Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church.
Good morning Life House, turn to somebody, give them a high five, tell them it's good
to see you on this rainy, rainy Sunday.
Amen?
Amen.
How many know in the Bible rain is blessing?
I mean we've been blessed and re-blessed and that's true.
I'm ready for some sunshine but it's good to see the rain.
We need that in the spring.
I'm on a well so I appreciate the rain quite a bit.
Yeah, a couple of woots there.
It's true.
Hey, just before I get started in this message, I just want to take a moment and really just
kind of encourage you to get in a life group.
I know we're talking about that all the time but it is critically important why you follow
Jesus to walk with somebody else and to be with someone else along in that journey.
So if you haven't considered that, I'm asking you to pray about that.
Seriously consider getting in a group, connecting with a group of people who are like-minded,
who are following Christ and this really isn't about just a connection with each other but
it's really about following Jesus and just kind of walking together while we do that.
And there's a lot of benefits that I don't have time to go into with all that but it's
super important and just be prayerful about that truly if you're not currently in a group.
Well recently I had the opportunity to have a conversation with someone and we were talking
about a preferred future and a conversation about what we would like to see happen in
the future.
What do we want to see take place in the future at some point in time as opposed to what's
happening right now?
What would be the outcome?
You know what I'm talking about?
Have you ever had one of those conversations where you're like hey you know I know what's
going on now but I really like to see what might happen in the future.
What if, have you ever had one of those what if conversations?
Like what if it looked like this?
And we really kind of have these conversations on the regular.
We kind of do it naturally and it can be as simple as talking about a preferred future
like lunch.
Some of you are thinking right now like what's my preferred future right now?
Is it pizza or is it steak?
Right?
So how many are for steak?
How many is your wallet telling you pizza?
Alright so yeah alright so you're thinking steak but your wallet is screaming pizza.
You know you're thinking about that.
That could be your preferred future or it could get as serious as what do I do with
the rest of my life?
What do I do with the next 10 years of my life?
What do I do with the next 15 years of my life?
And it was you know it's really kind of about when you're talking about a preferred future
you're really kind of talking about a vision for things.
Now I know having a vision for lunch is a little bit dramatic right?
Or is it?
Having a vision for lunch might be a little dramatic but you know having a vision going
forward in the future is extremely important especially if that involves Jesus because
it actually should involve Jesus.
You know your preferred future should really be about where Jesus is going first and where
you're going to follow.
You know it's all about Christ.
I don't even want to go into the future without Jesus.
I don't know about you.
I have no interest in going further in the future without Christ and without Jesus and
this conversation that I got into really kind of cost me to take a really close look at
Galatians chapter 6.
So if you got your Bibles I want you to head that way.
Turn there this morning kind of go that direction in your scriptures.
It might be on your electronic device.
It might be you're just going to look up on the screens but in this portion of scripture
I want you to listen closely to the first couple of verses.
I'm going to unfold the first few verses because the first few verses give us context.
They really kind of put us where or what is happening at the time and if you know what's
happening you can understand the why.
Context is very important.
You want to know the context of scripture so you can understand the content of scripture.
If you understand the context it will help you develop the content what's being said.
A lot of times we completely misinterpret the Bible because we grab a scripture out
of context and then we just make the content kind of mean what we want it to mean.
You want to put it in context.
What are they saying?
Alright so I want to pray before we go to the Word of God.
I want to pray over the Word.
I want to pray over your ears, over my mouth as I speak that God will speak to you what
He wants to speak today.
Lord we come to you today I thank you for each person in the house.
I thank you for each person that is listening online.
God as we break bread, Lord as we open the Word.
God I pray that you would just God give grace to the hearers Lord let us speak to them and
God help me to speak your Word clearly and plainly and Lord God that it might fall on
ears that are listening and Lord God just do the work that you want to accomplish this
morning.
We give you glory, praise and honor and everybody said together.
Amen, amen.
Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 it says this brother if a man is overtaken in any trespass you
who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness considering yourself
lest you also be tempted.
Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Now Paul is writing a letter to the Galatian church he is instructing them and the context
here is that he is talking about family stuff.
He is talking about things in the body of Christ.
He is talking about brothers and sisters right he even starts off with that he says brother
right brother and he is talking about the body of Christ and he is saying if somebody
in your in the midst of you if there is somebody in the congregation if there is somebody in
your group that falls prey to sin right we are supposed to go to them this is one of
the advantages of groups we are supposed to go to them and restore them in a spirit of
gentleness.
So you are starting to get the context you are starting to see what is taking place in
this letter what is he saying in this portion of the letter and he said be careful how you
approach them make sure you are considering yourself as you come so that you are not tempted
yourself make sure you don't come right with judgmental or in pride or in any of those
kind of ways and then he says kind of bear one each other's burdens.
This is a context a group of Christians that are doing life together they are coming together
and one of them gets caught up in a sin and he is saying when you go to restore them restore
them gently but restore them confront right in the middle of all this then he goes on
to verse 3 for if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing he deceives
himself but let each one examine his own work and then who will have rejoicing in himself
alone and not in another for each one shall bear his load.
He is instructing the listeners he is going on with this when confronting someone else
about the speck in their eye their sin make sure you don't have a plank in your own eye
Jesus said that in Luke chapter 6 do some evaluation check yourself check your motives
right check your approach run about another mature Christian kind of do that kind of thing
all this is in line this is all in context of what we are going to get to with the content
Paul is saying be honest be straight be humble work to restore the person to a right place
right then he gives one more short instruction he says let him who has taught the word share
in all good things with him who teaches alright when confronting teach out of the word right
instruct out of the word and learn together in that let the teacher learn let the person
who is a student learn and the context of this passage is all themed around about how
we treat each other in the faith and how do we restore someone who is in sin and he is
confronted this is the context you got a picture a snapshot of what is going on right man nobody
said a word alright you got a picture of what is going on this is the context alright this
is the context now we want to get to the content of what we are looking at in this healthy
spiritual life and Galatians 6 7 says this do not be deceived God is not mocked for whatever
a man sows that he will also reap for he who sows to his flesh will reap of the flesh reap
corruption but he who sows to the spirit of the spirit will reap everlasting life let
us not grow weary in well doing or while doing good for in due season we shall reap if we
do not lose heart therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all especially to those
of the household of faith now Paul didn't change subjects here a lot of times I've heard
this priest and talked about it and you know read and sometimes we just kind of pull out
this one piece of scripture and he didn't change gears because he is still talking about
the body he is still talking about family life in amongst us because in verse 10 he
says let us do good to all especially to those of the household of faith and there is some
great content in the middle of this context in the light of relationships in the light
of a preferred future with one another and what we know and what we learn out of this
is what we sow we reap what we sow we reap what you sow you will reap and not only do
you reap it but you reap it exponentially right if you sow something into the ground
if you plant a seed into the ground if you get a kernel of corn and you throw it into
the ground guess what you are going to get back out of the ground come on help me out
here corn right you are going to get corn but you are not just going to get one kernel
of corn I did a little research on it you will get between 400 and 1400 kernels of corn
from one right from one kernel of corn so not only do what you sow you reap but whatever
you sow you reap exponentially so you know it increases I love exponential increase that
is awesome right your harvest will always come after you sow so there is a delay between
sowing and reaping when you put a seed in the ground we all know this it takes time
to get to the harvest it does not happen immediately that would be super cool I would love that
but through seeding it pow that puppy come up right and there is a harvest it does not
work that way there is a delay between and he says don't grow weary in sowing because
we will reap a harvest if we sow some awesome content there in the middle of all this you
know of the context of what he is talking about but he takes this a little deeper he
goes he pulls his part just a little bit more and he says there is only two kinds of harvest
say only two there is only two right and he says this for he who sows to his flesh will
reap of the flesh will reap corruption that is one kind of harvest but he who sows to
the spirit will reap everlasting life the seed we sow will produce an eternal harvest
or a corruptible harvest the seed we sow will produce an eternal harvest or a corruptible
harvest there is only two categories there is not three there is not four there is not
five aren't you glad I don't have to preach ten points this morning right only two thank
you for not saying amen alright I appreciate that it is eternal harvest or it is corruptible
harvest every seed that you sow either has an eternal implication of some kind or it
has a corruptible implication of some kind every seed that we throw out there every seed
that we throw into the ground of somebody else it has an eternal quality to it or it
has a corruptible quality to it any time energy resources that you are planting somewhere
you are pouring in it either has eternal reward to it it has eternal implications to it or
it has corruptible implications to it you have got to understand we are depositing something
every time we come into contact with somebody else you know that every time no one is an
island nobody is an island turn to somebody beside you right now look at them squarely
on you are not an island you are not an island you are not an island you are not it doesn't
matter if you are quiet if you are noisy it doesn't matter if you have that soft quiet
personality and you just kind of right you just you get in a crowded room you slide off
to a wall somewhere and you just kind of try to hide right you fade into the paint if you
can right it doesn't matter if you are social not social when you when you come into a room
you are planting seeds whether you realize it or not you are casting seed into somebody's
life our staff we talk about this all the time we have weekly staff meetings and we
talk about what took place in a gathering we kind of go back and say hey what went right
what went wrong what was confusing was there any of those kind of things we go back and
talk about this Sunday before and one of the amazing things we always talk about is the
two gatherings because we have a 9 o'clock gathering we have a 1045 gathering and what
we will say is man how different the two gatherings were there is just this different feel and
we realize and you have got to understand something I preach the same message in both
gatherings and it is the same person preaching both gatherings it is the same staff that
is working both gatherings it is the same worship team it is the same people in the
booth it is the same teachers all that is the same guess what is different you all are
right the congregation so when you come in you are casting seed of some kind you are
throwing seed out and it is hitting everybody else and it is going up to heaven and if you
come in with a worshipful heart and you are ready to worship God there is seed going out
right if you are casting you are coming in and you are talking with somebody you are
casting seed all over the place and it literally changes the room whether you are speaking
or not you can come in you are casting seed of some kind so the question isn't if you
are casting seed the question is what you are casting is it eternal or is it corruptible
because eternal is something that lasts forever and corruptible means it kind of fades away
it just it decays it kind of ruins over time it kind of disappears right you can have your
car can get corrupted do you know that it can rust anybody got a rusty car all right
it can rust you ever see a car that just flat out rusted out it is sitting out in a field
somewhere it is disintegrating it is kind of falling to nothingness right no matter
how much you paid for that thing it is just kind of fading away that is corruptible it
just goes away right it is corruptible and it doesn't have any kind of eternal value
to it even though you paid a lot for it and it doesn't necessarily corruptible can mean
evil but it doesn't necessarily have to be evil it just means that it disappears the
house that you live in is corruptible right it is not going to last for 300 years it really
won't it is going to last for a period of time we got some around this area that is
100 years old some get to be 120 years old but there is not so many houses you hear that
it is 300 years old I don't know if the bugs eat it I don't know if it just rots out but
it just kind of disappears the clothes you wear are going to disintegrate if you wear
them long enough and please change clothes all right they will disintegrate they will
disappear right the gadget you brought from that you bought from home shopping network
right three and a half days that is what you are going to get out all right it is going
to disintegrate it is going to disappear the Bible calls these things flesh he calls it
it calls these things spirit the things of the flesh so Paul is saying the harvest that
we reap and that we put into others is either going to be eternal in nature or it is going
to disintegrate in the word of God at the beam of seed when believers and followers
of Jesus Christ stand before Jesus one day Jesus this is what Jesus is going to check
he is really going to check on us and he is going to say the works that you did right
because there is only two kinds of seeds you can cast the works that you did the things
that you did in my name the things that you did with others it is either going to be eternal
or it is going to be corruptible 1 Corinthians 3 nice as this for we are God's fellow workers
you are God's field I love that right you are God's field you are God's building according
to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation
and another builds on it but let each one take heed how he builds on it for no other
foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ now if anyone
builds on the foundation with gold look at the look at the look closely gold silver precious
stones right different materials here wood hay or straw it says each one's work will
become clear for the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will
test each one's work of what sort it is if anyone's work which he has built on it
endures it will receive a reward that's eternal stuff for planting to other people if anyone's
work is burned up he will suffer loss that's corruptible right fades away goes to ash goes
to nothing but he himself will be saved yet as through the fire everything I sow everything
I sow every seed I cast it's either going to be corruptible seed it's just going to
fade away to nothing or it's going to be something that's eternal and someday when I stand before
Jesus he's going to check all that in my life and he gives reward that's what the word of
God says he rewards accordingly and let me help you with something here because you know
Paul's talking about this I don't think Paul's saying like every single thing that's going
to come out of your mouth is going to have eternal effect right we know there's very
practical fleshly things that we do that probably don't have an eternal reward like you got
a shower right sometime this week praise the Lord right some of you brushed your teeth
this morning thank you very much you brushed your teeth this morning probably not eternal
reward there of some kind we appreciate it alright especially the person sitting beside
you appreciates it but there's not eternal reward there but what we do we want to grab
a hold of what are you sowing is it something that's going to incinerate because there's
a lot of things I know there are things that are just going to fade away but what's the
balance how much energy how much time how much resource are you spending in something
that's going to fade and disintegrate that's corruptible and how much time and resource
and energy am I putting into something that's eternal when I bump into you or you bump into
me put it into everything as much as you can now I'm not saying over spiritualized things
I'm not saying look you got to pontificate on biblical theology every time you bump into
somebody that's not what I'm talking about but how many of you can cast eternal seed
in very simple ways you really can you can show care for somebody and do something eternal
for the kingdom you can you can encourage somebody and you can you can do something
eternal in the kingdom even in your small talk you can you can interject do you ever
thread something into some small talk just you ever give it do you ever give a verbal
jab to somebody not a mean jab I'm not talking about punching them alright but just a nice
little jab like oh I'm going to just interject a little bit of Jesus right there in some
kind of way I'm just going to throw something in it's eternal you add eternal value to what
you're doing because what I sow reaps right we reap in other people and you're going to
sow two kind of harvests one's eternal and say the other is corruptible alright one's
eternal one's corruptible there's another lane we can run down when we talk about harvest
and it's something that we need to understand be really clear about the seed I sow into
others is supplied by the harvest in my own life okay the seed I supply to others is supplied
by the harvest in my own life seeds come from harvest if I've got a field full of watermelons
and that's what my harvest I planted some watermelon seeds and fall comes and I've got
this field full of watermelons and all of a sudden I've got a harvest on my hands there's
a couple things that take place there right there's a couple things that are to my advantage
there one is that I get to eat some watermelon I get to pick one of those I need to slice
that thing in half I said no everybody's a little bit different some of you chunk it
out right you cut all the rind off some of you like if you're like us we cut it like
pizza and you got the rind there and it's just the bite size it's just right but you're
going to get some nourishment you're gonna have how many like watermelon out there how
many getting hungry right now all right you got what my grandkids come over if we got
watermelon any of them man they're rapid-fire they're like beavers you know throw it over
on and go for another one they'll just go like but but when you're eating a watermelon
what are you spitting out seeds right so it's in your harvest that you find the seed to
plant into others so you've got to have a harvest I can't give what I don't have I can't
pour into you something eternal if I don't have something eternal in me in the first
place right I can't spit some seed into your life if I don't got a harvest that I'm chewing
on myself and I'm full harvest means that it's full it means that the exponential is
already taking place in your life it means that you're overflowing right it means that
it's brimming over you and if I don't have anything in my heart it's if I don't have
a harvest that I'm chewing on if I don't have a harvest that's nourishing me I don't got
anything to spit in your life I don't have one seed to give you that's going to be anything
that's lasting of any kind it's just combi surface I was I had the opportunity to be
at a wedding this weekend and at the reception I got to sit down beside someone and we got
into a discussion and in a couple minutes time it was so cool in a couple minutes time
this person this gentleman began to spit seeds into my life he began to tell me his testimony
he began to talk about what God did in his life and I could see a harvest in him there
was this harvest that he had and he just began to bless me as he began to tell me about his
testimony and what God's done for him and he walked me through it you know kind of from
the beginning to where he was at this point and you could hear you could hear and he was
talking he didn't need any notes he didn't stop he wasn't trying to pontificate on scripture
he was just pouring out of his harvest and he's spitting seeds into my life he just spitting
seeds because he had something to give right I can't give what I don't possess I can't
I can't give a whole bunch of eternal fruit if it's not in my possession in the first
place if it's not there first step in planting seed in somebody else is to fill yourself
up with harvest do you know that a lot of a lot of times we're trying to dump out we're
trying to give people we're you know we want to and it doesn't sound very spiritual I give
give give anybody ever said I just give right it's in my nature I just give that's what
I do right it sounds very spiritual I'm just going to give give give give give if you don't
receive you're not giving anything any good you're going to give corruptible things you're
going to give stuff it's just surface and it's going to fade away the number one thing
that you can do to plant seed in somebody else's life I know this is going to sound
completely counterintuitive right the number one thing that you can do to plant seed in
somebody else's life is to get completely full yourself isn't that awesome it's true
you got to fill up you got to fill up so much you got to eat so much watermelon you just
spewing out of you right is running off your chin people are smelling it while they walk
by right they can smell watermelon they're getting hungry for watermelon just because
they can smell it on you and they get in there and you just spit some seeds on them because
you're full you're full I know it's silly analogy but it's true you've got to be full
you can't give what you don't have and you know what you won't even give if you're only
three quarters full we give out of the overflow I had a lay person teach me this I remember
this years ago Jeff Bowen one of the first places I served full time as a youth pastor
and children's pastor he began to unfold this and he and he learned this from a minister
but he said listen you got you got to work out of the overflow he was always saying that
you got to work out of the overflow you got it's got to be out of the overflow in your
life and that's because if you're three quarters full you're not full so you need right if
you're quarter full you need if you're even nine tenths full you need you need and you
can't give because you need but once you get full and then it starts getting over full
that's harvest right exponentially full then you can start giving it away you start handing
out well at watermelon you start handing out seeds you just giving it away that's first
step first step this morning that's all I want you to work on this morning we're going
to pray in just a minute I'm going to ask the worship team to come I'm going to ask
if you'd stand matter of fact you know we're not packed in the gills this morning sometimes
I hesitate because we don't got a lot of room up front but I'm going to ask you to move
you make your way as the worship team comes I want you to make your way to the front if
you can if you're able to walk we need to pray because I want you full this morning
I want you to think about being full you need to hear God this morning you need to be full
this morning yesterday I got to experience that at a wedding I got to experience somebody
just pouring in just spitting seed on me right they're sitting beside me they're just telling
me they're just talking Jesus the whole time are you full are you full I know it sounds
a little selfish but it's not move move forward I tell you this every time move forward just
a little bit let people slide in behind you all right thank you duck appreciate that he's
running to the front all right are you full it is not selfish to fill up a matter of fact
can I give you an example of that Jesus used to minister to people and do you know what
he did all the time he'd get with the disciples and he'd go disappear he'd go to the mountains
you know what he was doing he's filling up Jesus the Son of God he was in the mountains
he's with the Father he's filling up till he's full and he's overflowing and then he
would come back and he would minister to the people and when he got back he was throwing
seed everywhere eternal seed not corruptible seed right not small talk not stuff that's
just going to fade away and disappear in ten minutes when somebody walks away from you
he eternal seed going everywhere the number one thing you can do for another person is
to fill yourself up that's awesome this could be it's to get completely full do you know
what happens automatically I love automatic things all right if I can program something
to do something automatically I love it we've got thermostats here we can program they just
come on I don't got to think about that I remember when we first started I was in here
like you know I got remember to get up at five in the morning run down to church get
thermostats all turned on right then go back home and get a shower and get ready to go
you know I hated that but it's automatic the thing is if you get filled up you automatically
overflow you just keep filling up if you got harvesting your life and it's exponential
you just automatically overflow you don't have to try you're not going to have to work
at it's going to be just like I experienced yesterday all I did was sit down and man it
just started dumping on me right just start spitting seed in my life it'll happen automatically
get full it's not it's not selfish God wants that he wants you so full your field so full
you don't know what to do with it all you just have to give it away you got to give
it to someone else right where God says seek him first right seek him first the kingdom
of God and then all the other things will be added to you he said don't even worry about
the other things they'll all come just seek me first get full get full all right you ready
get full yeah how you get full you just ask you can't do this on your own you just got
to ask God here's what I'm praying this week and I want you to bow your heads and close
your eyes here's what I'm asking this week I'm asking that God feels you so full starting
this morning it may begin right here this morning he'll feel you so full that it just
overflows out of your life it just begins to dump everywhere you go you ready Father
we come to you today God I know this about the Holy Spirit you sent the Holy Spirit to
fill us up you sent the Holy Spirit to baptize us to make us full and whole and Lord I pray
right now God all we have to do the word of God says if we ask if we seek you will come
and you will fill us up and we're just asking right now I pray God right now somebody in
their spirit begins to get full God I don't want them going out three quarters I don't
want them worrying about going and taking care of anyone else they just need to get
full in front of you they just need to be at your feet and God getting dumped on God
their fields need to exponentially grow in this next week in the next day in the next
month God just let them get full you gave us one thing seek the kingdom seek you God
chase after you God I'm asking for God chasers in here this morning Lord that when we chase
you God you will feel so full each person in the house each person in the house each
person listen online this morning God I pray your spirit will begin to roll God that it
will begin to move in hearts and lives in Jesus name in Jesus name come on just worship
them sing Zach just worship them come on seek him
Lord I will make room for you Lord to do whatever you want to do whatever you want to do Lord
to make room for you whatever you want to do whatever you want to do Lord to do
Let me give you a little gardening analogy some of you grow tomatoes right and how many
tomatoes are exponential all right you put in a tomato plant you got 500 tomato plants
you know get tomatoes and you can only eat a couple tomatoes at a time what do you do
when you get a harvest of tomatoes you give them away yep yeah big juice all right then
you give it away because you got too much right you're going to knock it on doors you're
telling your neighbors you're telling your friends that's what it is you get harvest
in your life it's just a normal automatic outflow it just is when you get so much you
don't know what to do with it all you just start handing it out you just start giving
it away it's just normal it's normal fill up grab a hold of everything he's got it is
not selfish it is biblical Jesus modeled it he completely modeled it for us he did not
come back to a crowd he could have ministered 24 7 while he was here the Spirit of God that
could have moved on him to do that he himself got away and filled up the Son of God how
much more do we need to do that amen I've watched you I've watched people here do that
but don't make it a seasonal thing don't make it an occasional thing make it an all the
time thing you're walking in the room right remember we talked about that at the beginning
you just walk in the room you just throw and see alright just coming off you everywhere
you go crossfire see happening you get in with brothers and sisters that's the amazing
beautiful part of the body of Christ it happens in small group it happens where two or three
are gathered in his name it happens in the church it happens outside of the church it
happens when you go out into the world it happens when you go to the grocery store it
happens when you walk into a hardware store it happens man it happens at Home Depot alright
I love Home Depot alright it happens at Home Depot wherever you are wherever you are it's
true one job fill yourself up fill yourself up don't settle for three quarters don't
settle for half get a hold of God don't settle for tell him you want it all you want it all
man as much as you have to get stubborn in your faith you really do God likes that alright
you hang on you won't let go until you close your boy man you hear me sing one more time
we'll close out singing one last time you give somebody high five you can pray over
whatever you say
Pastor Eric's gonna come and close. There's people in the back. Prayer people will be back there. If you need individual prayer,
we say this every week, but this is important. If you need to pray about something individually, they want to pray with you.
There's prayer orders back there. They pray all week long
for needs. They really do. They take it serious and Pastor Eric's gonna close out.
I'm gonna slip to the back if you want to talk. I'll be glad to talk with you as well.
It's called Bob Boogie. This week, get full. Get full.
Thank you for tuning in to this message from LifeHouse Church.
We pray that you were impacted powerfully by this message.
If you've been personally affected by our ministry and you would like to partner with us as we love God, love people,
people every day, visit our website at www.lifehousecog.com