We are workers in the field, eager for a kingdom harvest, and simultaneously we are the field God is cultivating. We can’t know the work Father wants us to do with him, as we co-labor, unless we hear him and are obedient to his call. This is part of the cultivating work God is doing in us.
In the story of the widow and the miraculous jars of oil, the Lord tells the needy woman, “Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” (2 Kings 4:4)
Filling jars is time consuming but not mind consuming. But because of her obedience the widow is not only able to pay her creditors but also to have so much left over that she and her sons are able to live. The story doesn’t say this directly, but it’s natural to conclude she was able to live well.
Father blessed her obedience with abundance.
That’s what He wants to do for us, too.
Obedience (An Object Lesson)
The Fifth Message in the Cultivate Series
September 3, 2017 • Dr. Kim Engel-Pearson
Cultivate Your Mind
October 1, 2017 • Graeme Sellers
We must cultivate our minds—prepare them to raise crops of life, hope, purity, faith, joy. This means cultivating the mind of Christ the Father has given us. To have the mind of Christ is to think as he thinks so we can join Father where he’s working. The mind of Christ isn’t air-dropped into us when we become Christians, fully formed and functioning flawlessly. It is something we cultivate, tend to, work on. This won't happen unopposed. There is a battle for our minds. This is war, as Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” We’re going to need well-tended, carefully cultivated minds to make it in a world that’s hostile to God.
Two Wrong Choices
September 24, 2017 • Meg Crossman
This morning we talk about knowing some of the wise ways to cultivate the fields the Lord has given us. Cultivating particularly involves destroying weeds and allowing our seedlings to grow well. This involves knowing how to combat the weeds without destroying the vegetables or plants we want to develop and maintain. Our Lord warns us in John 10:10 that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that “no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” If we are going to be successful in cultivating our fields, we need to know who our enemy is and how he works.
Why Ask Why?
September 17, 2017 • David Hammerslag
As we press into cultivating and simultaneously being cultivated, many forces can pull us away from obedience. For some of us, one of the most powerful can be a desire to know "why." Our desire to understand how our obedience will yield any fruit can stand forcefully in the way of obedience. Science and faith converge tell us that the knowing we seek is not possible. Chaos theory and the "Butterfly Effect" tell that we can't foresee the end results of even the smallest actions; faith requires that we move without knowing. As Isaiah said, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord."