Hey Gang: For those
of you who have been with Gramps, for any period of time, know by bride and I
are lovers of Israel and look forward to one-day taking up residence in the New
Jerusalem for all eternity. And, we
invite you, one and all, to join us. Jesus already paid the price for entry!
One of our very favorite places is by the Kinneret, better
known as the Sea of Galilee. On one trip
our room in the King David Hotel overlooked the area where the fishermen dock
and prepare their boats and nets for the day’s catch. It was my extreme privilege to be awakened
very early in the morning, just as the sun was beginning to appear from behind
the mountains, and the fisherman were diligently preparing to leave.
What an awesome picture! One that I had seen many times on the
walls of churches. It was an experience etched
in my mind forever.
In our morning devotionals we are doing a repeat through
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s, The Book of Mysteries. If you have not made connections with the
Rabbi, I suggest you do, immediately.
His books, The Harbinger, The Mystery of Shemitah, The
Paradigm, along with The Book of Mysteries are books filled with
vast resources of hidden pearls that we so often just read over.
In this morning devotional, which he titled Two Waters”, he
used the fresh water attributes of the Kinneret Sea and compared it to the Dead
Sea- the dead waters. The Sea of Galilee
receives its water from the Head Waters of the Jordan River- as does the Dead Sea;
but one, the Kinneret, is filled with life and the Dead Sea has no life.
Essentially, they contain the same waters.
In one short sentence Jonathan gives us not only the reason
why, but includes a lesson for the difference between life and death in our
Christian walk. In Proverbs 11 Solomon
gives us a clear picture of what Jonathan is teaching us here: “There is one who scatters, and yet
increases all the more. And there is one
who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want” (vs.
24).
Essentially, the difference between -life that is found in the
Sea of Galilee and the death - found in the Dead Sea is that one allows the
water to pass through and does not hoard it, the other has no such outlet. Once the fresh water hits the Dead Sea it is
held captive and dies.
The Scripture of the morning contains the foundation pillars
of all that we have accomplished at the Village. I especially capitalized the last phrase, in this
most important verse, because I want you to stop and ponder just what Luke is
telling us: It is by “YOUR STANDARD OF
MEASURE IT WILL BE MEASURED TO YOU IN RETURN” (Luke 6:38). Is he saying we have control of the
harvest? Before you answer, turn with me
to II Corinthians 9 and read verses 6 through 11.
One last place I want you to go, before I close this
epistle. That portion of Scripture found
in Matthew 25:31-42. It is subtitled “The
Judgment” in my NASB Bible. Notice Jesus’
criteria for entrance into His kingdom and the final verdict, after He
evaluates whether you were a Sea of Galilee or a Dead Sea-type person: “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you
did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to
Me.”(vs. 40).
Yes, I do believe that we have control of the harvest. That it will be determined by OUR STANDARD OF
MEASURE”. The wonderful part of this story
is, if we are a Dead Sea-type people, we do not have to dig out the pick and
shovel, but rather just surrender to the One who controls the waters and commit
to Jesus’ final command on earth: “Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Mat. 28:19a). Even your next door neighbor!!
Blessings,
Gramps
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