11-22-2015 weekly message

Meditation of the week: Psalms 126:1-5

Main scripture: John 4:35-38

Subject: Meaning of Thanksgiving Day accepted by God

           God created the foods from the ground, and said:

“Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”)Gen. 1:11)

And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind; and God saw that it was good. God never said to sow the seed and reap.

        But when the first man sinned against God eating the fruit of forbidden tree, God spoke unto him:

“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”(Gen. 3:17-19)

             Since then until nowadays for six thousand years, there have been thorns and thistles never sown because of sin of the man; man has been eating bread in the sweat of face.

                But God planned to make the children of Adam new creatures through delivering them from sin and death and curses, and let them live in heaven and earth. God sent his only begotten Son who was the Word and God to the cursed earth in the name of Jesus. Jesus spoke about himself of what to do:

“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”(John 12:24,25)

                 In other word, what he meant was for himself to be sown as a corn unto death to recreate all men as new creatures taking all curses unto his body to deliver them from sin and death and curses inherited from Adam; he also said, he shall rise again as a corn. God spoke about immortal and incorruptible harvest through corruptible harvest. And he himself became the first fruit of immoral and incorruptible harvest. And he will harvest the spiritual fruits from the earth, and he will take them to heavenly barn. John the Baptist testified of this:

“Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”(Matt. 3:12)

               Yeah! They that become new creatures through receiving eternal life by faith shall rise again from the dead body as a corn break the corrupted skin. Apostle Paul testified of resurrection of body:

“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.”(1Cor. 15:20-23)

He testified of “first fruits” instead of “first fruit”; the first fruits were the saints of the Old testament days resurrected from sleeping in the graves.

                Apostle Matthew testified of the resurrection of the old saints when Jesus rose again from the dead:

“Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the

rocks rent;

And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.”(Matt. 27:50-54)

                  In the main passage given today, Jesus spoke unto his disciples upon seeing the people coming from the city when a woman shouted to the people of the city abandoning her water jar saying, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ.”(John 4:29):

“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.

And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.”(John 4:35-38)

                   Jesus spoke about the labors of harvesting the fruits of eternal life, for they are so little in number:

“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;”(Matt. 9:36,37)

             Yeah! People are still busy for sowing the corruptible things to harvest to fill their belly not any interest in sowing the seed of gospel to harvest the fruits unto the life eternal. God gave the mission of harvest unto the eternal life unto his church purchased by his blood. But unfortunately almost all churches are giving thanks only for the harvest of corruptible things rather than of the eternal life.

               Apostle Paul testified of the harvest of the fruit unto eternal life to the saints of Corinthians:

“But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?

Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:

And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:

But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”(1Cor. 15:35-44)

                All men born of Adam are going to be buried upon failure of breath sooner or later. But unfortunately people have the knowledge of this, but they are living as if they not believe. The Devil, the ruler of the present world is making them so busy that they have no time to think of their destiny unto death. King David testified of the people around him:

“Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee…… From men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.”(Ps. 39:5-7; 17:14,15)

                 We shall also be buried as a corn into the ground to be corrupted, unless Jesus our Lord come. But whosoever has the Spirit of Christ within shall be harvested to the barn in heaven as a corn sprouted, and harvested. And they that are saved through the gospel that we preached shall also be harvest to heaven as us. We shall receive the crown of joy according to the fruits of eternal life harvested by us at the judgment sat of Christ when Jesus appears in the air, and we shall give thanksgiving unto God eternally.

                What we have to understand is that there shall be many kinds of troubles followed to sow and harvest the fruits unto eternal life. The Devil, the ruler of the present world never stop hindering us. The psalmist testified of this:

“They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed, shall doubtless came again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”(Ps. 126:5,6)

             Apostle Paul called as an apostle of the Gentiles testified of the best joy unto God:

“Then I shoud be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.”(Rom. 15:16,17)

             Yeah! The best offering for the Lord is to give the fruits of the eternal life harvested by preaching the gospel. Therefore, true Thanksgiving is to offer the souls saved through preaching the gospel unto the dead. Amen! Hallelujah!