100 fold*

Genesis 26:12 "Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him." Today my thoughts came back to this verse as I thought about how everything God created reproduces itself. Whatever grain Isaac sowed, in this case, came back 100 fold. For every seed of corn he planted, he got back 100 seeds at harvest time. I don't know that it was corn that he planted. I guess the real point is to look at everything God created. Trees, grasses, weeds, animals, flies, even humans, etc., they all reproduce themselves. This thought is going a whole different direction. I saw a quaint saying on a church sign in Tacoma, WA some time back, it said: Discipling Disciples to Disciple. And that really is God's plan with Christianity. That Christians would reproduce other Christians. That was his great commission in Matthew 28:19-20. "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." God works in the hearts of men to create a creature he is proud of. He works things out of our lives, corrects us, encourages us and I know I have said this before, he will take a drunk or an addict off the street and make a productive citizen out of them. What God has done in our lives, he wants to reproduce just as he has done everything else. God has always had a people, they were to be his witnesses to the world around them. That really is every Christians job to show the world around them that God's principles do work. As witnesses to and examples to show Christianity works. To disciple other believers into a disciple that will disciple others to disciple others. The Pastor this morning used a visual representation to show this. He stood up front and had another person (a disciple) on the other side of the front area. He as Pastor went out to the congregation and brought another person back. The disciple also went out to the congregation and brought back another person for him to disciple. the Pastor went back out and brought another person up to the front next to him and his first convert. The disciple and his disciple both went out and brought back another person each to disciple. The pastor went out and brought another convert back to the front. All the disciples on the other side each went out and brought back one more each. If you have any understanding of mathematics at all you know what we saw: the Pastors side had a few people but the disciple's side was crowded after just a few times. This is God's plan, it's not the Pastors job to do all the discipling. Christians like everything else God created are intended to reproduce. God help me to be fruitful. God Bless, LVZ.