Author: coachdkeith

You reap what you sow, and sow what you reap…

John 4:27-39
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Sow my friends. It is what we are called to do. If someone told you that you are to plant a tree that you will never sit in the shade of, would you still plant it? The answer is YES! We are sent to spread the news, not hold it for personal gain. Jesus has come and will come again. Do not be fooled by your eyes. Listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

Be fulfilled, not just filled. If you hunt for what your stomach wants only, will not your soul thirst and hunger for more? It will and it does. Daily you fill your belly yet I am almost sure that you can recall one moment where you satisfied your flesh yet yearned for calmness in you soul and heart. That is what Jesus is talking about.

You can chase what your eyes and ears hear and see, but it isn’t until your heart and soul are fulfilled with the love and forgiveness of the Holy Spirit that you will find rest and peace. The love of the Father trumps all things. It is enough to make you fall to your knees and praise the God of the Universe.

Let us sow today, and reap the gift of Jesus Christ from God the Father. #JesusSaves

Amen
DK

Drink from the well of Living Waters…

John 4:1-26
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

What was to be the back wayhome, became the revealing His Truth to a Samaritan woman. Revealed for all of us to know. Jesus was our access to Living Water, and thus woman was so blessed to hear it from Christ Himself. Wow!

In meeting Jesus, this woman had been allowed to witness the initial tearing down of the barrier that kept us from God. The tearing down of sin and distortion of His Truth had begun. No longer we going to have to jump through hoops to supposedly have access to God. Jesus was here to eradicate all of that nonsense that man had placed between us and God. Jesus was here to quench our thirst.

To never be thirsty again. What a beautiful product of His love. Living Waters will flow through us and into others from us. This conversation can be had now with all of those that we as believers come into contact with. We can share the way Jesus did.

The woman was sitting with the Messiah at the well. She was with the One who brought truth to this world. And now, He lives in all of us. Jesus saved us all. Spread the Good News! #JesusSaves

Amen
DK

John knew it, as should we all. We have a calling. We are to be filled and allow our blessings to bless others…

John 3:22-36
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”[h]

31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[i] gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

John is so faithful and receiving of the gift that God so graciously bestowed on all of us. He knew what was to come. He expected it to come as it was written long before he set foot on this earth. Without a shadow of a doubt John knew who Jesus was, even if it meant the end of his ministry. John knew that it was his time to step aside allow others to receive as well.

God has this calling on all of our lives as well. We are to prepare the way for others. Our testimonies are to be used for the benefit of others. We become living, breathing examples of His graciousness and love. We are not to use this gift to further our own interests for they do not belong to us. Because we are His, all gifts bestowed upon is are His. They are gifts given to all believers to once again be given away.

Once we understand this and we begin to give away the gifts that are so gratefully and graciously given to us, our lives will be filled to the point of overflow. At this point, we will receive so much blessing that many times they will go unnoticed. All of the wishes and dreams that we thought meant so much to us, will fill our lives and flow from us to others around us. It is how He works.

It is summed up in this great story:

There Are Two Seas in Palestine…
The Sea of Galilee is beautiful. It has blue water and is full of fauna and flora. Life exists. Trees line its banks where children splash and play. The Jordan River makes this sea, flowing from the sunny hills. And life is happy and vibrant around this sea.

Through the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River continues to flow south. Into another sea the cool rolling waters flow. Into the Dead Sea. Here there are no fish swimming, no birds flying above, no families sunning near the shoreline. No man or animal will drink the water here. Life does not exist and no one wants to be here.

One might ask: What makes this enormous difference between these neighboring seas? Could it be the Jordan River? No. The same flowing waters empty into both bodies. It is also not the soil, not the people, not the geography.

So what is the difference?

The Sea of Galilee receives, but does not keep the Jordan. For every drop that flows into, another drop flows out. The Sea of Galilee gives equally as it receives.

But the Dead Sea keeps the Jordan. It has no outlet. Every drop it gets, it keeps. It is not tempted to share and stockpiles its incoming waters aggressively.

There are two seas in Palestine. The Sea of Galilee gives, lives and flourishes. And the Dead Sea keeps everything, shares nothing and is dead.

We are to be the Sea of Life through Jesus Christ.

Amen
DK

So much TRUTH. The WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE…

John 3:5-
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

These verses speak directly to the Santification process. It is lifelong and necessary for all Christians. We live in a world full of darkness and evil. We are sinners and because of that we are shrouded in darkness unless we believe in Him who saved us…Jesus Christ.

The evil in our lives becomes obvious and gkaring, hence the narrow road. Without loght, the road is unseen. It is God that brought light into the world, and it is with that light that we are able to see. As believers in him we are able to see what it is that we need to confess and repent about. It is painful, hence the idea that once you believe in Him life does not become easier. As a matter of fact in many ways it is more difficult, but at the same time more fruitful.

With free will you have the opportunity to choose. You can choose to continue to walk in darkness and not even know you are falling. That is the goal of the devil. The devil wants you to belive that it is all ok. That you are fine and that you do not need God. We have been duped. Duped into thinking all is ok.

As you belive and become born again in the Spirit, you are able to see the areas of your life that are being cleansed. The cleansing is meant to allow you to be more fruitful for Him. It is through the gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ that you are now RIGHTEOUS. FREE. Not longer able to walk in darkness, but rather you seek the light that was freely given. Now we must receive. Receive the gift every morning.

Today…get on your knees and ask God what He wants from you today. When the still small voice is heard, ACT. Act in His name and walk in His authority. This is what Jesus is teaching us. No longer do you need to chase victory, as victory will begin to chase you. As the sin in your life is revealed, ask God what you can do for Him and belive that FAITH will take care of all problems and evil in your life. Jesus carried it all away. Now, it’s time for you to let Him truly take it from you. Release it. Let go. Surrender to Him. Believe that you are the Righteousness of God through our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. #JesusSaves

Amen
DK

Here it is. The message…

John 3:1-3
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Only as far as the eye can see. Jesus loves all, and in these verses, it becomes really clear just how much He loves our hearts more than our minds. Nicodemus had a good a question. A question that any growing young man might have when told he would need to be born again. This was unheard of. You see, Nicodemus is a Pharisee, trained in all teachings of the law. He knew law.

To hear Jesus say these things was incredible to him. Nicodemus thought that just following rules was enough. That to get to Heaven, one just need follow the 10 Commandments and the thousands of additions, deletions, and subtraction they had made to suit themselves. Sounds like many of us today.

Here is what Jesus said. He said love your God, love yourself, and love your neighbor. Jesus clarified it all. Wash it away. Clean slate. Just love. Nicodemus must have been floored. After all, he knew law. He knew the teachings. He knew the “right” way to do things I order to get to Heaven right. Think again.

Jesus was about to lay it all in the line for us, and Nicodemus could not even fathom how clear Jesus’ message was. Love? Be born again in Him?

Yes! Yes! Thank you Jesus! #JesusSaves

Amen
DK