Highlighted New Testament Bible

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Showing posts with label idle workers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idle workers. Show all posts

Thursday, April 16, 2015

St Matthew, Chapter 20, verse: 6a, Standing Idle.

Our paragraph topic is: (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard) Part 6. 

We were listening to Christ telling his disciples the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.  He had previously told them how riches would hinder one from entering the kingdom.  He is teaching his disciples about a new place.  He wants them to understand that the kingdom is different from anything that they know.  It is not like what they know here on earth.  One cannot think about heaven in the same light as one would think of a place here on earth.  Heaven is a spiritual place.  It is a place of peace.  It is a place of glory, and majesty, and love.  And the human imagination has no reference to compare with.

There are rules to entering.  We entered the earth through our parents.  They brought us into the physical world.  Yet we are given spiritual life through God our Father.  He gave us life for a purpose.  He loved us enough that he wanted to share his love.  And he is merciful enough that he forgave our trespasses.  Christ tells his disciples of this parable of the laborers because he wants us to understand our part.  He wants us to know what we have to do to participate in the kingdom of heaven.  As he told his disciples:  "But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing about." 

Are we standing about with nothing to do?  Are we idle workers seeking work?  Have we been called to work in the vineyard?  What is your purpose?  What is your job?  What has the spirit given you to do in the vineyard?  Are you collecting the grapes?  Are you picking the grapes?  Are you the one that carries the grapes to the wine press?  Or are you the one that works the press to tamp out the wine?  We all have a purpose.  We all have an assignment.  We all are workers in the vineyard if we are believers.

If you believe in your heart that Christ is the son of God our Father and that he came down from heaven to sacrifice for our sins, then you are a worker.  The question is, are you working or are you idle.  Do you only work on Sundays or are you a 24/7 worker?  Do you feed the hungry when the opportunity arises or do you pass them over?  Do you lend a helping hand or do you turn the other way when a hand is needed?  Do you have the love of Christ within you or is that something that comes out only with church members?  Do you share the love that is within you with those who are down and out without hope? 

Being a worker in the vineyard only means that it is in your heart.  Being a worker in the vineyard means that the love and the spirit of Christ is within you.  Being a worker in the vineyard means that the passion that Christ has for each and every one of us, is seen in the drunk on the street, to the dope addict, to the beggar, to the thief, to the ones who has lost their way, to the prostitute.  We are all children of our Father in heaven.  He gave us life from nothing.  We did not exist.  We had no form or shape or life or purpose until that moment when he commanded that we have life. 

And here we are today, living in this physical form that we may experience the physical realm and choose who we are.  Are we the children of God our Father or are we just the physical embodiment of ourselves?  The spirit lives within.  But the physical is what we experience.  In that spirit lives the life that is given us by our Father.  In that physical body lives the spirit of who we are.  And in that body lives that light of the life that we are, waiting for that time when we transition into the glorious beings that our Father has given life to. 

The work of the spirit is within us.  The acknowledgement of the spirit is upon each of us.  The knowledge of who we are is open to each of us.  And that knowledge will open our eyes to the beings we are, transforming us to workers in the vineyard of Christ.  When the truth of who you are in Christ comes upon you, the light of life shines within you.  And your light glows from the love that comes from God our Father.  For from him, and through him, and with him we are transformed into more than just the physical.  We become the lights of the world that shine for others to see in the darkness.  Open your heart to the truth!  You are the light of the world.  Let your light shine for all to see. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in. 

Thursday, March 26, 2015

St Matthew, Chapter 20, verse: 3, The Idle workers.

Our paragraph topic is: (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard) Part 3. 

So Christ continues to tell the story of the workers as they are hired for the work in the vineyard.  He has compared this parable to the kingdom of heaven that his disciples may have some understanding of the kingdom.  For in the kingdom they will rule.  In the kingdom they will judge.  In the kingdom of heaven they will sit on the twelve thrones that oversee the twelve tribes of Israel.  And Christ will be with them in the regeneration.

But, now, he had to give them some understanding that they will know.  He had to enlighten them.  He had to teach them the ways of the spiritual world.  So he continued to tell them this parable about the laborers in the vineyard.  He said to them:  "And about the third hour, he went out and saw others standing in the market place idle." 

He saw idle workers in the market place waiting for someone to hire them to work.  He saw men wanting to have something to do.  He saw men needing to make money to support themselves.  He saw opportunity.  And he opened the door for them to enter.  Are we idle workers?  Are we in need of something to do?  Do we have a need to be employed by someone else to provide for our needs?  Reading this parable gives us some view into what the story is telling us today.

The kingdom of heaven is like a house-holder, a property owner, who is in need of workers to assist him with the work at hand.  The property owners owns property where he has planted seeds that are in need of harvest.  He has planted grape vines that are reaching their ripe state and are ready to be picked.  The property owner has wealth and he wants to pay workers to help him bring in the harvest.  Are we ready to work?  Are we ready to assist?  Are we ready to receive the rewards for working in the vineyard of God our Father?

He created us.  He provided for us.  He gave us everything that we needed to grow and prosper.  Yet we lost our way.  We were deceived.  We were blinded.  And we are scattered and lost in the darkness, afraid and alone.  And then Christ came.  He opened the door and pushed back the darkness that all may see.  He touched us and gives us new life that our eyes may be opened to the truth of who we are in him.  But there are many who are lost.  There are many who do not know.  There are many who are still in the darkness. 

The light of life is opened to the lost if they accept, if they believe.  But the darkness and death holds them.  The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Are you a believer?  Are you a worker?  Do you carry the light of Christ within you?  Do you know the truth of who you are in him?  Let us not be idle workers!  Let us go and become workers for the kingdom of heaven. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in.