Hello hello!!!
Here I catch myself apologizing again for not continuuing to do my blogs...I'm sorry!!!
I hope all of you have started out a great summer! It's already been 1 full week!!!! Ahhhh!!!
I have already started working, since last Wednesday...booooooooooo. Anyways, today's blog is on 2 Corinthians 9:6-15, about Sowing Generously!
Sowing Generously~2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written, "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given to you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
So...yet another passage on joyful giving! haha!!!
Paul starts out this passage by giving an analogy to a farmer and his crops. Sowing and Reaping...if we are stingy in giving, then we will receive just as much as we gave, but if we're generous in giving, we will generously receive. Another point is to give generously, not under compulsion, but with a giving heart. Giving generously not only glorifies God, but also benefits us. We are able to share God's resources generously, we are able to be blessed by God, although it may not be materialistic things that we are given in return for our generosity, somehow we will receive an abundance of blessings from God. Paul also mentions that the more we give, the more God is able to reach us and bless us. The more stingy and selfish (Scrooge-like) we get, the less room for God to reach out to us, because we are less open to God. Furthermore, we can be more God-dependent instead of on ourselves, being self-sufficient. That is spiritually enriching. Finally, the end of the passage states, "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" That verse literally sums up the entire passage. God has already set the example of generously giving. And we need to take after His character of giving...we pray to become more and more like Jesus, like God. That means we need to follow after his characters, one being, a heart of giving. It's never too late, Scrooge was always a stingy, selfish, closed-in kinda guy, but he became a new person...he was able to see things through new eyes because he had a new heart. He started giving, and through that he warmed up, he was joyful, he was hopeful! We need to learn to give away ourselves and our resources for the joy/sake of others and to further the Kingdom of God!
2009-05-18
2009-05-05
May 5, 2009 Matthew 9:35-38
Missions! Go! Look!! Be Moved! Pray!
Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News about the kingdom, and healing all kinds of diseases and sicknesses. When he saw the crowds, he felt sorry for them because they were hurting and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus said to his followers, "There are many people to harvest, but only a few workers to help harvest them. Pray to the Lord, who owns the harvest, that he will send more workers to gather his harvest." ~Matthew 9:35-38~
This passage was ironic to me because I am actually going on missions for the first time this summer. So basically what this passage is talking about is Jesus, the missionary.
The first step to missions is: going! Verse 35 shows that Jesus went. No questions asked, He just went; Jesus never asks us to do anything that He hasn't already done. He only leads by example, so that should make it easier for us to just follow in His footsteps. Not only did Jesus go around and evangelize, he did missions! There is a difference between missions and evangelizing. Evangelizing is reaching out to the people who don't believe in Jesus. Missions, on the other hand, is reaching out to the people who do not know that Jesus exsits. Jesus did everything while on missions: teaching, preaching, healing, and ministering. We should be able to do those things also.
Verse 36 shows Jesus' heart as He goes on missions. Not only do we need to physically go, we need to have the heart to go, otherwise it's pointless. The NIV translation of verse 36 states, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Key part is that He had compassion...He saw, and He had compassion. To have compassion is to have your stomach tie into a knot. Either deep love or deep hate, in this case, deep love. Not only does this "Jesus say, He had compassion," come up in this verse, but it also shows up in four other passages throughout the bible. That shows how important it is. So at this point, we should ask ourselves, what makes our stomach tie into a knot?
Verse 37 talks about the harvest. "The harvest is plentiful," what does harvest symbolize? Harvest symbolizes us, believers. "The workers are few," what does workers symbolize? Workers symbolizes those believers called to missions. We're so privileged in the United States, that we sometimes forget how others may be suffering throughout the rest of the world. We're so privileged that we have so much harvest and we have plenty of workers just within the United States, but that's not where these workers are needed.
Finally verse 38 talks about prayer. Prayer to the one who owns all the harvest, God, to ask that He may send out more workers. Missions is hard work and it requires a lot. That is why we look to God for a calling to fulltime missions. Otherwise there are people who go on short summer missions and etc. Either way, we should pray, asking for God to send out His workers, and if that be us, that we may have that compassion and that heart. And although we may not be called out to missions, we still need to pray earnestly of those who have been called out. They don't receive enough recognition...we might not know them, we may never know them, but they're brothers and sisters doing God's work, just as we should be doing. Some are going through so much turmoil, there have been tragedies and devastations, but overall, our job is to further the Kingdom of God, no matter what it takes, and that's their mentalities. We need to always keep them in our prayers.
Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News about the kingdom, and healing all kinds of diseases and sicknesses. When he saw the crowds, he felt sorry for them because they were hurting and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus said to his followers, "There are many people to harvest, but only a few workers to help harvest them. Pray to the Lord, who owns the harvest, that he will send more workers to gather his harvest." ~Matthew 9:35-38~
This passage was ironic to me because I am actually going on missions for the first time this summer. So basically what this passage is talking about is Jesus, the missionary.
The first step to missions is: going! Verse 35 shows that Jesus went. No questions asked, He just went; Jesus never asks us to do anything that He hasn't already done. He only leads by example, so that should make it easier for us to just follow in His footsteps. Not only did Jesus go around and evangelize, he did missions! There is a difference between missions and evangelizing. Evangelizing is reaching out to the people who don't believe in Jesus. Missions, on the other hand, is reaching out to the people who do not know that Jesus exsits. Jesus did everything while on missions: teaching, preaching, healing, and ministering. We should be able to do those things also.
Verse 36 shows Jesus' heart as He goes on missions. Not only do we need to physically go, we need to have the heart to go, otherwise it's pointless. The NIV translation of verse 36 states, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Key part is that He had compassion...He saw, and He had compassion. To have compassion is to have your stomach tie into a knot. Either deep love or deep hate, in this case, deep love. Not only does this "Jesus say, He had compassion," come up in this verse, but it also shows up in four other passages throughout the bible. That shows how important it is. So at this point, we should ask ourselves, what makes our stomach tie into a knot?
Verse 37 talks about the harvest. "The harvest is plentiful," what does harvest symbolize? Harvest symbolizes us, believers. "The workers are few," what does workers symbolize? Workers symbolizes those believers called to missions. We're so privileged in the United States, that we sometimes forget how others may be suffering throughout the rest of the world. We're so privileged that we have so much harvest and we have plenty of workers just within the United States, but that's not where these workers are needed.
Finally verse 38 talks about prayer. Prayer to the one who owns all the harvest, God, to ask that He may send out more workers. Missions is hard work and it requires a lot. That is why we look to God for a calling to fulltime missions. Otherwise there are people who go on short summer missions and etc. Either way, we should pray, asking for God to send out His workers, and if that be us, that we may have that compassion and that heart. And although we may not be called out to missions, we still need to pray earnestly of those who have been called out. They don't receive enough recognition...we might not know them, we may never know them, but they're brothers and sisters doing God's work, just as we should be doing. Some are going through so much turmoil, there have been tragedies and devastations, but overall, our job is to further the Kingdom of God, no matter what it takes, and that's their mentalities. We need to always keep them in our prayers.
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