Weekly Message / prayer request

ACTS 2:42 MEN’S FELLOWSHIP

“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 NIV

Solomon touches upon many different themes in this passage from Ecclesiastes—faith, generosity, God’s authority. As Christians, it is important to understand these themes and make them a part of your daily life. But as I was considering the meaning of this passage, I realized there was something more profound the Lord was trying to convey—God’s purpose and our role in it.

This world is full of many things which are out of our control. Yet all things which happen are a part of the purpose of God. We may not understand them or have any understanding to their reason for happening, but they have purpose. Let us consider the prophet Isaiah:

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:9-11 NIV

This truth applies to every person, every small group, every ministry, and every Church which follows the Word of God. For He sends those who He chooses and will accomplish all of His desires and purposes through the work of His servants. And the reality is that He chose each one of us!!! He is knocking on the door to our lives…

Therefore we must not sit and ‘watch the wind’ or ‘look at the clouds’. We must live our Christian lives within His purpose by planting and reaping for the glory of God.

In closing, the Apostle Paul understood this tension between ‘not knowing His ways’ and ‘knowing His call’ probably better then anyone other then Christ. For Paul wrote to the Philippians:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14 NIV

Therefore brothers, may we plant and reap. May we follow the Word of God in faith. May we press on toward the goal which we all have been called. And may we pray to do all these things…

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Thanks for a wonderful evening Wednesday searching the Word and keeping the fellowship. Spending time with you has been a blessing on my life and I hope all of you feel the same.

Over the next few weeks may we dig deeper into the foundational truths of our Christian walk together as brothers in Christ… For all things rest upon foundational truths.