I was privileged today to attend the First Baptist Church of Atlanta and hear Dr. Charles Stanley. I will always be grateful to Charles Stanley who taught me how to Walk in the Spirit -- to obey God and to trust God. As a college student I sat under his tutelage and learned many truths about the Lord and principles from the Word of God from him. As I was running tonight, I realized that I had not heard Dr. Stanley live in over 25 years -- amazing how time flies!!!
I had not attended the church since they had moved to the new location in North Atlanta -- for those of us from Atlanta, that would be the old Avon building. I was immediately struck by how integrated the congregation was. At least half of the congregation was Afro-America -- how refreshing! I can remember the day a black family tried to enter the church under the previous pastor in the 1960's -- it was a sad day for the Christian church. But how things have changed as people of all kinds of ethnic backgrounds were worshiping the Lord together honoring Jesus Christ.
Dr. Stanley preached on Galatians 6:7f. This is a Scripture which I believe every believer in Jesus should put to memory:
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (NIV)
He emphasized the principle from this verse which is ALWAYS true:
A person reaps what he sows
A person reaps more than he sows
A person reaps later than he sows
He explained and exegeted the passage explaining that you and I will always reap what we are sowing in our lives -- from the moment we wake up -- the attitudes, actions, and habits we practice. We will reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow it. Always! Are we sowing to the flesh or are we sowing to the Spirit? Do we realize that when we sow evil, debt, sin, meanness, love, kindness, giving --- we will reap a harvest????
Since this was their patriotic service, Dr. Stanley then applied this principle to our nation. Scary. The nation is sowing without God now, and we are going to reap a harvest of evil. Check out Isaiah 5:20-24. Sound familiar? Let us pray asking God what He wants us to do to help bring spiritual renewal in our land and public life.
It was good to see this spiritual father of mine and hear him share his heart. It was also good to be able to observe a small portion of the fruit of his ministry by worshiping with their congregation. There is hope America!! Don't lose heart.
I had not attended the church since they had moved to the new location in North Atlanta -- for those of us from Atlanta, that would be the old Avon building. I was immediately struck by how integrated the congregation was. At least half of the congregation was Afro-America -- how refreshing! I can remember the day a black family tried to enter the church under the previous pastor in the 1960's -- it was a sad day for the Christian church. But how things have changed as people of all kinds of ethnic backgrounds were worshiping the Lord together honoring Jesus Christ.
Dr. Stanley preached on Galatians 6:7f. This is a Scripture which I believe every believer in Jesus should put to memory:
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (NIV)
He emphasized the principle from this verse which is ALWAYS true:
A person reaps what he sows
A person reaps more than he sows
A person reaps later than he sows
He explained and exegeted the passage explaining that you and I will always reap what we are sowing in our lives -- from the moment we wake up -- the attitudes, actions, and habits we practice. We will reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow it. Always! Are we sowing to the flesh or are we sowing to the Spirit? Do we realize that when we sow evil, debt, sin, meanness, love, kindness, giving --- we will reap a harvest????
Since this was their patriotic service, Dr. Stanley then applied this principle to our nation. Scary. The nation is sowing without God now, and we are going to reap a harvest of evil. Check out Isaiah 5:20-24. Sound familiar? Let us pray asking God what He wants us to do to help bring spiritual renewal in our land and public life.
It was good to see this spiritual father of mine and hear him share his heart. It was also good to be able to observe a small portion of the fruit of his ministry by worshiping with their congregation. There is hope America!! Don't lose heart.
I love to listen to Dr Stanley. I've been blessed to hear him many nights on WWEV, Victory 91.5 radio during the work week evenings.
ReplyDeleteVery insightful....
A person reaps later than he sows
The law tells us we will reap what we sow. The Gospel tells us we, through faith, will reap what Jesus sowed.
ReplyDeleteTom Newey