Time for Harvest

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It’s September and Harvest season is upon us. Many farmers are busy on the fields harvesting their crops. It is a busy time of year when the farmers work hard and long to get their crops in before the cold weather comes. The Bible also talks about a harvest, a harvest not of crops but of souls.

Matthew 9:37 He (Jesus) said to His disciples “The harvest is great but the workers are few.”

Jesus is talking about the harvest of souls; there are so many people in our world today who are without hope. They are desperately waiting and longing for someone to tell them of hope and salvation, but as Christ said, there are very few people who are willing to go out and tell them.

In class we are going through the book by K.P. Yohannan called “Against the Wind”, Chapter 11 talks about being a diligent servant. K.P. gives the example of a farmer, how he must be diligent and work hard in order for his farm to be successful, in the same way in order for us to be effective in our personal lives as a servant of God we must have the same kind of commitment. I have been really challenged by this, it is so easy for me to work hard at a task I know needs to get done or at a job where I know I am expected to work hard, but when it comes to doing things for God I tend to be more lazy or give excuses of why I don’t have time.

The parable found in Matthew 25 gives examples of different attitudes when it comes to working hard. Two of the three men were willing to work hard with what their master had given them to do and their master, pleased with their work gave them more responsibility in his kingdom as their reward. The third man was lazy and did nothing with what was given him, he did not take his master’s command seriously and he received a very harsh punishment. In the same way that the master in the parable gave a command, Christ has given me a command and He is returning soon to see what I have done in regards to His command. As the master was pleased with the two hard workers so God is pleased with those who diligently serve Him.

As I see many people all around the world living without hope, never having heard the good news of the gospel, it is my prayer and desire to do all that I can. To work diligently rescuing souls until Jesus returns.

—School of Discipleship student

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Power in the Tongue

What a precious gift the Word of God is. in it we find hope, healing, courage, comfort and strength for each day. We also find things that we might not like so much at first are good for us in the long run, like the verse in Hebrews 4:12 which talks about what God’s word can do:

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“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

As you can see, the Scriptures are full of promises for us. They are also filled with convicting and challenging verses that have the potential to cut swiftly and directly as we apply them to our hearts. My desire is to ingrain the Word of God deeply in my mind and heart so that when it is needed, the Holy Spirit can bring it to mind.

A passage I’ve been trying to memorize is James 3, and God is using His word to cut away the unnecessary and hurtful words that come out of my mouth. Our words have the potential to destroy someone and once they are spoken, they can either crush or build up. I desire that the conversations I have with people be uplifting and encouraging– not damaging. It is by the grace of God that fresh water will come out of my mouth which will refresh my recipients.

There are a few verses that talk about how the tongue is impossible to tame and that it is a restless evil. This really caught my attention. It seemed discouraging at first to think that our tongue cannot be tamed. As I kept reading, it became clear why that cannot be done. I, in and of myself “trying” harder cannot tame it; only God can through His Holy Spirit. As my body becomes the instrument of the Holy Spirit, life will flow out to those around me.

“But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?” –James 3:8-11

—School of Discipleship student

School of Discipleship CA

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The Best Part About a Family

We are Family

Some people like to live alone and others don’t think they could survive. But everyone has a family and needs a family because we were created that way. Of course family doesn’t have to be blood related, family are the people we treasure the most.

I’ve been at Gospel For Asia’s Discipleship Program for 1 year and nearly 8 months. I’ve lived in the same house for this time, with the same people for the first year and then a few different people for the second year. I’ve gone to serve at the same office every week day with these people and others for this whole time. It’s like a family. No, I’m not related to any of the people here, I didn’t know any of them before I came. But they are family, and as a house we do everything together. We get up at 6 AM on Monday morning tired and quiet to pray together for the day ahead, we all understand each other because we’re feeling the same things, we slowly travel downstairs to exercise together still tired and quiet. The kitchen is busy at 7 AM as everyone is eating breakfast and getting their lunch for the day, but no one fights or argues, we’re all polite and love to serve each other. Then our house remains silent and empty, because we all head to the office for prayer and ministry service. We come home at 5:30 PM, tired and hungry. A couple of us cook a meal for everyone. At 7 PM we sit down and enjoy each other some more, we’re more awake than in the morning and are able to talk and tell about our day – the joys and the challenges because everyone understands. They’ve struggled with similar things too. I love this family I have, I wouldn’t trade them for anything, but I didn’t realise how close I am to these people until I thought about leaving at the end of the year. They are my friends that I can rely on, as Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (ESV). Here I have made friends who are closer than my own family. I still love my family very much, and I know they love me, but these people know far more than my family does about what I’ve experienced this year and 8 months. They are the friends I won’t forget.

Though I believe I could live alone if the LORD called me to do it, I have found a greater joy in living with others who have the same vision and goal as I do.  I want to find family wherever I go because I believe it is God’s plan that His children (Christians related through the blood of Jesus) live together in unity and love, able to say to like Jesus did in Matthew 12:48-50, “But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”  And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

—School of Discipleship student

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A High Calling and Great Purpose

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God has angels, why does he not use them for His work instead of man?

In Pastor Damian Kyle’s message “The Fall of a Great Man” from the series “The Making of a Psalmist” he asks this question and also answers it.

Damian Kyle is focusing on the time in David’s life where he falls into sin with Bathsheba. Now there isn’t any way we as humans can be perfect. Sin will always find a way to express itself but Damian Kyle said that when we are occupied with doing the Lord’s work, we are less likely to fall into sin. That would be one of the reasons why we are chosen to do God’s work.

Even when we do fall into sin, He gives us the victory in trials. He picks us up and tells us to try again.  Being in God’s will, might be hard but being outside of His will, would be even harder. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10. We are God’s masterpiece, Christ has restored us to Himself and we are now holy and blameless in His sight. “Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without fault.” Colossians 1:22

This brought a new question into my mind; why wouldn’t God use us for His work? Without the perfection of Christ I am nothing. Because I am incapable of living a perfect life I need the application of the righteousness of Christ.

When Christ came to die, His joy was set before Him and that joy was me. In His eyes, we are nothing less than perfect. “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil – the commander of the world of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised from the dead.” Ephesians 2:1-2, 4-5a

—School of Discipleship student

School of Discipleship CA

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The Joy of Following

One of the first things Jesus did in His public ministry was to call the four fishermen to follow Him.  Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus calling individuals to follow Him some of which heeded the call and others who did not.  However, they were all called to the same thing i.e. to follow Him.  Some were called to give up their vocations, others their wealth, but all were called to follow.

The primary call of God seems to be one of following.  Paul was called to the Gentiles and Peter to the Jews, but both of these callings would be encompassed in following God.  What does it mean to follow Jesus?  As I mentioned previously, it requires us to give up something.  However, if we focus only on what we give up we miss the point and often become defined by what we don’t pursue rather than by the One we do pursue.  Some have pointed that when we choose to follow Christ we must take up our cross as He took up His.  This is true, but we must remember the goal isn’t to take up the cross.  Taking up the cross is merely the process on our way to the goal.  I have sometimes lost my focus on Christ because I was focusing on the cross and suffering that I was to take up.  It is not suffering in itself that we are to pursue but Christ who lies beyond the suffering.  In the same way Christ pursued the goal set before Him and accepted His cross.  In Hebrews 12, the author of Hebrews tells us the goal Christ had to enable him to bear His cross.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
–Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV

It was for joy–the joy of reconciling the world to himself–that Christ despised the shame.  I recently had the privilege to study a portion of Colossians chapter two.  The one thing that continually stood out to me was the triumph that Christ had in the cross.  A believer from the early centuries of Christianity said of the passage that Paul had never spoken with a more lofty tone.  Through the cross and the shame of it, Christ received the joy that was set before Him and now He is seated beside the Father.

As Christ had a joy set before Him, so we also have a joy set before us.  Because of this joy, we can endure the cross that we take up despising its shame.  We will be united with Christ in Heaven and because of this fact anything that the world and the enemy hurls against us in this life will be worth it when we see Christ face to face.

following-joy-DSC_0179“It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,

Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ;

One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,

So bravely run the race till we see Christ.”

–Esther Kerr Rusthoi

—School of Discipleship student

School of Discipleship CA

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