Darrell Pickle Mon/Tue Messages

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Time of the Harvest

Not many Christians want the spirit Jeremiah had. We’d rather abound and be overwhelmed with a feel-good spirit. We all like that, but who will help if we don’t carry the burden?  For a baby to be born there must be travail. The same is with the church; there must be travail to see souls saved.

Jeremiah 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

Jeremiah spent his life warning the people of Judah that if they did not repent judgment would come. He wept for them.  In chapter 9:1-2 we see how Jeremiah felt. “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.”  He was worried and troubled and would have liked to just get away from it all. We’ve all felt that way before. Yet he stayed and pleaded for them. They did not listen, and it wasn’t long before Babylon surrounded them.

It was near harvest time when the Babylonian siege began. Judah thought Egypt would pull them out, but the grain got riper; the vegetables got riper. The harvest was beginning to rot while the siege got tighter and tighter. Jeremiah realized the people would starve. Isaiah said “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.”  The apostle John said “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”   Every harvest runs out. If the harvest is not gathered all the labor would be wasted. I want to mention six harvests that come and go.

1. The harvest of youth past–Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.”  There may not be another harvest. Young people see the harvest of youth and do not get saved. Teens think they’ll live forever. College students are busy with planning their lives and spending time with friends. In marriage you just get too busy and put it out of your mind.  Many are in the harvest of youth. You will live forever, not here, but in eternity. Many pass this harvest and don’t get saved.
2. The harvest of God’s special dealing–God speaks broadly, but he also speaks special to each of us. We have our own DNA. There is no one else like us. He sends us special things. Road blocks are put in the way to hell. God never sends anyone to hell. You have to work to get there, and it’s done by ignoring the road blocks. We should realize the goodness sent from God. He may send disappointment as a red light telling us to wake up. These are God’s special dealings. Many pass this harvest and don’t get saved.
3. The harvest of reapers may pass–those who loved and prayed for us may go on. You may outlive them.  Who will pray for you when they are gone?  The harvest of the reapers may pass. The greatest harvest of them may be in the rapture. Then all reapers will be gone. This harvest may pass, and you won’t be saved.
4. The harvest of Holy Spirit conviction–Jesus said another would come after he left that would convince all men of the need to be saved. He makes us unhappy in sin. Are you confused? Maybe the Holy Spirit is convicting you. Can you get saved anytime?  No. The Spirit must be convicting. He may not come back. It is dangerous to offend the Spirit. If he stops dealing with you, you’ll go on in your sins blind as a bat. The harvest of conviction can pass, and you won’t be saved.
5. The harvest of revival time–revival comes and goes. It is a good time to be saved. Many here were saved in revivals and many in a church service. Churches cannot survive without people being saved, yet some never ask you to an altar of prayer; some never speak of sin at all. The harvest of revival time can pass, and you won’t be saved.
6. The harvest of life on earth–Hebrews 1:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” The last harvest will happen. You can cancel a doctor’s appointment, but you cannot cancel the appointment with death. You can do death that way only by way of the rapture. This harvest can take you away from friends and family. Those in the grave were like us, and we will be like them.  Death has no particular age group. When looking in a newspaper and averaging out the ages, the life span is 40-45 years.  The harvest of life on earth can pass, and you won’t be saved.

The harvests will happen. Make sure you’re saved.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Our God is a God of Harmony

I Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice it is “wholly” not “holy.” We’re not innocent but blameless. Body-Soul-Spirit make up our being. God wants all of us-sanctified, holy, and set aside for his glory.

The body, soul and spirit must live in harmony. Creation works in harmony. There is rain and sunshine, a season to sow and one to reap, a sun and moon. God’s word works in harmony. There are 66 books written over a period of 4,000 years, and they come together as one book. It all fits in harmony. Music came from heaven and is a wonderful thing when it’s in harmony. It’s easy to listen to. Even plants respond to soft, harmonious music. Poetry is harmony. There are three places for each of us that must have harmony.

1. There must be harmony in our personal life.  The body, soul, and spirit need to be in harmony.  The sin of Adam and Eve brought disharmony. Being born again brings the harmony back. We must dedicate our body to God to stay in harmony. Paul said “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” When he wanted to do right, he did wrong. There is a battle in this body. Our body did not get saved; it will go back to dust, but we are to give it to God. In Romans 12:1 Paul said “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Set it aside for God. Be wholly his. The most miserable person in the world is one who tries to live for God and the world and sin at the same time. The Holy Spirit gives joy not unhappiness and love not hate. Ephesians 5:18 says “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”  Don’t be filled and consumed by drugs or wine or other such things. Be filled with the Spirit. Don’t live for the flesh. Present the body as a love gift to the Lord. Then harmony will come. It’s a personal thing.
2. There must be harmony in the family. Is a Christian wife to submit to a drunk, partying, and lustful husband?  No. God set the plan that a man is saved and head of the home. The wife is saved and submits to the husband. The children are saved and honor their parents. He’s talking about the ideal family that he planned. Ephesians 5:21-25 says “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” This is what makes a harmonious family. If the body, soul, and spirit of the man is sanctified and the same with the wife there will be harmony.  When something happens you fix it. Family life is give and take. A house won’t make a home. When there is harmony, love stands out.
3. There must be harmony in the church. Most times a church splits because of disharmony. God doesn’t operate by spite.  Satan sows tares-the hypocrites and the unsaved. He gets them in as teachers and singers and so forth. They look like a Christian but are there to cause disharmony. Jesus said he’d pluck them up because we’d pull the wheat with the tares. God has a plan.  The pastor serves. The deacons serve under him. That’s what the first deacons did; they kept harmony among the people. Then there are teachers, leaders, and servants. When all do their part there is harmony.  Never say you can’t do anything. If you attend and pray and give, you’re doing something. It doesn’t take something big to cause disharmony. It can simply be a critical spirit toward the preacher or a singer or anyone in the church. The church is the body of Christ. The local church is a miniature of the whole church. When we’re born again we become part of that church. I Corinthians 12 says “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.  For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?” We are many members with different personalities but all are important. If my foot is ugly and I use my eyes more, am I to cut off my foot? No. It’s important.  Every child of God is part of the body and important.  Verse 17 says that if we’re all an eye, we’d be a monster.  Some churches are monsters.  Fighting, griping, and gossiping are the monsters. If you can’t speak well of someone, don’t say anything that will hurt even if it is the truth. When the Spirit tries to halt it, stop it.  Don’t do it.   Be careful. God has a plan, and we need to get on with it.

Is there harmony in your personal life?  Is there harmony in your family? What about your attitude?  Do you need to seek God’s will and find the harmony that is needed in your life?