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Living by the Book

The Seasons of a Christian's Life - Part 2

By Pastor Craig Ledbetter

The Different Seasons that Every Christian Experiences

I. Introduction (Eccl 3:1)

A. Seasons and Cycles, and Patterns in life are many times very confusing

B. Most people ignore the seasons of life, and have no day of rest in a week; have no time just with God; have no regular sleeping patterns; have no job or season of work; have no regular season of eating - always helter-skelter. And so their bodies wear out faster than they should!

C. God made seasons, and cycles FOR us (Mark 2:27), and expects us to know about them, and understand them, and work with them.

D. It is how God designed us, and it is how we succeed as Christians - bear fruit!

II. Background - this makes a great study in itself!

A. Seasons are normal (Gen 1:14;

2Kgs 4:16,17) - don’t be ashamed about changing

B. Seasons are all about changes - called cycles - they affect us, usually for good

C. Seasons are NOT forever (Gen 40:4; Josh 24:7)

D. Some seasons never come (Acts 24:25)

E. Four things are NOT to be affected by seasons - by changes, by popularity

III. Message - Seasons of a Christian’s Life (Acts 20:18)

A. Begins as a Baby Christian - a New Believer (John 3:3)

  1. There really is no life before the new birth - this is when life (eternal life) begins
  2. This is the entryway into the life of a believer - by faith in Jesus Christ alone!
  3. From here on out, there will be different seasons than what you used to experience

B. The Season of Growing (Psalm 92:12; 1Peter 2:2)

  1. A Time of Preparing
  2. There is ploughing going on, planting, preparing for Fruit. That is what Church, and Discipleship, and your own Bible reading is doing - it is investing, and planting good things into your life so that you can succeed one day as a Christian!
  3. There must be a time in your life for sowing, and planting, and investing good things
    • Daily on your own
    • Weekly in church and discipleship
    • Constantly preparing for the time when you will need to stand up as a Christian
    • GROW DEEP ROOTS (Col 2:6,7)
    • If you don’t invest these things, then when the storms come, you will be “blown away!”
  4. You do not reap right away - there are two whole seasons of time you have to go through before you can start reaping from your Christian walk with Christ
    • Growing
    • Waiting
  5. There are two paths from this stage:
    • Diligently plant and plant, and plant as much as you can in your heart and life, and then wait in patience (James 5:7,8; Heb 4:9,10; 2Cor 9:6), knowing again that God will bring the increase! This will move you into the next season
    • Be lazy (Prov 20:4) Slack off in your Christian walk and get attracted by something you think is more important! This will keep you as a baby, living only on MILK and not ever getting able to handle meat, and troubles and testings!
  6. Every event in your life has only two paths - period! You have to choose one on the other, and then deal with the consequences.
  7. The best thing is to know that the hardest path is usually worth it all C. A Season of Waiting (Heb 10:36; Ps 27:14)
  8. No soldier just goes off to battle - they have to be trained and prepared. Must be seasoned! So also is the Christian’s life
  9. Every farmer knows it takes TIME to grow a crop
    • You plant
    • And then you… WAIT
    • You water
    • And then you… WAIT
    • You weed
    • And then you… WAIT some more!
  10. Seasons don’t change usually over-night!
  11. For some, producing fruit takes a while
    • Different trees take a LONG time to produce fruit
    • Banana trees take only 15,16 months until they start producing fruit
    • Apple trees take up to 10 years
    • Oranges take 15 years before they produce fruit
    • All those years and decades they are preparing to produce fruit
  12. For others, fruit begins to appear almost immediately - Like it was in the apostle Paul’s life
  13. Don’t fret about it!
  14. Waiting does not mean do nothing
  15. It means, be busy while you are waiting
    • Not that you do nothing, but that as you strive to serve, you don’t expect instant results
    • But you DO get a load of experience, and growth, and wisdom that ONLY comes with time
    • Listen to your pastor, your Bible teacher, your parents - let God prepare you for the future

D. The Season of Fruitfulness (Ps 1:3)

  1. It DOES come! If you are a believer, a real Christian, you will produce fruit
  2. This is a time in your life when everything starts paying off - all your faith, your obedience, all your prayers, and time in the Bible, and soul-winning (Isa 55:11) - it paid off in Joseph’s life didn’t it?
    • Not right at first
    • But some 20 years after he started forgiving his brothers, and started living for God again
    • All his labours paid off (Gal 6:7-9)
  3. It is a season where you watch God bring the increase (1Cor 3:6). Sometimes 30 fold, some sixty and some 90 or 100 fold!
  4. What are some of the fruits of a Christian’s life?
    • New believers (Pr 11:30)
    • A mature, walk with God that grows stronger and more stable as time goes on, not wavering
    • A Christ-like spirit and attitude
    • The fruit of the Holy Spirit - 9 different flavours
    • Praise is a fruit
    • Answers to prayer
    • Victory over sinful habits, and over the past failures
  5. You will have many seasons of fruitfulness, of success as a Christian
  6. Everyone has a season of fruitfulness - of accomplishment. Usually comes around in cycles
  7. Unfortunately, we just don’t stop and take note of the little things, the showers of blessings (Ezek 34:26) because we always want so much more than we have!
  8. Two paths from here:
    • Start labouring to reap the results of your walk with Christ - almost want to bottle it up for the later days - Joseph started working everybody in Egypt for the NEXT season (7 years of famine) that God had said was coming up!
    • Or, Ignore the need to bring in the sheaves (Pr 27:23,24) - just think it will always be there - die like the people of Noah’s day!

E. Then to a Time of Harvesting. (Psalm 126:5,6; Gal 6:9; 1Cor 15:58)

  1. The Season of Reaping - Harvest Time - Time of Joy
  2. The purpose of fruit is to be given away - for others!
  3. This is a time that people TAKE from you as you give and serve.
    • Don’t despise it - that is why God saved you… to SERVE and GIVE AWAY what God has given you (Mt 10:8)
    • Re-invest the fruit of your labours - tithe, and planning for the next planting - investing in the future
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