✝ Daily Encouragement (2/22/23) "Sowing Righteousness or Wickedness?"
Published: Wed, 02/22/23
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.
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Wednesday, February 22, 2023
 "Sowing
Righteousness
or
Wickedness?"
Note:
All this week we are considering gems from the book of Hosea
who
prophesied to the northern kingdom just prior to its destruction by the Assyrians about 2,700 years ago.
Today's message is a bit longer than usual but we felt both texts needed consideration and
study.
Message summary:
Let us ask ourselves this vital question: Am I sowing seeds of righteousness or wickedness? It's always time to seek the Lord, in every season of our
life!
Listen
to our message on your audio
player.
"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes and showers righteousness on you. But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors" (Hosea 10:12,13).  Up the road from our house our Amish neighbor Chris has already plowed one of his fields in preparation for spring planting.His farming chores demonstrate living history in using methods more similar to those used in the Bible. He uses a plow much like his great grandfather would have used pulled by a team of horses. Farming technology may change but the basic fundamentals of soil preparation, sowing and reaping, remain the same as well as the spiritual lessons we can learn. The daily verse from Hosea lists three verbs related to crop farming; sowing, reaping and breaking up.
“Sow for yourselves righteousness.”
In this case the interest is in personal or individual sowing which indicates a
responsibility God has given to us regarding our own spiritual growth and development. Paul wrote to the Galatians, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever 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. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good
to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6:7-10).
“Reap the fruit of unfailing love.” When farmers sow, regardless of how rewarding the sowing may be, they have an ultimate purpose and goal. They want to reap a bountiful harvest! They do so in confidence that they will reap a good harvest in September or October. It's also true of the believer who sows righteous seeds; over time their spiritual harvest will result in "the fruit of unfailing love". “Break up your unplowed ground.” Our lives can get hard like unplowed soil. We need more than surface work; we need the Holy Spirit to do some heavy-duty digging, turning over, refreshing and reaffirming our purpose for living. Hosea uses the metaphor of “unplowed ground”. Farmers know that a well-prepared field is essential to a good crop. Jesus taught in the Parable of the Sower about the seeds that fell on the hardened path. These seeds never had a chance to take root because the birds came and devoured them. We need to work the soil in an ongoing way so that we keep our hearts soft and pliable to God’s truth. Even after reaping we need to break up the unplowed ground. It’s a cycle that will continue all through life since there are many ungodly forces at work in the changing seasons of our lives. These contribute to spiritual hardness, thus the continual need to break up our unplowed ground. Let us welcome the Holy Spirit to do His work in our lives. Let us invite Him to “break up our unplowed ground” and sow His righteousness in our hearts so that we reap His unfailing love in an ongoing cycle in life. The verse continues, “For it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes and showers righteousness on you". This is just as applicable in 2023 as it was some 2700 years ago when Hosea lived. Jesus reinforces this in His Sermon on the Mount when He directs His listeners: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). It’s always time to seek the Lord, not only because we have opportunity to bless Him, but also for the bountiful favor we receive in doing so, for “He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Immediately following the challenge to seek Him so that He showers righteousness on His people,the text follows with this dismal evaluation:
“But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception".
Notice the parallelism: God’s will in verse 12 is that His people sow righteousness and reap the fruit of unfailing love. Instead they planted (sowed) wickedness and reaped evil. In the New Testament Paul perhaps is alluding to this verse when he wrote, "A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please the flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life" (Galatians 6:7,8). When we examine the current mess our nation and world is in; whether it's individual lives or the family, whether it's our nation or worldwide, is it really any surprise that the massive amount of planting wickedness has reaped such evil and wickedness in our land? The final phrase that particularly grips my attention and explains so much about what is happening: “You have eaten the fruit of deception". The very first fruit of deception was revealed in the Garden of Eden.
What a striking contrast to God's desire that we "reap the fruit of unfailing love"
as a result of obeying His commands.
Deception is misrepresentation; it's falsehood and it abounds like never before. I firmly believe deception will increase as mankind continues with a passion to reject God’s commands. One of the final cautions Jesus directed to His disciples was, "Let no one deceive you" (Matthew 24:4). Paul has a solemn warning concerning deception in Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ". Today we need to guard ourselves against the multiple forms of deception that we encounter, particularly spiritual deception that pummels us like the flaming arrows from our enemy. It can lead us astray from the truth and rob us of our future eternal home in heaven, the ultimate fruit of unfailing love. Following our confession of sin and accepting Christ as our Savior several disciplines are required to guard against deception:
So when I fight I’ll fight on my
knees
With my hands lifted high Oh God the battle belongs to You And every fear I lay at Your feet I’ll sing through the night Oh God the battle belongs to You
Be encouraged today, (
Hebrews
3:13)
Stephen and Brooksyne
Weber
Daily
prayer:
Loving Father, I confess to You that my heart can easily become like unplowed ground. Often destructive attitudes that I don’t deal with right away remain in my heart and cause me to be hardened toward You and others that I love. I invite the work of Your Holy Spirit to cleanse, renew and refresh me as I yield my heart to the
searchlight of Your Word. As I seek You, Lord, You will come and shower Your righteousness and blessing upon my life as the fruit of Your unfailing love flows out to those around me. I can do all things through Christ who enables me through the power of Your Holy Spirit.
Amen.Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"Revive Us Again" Video
Gaither Vocal Band The traditional
version many of us "older folks" are familiar with. We sang this in Bible College but rarely hear it anymore.
"Revive Us Again" Video
Phil Wickham A newer version, great lyrics.
"Battle Belongs" Video
Shane &
Shane
Following an early morning chaplain visit yesterday in Lebanon County we headed over to Hamburg, PA to have a meal with Stephen's brother Pat
and his wife Laverne at the Crackerbarrel. Both are in their mid-seventies and still very active in ministry.
After breakfast we stopped by an "interesting" place housed
in
Moselem Farms Mill
called "Found Objects Of
Industry".
 This vehicle was parked in front of the mill several years ago and piqued my interest, making me want to stop sometime and see inside. It would surely get a lot of attention and it was for sale! Perhaps it was sold since it wasn't there yesterday. 
Since 1972
the owner has pioneered saving architectural masterpieces from buildings being demolished in New York City and has them in several buildings. However they were very pricey, but I suppose if you just have to have something you're not going to find anywhere else this is the place to go! If you go just don't say anything about "American Pickers" to the man!
He emphatically and angrily said never
mention that name! No explanation given.
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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version. Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity." © Copyright 2023 Stephen C. & Brooksyne Weber - All Rights Reserved
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Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
717-823-0592
Daily Encouragement Net
https://www.dailyencouragement.net
Mail service provider is aweber.com
495 Kraybill Church Rd
Mount Joy PA 17552
USA
Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options