In This Issue:
What Did You Expect?
The Crossroads
Poor Taste in Clothes
The Stone Inside
Volume: 882 October 31, 2022
Theme: Reaping What Is Sown
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What Did You Expect?
Bill Brinkworth
Truths in botany can apply to our lives, as well. One principle in the science is that one gets what is planted. If one plant marigolds seeds, one gets marigolds. If tomato seeds are planted, one certainly would not expect a crop of corn. This law of “sowing and reaping” can be applied in our lives:
- If one spends most of one’s life doing what is selfishly wanted, can one be expected to get the blessing of God in one’s life?
- If one does not pray, read the Bible, does little that is spiritual, and purposely avoids doing what one knows God wants one to do (going to church, reading your Bible, praying…), why does one get angry and blame God when something terrible happens in one’s life?
- Why does one curse or get angry with God for not answering the one requested prayer in many years?
- If one never got saved, why would it be expected one will go to Heaven rather than Hell?
- Why would one think one’s opinion or philosophy was more important than what God thinks or says, and He will change everything He has said just because of one’s thoughts and beliefs?
- If one lets their children do what they want and certainly did not encourage them to live the way the Lord tells them to, why would anyone blame God (or a church) when something terrible happens to them or their lives are headed in the wrong direction?
- If one allows their children to attend a secular school that teaches evolution, elevates ungodly lifestyles, mocks God, allows the children to be exposed to ungodly examples and philosophies, why would one be surprised that their life turns out to be ungodly, unfruitful, and unhappy?
- If one allows one’s children to listen to music encouraging ungodly lifestyles, allows them to view television and movies that advertise sinful behavior, or hang around children that have ungodly lifestyles, why would one be surprised that their future lives are ruined by their wrong decisions?
- If one avoided studying, cheated when possible, and avoided many learning situations (playing video games or watching TV rather than studying), why would one be surprised that one did not pass into the next grade or have problems learning?
- If one does not take care of one’s health, why is God blamed when one is sick?
- If one succumbed to the sins of smoking, drinking, or drug taking, why is one surprised that one has an addiction, one’s body has reaped the havoc of the sin’s participation, or one has a ruined life because of the sin’s side effects?
- If one covered up what was happening in one’s life with lies and deception, why would one be surprised that people in one’s life do not trust or “just don’t understand you?”
- If one sinned and broke laws in the past, why would one be surprised one is in jail or facing some other punishment?
- If one cheated God by not tithing (Malachi 3:8-9) and giving to Him in the past, why would anyone be surprised their financial situation is not blessed by God?
- If one spent money one did not have, why would anyone be surprised one’s debts are high?
- If one “shacked up” with a boyfriend or girlfriend without marrying them, why would one be surprised that the romance with that person is in turmoil or has failed? Does one think God was going to bless such a relationship?
- If one looked at or flirted with other women or men, even though married, why would one be surprised when one finds themself in an adulterous relationship?
- If one allowed their eyes to see ungodly pictures or movies, why would anyone be surprised when one has wrong thoughts and commits sin?
If you purchase, plant, and sow iniquity, sin is what you will reap!
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7
Would you prefer a more joyful, God-directed life? If so, then plant the right things in your life. Plant a God-approved spiritual crop!
“For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:8
The Crossroads
Author Unknown
He came to the crossroads all alone,
With the sunrise in his face;
He had no fear of the path unknown,
He was set for an ambitious race.
The road stretched east, and the road stretched west,
The “Signboard” showed which way was the best;
But the boy turned wrong and went on down,
And lost the race and the victors’s crown,
And fell at last into an ugly snare
By choosing wrong at the crossroads there.
Another boy, on another day,
At the selfsame crossroads stood,
He paused a momemt to choose the way
Which would lead to the greater good.
The road stretched east, and the road stretched west,
But the “Signboard” showed him which way was best.
And the boy turned right and went on and on;
He won the race and the victor’s crown.
And came at last to the Mansions fair,
For choosing right at the crossroads there.
For choosing right at the crossroads there.
“I find the doing of the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.” — George MacDonald
Poor Taste in Clothes
Wings
In the spring of 1924, I assisted Pastor N. E. Norwood in a revival meeting at Fort Ogden, Florida. Driving along the highway, we passed a gang of convicts working on the road. They were clothed in stripes, and I remarked to the pastor that I didn’t like their clothing.
“If I had the selection, I should have selected a different suit.”
“Why,” he answered, “they don’t select their suits, do they?”
“Oh, yes!” I answered.
“Well,” he said, “I didn’t know that. I thought the state selected their suits for them.”
“No,” I replied, “Every man selects his suit. Those fellows knew the penalty of violating the law before they committed the acts. They made their choice. They selected their suits. They are wearing the “clothing” of their selection.”
What suit have you selected: the black stripe suit of shame and dishonor or the “white robe of righteousness?”
The Stone Inside
H. A. Ironside
I was talking to a group of little boys and girls in a Sunday school in San Francisco. “How sad to know, each time you say ‘No’ to the Lord Jesus, your heart gets a little harder. If you keep saying ‘no,’ the heart gets harder and harder until by-and-by God calls it a heart of stone. If you persist in disregarding His grace, you will die in your sins.” I pleaded with those boys and girls to give their hearts to Jesus in their early days.
There was one dear little tot there, only five years old. Her mother brought her to Sunday school and then took her home. The little one was thinking of her dear father, who never went to hear the Word of God. When she got to the house, she darted into her father’s arms and said, “Daddy, Daddy, feel your heart! Is it getting like stone?”
He said, “What are you talking about?”
She said, “Well, the man at Sunday school said if you say ‘No’ to Jesus, you will get a stone inside. Oh, Daddy, I hope you haven’t for if you have, you can’t be saved.”
The father growled to the mother, “What have they been telling this child, anyway?”
Then the mother explained a little more fully, and he saw tears in his wife’s eyes and felt the arms of his little girl about his neck, and heard her saying, “Oh, Daddy, don’t go on saying ‘No’ to Jesus.”
He looked up and said, “Well, I think I had better settle this.” He got down on his knees and yielded his life to Christ.
“There is a God-created vacuum in the heart of every man, which cannot be satisfied by any created thing, but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ.” — Blaise Pascal