Lord of the Harvest: The Sovereignty of God over Salvation

By J. Danny Hone

It's been 15 years since my journey began back to the throne of God. I'm not sure when I began to think God wasnt on the throne nor when I began to think I was on it myself. I suppose we all have problems when it comes to understanding the Lordship of Christ and submitting ourselves to that reality. When my theology came tumbling down I found myself taking refuge in God's word. I buried myself there trying to figure out who God was and ultimately who I am in Him. Lord of The Harvest is the fruit of that journey.

Lord of the Harvest takes a hard look at God's hand in salvation and restores Gods glory, honor, power and praise for all that He does in that process. The result is an overwhelming sense of gratitude and a strong desire to cast our crowns at the feet of Jesus and give Him praise for His loving kindness towards us. This book will open up your eyes to all that God has done in your life and will leave you on your knees in thanksgiving and praise before the Lord God Almighty.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467044011

J. Danny Hone

As you read this book you'll quickly discover that this book isn't about Danny Hone. It's about God and His wonderful work in all of our lives. God has done wonderful things in my life. He saved me in 1970 and gave me a wonderful wife in 1992 and two lovely daughters. My wife and I are active in church teaching Sunday School and an Awana class and we reside in a small rural town in Illinois.

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© 2011 by J. Danny Hone. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 09/27/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4670-4403-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4670-4402-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4670-4401-1 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011917697

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Unless otherwise noted all scriptures used are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One

THE SOVEREIGNTY AND

LORDSHIP OF GOD

Chapter Two

BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF SALVATION AND OF GOD’S CALLING OF MAN

Chapter Three

WHY DID JESUS PREACH IN PARABLES?

Chapter Four

CHOSEN, CALLED, ELECTED AND PREDESTINED.

Chapter Five

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT

ACCEPT AND RECEIVE

Chapter Six

AUTHOR AND MAKER OF SALVATION

Chapter Seven

NOT BY WORKS

Chapter Eight

TO GOD BE THE GLORY

Conclusion

IS THIS A HILL TO DIE ON?

Dedication and Acknowledgments

Special thanks to my wonderful sister and editor, Debbie Sowers. I know who the real writer is in our family. You showed me why the comma and period letters on my keyboard are not worn off, but the letters A, N, and D are. My perfect manuscript came back to me with more red ink than our nations budget. I’m forever grateful.

To Cindy, my wife and the love of my life, thank you for always being there and for putting up with me all these years. The journey to my knees, before the throne of God, was a long journey and I’m glad you are by my side. This may not be the life we ordered, but it’s the life God gave us. We said for better or for worse, and we proved we meant it.

To my wonderful daughters, Emily and Anna. May you follow me to your knees before the LORD God Almighty. May you serve Him all the days of your lives.

To my mother, whom I love. There will always be a special place in my heart for you.

To my father, who went to be with Jesus in 2009. I miss your guidance, your strength, and your friendship. I’ll see you soon.

To my wife’s parents, Bob and Becky. A man cannot have better in-laws. A daughter cannot have better parents. Children cannot have better grandparents. You both should write a book on how to be grandparents. You have so much to teach the world about what family truly means.

Introduction

It seemed like a normal Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful day and family had came to town to celebrate Easter with us. I had no clue that this would be one of my last Sundays in a church for nearly two years, nor did I know that my life was about to change dramatically. Then it happened. The pastor giving his Easter Sunday message proclaimed:

You don’t need to repent in order to be saved. All you have to do is believe that the resurrection took place and confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord in order to be saved

The minister went on preaching that repentance was not found in the New Testament and that was the main point of his Easter message. Life as I knew it was over. I knew that this was a different gospel and now it was time for me to discover just what it was that I really believed, for myself, about what the bible teaches. I threw myself into the Scriptures and this book is one of the fruits of that journey.

In time I began to share some of the things I became convinced of with others. It did not take long before people began to call me names like Calvinist. I called myself a sovereignist. Yeah, I know the word doesn’t exist. I made it up and I’m not even sure I’m allowed to do that but it best described what I came to believe about the salvation experience. To me it boiled down to God being sovereign over all things, including salvation. Not knowing what a Calvinist was I began to do some research on the subject and became familiar with TULIP and the central points of Calvinism. I do understand the debate but frankly