13 Aug KEEP YOUR OWN VINEYARD-AUGUST 2020
AUGUST 2020
KEEP YOUR OWN VINEYARD
BY JOSEPH OGBONNAH.
“Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun had looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept” (Songs of Solomon 1:6)
It is a very sad and terrible thing that after you have discovered the will of God for your life you neglect or abandon it and decide either by default, design or decision to help an individual or individuals fulfill their destinies. Therefore, it is very important for you to seek, search and know the will of God for you in every situation so that you can work towards its fulfillment. You must have heard or read that ignorance is no excuse before the law but then the defendant can get a reduced sentence on the ground of mitigating or extenuating circumstances but Jesus Christ, the Authority of Heaven and Earth says,
“And that servant, which knew his lord’s will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:47-48)
Jesus Christ is the Authority not only of Heaven and Earth but also beneath the earth:
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and earth” (Mathew 28:18)
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth ,and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2: 9-11).
There are two things you should take note in Songs of Solomon Chapter 1 verse 6
1.The sun changed the complexion of his skin from its original colour to black and therefore he did not want other people to look at him so that he will not be mocked because that will be a double jeopardy for him. You will be unrecognized and die uncelebrated if you don’t fulfil your purpose on earth and worse still people will mock you when they can no longer tolerate you.
- His mother’s children made him a keeper of the vineyards and he was doing this duty faithfully until he suddenly realized one day that he has not kept his own vineyard and decided to do something about it and they became angry with him. People will only tolerate you when you are helping them achieve their purpose in life but the moment you realize that you must fulfil your purpose in life and decide to work towards it those who tolerated you in the past will see you as a stumbling block to their progress.
The scripture says that, No man can serve two masters (Mathew 6:24) So the question is who is your master?
Is your Master God Almighty?
“Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34)
Or Is your master the devil?
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)
It is only God that can deliver you from the power of darkness and translate you to the Kingdom of His dear Son Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:12). Why not surrender your life to Jesus Christ today?
“And we know we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19)
I will write about your keeping the vineyard God has committed to your trust. That is doing the perfect will of God for your life. You must understand that we have the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2b) Many people are a failure on earth and a disappointment to heaven simply because they are indifferent to their vineyard and therefore they made it an unfinished syllabus and abandoned project forgetting that there is a David to replace a Saul just as a Joshua replaced a Moses. Don’t ever forget that there is a connection between heaven and earth. I will show you a few scriptures to prove this:
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you ………” (Deuteronomy 30:19a)
“The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him”. (Job 20:27)
“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken…”. (Isaiah 1:2a)
“I say unto you, likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance”. (Luke 10:15)
“Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth….” (Isaiah 49:13)
“Lift up yours eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath:..” (Isaiah
51:6a)
“Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven” (Mathew 18:18)
“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” (Mathew 18:19)
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Mathew 6:10)
A Christian author said and I paraphrase that ‘all your achievements, accolades and applauses will mean nothing if you have not found and done the will of God’. In other words, doing the will of God means keeping your vineyard.
I will discuss about two very great individuals who knew and did the will of God. The Prophet Moses and our Lord Jesus Christ for the following reasons.
First Moses told the people:
“The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;” (Deuteronomy 18:15)
Jesus Christ was also a prophet,
“And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee” (Mathew 21:11)
“The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet” (John 4:19)
“For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you” (Acts 3:22).
Secondly the Bible says:
“And by a prophet the LORD brought you out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved” (Hosea 12:13)
God brought out the Israelites out of Egypt by prophet Moses and He preserved them through Jesus Christ because it is written ,”In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7) and “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”(Galatians 3:29) this makes you a fellowcitizens with the saints ,and of the household of God and a member of the commonwealth of Israel and you are told to cast all your care upon Jesus for He careth for you (1 Peter 5:7). You are preserved through His care.
Lastly, they both knew the will of God for it is written:
“The meek will he guide in his judgment: and the meek will he teach his way” (Psalm 25:9)
Concerning Moses, it is written:
“(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth)” (Numbers 12:3)
Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and he shall find rest unto your souls” (Mathew 11:29)
As you discover the will and purpose of God for your life and want to walk and work in that will the Scriptures admonishes you to:
“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes” (Song of Solomon 2:15)
What work did God give you to do?
Prophet Moses:
Leading of the Israelites from the land of Egypt
“Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, and that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10)
“He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen” (Psalm 105:26)
The Law:
“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17)
The building of the Tabernacle:
“And let them make me a sanctuary; that I might dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make,. . And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.” (Exodus 25:8-9,40)
Prophet Moses accomplished the will and work of God for his life and had this great testimony:
“My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house” (Numbers 12:7)
This was repeated in the new testament because God’s word is unchanging
“And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after” (Hebrews 3:5).
Moses did not make the promise land not because of unfaithfulness in his work but for an entirely different reason:
“They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes: Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips” (Psalm 106:32-33)
The Scriptures warns us to,
“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes” (Song of Solomon 2:15)
It is written that, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26). It is must be noted that at the water of Meribah instead of speaking to the rock to bring forth water for the congregation and their beasts to drink according to the commandment of God yet because of anger and provocation by the people he smote the rock twice with his rod . “ And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch water out of the rock”. He did not sanctify God in the eyes of the children of Israel (Numbers 20:7-13)
JESUS CHRIST
He discovered the will of God for His life:
“Then said, I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will ,O God”(Hebrew 10:7)
He did the will of God:
“Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34)
This was His preoccupation on earth:
“For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38)
He knew His purpose on earth:
“He that committed sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8)
He was focused on this works:
“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” (John 9:4)
He successfully accomplished the works:
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:38)
He accomplished them:
In our Redemption:
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7)
In our Salvation:
“That if thou shat confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9)
In Jesus Christ alone is salvation found because as it is written, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)
In our Healing:
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24)
In our Prosperity:
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9)
In life and Abundant life:
“The thief cometh, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
In our deliverance from fear of death and bondage
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death ,that is the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15)
Jesus Christ kept His vineyard and He is still keeping it because it is written, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8)
In taking out the foxes
Jesus Christ did not get angry because the Samaritans refused him entry into their village. He did not permit them to be destroyed because He knew about the foxes of distraction and misdirection and did not allow or entertain them in His life
“And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned and rebuked them and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. And they went to another village” (Luke 9:54-56)
His Testimony:
“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4)
What a wonderful testimony from our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you glorified God in the earth? Are you doing His will and the works that He has given you? Are you keeping your vineyard? You can only glorify God by doing His works for it is written, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.(Mathew 5:16) People saw the good works of our Lord Jesus Christ, “And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak”(Mark 7:37) and they glorified God, “But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God,which had given such power unto men.”(Mathew 9:8)
If you are still living in sin you need to repent and surrender your life to Jesus Christ so as to know and do the will of God .Concerning God Almighty it is written that, “For with thee is the fountain of life: In thy light we shall see light”(Psalm 36:9)
Jesus Christ is the fountain of life, He is the true Light
This is a fact and it written that, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)
Concerning Jesus Christ, it is written, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
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