A Year of Abundance!

Glory to God!

"2016. Sow what?!" was God's Word to us last Sunday which you can listen to here. In his message, Richard spoke to us about sowing and reaping and showed us how God wants us to pay attention to what we sow and how much we sow. This is what we noted:

• Every person sows either to please self or to please God and will reap what s/he sows. Gal. 6:7,8
• Sowing to please the Spirit does not come naturally as the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit are in conflict with one another. Gal. 5:17
• The Spirit is willing but the body is weak, and so the believer must learn to overcome the weakness of the body to sow to please the Spirit and to reap fullness of life.
• Just as Jesus "learned obedience" and overcame his emotions, his will and his physical tiredness in Gethsemane to do the will of the Father, so the believer needs to learn to overcome the flesh and sow to please the Spirit. Mat 26:36-46
• If we want to reap generously, we must sow generously. 2 Cor 9:6
• As stewards of what God entrusts to us, whether finances, gifts, responsibilities, relationships, time, etc, we are expected to use these wisely.
• Jesus teaches us that we must sow to invest wisely before He returns. 
• Jesus calls us to sow in order to be ready (Mat 25:1-13), in order to multiply what He gives us (Mat 25:14-30) and in order to bless those in need (Mat 25:31-46).
• All three parables in Matthew 25:1-46 deal with stewardship and the consequences of wise investment whether for ourselves, for others or for God's Kingdom.
• Generosity is commended because it reflects the heart of the Father.
• If we are to reap a harvest of righteousness, the fruit of sowing to please God, we need to consider what we want to reap with regard to: our relationship with God, our relationship with others, the lost, the needy, the church, work, etc.
• Nothing will change unless we sow the right seed and sow it abundantly!
• The assurance we have as we seek to sow generously to please the Spirit this year is the following:

"Each man should give what he has decided to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Cor 9:8

We praise God for His revelation to us and for the assurance of abundance this year as we sow generously! Hallelujah!