Exodus 23:14~16

14 “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. 15 “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed. 16 “Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. God is eternally worthy of our thanksgiving. Therefore he told us to celebrate the Harvest Festival. God is the Farmer and he has sown his grace and love in our lives, so it is natural for him to want to reap some fruit, which is our thanksgiving. At the end of the age he will clear the threshing floor and he will gather the wheat into the barn, and throw the chaff into the unquenchable fire. The Lord told us if seed was sown in good soil, it will produce fruits thirty, sixty or even a hundred times more. Also, "Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down, and throw into the fire." (Matthew 3:10). God has sown his only Son's life, love and salvation, so he wants to reap from it. Every seed has a specific purpose just as the sower has the right to reap its fruit. The Harvest Festival is when the first fruits of the wheat harvest were offered to God. God commanded Israel, "No one is to appear before me empty-handed on the Feast of Harvest." (Deuteronomy 16:14~17). The reason why we celebrate the Harvest Festival is to give thanks to the Lord, for he sent his only Son to die for us, shedding his blood on the cross so that we can be saved. In the same way the Israelites celebrated the feast 3 times a year, to give thanks to God for bringing them out of Egypt. We have received salvation, life, health and blessing by God’s amazing grace far more than the Israelites had. We can live in the kingdom of God forever. In the same way as the Israelites had put the blood of lambs on their door frames when they escaped from the oppression of Pharaoh, we should give thanks to the Lord for we have been saved from eternal destruction due to sin through Jesus' blood. The farmer cannot reap unless he sows. If there is someone who reaps what he hasn't sown, he is a thief and a robber. Therefore, if someone gives an offering to another god, God will be furious with him, for that god had not sown anything, but he is gathering. God sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, into this the world in order to sow him by letting him be whipped, cursed and die. Therefore we can reap healing, blessing and salvation. God also sowed all power and authority in Jesus' name so we can be freed from evil spirits. We should be seed sown in fertile soil, offering the fruit of thanksgiving for being saved from sickness, curses and sin. If we do not give thanks we ignore God and are like chaff. Chaff wastes the time and energy of the farmer, so he will destroy it by fire. We have all equally received God’s word, his grace, the name of Jesus and salvation. But if we do not bear the fruit of thanksgiving, God will be very disappointed. Only those who give thanks to God will inherit heaven. If you have been saved by the blood of Jesus, you have to give thanks to him. Then we can be gathered into his barn as wheat and share in the master’s happiness. This is the heart and the love of the farmer. Let the dead seeds in you be alive before the Feast of Thanksgiving and let your personality be renewed day by day.