Understanding the Law of the Harvest

[Greg Thomas] Happy Sabbath, brethren. As always, it is so good to see you with us on this very beautiful and inspiring Sabbath day.

Today I would like to begin a series that I hope and pray will begin to prepare us for a fulfilling Passover this year. I want to talk about our thinking. What we think about and how we think has a tremendous impact on our lives, today and also tomorrow, even within the family of God.

I wanted to start off by giving you some quotations about thinking by some individuals you may recognize. For example, Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” Very profound, if you think about that. It is a very profound statement. Albert Einstein once said, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” And that is, also, very profound. Thomas Edison said, “Five percent of the people think, ten percent of the people think that they think, and the other 85% would rather die than think.” Again, that was Thomas Edison. Helen Keller said, “People don’t like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.” Again, very profound – very thought provoking in itself. Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Rarely do we find men who are willing to engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

So I’d like to talk about this topic today. Brethren, the entire purpose of our calling from the Father is to change our thinking from a mere human level to a Godly level – to a whole new level. In the past I’ve spoken before about the consequence of self-thought – negative self-thought. What I want to do today is kind of put that off to the side, and take this discussion of how we think and the consequences of our thinking to a different level than we’ve been able to cover before.

Let’s begin by going to Galatians, chapter 6, if you’ll turn with me to verse 14 there – Galatians, chapter 6, and we’ll pick it up in verse 14. Paul was a little upset in this book. He said some very powerful things – strong, corrective things in the book of Galatians. And one of the things that was bothering him is that there were Judaizers, who were trying to bully the Gentiles into being circumcised, because they were incorrectly teaching that you have to be circumcised to be saved. That bothered Paul, obviously. And then when someone would be circumcised, they were gloating. They were boasting over the fact that they had so much influence, they could humiliate Gentiles into being circumcised, which would have been something that would have been very painful, obviously, for an adult. So this is the background – the context, which is always very important to me – of what Paul is saying here. So picking up in verse 14:

Galatians 6:14 – But God forbid that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

What he’s basically saying is, “I no longer have any thing to do with the world. I am not attracted by anything in the world. We have a separation. The world has been cut off from me – crucified. I have been cut off from the challenges and all the attractions and temptations of the world. I am a different person than I was before because of the cross of Jesus Christ.” That’s what he’s saying.

V-15 – For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything – now here’s what’s really important – what? – but a new creation.

So again, what Paul means here is, “That the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” The world and all of the attractions that had no longer appeal to Paul, including babble and discussions, like what if salvation occurs through physical circumcision. He said, I don’t even want to hear it anymore. I’ve eliminated those kinds of mindless discussions from my life. I am not even going to boast about something like that.

I am going to read verses 14 to 15 through the translation, God’s Word for Today. He says:

V-14-15 – But it is unthinkable that I could ever brag about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his cross my relationship to the world, and its relationship to me, have been crucified. Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.

A lot of people want to argue and debate about, “What is conversion?” and “Is it important to be begotten or born again? or all of these kinds of debates and discussions people have – the purpose of conversion, what happens at conversion? Some say that to be converted, it is important to have a continuous quest for new truth or more truth. Others say it is loyalty to follow a certain human leader. Other people may say it is being a member of a certain human organization. Paul says, “All of that is wrong.” Paul says, “What’s really important about the process of your growth – about your spiritual development – is becoming a new creation.” As Paul wrote in Philippians, chapter 2, and verse 5, he said:

Philippians 2:5 – Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

So, the real purpose of our calling that leads to a deep level of conversion is that we begin to take a literal metamorphosis – a transformation – from being a self-centered carnal creature to a new creature – a spirit-filled child of God, who is developing the mind of Jesus Christ.

Let’s now go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, and verse 14, where Paul uses a very similar phrase here again. So we understand what Paul says is really important. Many people get off on these tangent issues, and Paul says, “Here’s what is really important. It is not about circumcision. It is not about people’s opinions, ideas, man-made doctrines, shake it to the left, shake it to the right. What it’s about is becoming a new creation.” 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, and verse 14:

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 – For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died, and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

You see, your thinking is transformed. You no longer live and think about and dwell in a world that is just carnal and physical and wants to please itself. You now live for a different and a deeper purpose – that is for Him who died for us and rose again. That’s what we live for. That’s primarily what our thinking should be focused on. Verse 16:

V-16-17 – Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. He says your thinking is transformed. When you see people you no longer see them as hair and skin and bone. You begin to look at people for their spiritual qualities – not for what is on the outside. Spiritually you begin to look at the potential of people. You begin to be interested in the inside of them – not what is just on the outside. That is the flesh. So he says, Therefore – and I am going to read this again – Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Interesting statement, because I mentioned in the last sermon about the apostles, that Paul may very well have seen – have been in Jerusalem – during the time when Jesus was conducting His physical ministry. But Paul is saying that, even if we are not interested in the physical ministry of Jesus Christ – yes, we read about it in the gospels, and we know that He was a man, and we know the wonderful teachings He had and we know His life – but now we know the risen Jesus Christ – the spiritual Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, our personal intermediary in heaven. That is the Jesus Christ that we have a relationship with – not someone who walked on earth 2,000 years ago. That’s what Paul is saying. So again, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Now what does he mean by that? When you came out of the baptismal tank, did you have a new job? No. You had the same old job. I’ll bet you probably had the same car. I’ll bet you probably went home to the same home you lived in the day before your baptism. If you were married, I’ll bet you probably had the same spouse. So what does he mean then, “behold, all things have become new.” Do you know what became new? Our thinking became new. Our attitude is what changed. Nothing physically changed. What changed should have been what is up here between our two ears. The first establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth is the establishment of that Kingdom between our two ears. That is the change that Paul is talking about here.

I am going to read through verses 14 through 17 through the New Revised Standard Version. It says:

2 Corinthians 5:14-17 – For the love of Christ urges us on because we are convinced that One has died for all; therefore all had died. And He died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for them. From now on – this is from the New Revised Standard Version – From now on therefore we regard no one from a human point of view. We start looking at people as God looks a people. We see their potential. We see beyond the way they are today, with their mere physical limitations, and we see that they are a child of God and the potential they have, when God calls them, when they repent of their sins, when they come to Jesus Christ in repentance, and are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. That is how we view people. So again verse 16: From now on therefore we regard no one from a human point of view. Even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know Him no longer that way. Because now we know the resurrected Jesus Christ – the Spiritual Jesus Christ, whose glory was restored with the Father – that same glory He had before He voluntarily emptied Himself of all of that glory, and came to earth to walk on earth as a mere man. Verse 17:  If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away - see everything has become new.

Paul is saying that because the love of Christ – because of His love – we are in a process of being changed from human flesh to a new and different kind of being – at a higher level of existence. Therefore, we need to think like God thinks. We need to put on the mind of Christ and we need to view our friends, our family, the world – we need to view life in general – from a different perspective than we did when we were just merely carnal. We should now discern life and people and events and situations from a spiritual perspective, not from a mere physical human perspective. That is what a transformation does. That is what Paul meant when he said that we need to become a new creation. The things themselves don’t change. It’s our thinking and our attitude that changes everything.

So today I’d like to talk about how our thinking affects our physical lives – how the way that we think also influences our spiritual growth. And to do that there is a spiritual law – a very powerful one. It is as powerful as any of the physical laws in this world. It’s a universal spiritual law that I want to talk about. It’s an immutable law. It’s totally scriptural and it’s called the law of the harvest. And I’d like to talk about that today – what is the law of the harvest and how it affects our lives.

Scriptures teach us that what you physically or mentally sow, you eventually will reap more of it. You’ll reap more of it as a harvest. The quality of the harvest of our lives depends on what you sow and how much you sow. So let’s begin to talk about and define the law of the harvest together. We’ll begin in Proverbs, chapter 23, and verse 6. In the book of Proverbs, chapter 23, and verse 6…now the context to this is caution and being aware of people who are very insincere. They are acting one way on the outside, but in the inside, what they are thinking really reveals who and what they are. The scripture says:

Proverbs 23:6-7 – Do not eat the bread of a miser – someone who is just totally self-absorbed – nor desire his delicacies; for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. He’s deceitful. He’s manipulative. He is really bothered by the fact that he is giving you something to eat, and trust me, in his mind, there is no such thing as a free lunch. There will be a price to be paid for him giving you something to eat. He is saying: “Eat and drink! It is on me! It is on the house!” Yeah, it is on the house alright.

The context – this is cautioning us to be careful to not associate with insincere and deceitful people. What the author is telling us is that what a person thinks about is what they really are, not the outward show that they pretend. The principle is this: what you think about is what you eventually become. And that is part of that universal law of the harvest. What you think about is what you eventually become in time. We become exactly what we think about.

Let’s go to Galatians, chapter 6, and verse 3, and see here how Paul talks about this. Galatians, chapter 6, and verse 3, Paul says:

Galatians 6:3-4 – For if anyone thinks himself to be somethin, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work…. So my job is not to examine your life and your work. Your job is not to examine your spouse’s life and their work. We are all supposed to examine our own lives, and how we are doing, and how we are thinking, and what our thinking is leading us to in this life. This is time for us to think about the consequences of our own work and our own lives. So, …examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. You won’t have to say, “Well, I’m better than that person is. I may have a lot of problems, but at least I am not as bad as Mr. Thomas.” So, instead of comparing ourselves with others, if we are doing well we can rejoice in our own achievements and our own accomplishments. Verse 5:

V-5 – For each one shall bear his own load. And so that is part of the law of the harvest. You have consequences – I have consequences – to what we think about because what we think about eventually returns to us as a harvest. Verse 6:

V-6-7 – Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. There is a law that is universal – that is absolutely as sure as the law of gravity, the laws of thermodynamics. You can’t get around it. You can’t fool it. You can’t mock God who created this law. And here it is: For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Verse 8:

V-8 – For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

So what is Paul saying here? He says what you mentally sow is what you eventually reap. What you think about you eventually become. If your mind is focused on selfish things, that is what you become. You reap more selfishness. If your mind is on spiritual things, that is what you eventually become – a spiritual member of the family of God.

Christ Himself often used sowing and reaping as a metaphor in a number of His parables. Think of all of the parables in which He talks about a farmer and scattering seed and sowing and reaping. And brethren, the truth is that we become what we think about all day.

Let’s go to Matthew, chapter 13, and verse 18. As I said, Christ Himself often used sowing and reaping as a metaphor, or an analogy, in His parables. Let’s just take a look at one of His parables here and see how rich it is, as a metaphor, in understanding that we need to be thinking about the right kinds of things, that we need to cultivating our minds and getting rid of the thorns and the weeds and the negativity, and replacing that with things that are spiritual and positive and uplifting and good. Matthew, chapter 13, and verse 18, he says…. In the previous verses He gave the parable of the sower. For the sake of time we are not going to go through that, but we will take a look at Jesus explaining here what He meant by the parable of the sower when He was asked

Matthew 13:18-19 – “ Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom – that is, the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. And that good news includes the fact that Jesus Christ is not only a King, but He is also a Savior who reconciles us to the Father by His shed blood. That is part of the message of what that gospel is, and He says: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. There is no soil here. It says earlier as He described it, that the birds of the air, the fowl came and just ate all the seeds that fell by the wayside. It doesn’t even germinate in soil. There is no soil here. Verse 20:

V-20-21 – “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. So we’ve gone from no-soil to poor soil. And if you’ve ever seen a seedling trying to grow in the crack of a broken concrete on a drive-way or side-walk, you know that it struggles. It’s reaching down there, and it can’t get roots deeper into anything, because of the hardness of that soil – that concrete – in this case, the stony soil – it can’t grow roots deep. So therefore, when the conditions are dry or when it is hot, that little plant just withers up. It fades away. And that is what Jesus is talking about here in this metaphor. Verse 22:

V-22 – “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. You know, this is actually fertile soil. It is soil that is so good, in that it is fertile, and that anything can grow in it. The good seed can grow in it. The weeds can grow in it. So it is very fertile soil. But unfortunately, the thorns crowd out – strangle – the good seed. Verse 23:

V-23 – “But he who received seed on the good ground – and when it says good ground here, it means cultivated. It means the weed-seed was removed. It means it is not only just fertile, but the weeds have been removed from it, so they can’t take over the crop. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” And this obviously is very good cultivated soil.

The Greek word translated as good here, is the Greek word kalós, and it means beautiful, malleable, virtuous. So let me ask you this question: If we were asked to describe what kinds of thoughts go on in our heads all week – our thinking – could we honestly say, “It is beautiful? My thoughts are beautiful.” Could we say that? or would we have a little trouble saying that? You see, the good sower in this parable wasn’t plagued with abundant weed-seeds. The field was tended and the weed-seed removed so it didn’t multiply and overwhelm the good that was there – the good seed that had been planted.

Allow me to take this analogy one step further. And the analogy is about our minds, brethren. Fertile soil doesn’t care what you plant in it. It simply produces more of what you plant in it. If a farmer has either wheat, on the one hand, or a poison, like strychnine fruit plant – a very deadly poisonous plant – and he plants them, the soil doesn’t care what he puts in the ground. With fertile soil, whatever he plants, he will get back abundantly. If he plants the wheat, he will get back good and healthy wheat. If he plants the strychnine plant, he will get back a deadly poison that can kill people. Again, the soil doesn’t care.

Our physical brains, our minds, are the same way. Whatever we plant in there we will get more of. If they are good and positive and healthy and wholesome thoughts, that’s the harvest that we will get back. If it is anxiety and stress and anger and resentment, you know what you are going to get back? You are going to get back more anxiety, stress, anger and resentment, because it is the absolute law of the harvest. That is exactly what Paul was saying a little earlier when he said very powerfully, “whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” And that is what Jesus is saying here, in essence, in the parable of the sower. If our thoughts are healthy and positive and based on faith in God’s providence, in time – and there is a time lag – in time, we will receive back more of what we planted in our thoughts. And that is good.             On the other hand, if our thoughts are dysfunctional, if they are negative, if they are based on fear, we will also receive back more of what we sent out. We will receive back more of what we planted.

Now let’s take this another step. If we allow our mind to mix healthy, positive thoughts and thinking, along with some negative, selfish thinking, what we will get back are both. And that can create problems for us. Yes, there is some good, but even the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a mixture of good and evil. That is not what God desires. That is, basically, what was offered mankind. It was offered to Adam and Eve. You can either go to the Tree of Life or the other tree of the knowledge of good and evil – that is good and evil mixed – and we don’t want to be good and evil mixed. We saw here in this parable what happened to those who grew up among the thorns – the good seed – and how it was eventually crowded out and strangled by the thorns.

So brethren, it may take time for that to happen, but the law of the harvest is absolute. It is as absolute as the law of gravity. The mind replays what the heart doesn’t delete. I am going to say that again: Our minds replay what our heart doesn’t delete. So, if we have a negative thought, if we are dealing with anger, anxiety, resentment, bitterness, envy, and we don’t delete those thoughts, it is going to replay that episode over and over again. And the law of the harvest says, what we will bring back to ourselves is more of all of that stuff that eats us up inside and holds us back.

What you think about is what you eventually become. What you send out, you get back in return. What you sow, you will therefore reap. Put it in another way: what we think about will always come back to us in one of two ways: either as a blessing or a boomerang. Ever see someone throw a boomerang? They’re watching it. It’s spinning around. It’s behind them. Then the next thing…oooh!...hits them in the head! Right? So, the harvest we receive is either a blessing – the right kind of thinking, the right kind of thoughts – or something is going to boomerang on us. It is going to come back to us to haunt us – bigger and uglier than ever before – because that is the law of the harvest. It doesn’t matter whether you are an individual, a family, or an organization, what you think about is what you eventually become. What you send out is what you get back in return.

Philippians, chapter 4, and verse 4 – turn there with me – Philippians 4, and verse 4. Paul again writes here:

Philippians 4:4-6 – Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. It is so important for us to have gratitude and our prayers should start out with praise and gratitude. We should be very appreciative for the things that God has given us. Verse 7:

V-7-8 – And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – he says – meditate on these things.

Why does he say meditate on these things? Well, there is a Greek word there that is translated  meditate. It’s logizomai, and it means to take an inventory of something; to conclude, to reason, to think. As a matter of fact, many translations have Paul saying think on these things.

So, why does he say this, “Think on things that are true and noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report?” Because he understood the law of the harvest. He understood that what we think about becomes a harvest. What we send out comes back to us. What we think about we eventually become.

I am going to read this verse 8, here, from the translation, God’s Word for Today.

Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brothers and sisters, keep your thoughts on whatever is right or deserves praise: things that are true, honorable, fair, pure, acceptable, or commendable.

So again, why would Paul tell the brethren to do this? Because he understood the law of the harvest. If our thoughts are healthy and positive and based on faith in God’s providence, like what He tells us as examples here, in time, we will receive back more of what we planted in our thoughts. If we don’t keep our thoughts and attitudes on what is right and what is good, we’ll receive back something that we really don’t want. That is what Paul is telling us here, and that is why he says, “Think on these things.”

Matthew, chapter 7, and verse 15 – again, Jesus talks about the importance of good trees bearing good fruit. It says:

Matthew 7:15-16 – “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.

Sometimes in my church record, people will come and say to me, “Well, you know, we’re going to start a new church. Would you be a part of it? We want to be in charge. We want to start our own church.” And my response is always the same. “No, I will not participate with a fraud. You see, you’re talking about splitting up hundreds of families who have worshiped together for decades, sometimes generations. You don’t care about that. You’re talking about splitting up thousands of friends who worship together for decades so you get to be in charge of something? You’re a fraud! I am not going to participate in that.” And that is the kind of thing that Jesus is talking about here. Look at the fruits. The fruits of tearing up friendships and breaking families is dysfunctional and is false. That is what He is saying here.

V-16-17 – “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”

“Look at the results of what you do,” is what He is saying here. Verse 18:

V-18-20 – “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

What is Jesus Christ doing here? He is confirming the law of the harvest. If you plant grapes or figs, you know what you’ll get back? You’ll get grapes or figs – nothing remarkable about that. It’s just a law. You know that. You understand that. Good plants harvest good fruit. Bad plants harvest bad fruit. “When all is said and done,” He says, “the end-result will reveal the kind of plant it was by the kind of fruit that you receive from it.”

In fertile soil, a good tree cannot produce a bad harvest. Bad cannot produce a good harvest. Thinking of our minds, mediocre thoughts produce mediocre results. Positive thoughts, faithful thoughts, thoughts that are focused on what Paul encouraged us to do when he said, “Think on these things,” produce a result – a harvest, in time, of positive, faithful, committed thinking. And the results are beautiful. And the results take us to another level that transcends our weak, mere humanity. And that is what our calling is all about. An individual can fake who and what they are for a short time, but you can’t fool the law of the harvest. Eventually, what and who we are becomes quite evident, because we send it out and it is going to come back to us – either good – hopefully good – or bad.

James, chapter 3, and verse 12. Let’s see if James understood the law of the harvest. James, chapter 3, and verse 12 – James writes here:

James 3:12 – Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? What’s he talking about here? The law of the harvest. Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh – another metaphor. He says, “It is either salty and you can’t drink it and it is terrible, or it is fresh water and it is good for you. There is no in between.” So he says, Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.  This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual – of the flesh, carnal – demonic. Verse 16:

V-16 – For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. Let’s take a look at this verse again. He says: For where envy and self-seeking exist – the fruit of that – what comes back – is confusion and every evil thing. You see, what you send out is what you get back. What we think about is what we eventually become. Verse 17:

V-17-18 – But the wisdom that is from above is first pure – this is in contrast to what we just spoke about regarding confusion and every evil thing. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Wow! What an incredible understanding! Peace, when you send it out, when you live in peace, what do you get back? More peace. It is the law of the harvest. What is James confirming here? He is confirming again the law of the harvest. Bitter envy and self-seeking produce more envy and selfishness and confusion and other evil, because it is earthly. It’s influenced by Satan, the god of this world. It is demonic.        

So if we plant those seeds by our thinking, we shouldn’t be surprised if one month, or a year, or five years later we get all of that negativity back again happening to us – all that negativity flooding our minds, everything in life seeming to go wrong. Why is that? Because of the law of the harvest.

On the other hand, positive, spirit-filled thinking by a righteous person produces another kind of harvest here, according to James. He says, “The harvest is more righteousness. The harvest is having more peace.” That is what James tells us. So like Paul, and like Jesus Christ, he too understood the law of the harvest.

Now there is another aspect of the law of the harvest, and it is not planting seed into a soil, but it’s grafting and pruning an existing vine to make it produce even more. So let’s take a look at that. Jesus talks about that in John, chapter 15, and verse 1, if you’ll turn there with me – John, chapter 15, and verse 1. This is a part – a sub-set – of the law of the harvest, because the law of the harvest is, you are going to get back according to what you send out. So we are going to see here that the true vine and His Father, the vinedresser, works the branches to produce more. Their work results in positive things coming back. He says:

John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away. They eventually leave. And I’ve seen that in the Church. I’ve seen people come to the Church, for forty plus years, and stay for a few cycles of holy days, and it’s not new any more. They came into the Church, and they had a marriage problem, or they had a sexual problem, or they had a problem with anger – whatever. They refused to deal with it – just put it off. And after they have gone through the holy day cycle a few years, there is nothing new anymore, and because they refused to deal with what’s going on up here, their harvest brought back negativity. It brought back the desire to leave. It says: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away.” People eventually leave. We cannot coast. The Father is not interested in creating coasters. He is interested in creating thriving branches that bear much fruit. And let’s see what else He says here. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

Can I be honest with you here? For years I was a member of the American Rose Society. You know what you do when you prune a plant? You wound it. That’s right. You cut off healthy tissue. You literally wound that plant. Have you ever gone through a trial where you felt wounded? I have. That is the Father pruning us. That is the Father saying, “Good job. Now it is time to take you to another level – to learn compassion, to learn patience – for Me to get you to where you need to be to serve in My kingdom and in My family. And to do that I am going to have to allow you to be wounded – to hurt a little bit – to get you where I want you to go.

That is exactly what He says here. Every branch that bears fruit – good job! – He prunes.  He wounds it. And when God wounds us, it is not because He doesn’t love us. Of course, He loves us. It’s because He is instituting His personal development plan for you. And your personal development plan is different than my personal development plan. It is different than the person sitting next to you. It is your own that He handcrafted for you, because of what you need, to get you and I to the levels that He wants us to get to. So He prunes us that it may bear more fruit. Verse 3:

V-3-6 – “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” We have to maintain that relationship. How many times have we talked about the importance of a personal relationship with God? It is not about what we know, how smart we are, how obedient we are. All of those may be important, but what is most important is a relationship, because if you don’t have the relationship, the other things I mentioned are worthless. So He says, “…unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

Again, in my history in the Church of God, I’ve known people who two months, five years, ten years, twenty years, forty years…. “Oh, I’m done. I am not going to do this anymore.  But I’ll keep the holy days. I’ll come back for the Passover.” Never saw them. You know what happens? You spiritually wither. Even that little bit of truth that you understood fades away.

I had a friend once who…”Well, I’m leaving the Church, but I’m telling you I understand Christmas is pagan. I will never celebrate Christmas.” Two years later, he has a Christmas tree in his window. I guess never, by his definition, was a very short period of time.

What happens? We wither. Even that little bit of truth that we knew and accepted and understood fades away. It is gone. So He says:

V-6-8 – “… he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” That’s the power of prayer connected to a faithful attitude. And wow! You can’t even stop that. That is not our topic today. It is about our thinking, but you add to the right kind of thinking the power of prayer – you are unstoppable! “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples.

So what is Jesus Christ talking about here? Again, another aspect of the law of the harvest. It emphasizes the importance of having a personal relationship with God, and being connected to Him. Only then can our thoughts begin to become positive, can become productive, can become wholesome, spiritual, focusing on the right kinds of things in our lives. The vine is abundant in good. That is Jesus Christ. Therefore anything connected – any branches connected to the vine – will be abundant and good, producing much fruit.

Let’s go to one final scripture today – Galatians, chapter 5, and verse 19 – our final scripture. And then I have a few comments to conclude this sermon today. Galatians, chapter 5, and verse 19.

Again, Paul is going to contrast here the law of the harvest. One is the result of working, like working the fields, and the other is a direct fruit of the Spirit. These are scriptures that I am sure most of us are very familiar with, so I won’t deep-dive into the actual words. But the point I want to get across is the power of the law of the harvest. You either get one or the other. What we send out comes back to us. What we think about we eventually become.

Galatians 5:19 –  Now the works of the flesh – that word is from the Greek word ergon, and it means to toil. It means literally an occupation, like being a farmer, for example. That’s literally what the Greek word means. Now the works of the flesh – in other words, that which you are going to reap – are evident. If our thoughts are negative, if we are carnal, fleshly, self-absorbed, it is evident what we are going to harvest. And it is going to include: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries – and that’s just on Monday! –  and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Very powerful statement by Paul. It is hard to hedge that one. No matter how much we may want to try, it is hard to hedge that one. But then he says here, in verse 22 – in contrast – here is another side of the law of the harvest – the fruit of possessing God’s Spirit.

V-22 –  The fruit of the Spirit – in other words, what is reaped when you are using God’s Holy Spirit to your potential and drawing upon it, allowing it to guide you, and change you, and be the coach and mentor that God gave it to be for you – the fruit of that Spirit – that which is reaped – is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

And you know what? There are no laws against any of those. You can go from Genesis to Revelation. None of those qualities are condemned in scripture anywhere.

From the translation, God’s Word for Today – verse 19:

V-19 – Now, the effects of the corrupt nature are obvious. What we send out we get back. What we think about we eventually become.

Again, another example of the law of the harvest. Carnal human reasoning harvests evil consequences, but having the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our lives – tapping into that Spirit, allowing it to help change us – that harvest? Beautiful – godly productive fruit.  That is what God wants.

So, in conclusion, what are some of the things we can do to have a harvest that is abundant and has the kind of fruit that pleases our Father and give glory to our Father? I would just like to make a few comments as we conclude the sermon today.

First of all, I encourage all of us to be connected to God daily by prayer and the study of His word, along with occasional fasting. That is part of being connected to that vine. That is part of being a branch that has a relationship, and it is connected to the vine, and drawing strength and nourishment from that vine. We need to go to God daily in our Bible Study and in our prayer and again, the occasional fasting. It is very, very important.

Another thing we can do, is realize the importance of daily meditation of positive events and actions. I know very few people who meditate. I know a lot of people who daydream all day. And the difference is, meditation is disciplined thought. You say, “This is what I am going to think about. This is what I am going to ponder. And when I catch my mind wandering, I am going to pull it back to the topic. I am going to pull it back to the subject.” And it will wander because we are human. We are carnal beings. “And every time I catch it wandering, I am going to pull it back.” That’s what meditation is. Daydreaming is like following a pinball game. Bing-bing, bing-bing, bing, bing, bing. You know what? No matter where it pops around, it always ends up at a negative place, doesn’t it? Daydreaming always gravitates towards some past event that’s hurtful, painful, that we resent or makes us angry. Sadly, that is the way that we are wired, so it is important to develop a habit of daily meditation – taking time out quietly – five, ten minutes, whatever you can spare in a quiet, peaceful environment – and think. Think. Meditate on the kinds of things that Paul encouraged us to think about.

Another thing we can do, of course, is to seek first the Kingdom of God and make it a priority. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t have goals and desires. When Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God,” He wasn’t saying, “Abolish all your goals.” He wasn’t saying, “Think about God 24/7, and never be able to have a career, never be able to do great things with your talents.” He is not saying that at all. He is saying, “I just want you to make the Father your priority. That is number one. It is okay to have a number, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, but your priority, which should be first, is seeking first the Kingdom.”

Another thing that we can do is attend Sabbath Services regularly and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need each other. I know some of us are prickly. I know some of us are not easy to get along with sometimes, but God brought us together. We are God’s family. And look at it this way: Do you realize that every Sabbath is a weekly family reunion? That’s when God brings His family together to worship Him, to have some coffee afterward, and fellowship, and have some nice food, and spend some time with one another. That’s very important, because we need that positive, weekly reinforcement. I don’t know about you, but I get beat up all week. There are subliminal messages that, you are wrong, you made another mistake, you are not good enough. All week we get beat up. We need to come to a healthy environment, where we know we are loved, and where we can worship our great God, and support one another. And that is right here inside of God’s Church.

Another thing we can do is to serve others in every way possible according to our abilities and talents. Even if we are totally handicapped, we can at least pray. And most of us have been blessed with mobility, and we can write cards, and we can make phone calls. We can help people in various ways, according to what God has given us, and according to what our abilities, our gifts, and our spiritual gifts are. That is very important in keeping us realize that is not all about me – that what God wants me to do, to get to that higher level, I have to think about others and fulfilling their needs.

Another thing you can do is keep yourself productive and busy and goal oriented. It doesn’t matter whether you have two jobs or you are retired. We need to be productive. And if you need to discover a new hobby, discover that hobby. We need to be busy. We need to have goals and not just be floating around like a cork in the ocean. We need to be stretching and developing and growing the God-given talents that we have. And we can do that whether we are a high school student, whether we are working two jobs, or as I said, whether we are retired. We can all be growing and developing our talents. That is a life-long pursuit.

Another thing, and this is very important, I encourage you to be careful what you allow to enter your mind. I mentioned earlier about the importance in the parable of the sower – of the cultivation that took place. And the difference between the fertile soil, and the really good soil in which abundant fruit were produced, was that the weeds had been taken out. There was good soil because it had been cultivated and there weren’t weeds there to sprout – or weed-seed to sprout – and crowd out the good seed. We need to be very discerning in what we allow to enter our minds. The media – all forms of media – have an agenda. Therefore, be selective to what you listen to, selective to what you read, selective to what you watch on TV or the radio stations you listen to, or social media, or printed media – magazines and newspapers. They are all slanted towards a certain belief or human philosophy. You need to know that going in, and when you read or hear anything that is beginning to disturb you, I want to encourage you to do yourself a favor. Turn it off! If it is negative, if it is making you negative, turn it off! From such turn away! Don’t allow that to enter your mind. My friends, garbage in and five months, one year, five years later, garbage out. Remember, what we think about we eventually become. What we send out eventually comes back to us more. It comes back to us, so it is very important to be careful not to get engrossed in the media today. If it is anti-God, if it is negative, if it is strongly condemning of others, if it is self-righteous, or in many cases, if it is simply mindless babble, turn it off. Do yourself a big favor.  Remember how the law of the harvest works and if we’re taking that stuff in, that is eventually what we think about. That is eventually what we become.

A couple of other things. When you catch yourself daydreaming about harmful thoughts – you’re going through the day, you are driving, or whatever – and those negative thoughts come, immediately challenge them. Remember the importance of self-talk – taking control. Our minds are generally negative. They generally lean towards the negative. If you are driving, if you’re thinking about something, and harmful thoughts begin to enter in that make you uneasy, angry, judgmental, resentful, envy, immediately redirect your thoughts to the right kind of things – things that are positive, like a personal goal that you have been working on. Think about a family member that you love, or a friend, or a loved one. Think about a hobby that you really enjoy. Think about where you want to go for the Feast of Tabernacles next year. Think about all the food you are going to eat next Sabbath when you come to this building. Whatever it is, redirect your thoughts from the negative to the positive. That takes discipline. That takes saying to your mind, “I am in control of you and no longer am I going to allow you to pull me down, lead me around by some nose-ring. I am going to decide what I think about and what I choose not to think about.”

And finally, and this is a delicate issue. Be very cautious of toxic relationships. The reality is that there is some people that are just toxic to us. They just pull us down. They just bring out the worst in us, for one reason or another. Sometimes we can’t cut off those relationships totally, due to other factors, but we can at least minimize and realize the relationship is toxic, and do everything we can to minimize the influence of that person pulling us down – if we can’t cut off the relationship – sometimes we can’t – to at least minimize their influence in our lives that are affecting us in a negative way.

So brethren, I want you to think about this coming week, the law of the harvest because what you think about you eventually become. What you send out in the things that we say, and the things that we think, eventually come back to us in abundance, either in a positive way or in a harmful and hurtful way. Let’s be like Paul who said in Romans, chapter 12, and verse 2:

Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Let’s renew how we think, because that is the real change that makes us a new creation in Jesus Christ.

Have a wonderful Sabbath!