Jordan Wilson. Wednesday June 21st, 2017.

Planting And Harvesting

Galatians 6:7-10 “7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.”

#1. Don’t Allow Yourself To Be Misled.

Many times we deceive ourselves by believing what we’re doing is “okay” because “God will always forgive us.”

This is called, “Abusing God’s grace.”

In this passage, it implies that we are mocking God if we continue to act like this.

We allow ourselves to believe that there will not be consequences of our sins, bad behaviors, or negative influences of others over us…

Proverbs 1:10-19

Proverbs 1:10-19
“10 My child, if sinners entice you,
turn your back on them!
11 They may say, “Come and join us.
Let’s hide and kill someone!
Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent!
12 Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave;
let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death.
13 Think of the great things we’ll get!
We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take.
14 Come, throw in your lot with us;
we’ll all share the loot.”

“15 My child, don’t go along with them!
Stay far away from their paths.
16 They rush to commit evil deeds.
They hurry to commit murder.
17 If a bird sees a trap being set,
it knows to stay away.
18 But these people set an ambush for themselves;
they are trying to get themselves killed.
19 Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money;
it robs them of life.”

Consider Your Ways
Consider Your Friends
Consider The Outcome

#2. We Harvest What We Plant.

This law, like laws of nature is an example that God gives us to show that no matter how hard we try to “out-wit” God, His ways will always come to pass. This is a law we cannot run from. The consequences will be felt, whether good or bad.

Ex. Gravity

“Planting To The Party Life”
Belshazzar – Daniel 5:22-30

Daniel 5:22b-30 “you have not humbled yourself. 23 For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!”

“24 So God has sent this hand to write this message.
25 “This is the message that was written: Mene, mene, tekel, and Parsin. 26 This is what these words mean:
Mene means ‘numbered’—God has numbered the days of your reign and has brought it to an end.
27 Tekel means ‘weighed’—you have been weighed on the balances and have not measured up.
28 Parsin means ‘divided’—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
30 That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.”

#3. The Flesh Reaps Destruction.

Galatians6:8 “Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.”

Decay, Death, Destruction, & Corruption are all words that can be translated here: in the Greek context of their day, it was often used to describe the decaying of food. Which is what our Christian life will look like after prolonged consumption of the world and the flesh.

Sin ALWAYS corrupts. And when we begin to care less about our sin, it makes our character worse.

#4. The Benefit Of Being Spiritual.
(Doing what the Bible says from the heart)

We will start to live EVERLASTING life here now! When Paul speaks of reaping (harvesting) eternal life, he’s not just talking about heaven in the future. Eternal life is about quality of living now. Which ultimately leads to living with Christ forever!

Galatians 5:22-23 “22 but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Do we want everlasting life?

Galatians 5:25 “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit.”

“I want God’s word to change my heart and my mind”

#5 Don’t Give Up!

J-Dub’s notes:
Don’t get frustrated and give up! Obey God in every season of life. You may not see the reward yet, but the “law of sowing and reaping” will come to pass.

Let’s spend next week at camp sowing to the spirit. don’t just see it as a fun time away from home eating snacks, staying up late, etc. Also see it as an opportunity to experience Jesus. And let it be a time that you sow to your spiritual life – letting God change your heart next week…. Let’s be in awe of Him… Amen.