the process is from Paul to Timothy to faithful men to many other people. It’s a process of multiplication. Paul spent time with Timothy, Timothy spends time with somebody else, that somebody else spends time with somebody else, teaching them how to walk with the Lord, and in the process it’s a fruit-bearing process. You follow that?

Walk worthy of the Lord, being fruitful in every good work. Now, not all good works are religious. There are some things I dare you to make religious; you can’t do it. But you can do anything you ought to do for God’s glory. There’s the difference.

If you’re working in a steel mill and your job is to pour that molten steel out of the crucible into the, uh, uh, the mold, uh, that it is supposed, uh, to; the shape that it’s supposed to get, and you’re operating that equipment and, and all of that, in the noise and the heat of the steel mill, you really cannot transform that mechanical operation into something religious, can you?

As a matter of fact, if you try to you may be careless about something and get, get injured.

So, I say, there are some things you cannot make religious in their essence but there is nothing in all the world that you may not do for your blessed Lord! “Whatever ye do,” he said, “do it heartily as for the Lord.” “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”

Now fruitfulness then, in good works, has to do with doing it…for the Lord!
You’re vice president in charge of sales for some large corporation, and you have to travel, and you have to meet hundreds, and over the year maybe thousands, of people in connection with your job. Many of them unbelievers, many of them don’t know your, your Lord Jesus as you do, and the job itself is not religious in nature because you’re busy selling widgets or whatever it may be.

What do you do about all this? The, the scripture tells me that in those (excitedly) non-religious, daily, on the job contacts you can be a blessing, you can be full of God, you can shine for Jesus, you can do what you do as for Him and the net result will be that you’re bearing fruit and other people are won to Him!

It’s a tremendous concept, isn’t it? You can be fruitful on the job. So guard against the tendency to run away from difficulties. If things are going rough sit down and analyze the situation without any question as you analyze it and pray over it; God will show you some things you can do to change the situation and the circumstances.

And then, of course, as I have often said to you, all my mistakes have been made in a hurry. Don’t jump to conclusions. That’s one kind of exercise you don’t need- jumping to conclusions.

Instead, wait on the Lord, let Him clear up your thinking, and in the process let Him sovereignly change both your attitude and the attitude of other people and things will clear up. Don’t run away from difficulty, face it with Jesus. (again) Don’t run away from difficulty, face it with Jesus. Good Idea?

In the process, you’re gonna get to know your Lord better. That’s the wonderful thing about this. You can be fruitful on the job, and being fruitful means the result being that other people will get hungry for Jesus, and they’ll, they themselves will be brought to Him. That’s the kind of fruit we’re talking about.

And, it says “increasing.” Now that’s you, beloved. “Increasing in the knowledge of God.” When you face a difficulty with your Lord you get to know Him better. Isn’t that a beautiful idea? When you face a problem, or a difficulty or a burden, with your Lord, you get to know Him better.
Oh, some of the things you and I’ve gone through you wouldn’t want to go through them again but we wouldn’t have missed them for the world! Isn’t it true?

You look back and see what you’ve learned as God brought you through some times of pressure or difficulty or even heartbreak, and you look back and say, “Oh God, You certainly revealed Yourself to me there. I got to know You better. I’m grateful.”

Yes, you wouldn’t want to go through the wringer once again but oh, you’re so grateful that you got to know your Lord better. Isn’t it true? “Increasing,” he said, “in the knowledge of God.”

The word ‘knowledge’ is an interesting word. It means a personal relationship with, a personal awareness of, uh, what the young people used to call a “large charge”, you know, a real experience of another person in your life. He said you’ll get that as you walk worthy of your Lord on the job and you’re fruitful on the job and you do things for Him, not just for yourself.

Oh…try that on for size today, will you? You can be fruitful where you are. I often say, “What you are, where you are, and the circumstances in which you are, are given to you by God. It’s His opportunity to work in your life. Let Him do it.

Father God, today, may we walk in Thy will and be fruitful in the process. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Till I meet you once again, by way of radio, Walk With The King today, and be a blessing!