LIVE FULL/DIE EMPTY: THE RIPENING STAGE
Mark 4:26-29 – 26And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
I. TIME — THE WAITING PROCESS
James 5:7 – “Therefore, be patient brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.”
Genesis 8:22 – “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 – 1“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: 2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted.”
• How to Wait: PATIENTLY
Jeremiah 17:7-8 – 7“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. 8For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green,and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.
• Cutting the wait short can cost you the thing itself, not just time
1 Samuel 13:8-14 – 8Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. 9So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. 11And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together a Michmash, 12then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” 13And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
• Impatience can produce “A Substitute” you'll live with for the rest of your life
Genesis 16:2, 11-12 – 2So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai…. 11And the Angel of the LORD said to her: “Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has heard your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man’s hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
II. TESTING — THE COMPLETION PROCESS
James 1:2-4 – 2“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Genesis 50:20 – But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Job 23:10-12 – 10But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. 11My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. 12I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.
III. ABIDING — THE PRODUCING PROCESS
John 15:4-5 – 4Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Judges 16:18-20 – 18When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
John 15:6 – If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.