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Comment by SGTomlins on June 20, 2010 at 7:46pm

Jesus and the Dairy Farm

An amazing thing happened in December 2009 that began to fulfill a desire to live a new way of life. A pattern of living that has always been promised and probably dreamed of by many, but rarely, if ever have I seen anyone or any group of folks actually living out that promised dream.

For the past few years I have been searching for, and yearning to find and live the fulfilling promise of a life that does not concern itself with when or what I eat, when or what I drink, nor what the provision for my physical protection in clothing and housing is on a day to day basis. The driving motive in me and the most important part of acquiring the promise of a fulfilled life, is the opportunity, and responsibility to love and serve others with a passion that drives nearly every thought and action of each and every moment of my existence. Ever heard the phrase that “God will give you the desires of your heart”? I now know that the yearning in me was placed there by Jesus for the life He had always planned for me…….. He actually does this to ALL who set their mind and heart completely on Him. It is His perfect will….

In 1993 I lost my nice, comfy, white collar job when a downturn hit the California economy. In the aftermath of that layoff, I found myself building children’s picnic tables in a rented storage shed. I was a believer for a few years by now, and was aware of who Jesus was, and that He cared about me in every way, but I had no idea of the real work He was trying to accomplish in me. I had all the right “God speak” for the situation I found myself in. You know what I mean when you got kids, and bills, and debt, a troubled marriage and next to no income, and you say “Jesus will take care of me”, and “God knows best”, and “God will provide” and “If it is His will”, and “Please say a prayer for me”. I even took the opportunity in what is called a church testimony service to “thank God for being laid off”. Many folks thought I was a bit goofy that day and wondered, how can anyone be happy about being laid off of work and think God had anything to do with it. Like I said, in those days I knew “about” God, but I was still wearing stinky diapers, so to speak, in terms of spiritual maturity.

I had read the pages of scripture and was holding on to the promises of the provision of Jesus, but years of providing for myself in a system designed to afford me the opportunity to achieve just about anything I wanted to achieve was SCREAMING at me to go take care of yourself and you need to take care of your wife and children, or have you ever heard this one you deserve better than this!!. Family members thought I was completely whacked in those days too. They would say things like, “ You can’t just sit back and wait for God, you have to do something, you have to prepare for your future…!” These, and many other things all weighed in on me and I soon found myself living a life that moved me half way across the country. I was living a life that was providing for itself again at my own discretion and my own desire. I took all the experience and circumstances of the days I found myself in and used all my own skills and experience to navigate my own path, my own way…. The extremely sad part is that I called this path “Jesus” and “God’s will”, but it was NOT. It was my will being lived out by my own desires. Today, seventeen years later, all I have to do is look at the bad fruit and superficial relationships that resulted from my decisions to live a “religious life” in the “business of church” and I KNOW it was not God’s will where I found myself back then. It was my own will masquerading around as “godly”, and it was a lie. Today, I know I was living in deception back then. You NEVER know when you are deceived…. Never. That is why it is called deception.

Fast forward…….. Take a deep breath now…. new time and place, another deep breath….. what is that I smell wafting through the air?, uh… yes, that is the smell of a dairy barn, filled with cows and the smell of….you guessed it, manure. Why am I standing in a dairy barn you ask? Prayer had gone up for the Lord to show us where to go and who to serve next. The phone rang, and we knew this was the action plan and opportunity Jesus had provided for us. We showed up at this farm on a cold Wisconsin morning to help a family in need. They had an old friend that needed to be put out of her misery. She had provided many years of good service and thousands of gallons of milk and she could not get up and it was time to say goodbye. To me it was just a cow, but looking into the eyes of the father and son who had spent years with her, I could see that this was much more than just and old cow. Knowing that God had sent us there for the people and not just an old cow, I went right to work to find out what needed to be done to reveal the kingdom of heaven to them. I started to engage and build a relationship immediately. It was not long into our conversation that the man I met in the barn said to me directly “I know you were sent here by God to help us”. I am standing there in the cold in the cow yard being nudged and licked by lots of curious cows, while waiting to euthanize another cow and in this seemingly obscure and almost unbelievable scenario, I know Jesus has a much more important task at hand. Win the souls of this man, his son and his wife. I thought to myself, sir, you do not yet know how right you are….. trust me…!

We soon moved to the task of taking care of the old cow named Honey. During the work that ensued after euthanizing Honey we created and began to build a relationship with the son and owner of the cow. In a short couple of weeks this relationship lead to him confessing his lifestyle apart from God and asking for forgiveness and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We then baptized him in the name of Jesus to complete his justification, or born again experience. Would Jesus use a cow that needs to be euthanized to intersect faithful believers with souls crying out for help….? ABSOLUTELY !!!

What is a “faithful believer”? How does that have any bearing on whether or not people get to accomplish that which they were called to? These are a couple of questions that need to be looked at as we move forward with this story. Scripture has recorded accounts of Jesus teaching some very profound, yet equally simple principles by which to live our lives. I am specifically going to draw your attention to something that is often referred to as “the sermon on the mount”. “The sermon on the mount “, is recorded in the book of Matthew chapter five and it moves through Matthew chapters six and seven. Here is how this sermon begins:

Mat 5:1-11 ESV Seeing the crowds, he (Jesus) went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. (2) And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: (3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (4) "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (5) "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (6) "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (7) "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. (8) "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (9) "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (10) "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (11) "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

When Jesus came to live in me in the form of the Holy Spirit, something radically changed in my life. He placed in me everything I needed to do the will of the Father and accomplish His good works. I did not understand all that had occurred in that moment, but today, 20 years later I know that verses three through ten are not just nice things to listen to and think about, they are spiritual principals to live our lives by that also tell you exactly what to expect when you live according to them. All of them apply to this story, but I really want to point to what verse six says….

IF YOU ARE HUNGRY AND THIRSTING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS YOU WILL BE SATISFIED…. BY RIGHTEOUSNESS

I believe that the hunger for righteousness placed in me by Jesus is why I was standing in a dairy barn preparing to euthanize a cow and then butcher it into food for the poor with the primary opportunity of bringing the kingdom of heaven to the broken lives on this farm.

What is righteousness you might ask…? I can say as simply as possible that it is the example of Jesus laying down His will to obey the will of the Father at the cost of His own life. Likewise, our complete obedience to Jesus alone heals and fills the void of our brokenness with eternal love guaranteeing that we will be satisfied. The perfect love of Jesus removes all fear from our existence as we obey His will. Jesus brought to us everlasting righteousness by His sacrificial death on the cross (See Daniel 9:24). That righteousness is available to all those who hunger and thirst after it. His righteousness, that is available to all, is the perfect plan of God for your life. Being satisfied by righteousness is only available to us by submitting our will to His will for our life. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness. He successfully completed the works of the eternal plan set out for Him by the Father. His obedience to the plan created in eternity past, resulted in His physical death as a human (the man Christ Jesus 1Tim2:5). The obedient submission of the man Christ Jesus to His own death is what the “systems of the world” and the “people of the world” will be eternally convicted of and put to shame by. See verse ten below. Jesus is describing what happens after He goes away and returns in the form the Holy Spirit.

Joh 16:7-11 ESV Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. (8) And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: (9) concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; (10) concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; (11) concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

What had to happen for Jesus to “go to the Father”? He had to lay down His will (Mat 26:39) and submit to a gruesome beating. He lived a sinless life yet had to actually become sin. He was then made to be the offering to God for the sin of all mankind. What followed for Jesus was that He had to die a painful, shameful, bloody death left to only the worst offenders in that day. For the first time in his human existence, Jesus would feel the horrible pain and dark emptiness of being separated from His Father. This final act of His human will in obedience to the plan of His Father alone guaranteed that Jesus would come back to us in the form of the invisible Holy Spirit. This is righteousness….. !!!! Laying down your will, dying to your own selfish needs and carnal desires and following the example of Jesus will satisfy you completely. There is no other plan available to be satisfied by, this is the only one. It is a guaranteed promise that will satisfy all those that hunger and thirst after it (Mat 5:6).

IF YOU ARE HUNGRY AND THIRSTING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS YOU WILL BE SATISFIED….. BY RIGHTEOUSNESS

What does righteousness and “faithful followers” have to do with encountering broken and hurting humanity in dire need of the Savior and Lord Jesus on a cold December day in a dairy barn in Wisconsin? Everything !!!! Absolutely everything !!! Revelation 17:14 says we defeat the great power and authority of darkness because Jesus is Lord.

Rev 17:14 GNB They will fight against the Lamb; but the Lamb, together with his called, chosen, and faithful followers, will defeat them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings."

It is also proof of the outcome of what Jesus meant when He said that He would never leave us or forsake us and that we would do the same things He did and even greater things… It is His Spirit, the Holy Spirit in us, leading guiding and protecting, but His leadership, guidance and protection is only truly available when we submit our will to His. He wants only one thing from us.. He wants us to surrender our right, our God given self will. He wants only for us to surrender and give up our desire to govern our own lives. He wants to live His will through us…. He wants to be our Lord…. Yes, Lord of all……

Joh 14:12-14 CEV I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father. (13) Ask me, and I will do whatever you ask. This way the Son will bring honor to the Father. (14) I will do whatever you ask me to do.

How is it possible to ALWAYS have Jesus do exactly what you, a lowly human may ask? Answer: Ask ONLY what it is that you know He would want you to do. Ask ONLY for things that will bring glory to the Father. This is a guarantee that your prayers and requests will be accomplished. You never ask anything that is your own will. His will lived through us is the assurance that whatever we ask will be done because it brings glory to the Father. The book of first John records that the reason Jesus showed up in the chronicles of time was to DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL. This brings glory to the Father. As you read this I implore you to ask yourself this question: Does my life bring glory to the Father by destroying the works of the devil? A careful examination will let you know if you are continuing in sin, or living in righteousness.

1Jn 3:7-9 ESV Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. (8) Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (9) No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

I started to tell this story with the picture of what I believe Jesus intended for all who choose to believe that He is the Son of God and that the Father sent Him to earth for our redemption. The promise of His complete provision for us is assured if we live exclusively for Him. What else does it mean to not worry about what you are going to eat, drink and wear? Jesus teaches about this in another part of the “sermon on the mount” that I mentioned earlier. Matthew chapter six starts out with Jesus saying don’t be a hypocrite, and then He demonstrates a pattern for our prayer life that is often referred to as the “Lord’s prayer”. However, starting in chapter five and moving all the way through to verses 34 in chapter six, Jesus connects all of this together into the commandment to not worry about what you eat, drink or wear and to only concern yourself with your life today.

Mat 6:24-25 ESV "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (25) "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
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Mat 6:31-34 ESV Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' (32) For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. (33) But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (34) "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

There it is again, in Verse 33, the word righteousness. Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness with all that is in you as your first priority and His righteousness and all you could EVER need will be added to you. You will be satisfied, you will be filled. You have the assurance of all your needs being met when Jesus is not only your Savior, but Lord… Lord of all… This journey of being satisfied, fulfilled and added to begins and ends with our will submitting to the will of God, this is the transforming of your mind. We have been given the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).

The intersection of my life with broken humanity in a dairy barn was only made possible because I had walked away from everything I knew to be my own will. In my walk as a Christian I have made a lifestyle of continually counting the cost of discipleship to Lord Jesus. Today I am without any doubt or question that the cost is everything. For me personally the cost has been a marriage of 22 years, almost all of my immediate family relationships, a large comfortable house I personally built most of on a nice piece of land with places to store all the temporal things a man can amass unto himself, a fat paycheck running my own computer consulting business. My personal health has been so severely attacked recently, I was almost fooled into wanting to die at one point. Thank you Jesus for the faithful care and love of the family of God. I have been restored and healed sooooooo many times…..without doctors. Nevertheless.. not my will but yours Lord Jesus !!!

After 20 years of desiring more and more and more of Him, I have found that Jesus does not want 10% or 40% or 80% or 99.9999% of anything. He wants 100% of me, He wants 100% of my thoughts to be brought captive to Him. He wants 100% of my actions to be motivated by Love and nothing else. He wants 100% of the desires of my heart to be His desires so He gives them to me. He gave me His desires and they became my desires….

Today, I live in homes provided for by others. I have food and water, any and every time I need it, and my clothing is plentiful and clean and right for whatever condition I need to be in. When I need a vehicle there is always one available. When I am sick in body I am graciously and lovingly cared for by others and He heals me. If I have a financial need there is never a lack because everything I need is added to me. This is His fulfilled promise to me, so that I can now move according to His will more freely. At this time and by the grace of God I have been found to be a faithful follower of Jesus and I am actively involved in destroying the works of evil. I am living out the commandment of Jesus when He said “Go make disciples and teach them to obey all that I have commanded.” (Mat 28:20). As a result of living according to a hunger for righteousness and prayer going up for our next opportunity to do His will, the phone rang to go euthanize a cow. We moved in faith to encounter the people who owned the cow. Some other brothers and sisters subsequently left everything of their own lives behind and we actually moved in with this family. The result is that the Dad, Mom and son are all confessing believers in Jesus Christ as Savior. Now the bearing of fruit that will remain requires us to disciple this family into the “teaching to obey” part of Lordship. Jesus specifically requires this so that they too can be found to be faithful followers.

Please understand that we have NOT stepped foot into any organized institutional “business of religion” structure. We have been encountering Jesus in all of His glory right there in the house, or in the barn, or the cow yard as the cows just eat, make milk and crap all over us.… quite literally…. Ever been near a cow that coughs when it is eliminating or has really loose stools? They are really big creatures and cow crap is non-discriminating, It gets on anybody in the way…. Trust me, it even gets on you when you are NOT in the way. Some of the most amazing times of discipleship have come during chore time, milking a cow, or scraping the never ending supply of excrement into the gutter. “Church” never smelled so good to me. It smells like real people, living real life in the exact place where they live their lives. The assembling of the body of Christ happens wherever and whenever the faithful followers gather together because we are the ones He chose to dwell in and among. We are the temple, we are His temple now, we are the “church”, herein after to be called the ecclesia, or called out ones. There is no building where Christ dwells. He only dwells in people today and in the Kingdom of heaven. How else could we be seated with Him in heavenly places…. right here and right now?

Jesus said “GO” make disciples. Go to where the harvest is ripe and ready for harvest. The harvest is in the houses, fields, barns, and streets, and wherever the broken people are. He did not say invite them to some building you call “a church” and hear a good choir or listen to some man or woman teach a sermon. He did not say invite them to a self help group on divorce, marriage or some 12 step alcohol recovery program. He did not say have them come learn coping skills to the deal with the evils of sexual abuse or abortion recovery. He said be the ecclesia and do whatever I command you to do because you will do all that I did and more. He is the answer to all of the world’s ills. He said GO, reveal my kingdom. Manifest me… I brought my kingdom with me when I came to earth and now I have shared my glory with you by placing in you my Holy Spirit, now GO… GO now… GO and do what I did and so much more…..!!! I will do whatever you ask me to do when you reveal my kingdom, when you re-present me to the lost, hurting and dying people of this earth. In truth Jesus said to faithful followers, You lay hands on them and heal them, you feed them, you cast out their demons, you take authority over spiritual strongholds, you baptize them, you take care of the widow and orphan, you prophesy to them about Me, you serve them with YOUR life.. This is my will for you, and for the ones who hear your words and then believe in Me.. This brings glory to the Father…. This is VERY pleasing to Me…. Your faith is VERY pleasing to me my child….!

IF YOU ARE HUNGRY AND THIRSTING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS YOU WILL BE SATISFIED…. BY RIGHTEOUSNESS

For the past few months I have been living in and been an active recipient of the fulfilling promise of a life that does not concern itself with when or what I eat, when or what I drink, nor what the provision for my physical protection in clothing is or where I might sleep on a day to day basis. The driving motive in me and the most important part of acquiring this promise of a fulfilled or satisfied life is the opportunity, responsibility and good fruit of loving and serving others with His passion for humanity that drives nearly every thought and action of each and every moment of my existence. My desire for righteousness has made me a living sacrifice and my very existence has been given to Jesus and I am satisfied beyond my human comprehension. I am satisfied beyond what I can even think or imagine possible and then even more. From before time in eternity past, Jesus had always planned this for me…….. He actually does this to ALL who set their mind and heart completely on Him. It is His perfect will….

Would you lay down your life and join me in the true circumcision? You will not be disappointed….. trust me.

Comment by Kendra on May 27, 2009 at 11:13am

where can we start? what can I do?