Be Fruitful

Happy Sunday!

It's been a good week.  I hope you will agree.  I watched several YouTube videos during my commute and listened to more at work last week.  They were the testimonies of Dr. Lester Sumrall.  If you've never heard of him he's worth reading about.  He started preaching at 17 years old.  He didn't like churches or church people so he went out into the country and began his ministry in one room schoolhouses.  He recalled the first time he preached the farmers laughed.  They came back the next night with more people with them.  They were all coming to hear what they thought were lies.  Of course, they weren't lies.  It was true that he had been given up to die by doctors and miraculously healed by God from tuberculosis.

One night he had a vision of people of all nationalities moving toward a cliff.  He realized that no matter how beautiful, intelligent, or prosperous they were, he was seeing people moving toward a cliff and falling into Hell.  He vividly described how at the last minute they appeared to try to turn back, but the others behind them moving forward pushed them over the edge.  He was horrified and wept over the lives that were lost.  He also repented for not caring about the fate of those around him.  He changed and spent many years on the mission field ministering all around the world. 

Jesus said, "Do for others what you would want them to do for you. This is the meaning of the Law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets. You can enter true life only through the narrow gate. The gate to Hell is very wide, and there is plenty of room on the road that leads there. Many people go that way.  But the gate that opens the way to true life is narrow. And the road that leads there is hard to follow. Only a few people find it."(Matthew 7:12-14, Easy-to-Read Version).  I always remind my students that God doesn't send anybody to Hell.  People choose Hell when they reject Jesus.

Today Dr. Bill Winston continued his series, "Reaching the World" with the subtitle, "Replenishing the Earth".  We are commanded to be fruitful.  Some have tried to limit this to childbearing, but Jesus wanted us to understand the broader meaning.  He said, "I am the vine itself, you are the branches. It is the man who shares my life and whose life I share who proves fruitful. For the plain fact is that apart from me you can do nothing at all. The man who does not share my life is like a branch that is broken off and withers away. He becomes just like the dry sticks that men pick up and use for the firewood. But if you live your life in me, and my words live in your hearts, you can ask for whatever you like and it will come true for you. This is how my Father will be glorified—in your becoming fruitful and being my disciples."(John 15:5-8, Phillips).  A fruitful life is a an unselfish life.  It's a life that is prosperous in every area, and that prosperity is used to bless others.

Before he left the earth, Jesus commanded us to, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."(Matthew 28:19-20, KJV).  I may never become a missionary in the Philippines and I'm Ok with that, but I can support ministers and ministries that do go to the ends of the earth.  If I never travel to Africa I can minister to the African-Americans I see everyday.  A kind word, a good deed, a listening ear, and even a smile are ways to be fruitful right where I am.

Love and prayers, Cynthia