Cast Thy Bread Upon The Water

Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters Eccl. 11:1

1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

3 If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.

4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.

6 In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

This takes us to the banks of the Nile River where after every year as the floods would subside, the farmer would go forth and, without any ploughing, would cast his bread corn upon the waters and the mud.

It was those fruitful harvests that made Egypt the granary of the ancient world.

Notice: it was not “cast thy seed upon the waters”

But “bread”.

It was the casting of the bread-corn… that which might be used for the making of bread.

Solomon was saying here… that which you would also eat, spare some of it to cast upon the waters that you might reap a great harvest.

Not just a lesson on sowing, but a lesson on self-denial and self-restraint.

For if the farmer would use up, and eat up all of his bread, and would not save any for sowing, then he would have nothing to invest in future harvests.

If ever this message needs to be preached, it’s today!

WHY? Because… the marvelous technological advances of our age

-and the quickening of the whole speed of life have had a detrimental effect upon the church…

YOU may ask, What’s wrong with these advances?

For the most part, they have produced a generation that is eagerly impatient for the utmost immediate results.

Spiritual sense: the greediness and self-centeredness of the world has not only crept into the church, but has walked brazenly into the doors of every church across America….

….and has not merely slithered down in the church pew, but has stood with arrogance and boasted about their prosperity, which is simply a cover-up for GREED!

The very reason that many Churches are spiritually bankrupt is because they have drained the spiritual resources without putting anything BACK INTO THE WORK OF GOD!!!

I’m not totally against WELFARE and Gov’t assistance… I think there are some cases that merit it….

BUT that Welfare mentality, that part of welfare that has been abused, I see so many times in the church….

“God gimme your blessings”

“God gimme your healing”

“God gimme your power”

BUT there is no desire to work or pray for these things….

WE just think that GOD owes them to us! And there is absolutely nothing we have to do in return!

Clarify something right here from the beginning!

SALVATION IS FREE…

Eph. 2:8-9 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

YOU cannot work to be saved, but after

You get saved, you will WANT to work for

God because YOU LOVE HIM!

THAT is what the CASTING of bread is here.

THIS harvest is not referring

to our eternal inheritance, but rather to the

rewards that God has for those who work for

HIM!

But unfortunately the church has GREEDILY gobbled up the Harvest of God’s blessings!!! Without investing anything back!

We’ve long ago sucked up every last bit of harvest that our forefathers left, and have forgotten to save some of the harvest to put back into the CHURCH!!!

Our forefathers knew how to sacrifice, and

Pray and seek God….

AND as a result, God blessed their sacrifice…

God blessed their commitment,

God blessed their humility of heart!

Healings and miracles and the moving of the Spirit were common occurrences in their day…

And then today we wonder why our services are so dead and so dry…

Seems as if Ichabod has already been written over the posts of our doors!

WHY?

The Church has greedily used up every last bit of the spiritual resources God has blessed them with using it for their own profit, their own gain, their own IMMEDIATE RESULT

That’s why we have so many extravagant super churches around the country because the CHURCH has gone from being the body of Christ to the