Hey I'm doing a survey, I want to know what concerns you. What kind of things are going on in your life that concern you, the things that you would like to talk about or need help with. Tell me about them. You can post them here or e-mail them to me at careybaptist@gmail.com
Thanks and I hope to here from you soon.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
MISSIONS
When I say missions, what do you think? Do you think about the Cooperative Program that we give money to so that our missionaries around the world can tell others about Jesus? Or maybe you think about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, or the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, or maybe even the Reach Texas Offering that we are in right now, the money raised for this stays here in Texas for mission projects here in our state, all of these are worthy causes. Or maybe you think closer to home and you think about CONNECT, our own outreach from CBC, maybe you connect this with Desert Reign coming every year in the fall and the money we raise for that. Maybe when you think about missions you think about going to Cloudcroft NM with our team to work on that camp, or maybe you have thought about going to Namibia Africa to reach an unreached people group and tell them about Jesus. What do you think about when you think about missions? Did you know that our mission closest to home is Carey Baptist? As a group that is our closest mission, the work we do as a church. As an individual your closest mission may be right next door, or around the corner, or down the road or street, it may be your family or friends. We must always be thinking about missions and what we can do to further the Kingdom; we must be mission-minded. Just saying we are in not enough, just giving money to a missions offering in not enough, we must be mission-minded. If we cannot go on a mission trip we need to be raising money for those who do go, for the Cloudcroft trip or the Namibia trip, those who are lead to go don’t always have the money, and we all can help. We must be mission-minded to the needs around us.
Lord, I pray for those in our church, I pray Lord that you will make us all mission-minded. Let us become aware to the needs that are around us everyday, show us how we can be involved in missions, those that our church are involved in and those that our Southern Baptist missionaries are involved in. Amen.
Lord, I pray for those in our church, I pray Lord that you will make us all mission-minded. Let us become aware to the needs that are around us everyday, show us how we can be involved in missions, those that our church are involved in and those that our Southern Baptist missionaries are involved in. Amen.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
MISSING SHEEP
110, that’s what we had for our 5th Sunday Singing, 110. It was good to have a full house and to worship with other churches. 110 people, 7 different church, well over 2 hours of singing, what a great time! It was great to have a full house, to hear all of the voices singing together. Do you know what would be even better, if we had that many in church on Sunday mornings. We could you know, real easy, how you may ask. Well, it’s like this, if our members who live right here in town would come to church we would have at least that many every Sunday morning, probably even more than 110. So how do we get them here? Did you know that Carey 1st Baptist Church has 238 members? Did you know that we have 193 resident (those who live in the area) members? And yet we averaged only 57 in Sunday School during the past year, why is this? How do we get our resident members to come back to God’s house? How do we get from here to there? Number one; we pray! We pray for our members, those who are committed members, those who are working for the Kingdom and coming to church, we pray for God to bless them in every way, we pray for God to make them a great witness for Him. Then we pray for our members who come, but not real often, we pray that God will increase their desire for more fellowship with the church. Then we pray for our members who have not been here in a while, we pray for God to put a desire in their hearts to come back to His House, to get involved again. And last, we pray for all of our members to grow into a deeper relationship with Christ. Number two; we send cards to our members who have not been coming letting them know that we miss them and want them to come back. And number three; we go and visit. We go and knock on their door and pleasantly invite them back to church, we let them know that we miss them. After all they are part of our Carey Baptist Family, if we follow this it will work, maybe not on all, but on most. Sometimes things happen and people miss church and then they get out of the habit of going to church and then they think that no one misses them, but we do and we need to let them know it. Let me ask you something, how would you like to be on the missing sheep team, the team that prays, sends cards and visits members? Pray about it, I will be forming this team soon!!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
LAUGH OUT LOUD
Bloopers, people making mistakes, and of course we would never laugh at their expense, right? Or would we….
From the Yeovil, England, Western Gazette: "The first swallow has arrived at Devizes. It was spotted by Police Constable John Cooke, of Seend, whose hobby is bird watching, sitting wet and bedraggled on telephone wires." (How does that constable do that while he’s all wet, I tried it and fell off three times?)
Classified ad: Man wanted to work in dynamite factory; must be willing to travel. (How far up?)
From the Tulsa, Oklahoma, World: "It is permissible to spank a child if one has a definite end in view." (Always keep your eyes open!)
The Harrah, Oklahoma, News ran an article about the Folderol String Band, which was to entertain at a barbecue. The story explained, "These true sons of the Southwest have twanged their music all over Oklahoma and have been asked more than once to leave the state." (And don’t come back!!)
Society note in the Denver, Colorado, Rocky Mountain News: "She looked like the belle of a court ball with the gown and her hair piled high on her head." (Someone should tell her that the dress goes lower)
Sign spotted in Jacksonville, Florida: Pool is open 24 hours. Please do not enter the pool at any other time. (Like during the 25th hour?)
In a letter from a summer camp director: Dear parents: We are pleased to announce the opening of registration. We are working hard and looking forward to the ultimate bummer experience for everyone. (I think I’ve been to that camp)
A classic of its kind was this sign in an army mess hall in Britain. Printed in big black letters across the exit, it read: Kindly Let Those Who Are Going Out First.
That sentence drove us crazy, and I thought it would never be topped. But it was, in a San Francisco bar. I overheard a guy who was being pestered to death by a frightful bore snap, "If you don't get out of here and leave me alone, I'll find somebody who can!" (So there, if that didn't make you laugh I’ll find someone else who did.)
Did you have a good laugh? These are all things that I found, and no I was not in a bar, really!
From the Yeovil, England, Western Gazette: "The first swallow has arrived at Devizes. It was spotted by Police Constable John Cooke, of Seend, whose hobby is bird watching, sitting wet and bedraggled on telephone wires." (How does that constable do that while he’s all wet, I tried it and fell off three times?)
Classified ad: Man wanted to work in dynamite factory; must be willing to travel. (How far up?)
From the Tulsa, Oklahoma, World: "It is permissible to spank a child if one has a definite end in view." (Always keep your eyes open!)
The Harrah, Oklahoma, News ran an article about the Folderol String Band, which was to entertain at a barbecue. The story explained, "These true sons of the Southwest have twanged their music all over Oklahoma and have been asked more than once to leave the state." (And don’t come back!!)
Society note in the Denver, Colorado, Rocky Mountain News: "She looked like the belle of a court ball with the gown and her hair piled high on her head." (Someone should tell her that the dress goes lower)
Sign spotted in Jacksonville, Florida: Pool is open 24 hours. Please do not enter the pool at any other time. (Like during the 25th hour?)
In a letter from a summer camp director: Dear parents: We are pleased to announce the opening of registration. We are working hard and looking forward to the ultimate bummer experience for everyone. (I think I’ve been to that camp)
A classic of its kind was this sign in an army mess hall in Britain. Printed in big black letters across the exit, it read: Kindly Let Those Who Are Going Out First.
That sentence drove us crazy, and I thought it would never be topped. But it was, in a San Francisco bar. I overheard a guy who was being pestered to death by a frightful bore snap, "If you don't get out of here and leave me alone, I'll find somebody who can!" (So there, if that didn't make you laugh I’ll find someone else who did.)
Did you have a good laugh? These are all things that I found, and no I was not in a bar, really!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
SPECTATORS OR PARTICIPATORS
How would you say our spiritual maturity, godliness and commitment as a church compares to other churches? Paul compared the Macedonia church’s commitment to Corinth and challenged them to MATCH it. Corinthians 8:1-8. 2 Corinthians 8:8 says I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. (NIV) Rick Warren says that he challenges any church in America to match the spiritual maturity, godliness and commitment of any 500 members of Saddleback Church. How do you think we would match up? Whatever excuse we could use comes back on us. I personally don’t know about their spiritual maturity, godliness and commitment but I do know that they have had over 10,000 Saddleback members serve on missions overseas. How have they done this and how have they grown like they have? They have turned spectators into participators, consumers into contributors and an audience into an army. All too often we think that if we come to church it is enough, or if we serve on a committee or teach a class, don’t get me wrong, those are good, but can we do more? Are we spectators or participators, consumers or contributors; are we an audience or an army? One way for you to get to the point of being participators, contributors and an army is for me to turn more things over to those who are willing to take responsibility for them and then do something with them. I have turned our outreach, Connect, over to Jimmy, Jerry H. and Tommy and I am expecting great things from them in our outreach department. But the only way that this can happen is when God leads them into areas of outreach; we must get behind them and be part of it. I want our W.M.U. and Brotherhood to be active, not inside the church but outside, I want our teachers on Sunday morning and Wednesday night to decide what they want out of their class, how much they want it to grow and then get out and work it and make it grow. It’s time that we the people of Carey Baptist took the responsibility for the growth of our church and not just leave it up to the paid staff. It’s time that we stepped out into the community and made a difference, it’s time that you stopped just reading and listening to my words and started asking God what He wants us as a church to be doing; and then do it!!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
ONE DAY
“One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. I'd rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin. 11 All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory. He doesn't scrimp with his traveling companions. 12 It's smooth sailing all the way with God of the Angel Armies.” Psalms 84:10-12 (MSG)
Dr. J. Vernon McGee says, “He says, "A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand days anywhere else. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness,'' and that's what the sons of Korah were -- doorkeepers. He says, "I would rather have my job than to be a rich man living far from God.'' There are some folk who look at their watches on Sunday morning to see if the preacher is going overtime. The psalmist says, "I'd rather spend one day in God's house than a thousand anywhere else.'' What a glorious psalm this is, and what a rebuke it is to many of us.”
How often do we come to church and then think about being somewhere else? Or, how often do we just go somewhere else instead of coming to church, but the psalmist is saying that one day in God’s house is better than a thousand days anywhere else, wow, what a way to look at being in God’s house. Oh that we would have that same attitude, just one day in your house in your presence is better than a thousand days at the lake, or race track, or park or game or anywhere else you can think of. When we learn to worship God that way it will enhance every area of our life. When we choose to really put God first, when we choose to serve God with our whole heart not holding anything back, the when the enemy attacks, when the enemy does us harm, God can turn it around and use it for good. What Satan meant for harm God means for good means that God is still on His throne and no one can remove Him. God may not do it the way that we want it done, but then, He is God and we aren’t. We may not understand it all, but we must trust Him and have faith. When we can come to this point in our life, then we will truly understand why one day in His house is better than a thousand anywhere else.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee says, “He says, "A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand days anywhere else. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness,'' and that's what the sons of Korah were -- doorkeepers. He says, "I would rather have my job than to be a rich man living far from God.'' There are some folk who look at their watches on Sunday morning to see if the preacher is going overtime. The psalmist says, "I'd rather spend one day in God's house than a thousand anywhere else.'' What a glorious psalm this is, and what a rebuke it is to many of us.”
How often do we come to church and then think about being somewhere else? Or, how often do we just go somewhere else instead of coming to church, but the psalmist is saying that one day in God’s house is better than a thousand days anywhere else, wow, what a way to look at being in God’s house. Oh that we would have that same attitude, just one day in your house in your presence is better than a thousand days at the lake, or race track, or park or game or anywhere else you can think of. When we learn to worship God that way it will enhance every area of our life. When we choose to really put God first, when we choose to serve God with our whole heart not holding anything back, the when the enemy attacks, when the enemy does us harm, God can turn it around and use it for good. What Satan meant for harm God means for good means that God is still on His throne and no one can remove Him. God may not do it the way that we want it done, but then, He is God and we aren’t. We may not understand it all, but we must trust Him and have faith. When we can come to this point in our life, then we will truly understand why one day in His house is better than a thousand anywhere else.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
FATHER'S DAY
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!! Just in case no one has told you yet today dad, let me be the first, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!! We are really glad that you are here for our 3rd Annual Father’s Day Cook-Out, we hope to do our best to honor you today dad. When God made the family He made man to be the head of the household, but all too often in our society dad is made out to look like an idiot. In this age of the absentee dad, the fatherless home and the abusive fathers, we tend to forget about the men out there who are good husbands and great dads. Are they without fault, no, but then neither are you. We as men and dads need to remember our role and our calling to be Godly men because we represent Christ who is the head of the Church, and the way that our kids look at us is the way they see God, our Heavenly Father. I think that is one reason that some people have tried to feminize God. In the very popular book The Shack, God is portrayed as a woman. Why, I’m not sure, but I do know that Jesus said Father, Our Father who art in Heaven… Today there are so many children being raised by mom, and dad is nowhere in the picture and this may make it hard for people to understand God as Father. But God said that He is a father to the fatherless, He has not abandoned us, He is still right here. So dad, I’m glad that you are here in church today, a day when you could be off anywhere, but you chose to be here, may God bless you richly for that.
I want to ask you something, have you taken time to honor your dad today? If you are able to, in some way, honor him today, I’m not going to tell you how to do that, but please make an effort to do it. In this day and age when all too many men think that all you have to do to be a dad is to have a kid, (even goats do that) take time to honor those who are truly fathers. A little appreciation goes a long way, it doesn’t take an expensive gift, just love. Men are simple creatures, (not simple minded), just simple and easy to please. Real fathers just want family close, to cook out or to be with friends...and look we have all three here today. So, Happy Father’s Day. Remember, God honors dads and here at Carey, so do we!
I want to ask you something, have you taken time to honor your dad today? If you are able to, in some way, honor him today, I’m not going to tell you how to do that, but please make an effort to do it. In this day and age when all too many men think that all you have to do to be a dad is to have a kid, (even goats do that) take time to honor those who are truly fathers. A little appreciation goes a long way, it doesn’t take an expensive gift, just love. Men are simple creatures, (not simple minded), just simple and easy to please. Real fathers just want family close, to cook out or to be with friends...and look we have all three here today. So, Happy Father’s Day. Remember, God honors dads and here at Carey, so do we!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
God & Country
I want to take just a moment to welcome you here on Memorial Sunday, the Sunday before Memorial Day. This day was first enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War, it was expanded after World War I. On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved three holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. Memorial Day has been set on the last Monday in May since 1971. Memorial Day was first Remembrance Day, a day we have set aside to remember and honor those who have fought to make and keep us free and those who have died for the same cause. It was, and is still used by some to decorate the graves of those loved ones who are lost and the military men and women of our nation. All too often we just see it as a day to be off of work, a day to cook out, be with family and friends, which is good, but if were not for those who have fought and died, those who would not quit, refused to give up, continued to push on regardless of the conditions or the enemy, we might very well be living under the British flag, or the German, Japanese or Russian. But we live under the stars and strips, in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Where we are still free to go to the church of our choice, where we are still free to tell others about Jesus, where we can still have a manger scene in our front yard, where we can fly the flag, but these very freedoms may all go away if some politicians get their way. We need to be pro-active as Christians in politics, voting for God fearing men and women, voting out those who vote in an anti-Christian way, making phone calls, writing letters and e-mails to those who represent us. That is our responsibility! Did you know that the U.S. House Judiciary Committee of Congress in 1854 wrote; “Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, That Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle...In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity… That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expect it to remain the religion of their descendants.” What has happened since then?
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
KINGDOM & MONEY
I was watching an auction the other day, the auction took place at Christy’s in New York and they were auctioning off memorabilia from Star Trek. These were items from the very first pilot in the 60’s through all of the TV shows and movies. Uniforms, all of the gadgets that were handheld, make-up props and even 6 foot models of all of the ships used in filming. What got me was the amount people were willing to spend to have something from the show. The cheapest bid was $800 for some small something; the next lowest bid was $2800, those 6 foot ships sold for between $85,000 to $500,000; for this 6 foot thing that the buyer will have no room for. I’m sure that those who bought thought that they got something great, but I have to wonder what could have been done for the Kingdom of God with the money spent. But then I have to think about the money we waste and what could be done for the Kingdom with it. As you well know it takes money to spread the Gospel, and it takes money to keep the doors open on the church, but if these are the only reason that we give, we give for the wrong reasons. We should be giving back to God from what He has given us, we give because God said to, and when we do we will be blessed. Thank You for your giving and for being obedient. When you give tithes and offerings for VBS or missions you enable the church to go forward, thank you again.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Master Mechanic
I was walking through the park one day, in the merry merry month of May, looking at all of the flowers brought on by April showers...no wait, those are weeds, and they are all in my yard. Can you believe the way everything is growing? On Monday I worked in my yard, I ran the edger, cut tree limbs, ran the trimmer, and then worked on my riding mower, and worked and worked, and it did not want to start. I had to put the jumper cables on my truck and it still would not start. Finally I broke down and went and bought a new fuel filter, air filters and a new spark plug. Put all of this on and guess what. It started and ran better than it has in a while. The old spark plug was so gummed up that it couldn’t fire if it wanted to. I think that sometimes that’s the way we get, we go and go until we get so gummed up that we have to get a new spark plug or a fresh fire from the Lord. In our daily walk with the Lord we need that fire from the Holy Spirit everyday, but sometimes we get bogged down and need that boost. Ask God to give you that boost today, we don’t need to be just going through the motions; we need that fire that only God can give. Ask Him and He will give it to you.
P.S. The mower had to go to the hospital (shop), do you need to be in the hospital (church)? We all need to visit with the Master Mechanic, do we as often as we need to?
P.S. The mower had to go to the hospital (shop), do you need to be in the hospital (church)? We all need to visit with the Master Mechanic, do we as often as we need to?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
PASTOR'S PEN 4-25-10
Remission is still a good word, no...it’s a great word. Becky is still in remission, we saw her doctor in Denver and she said that Becky was to continue her treatments twice a week, so we continue on. And we saw my doctor on the Tuesday before we left and everything is looking good there also. So….PRAISE THE LORD!!
Did you know that next week is Senior Adult Sunday? Well it is, and our senior adults will be involved in our service and it will be a very special service. But I have a favor to ask of you, we will be honoring our senior adults next week with a potluck dinner after church. Now I don’t know if you know it or not but they bring a lot of food when we have fellowship meals, so for next week can we who are not senior adults bring lots of food so they don’t have to? They may wish to bring a dish but they should not have to bring as much as they do most of the time. So can you help me honor our senior adults next week? Let’s all show up in force and stay and eat lunch, our senior adults are worth it, they are the ones who have kept things going for many years and we can take time to honor them. So one more time...be here next week, bring lots of food, stay and eat, honor our senior adults, and, and tell them how much you love and appreciate them. Next Sunday, Senior Adult Sunday!! Be here!!
Did you know that next week is Senior Adult Sunday? Well it is, and our senior adults will be involved in our service and it will be a very special service. But I have a favor to ask of you, we will be honoring our senior adults next week with a potluck dinner after church. Now I don’t know if you know it or not but they bring a lot of food when we have fellowship meals, so for next week can we who are not senior adults bring lots of food so they don’t have to? They may wish to bring a dish but they should not have to bring as much as they do most of the time. So can you help me honor our senior adults next week? Let’s all show up in force and stay and eat lunch, our senior adults are worth it, they are the ones who have kept things going for many years and we can take time to honor them. So one more time...be here next week, bring lots of food, stay and eat, honor our senior adults, and, and tell them how much you love and appreciate them. Next Sunday, Senior Adult Sunday!! Be here!!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
PASTOR'S PEN 4-11-10
This the last week of our Annie Armstrong Easter Offering which is used to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in North America, that means right here where we are. So far we have not reached our goal, but we are getting close. Our goal is $700 and so far we have brought in $616. Every penny given to this is used for missionaries in North America; all we need to reach our goal is $84 more.
Well what did you think about last Sunday? We started off with the Sunrise Service and then we baptized two, had a great service, and ended it with communion and an Easter Egg Hunt. After church Amy, Zach, Zoe, Becky and I went to Amarillo to spend some time with Jody, Sarah and the girls. We watched the girls hunt eggs together and then went to church with them as they were having Resurrection Week. We had a great time with them and at church, and got home way, way, way late, but it was worth it.
Have you received your census yet? I don’t mean to sound political, but does this seem like a big waste of money to you? First we receive a letter telling us that the census will be mailed soon, this cost money for postage, paper and envelopes, plus someone to write the letters, copy them and send them. And then we get the census in the mail, and then we get a second census in the mail and I’m told that we will be getting a third. Does this sound like overkill? Now I’m finding out that census workers are being told to slow down, stall, waste time and stretch out their work unnecessarily, they are being told that in order to make unemployment look better they need to be slower. They are being sent to soup kitchens, parks and shelters to count people, not talk to them, just observe their race, sex and approximate age, 2 or 3 times. It just seems to me like a lot of wasted money at a time when our government is out of money, but what do I know? The census is also being used in ways that it wasn’t meant for but the information that it asks for is just about the same as was asked for in the Madison administration, how it’s used though is another matter. But, I have filled out our first census, thrown the second in the trash as I will the third. My beef isn’t with the census, but the waste and misuse. Isn’t this why Jesus was born in Bethlehem, because of a census?
Well what did you think about last Sunday? We started off with the Sunrise Service and then we baptized two, had a great service, and ended it with communion and an Easter Egg Hunt. After church Amy, Zach, Zoe, Becky and I went to Amarillo to spend some time with Jody, Sarah and the girls. We watched the girls hunt eggs together and then went to church with them as they were having Resurrection Week. We had a great time with them and at church, and got home way, way, way late, but it was worth it.
Have you received your census yet? I don’t mean to sound political, but does this seem like a big waste of money to you? First we receive a letter telling us that the census will be mailed soon, this cost money for postage, paper and envelopes, plus someone to write the letters, copy them and send them. And then we get the census in the mail, and then we get a second census in the mail and I’m told that we will be getting a third. Does this sound like overkill? Now I’m finding out that census workers are being told to slow down, stall, waste time and stretch out their work unnecessarily, they are being told that in order to make unemployment look better they need to be slower. They are being sent to soup kitchens, parks and shelters to count people, not talk to them, just observe their race, sex and approximate age, 2 or 3 times. It just seems to me like a lot of wasted money at a time when our government is out of money, but what do I know? The census is also being used in ways that it wasn’t meant for but the information that it asks for is just about the same as was asked for in the Madison administration, how it’s used though is another matter. But, I have filled out our first census, thrown the second in the trash as I will the third. My beef isn’t with the census, but the waste and misuse. Isn’t this why Jesus was born in Bethlehem, because of a census?
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
PASTOR'S PEN, 3-28-2010
Happy Palm Sunday Everyone! Is this an appropriate greeting on such a day? This is a day when Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem among shouts of acclamation, much as a king would, and He was heir to the throne of King David, but then again so were a lot of other people. He was a very popular man, feeding thousands, healing the sick, raising the dead, doing miracle after miracle, gaining in popularity. When he topped the hill over looking the city He wept for the city, not for the bricks and streets, for he knew that in forty years the temple would be destroyed, but He wept for the people He loved because He knew they would betray Him and reject their one true Messiah. Their only hope for salvation was and is Jesus Christ, but they couldn’t see it; they wanted a warrior-politically savvy king who would led them out from under the Romans, although they never realized that every time they were given their freedom they stopped serving God and then fell back into bondage. It was a vicious circle, freedom - turn from God - bondage - cry for mercy - prayer heard and answered - freedom given back by God - turn from God……. Do you ever find yourself falling into this trap? The Jewish people could not stay out of it because they let other gods; other things come between them and God. Have we as a nation fallen into this trap? We are the land of the free and the home of the brave except now we have lost more of our freedom to politically savvy politicians. This isn’t the first freedom we have lost, we have been losing them for a while and we have accepted them, now we have lost in a big way. I don’t mean to get political but I have to wonder if we are ready to cry out to God for mercy for our nation, if we as a nation are ready to turn back to Him yet and I don’t think so. Too many people believe that they are still as free as their parents and grandparents, but with 1,600 more I.R.S. agents coming on board to watch you and me, I don’t think so. It’s time that we as a church, city, county, state and nation began to fall on our faces before the one and only true living God and cry out to Him. But then maybe these things are happening to bring us to that point.
On a brighter note...Next Sunday is Easter...Who will you bring to church? If you begin asking today, you will be surprised how many will come with you. Try it and see.
On a brighter note...Next Sunday is Easter...Who will you bring to church? If you begin asking today, you will be surprised how many will come with you. Try it and see.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Pastors Pen 3-21-10
Wow, Thank You to everyone who helped with the Vietnam Veterans Run Sunday evening and Monday morning, we had a great turn out and served about 100 bikers. If you missed it you missed out on a blessing. We had adults and youth working to feed and bless the riders, and as always they could not say thank you enough and neither can I. One of the riders, Myron Peterson, the president of the Chapter 404 of the Vietnam Veterans of America in Borger wrote us a note. He said, “Thank you all for your unselfish service. I’ve been enjoying your hospitality here in Childress since 2005. May God bless you all richly. Thanks Again, Myron.” He is just one of many who told us thank you. And I want to add my thank you to theirs, Thank You everyone for the way you step up, Morris and Carolyn, the food was great as usual, Ladies the pancakes were awesome and the fact that you were here at 5:30 am and cooking by 6:00 am made it work. Thank you to everyone who moved chairs one way or the other, set tables up or put them up, cooked food or served food, vacuumed the floor or picked something up off of it, greeted a biker, shook a hand or hugged a neck, without you Carey Baptist Church could not and would not show the love of Christ the way we do, you will never know what this means to me as your pastor. You make my heart swell up and my eyes fill with tears, you truly are the best. I love you and God loves you even more.
On a different note; Have you checked out the new web-site for the church? Its www.carey1stbaptist.com and it looks great, there is a page for all kinds of things, like Kidzone, reFuge, staff, photos, our ministries, the church calendar and for prayer. This is the page that I want to talk to you about. On the prayer page you can request prayer for someone; you just add in the info and send. It lets me know when a new name is added, when you write in the comments section, let me know if you want this name added to our church prayer bulletin or the web-site prayer page. Also I need to get anyone’s e-mail address or phone number who wants to get an update on these prayer requests. With this it will send you an e-mail or a text on you phone. So if you want to be added, please let me know.
On a different note; Have you checked out the new web-site for the church? Its www.carey1stbaptist.com and it looks great, there is a page for all kinds of things, like Kidzone, reFuge, staff, photos, our ministries, the church calendar and for prayer. This is the page that I want to talk to you about. On the prayer page you can request prayer for someone; you just add in the info and send. It lets me know when a new name is added, when you write in the comments section, let me know if you want this name added to our church prayer bulletin or the web-site prayer page. Also I need to get anyone’s e-mail address or phone number who wants to get an update on these prayer requests. With this it will send you an e-mail or a text on you phone. So if you want to be added, please let me know.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
THE SOLID MARRIAGE, pt. 1
It was fun being a baby boomer...till now. Some of the artists of the '60s are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers. They include:
Herman's Hermits - Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker
The Bee Gees - How Can You Mend a Broken Hip
Bobby Darin - Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash
Ringo Starr - I Get By With a Little Help from Depends
Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face
Johnny Nash - I Can't See Clearly Now
Paul Simon - Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver
Commodores - Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom
Marvin Gaye - I Heard it Through the GrapeNuts
Procol Harem - A Whiter Shade of Hair
Leo Sayer - You Make Me Feel Like Napping
The Temptations - Papa's Got a Kidney Stone
Abba - Denture Queen
Tony Orlando - Knock 3 Times on the Ceiling if you Hear Me Fall
Helen Reddy - I am Woman, Hear me Snore
Willie Nelson - On the Throne Again
“IF I HAVE NOT LOVE ...”
Now, I know that the origins of Valentine's Day may have a pagan feel since it was established in Rome centuries ago, but the main emphasis of Valentine's Day today is filled with expressions of love and appreciation. And we all know what today is…, many people throughout the world celebrate this day with flowers, candy and cards with meaningful messages. Many of you were here last night for our Annual Sweetheart Banquet. Poems will be read and new commitments made to one another. Valentine's Day is a wonderful thing.
Remember the old 1965 song by Jackie DeShannon:
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of ...No not just for some, but for everyone."
The song went on to say, we don't need any more mountains or meadows, but lots more love. Makes sense to me.
The Apostle Paul had a similar idea when he wrote to the Corinthians that I can possess all the characteristics of a Christian, "but have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13:2). In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Paul wrote about what love is;
1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Read this out loud with me, let’s all stand.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (Don’t look at your wife). Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always perseveres. LOVE NEVER FAILS.”
Stay on your feet because I want us to read this again, only this time we are going to do something a bit different. We are to be the love of Christ to a lost world, we are to love our spouse, and we are to be love! But do we practice love? We are going to read this again, but this time we are going to put our own name in the place of love, ready? Everyplace there is a blank add your name, are you ready, now this mat get a little confusing but concentrate.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
“______ is patient, ______ is kind. ______ does not envy, ______ does not boast, ______ is not proud. ______ is not rude, ______ is not self-seeking, ______ is not easily angered, ______ keeps no record of wrongs. ______ does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ______ always protects, ______ always perseveres.
LOVE NEVER FAILS.”
You may sit down.
We have seen it, we have read it out loud, but, do we truly live the message of 1 Corinthians 13? Are we truly love? Do we live it?
John wrote about this topic in his first epistle. "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth" (1 John 3:18). And, again in chapter 4:20, 21: "If anyone says 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar ... Whoever loves God must also love his brother." It would seem to me that the church has a whole lot of self-examination to do, some valentines to send, some more love to pass around.
Note: The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year world-wide. Yet, in spite of all those that are exchanged, the valentines that really matter are the ones we receive and give where love is unconditional, that say, "No matter what ... I love you!"
"... but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13).
1 Corinthians 14:1 says, “Follow the way of LOVE”.
BUT WHAT IS LOVE?
We all want a marriage that lasts, before we get married we are giddy with love, everything is good and everything is right and this is the marriage that will last through eternity. Then we get married and 6 months down the road this is not the person I married. But how many of you realize that you are not the person they married either? We need to know what real love is.
1 John 2:4-6; “The man who says, “I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, GOD’S LOVE is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”
Before we decide if we love someone, if we want to marry them, we need to watch and see if they love God, their life will show it, they should be bearing fruit, we should be seeing fruit.
1 John 3:11 says, “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another”.
There must be love in that person, real, true love.
2 John 6, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”
John 3:16
Jack Kelly is the foreign affairs editor for USA Today and has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He tells the story of a boy’s sacrificial love:
We were in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, in East Africa, during a famine. It was so bad we walked into one village and everyone was dead. There is a stench of death that gets into your hair, gets onto your skin, gets onto your clothes, and you can’t wash it off.
We saw this little boy. You could tell he had worms and was malnourished; his stomach was protruding. When a child is extremely malnourished, the hair turns a reddish color, and the skin becomes crinkled as though he’s one hundred years old.
Our photographer had a grapefruit, which he gave to the boy. The boy was so weak he didn’t have the strength to hold the grapefruit, so we cut it in half and gave it to him. He picked it up, looked at us as if to say thanks, and began to walk back towards his village.
We walked behind him in a way that he couldn’t see us. When he entered the village, there on the ground was a little boy who I thought was dead. His eyes were completely glazed over. It turned out that this was his younger brother. The older brother kneeled down next to his younger brother, bit off a piece of the grapefruit, and chewed it. Then he opened up his younger brother’s mouth, put the grapefruit in, and worked his brother’s up and down. We learned that the older brother had been doing that for the younger brother for two weeks.
A couple of days later the older brother died of malnutrition and the younger brother lived. I remember driving home that night thinking, “I wonder if this is what Jesus meant when he said, and “There is no greater love than to lay down our life for somebody else.”
Herman's Hermits - Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker
The Bee Gees - How Can You Mend a Broken Hip
Bobby Darin - Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash
Ringo Starr - I Get By With a Little Help from Depends
Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face
Johnny Nash - I Can't See Clearly Now
Paul Simon - Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver
Commodores - Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom
Marvin Gaye - I Heard it Through the GrapeNuts
Procol Harem - A Whiter Shade of Hair
Leo Sayer - You Make Me Feel Like Napping
The Temptations - Papa's Got a Kidney Stone
Abba - Denture Queen
Tony Orlando - Knock 3 Times on the Ceiling if you Hear Me Fall
Helen Reddy - I am Woman, Hear me Snore
Willie Nelson - On the Throne Again
Leslie Gore - It's My Procedure and I'll Cry if I Want To
“THE SOLID MARRIAGE”
I want to begin talking about marriage this morning, and what I am using this morning is based on personal study and 31 years of marriage. I will be the first to tell you that I am not an expert on marriage, if you don’t believe me you can ask my wife, and I also know that there are those in this church who have been married longer that we have, but… I am the one preaching. Maybe, just maybe during this series we will get to hear from some of the others in our church who have been married for a while and hear what they have learned about marriage.
Now you may think that this sermon series is only for people who are married, or for couples who haven’t been married long enough to figure out whose boss. But I believe that it is for everyone who is married, has been married or may get married in the future. Many people have ended up divorced or in a miserable marriage because they did not learn what I will be sharing. Much of what I will be sharing is good for every person to learn, married or single.
“THE SOLID MARRIAGE”
I want to begin talking about marriage this morning, and what I am using this morning is based on personal study and 31 years of marriage. I will be the first to tell you that I am not an expert on marriage, if you don’t believe me you can ask my wife, and I also know that there are those in this church who have been married longer that we have, but… I am the one preaching. Maybe, just maybe during this series we will get to hear from some of the others in our church who have been married for a while and hear what they have learned about marriage.
Now you may think that this sermon series is only for people who are married, or for couples who haven’t been married long enough to figure out whose boss. But I believe that it is for everyone who is married, has been married or may get married in the future. Many people have ended up divorced or in a miserable marriage because they did not learn what I will be sharing. Much of what I will be sharing is good for every person to learn, married or single.
“IF I HAVE NOT LOVE ...”
Now, I know that the origins of Valentine's Day may have a pagan feel since it was established in Rome centuries ago, but the main emphasis of Valentine's Day today is filled with expressions of love and appreciation. And we all know what today is…, many people throughout the world celebrate this day with flowers, candy and cards with meaningful messages. Many of you were here last night for our Annual Sweetheart Banquet. Poems will be read and new commitments made to one another. Valentine's Day is a wonderful thing.
Remember the old 1965 song by Jackie DeShannon:
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of ...No not just for some, but for everyone."
The song went on to say, we don't need any more mountains or meadows, but lots more love. Makes sense to me.
The Apostle Paul had a similar idea when he wrote to the Corinthians that I can possess all the characteristics of a Christian, "but have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13:2). In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Paul wrote about what love is;
1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Read this out loud with me, let’s all stand.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (Don’t look at your wife). Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always perseveres. LOVE NEVER FAILS.”
Stay on your feet because I want us to read this again, only this time we are going to do something a bit different. We are to be the love of Christ to a lost world, we are to love our spouse, and we are to be love! But do we practice love? We are going to read this again, but this time we are going to put our own name in the place of love, ready? Everyplace there is a blank add your name, are you ready, now this mat get a little confusing but concentrate.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
“______ is patient, ______ is kind. ______ does not envy, ______ does not boast, ______ is not proud. ______ is not rude, ______ is not self-seeking, ______ is not easily angered, ______ keeps no record of wrongs. ______ does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ______ always protects, ______ always perseveres.
LOVE NEVER FAILS.”
You may sit down.
We have seen it, we have read it out loud, but, do we truly live the message of 1 Corinthians 13? Are we truly love? Do we live it?
John wrote about this topic in his first epistle. "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth" (1 John 3:18). And, again in chapter 4:20, 21: "If anyone says 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar ... Whoever loves God must also love his brother." It would seem to me that the church has a whole lot of self-examination to do, some valentines to send, some more love to pass around.
Note: The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year world-wide. Yet, in spite of all those that are exchanged, the valentines that really matter are the ones we receive and give where love is unconditional, that say, "No matter what ... I love you!"
"... but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13).
1 Corinthians 14:1 says, “Follow the way of LOVE”.
BUT WHAT IS LOVE?
We all want a marriage that lasts, before we get married we are giddy with love, everything is good and everything is right and this is the marriage that will last through eternity. Then we get married and 6 months down the road this is not the person I married. But how many of you realize that you are not the person they married either? We need to know what real love is.
1 John 2:4-6; “The man who says, “I know Him,” but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, GOD’S LOVE is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”
Before we decide if we love someone, if we want to marry them, we need to watch and see if they love God, their life will show it, they should be bearing fruit, we should be seeing fruit.
1 John 3:11 says, “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another”.
There must be love in that person, real, true love.
2 John 6, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”
John 3:16
Jack Kelly is the foreign affairs editor for USA Today and has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He tells the story of a boy’s sacrificial love:
We were in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, in East Africa, during a famine. It was so bad we walked into one village and everyone was dead. There is a stench of death that gets into your hair, gets onto your skin, gets onto your clothes, and you can’t wash it off.
We saw this little boy. You could tell he had worms and was malnourished; his stomach was protruding. When a child is extremely malnourished, the hair turns a reddish color, and the skin becomes crinkled as though he’s one hundred years old.
Our photographer had a grapefruit, which he gave to the boy. The boy was so weak he didn’t have the strength to hold the grapefruit, so we cut it in half and gave it to him. He picked it up, looked at us as if to say thanks, and began to walk back towards his village.
We walked behind him in a way that he couldn’t see us. When he entered the village, there on the ground was a little boy who I thought was dead. His eyes were completely glazed over. It turned out that this was his younger brother. The older brother kneeled down next to his younger brother, bit off a piece of the grapefruit, and chewed it. Then he opened up his younger brother’s mouth, put the grapefruit in, and worked his brother’s up and down. We learned that the older brother had been doing that for the younger brother for two weeks.
A couple of days later the older brother died of malnutrition and the younger brother lived. I remember driving home that night thinking, “I wonder if this is what Jesus meant when he said, and “There is no greater love than to lay down our life for somebody else.”
BLESSED
Can I tell you how proud I am of you? I am. I am extremely proud of you. We had our annual youth dessert auction last week, and by the way, if you missed it, you missed a good one, and we raised over $2000 for the youth, wow, thank you. Also if you saw the financial report for this last month you saw that for the first time since I have been here we went in the red in our account. We were steadily taking in less than we were spending every month last year, and then January came along and giving was down, we had a 5 Sunday month but we had an ice storm and only had income for 4 Sundays. So January we spent over $2200 more than we brought in and ended up $59.45 in the red. I have never seen a negative balance in our checking account, but now I have. And then last Sunday you gave, and as you can see from the report on the back of this bulletin, our offering last week was over $6200, WOW!!! But don’t quit on us now, this isn’t enough to carry us for the entire month, let’s keep on giving with a cheerful heart as it says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (ESV)
Something else I want to brag on you about, it seems that our numbers are up some in worship, Bible study is still floating around 50, but it seems that some are coming in for church. Did you know that 82% of the people you invite to church come? 82% are pretty good odds, that means that 82 out of every 100 will come if they are asked. Did you also know that when someone is invited it makes them feel wanted? And everyone wants to feel wanted, so keep on inviting and bringing and we will keep on loving those who come.
I want you to consider something; I need some people to volunteer to visit our visitors. When we have people come and visit us for the first time we need someone to go and visit them. All you need to do is go and tell them that we enjoyed having them with us. Very simple and easy visit, takes about 5 minutes but it means so much to our visitors. Did you know that we are losing visitors because our people do not go to see them? Sad but true! Will you help?
Something else I want to brag on you about, it seems that our numbers are up some in worship, Bible study is still floating around 50, but it seems that some are coming in for church. Did you know that 82% of the people you invite to church come? 82% are pretty good odds, that means that 82 out of every 100 will come if they are asked. Did you also know that when someone is invited it makes them feel wanted? And everyone wants to feel wanted, so keep on inviting and bringing and we will keep on loving those who come.
I want you to consider something; I need some people to volunteer to visit our visitors. When we have people come and visit us for the first time we need someone to go and visit them. All you need to do is go and tell them that we enjoyed having them with us. Very simple and easy visit, takes about 5 minutes but it means so much to our visitors. Did you know that we are losing visitors because our people do not go to see them? Sad but true! Will you help?
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
BLESSING OR CURSE?
What is the responsibility of a church member?
We all know that the church has certain responsibilities to her members, like praying for you, providing spiritual leadership and guidance, biblical teaching and preaching, fellowship, friendship and love. But what are the responsibilities of the members of the church? Well Sunday morning Bible Study and Worship Attendance, a Public Testimony, to be involved in the ministries of the church and giving. Why do we give our time and money to the church? It is real easy to say, “This is my money, I worked for it and I will keep it.” Robert Morris said in his book, The Blessed Life, “There are over 500 verses in the Bible concerning prayer; nearly 500 verses concerning faith; but more than 2,000 verses on the subject of money and possessions.
Jesus talked about money in 16 of his 38 parables. Clearly, from the Bible’s standpoint, we need to understand money and how to handle it. Why? Because money is actually a test from God.
How you handle money reveals volumes about your priorities, loyalties and affections. In fact, it directly dictates many of the blessings you will (or won’t) experience in life.”
Did you know that the Bible says that we are not to test God, except when it comes to money. God tells us to give our tithes (10% of our income) and offering to the church. He says that if we will, we’ll be blessed, and if not we won’t be. God says in Malachi 3:10, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the LORD Almighty, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!” (NLT) There it is, a challenge from God Himself! He’s not only saying, “I dare you.” He’s saying “I triple dog dare you, go ahead and do it and see if I am not a God of my word.” Did you know that God takes pleasure in blessing you? Let me ask you a question, if you are a giver and you miss a week, say we have an ice storm and don’t have church, or you are gone or sick; do you still give for that week or do you feel like it’s yours to keep? If we do not give all of the tithe to God, He says that we are robbing Him in Malachi 3:8-9, He also says that because of this we are under a curse. Now let me think, Blessing or Curse, I choose Blessing, how about you?
We all know that the church has certain responsibilities to her members, like praying for you, providing spiritual leadership and guidance, biblical teaching and preaching, fellowship, friendship and love. But what are the responsibilities of the members of the church? Well Sunday morning Bible Study and Worship Attendance, a Public Testimony, to be involved in the ministries of the church and giving. Why do we give our time and money to the church? It is real easy to say, “This is my money, I worked for it and I will keep it.” Robert Morris said in his book, The Blessed Life, “There are over 500 verses in the Bible concerning prayer; nearly 500 verses concerning faith; but more than 2,000 verses on the subject of money and possessions.
Jesus talked about money in 16 of his 38 parables. Clearly, from the Bible’s standpoint, we need to understand money and how to handle it. Why? Because money is actually a test from God.
How you handle money reveals volumes about your priorities, loyalties and affections. In fact, it directly dictates many of the blessings you will (or won’t) experience in life.”
Did you know that the Bible says that we are not to test God, except when it comes to money. God tells us to give our tithes (10% of our income) and offering to the church. He says that if we will, we’ll be blessed, and if not we won’t be. God says in Malachi 3:10, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the LORD Almighty, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!” (NLT) There it is, a challenge from God Himself! He’s not only saying, “I dare you.” He’s saying “I triple dog dare you, go ahead and do it and see if I am not a God of my word.” Did you know that God takes pleasure in blessing you? Let me ask you a question, if you are a giver and you miss a week, say we have an ice storm and don’t have church, or you are gone or sick; do you still give for that week or do you feel like it’s yours to keep? If we do not give all of the tithe to God, He says that we are robbing Him in Malachi 3:8-9, He also says that because of this we are under a curse. Now let me think, Blessing or Curse, I choose Blessing, how about you?
Sunday, January 31, 2010
FRUITFUL
This is the second in the series on being fruitful, it was preached on January 24, enjoy...
“WATCHING THE SEED FALL”
MATTHEW 13
Matthew 13:1-9
“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)
Jesus starts off in chapter 13 with a parable, what is a parable? A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Now Jesus gives several parables in this chapter, but He only interprets two and we are going to take a closer look at these two this morning. So let’s take a look at verses 18-23. Now I want you to notice that the seed fell on 4 types of soil, I want you to see that there was nothing wrong with the seed, the seed was not the problem, it was the soil, ¾ of the seed did not grow – they died.
1. THE PATHWAY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:18-19
“Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.”
Now remember Jesus said in verse 4 that some seed fell on the path and the birds came and ate it. Now when Jesus told a parable He used things that were common around Him, so here He is talking about a farmer sowing his crop, and in this day and time farmers used a very crude method to sew his crop. First off every field had a pathway through it so that people did not have to walk around it, so this is the path Jesus spoke of. Next, when the farmer plowed his field his plows were not as we know them, they would just scratch the top at best, and the ground Jesus described here was not rocky as in a lot of rocks, but it was a thin layer of soil on bedrock. So the farmer would scratch the top of the ground and then he would go out and scatter the seed by hand. He did not have a grain drill like we do; he did it all by hand.
So the farmer would scatter his seed by hand and the birds would come along and pick up the seed on the path. Jesus tells us that the birds represent the devil. Now let me tell you something, this should cause everyone of us to examine our own heart. Don’t look around at anyone else, look at yourself.
It’s like this poem;
When you get to heaven
You will likely view,
Many folks there
Who’ll be a shock to you.
But don’t act surprised,
Or even show a care,
For they might be a little shocked
To see you there.
The path represents church members, professing Christians. They heard the Word of God, but it wasn’t a hearing of faith. The Word was not mixed with faith, or if it was, it was a formal, intellectual faith; it was a head salvation and not a heart salvation. To people like this belonging to a church is like belonging to a lodge or a club. It’s something you do because you are supposed to; after all we are in the Bible Belt. These people are in a spiritual deep freeze. Not only do we find them sitting in our churches, we find them sitting home on Sunday morning, or we find them falling out of church and getting into some other activity, or a cult, or an “ism.” You know, Mormonism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism or into something like Islam or New Age or Wicca or whatever. Why? Because they “tried” Christianity and it just didn’t work for them. They didn’t try Christ; they tried the man made version of Christ.
2. THE ROCKY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:20-21
“As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.”
Now these people are just the opposite of the first group, the people in the first group had the seed stolen by Satan, the people in the second group have only themselves to blame, it is the flesh that keeps the seed from producing. These people are not in the deep freeze, they are in the oven – they are warm, emotional, crying, and just really moved. They are like Alka-Seltzer, just a lot of fizz. Like a rocket on a launching pad, making noise but never quite getting into orbit. They have great zeal and energy during special meeting and like a burned out roman candle after the meeting are over.
They are like paper on the road, lying there, and when you run over it, it flies up in the air and then settles back on the road again, waiting for the next car. This is the way it is with a lot of these so-called Christians, when there is a sensational meeting going on, they get really excited, but they have no relationship with Christ, it’s just an emotional high. They are the rocky Christians.
3. THE THORNY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:22
“As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”
With the thorny Christians, the world crowds out the Word of God. The Devil got the Pathway Christians, the flesh got the Rocky Christians, but the world chokes out the Word of God for this group. The cares of the world move in. Sometimes it’s poverty; usually it’s the deceitfulness of riches. It’s interesting that the people at each end of the social spectrum – extreme poverty and extreme prosperity – are the people that are the hardest to reach for Christ. I find that a lot of people have let the cares of this world crowd out the Word of God. Now I have used the word Christian to describe these three types, but I have used it tongue in cheek because I don’t believe that they are Christians at all. They have heard the Word and have only professed to receive it.
4. THE BUMPER CROP
Matthew 13:23
“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (ESV)
These are the ones who hear the Word and receive it, understand it, believe it and live it. Some don’t produce as much fruit as others, some only 30 fold but some produce 100 fold. There must be an understanding of the Word.
Do you remember in Acts 8:26 when the Ethiopian eunuch was riding along in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah and God put Philip in his path so that he could tell the eunuch about Jesus? The eunuch was reading the Word but he didn’t understand that it was about Jesus.
Philip was sowing the seed of the Word of God. This is a kingdom-of-heaven situation as it revels that the Sower, the Lord Jesus Christ, is sowing the Word of God in the world and that the Holy Spirit applies it to the hearts of those who want to believe.
Now Jesus tells another parable, He has already told us that only ¼ of the seed got into good ground, I think that His average is far better than mine, I think for me it’s about 1 in 10 at best, which is about average, some of the big evangelist will say about 3% of theirs can be considered true converts. Jesus had ¼ averages, but now He picks up where He left off.
Matthew 13:24-30
“He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.”
Notice who is asleep? While his men were sleeping, the enemy came. Remember the sower is the Lord, and He neither slumber nor does He sleep. Satan is the enemy, and he sows weeds among the wheat. The weeds are false doctrine, false teachings. There is a lot of that type of sowing going on today.
26 “So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'” (ESV)
When wheat and weeds first begin to grow it’s hard to tell which is which, but when they head out you can always tell, when they get some growth on them you know. A lot of these other religions sound good at first but when they begin to grow you realize that it isn’t Jesus they teach, it isn’t Grace.
You will also notice that the sower, Jesus, knew who was responsible for the weeds, Satan! You will also notice what happens to those who are not of Jesus.
Now let’s hear it in Jesus’ own words.
Matthew 13:36-43
“Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)
The time in which Jesus is talking about is now!
1/24/2010
MATTHEW 13
Matthew 13:1-9
“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)
Jesus starts off in chapter 13 with a parable, what is a parable? A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Now Jesus gives several parables in this chapter, but He only interprets two and we are going to take a closer look at these two this morning. So let’s take a look at verses 18-23. Now I want you to notice that the seed fell on 4 types of soil, I want you to see that there was nothing wrong with the seed, the seed was not the problem, it was the soil, ¾ of the seed did not grow – they died.
1. THE PATHWAY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:18-19
“Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.”
Now remember Jesus said in verse 4 that some seed fell on the path and the birds came and ate it. Now when Jesus told a parable He used things that were common around Him, so here He is talking about a farmer sowing his crop, and in this day and time farmers used a very crude method to sew his crop. First off every field had a pathway through it so that people did not have to walk around it, so this is the path Jesus spoke of. Next, when the farmer plowed his field his plows were not as we know them, they would just scratch the top at best, and the ground Jesus described here was not rocky as in a lot of rocks, but it was a thin layer of soil on bedrock. So the farmer would scratch the top of the ground and then he would go out and scatter the seed by hand. He did not have a grain drill like we do; he did it all by hand.
So the farmer would scatter his seed by hand and the birds would come along and pick up the seed on the path. Jesus tells us that the birds represent the devil. Now let me tell you something, this should cause everyone of us to examine our own heart. Don’t look around at anyone else, look at yourself.
It’s like this poem;
When you get to heaven
You will likely view,
Many folks there
Who’ll be a shock to you.
But don’t act surprised,
Or even show a care,
For they might be a little shocked
To see you there.
The path represents church members, professing Christians. They heard the Word of God, but it wasn’t a hearing of faith. The Word was not mixed with faith, or if it was, it was a formal, intellectual faith; it was a head salvation and not a heart salvation. To people like this belonging to a church is like belonging to a lodge or a club. It’s something you do because you are supposed to; after all we are in the Bible Belt. These people are in a spiritual deep freeze. Not only do we find them sitting in our churches, we find them sitting home on Sunday morning, or we find them falling out of church and getting into some other activity, or a cult, or an “ism.” You know, Mormonism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism or into something like Islam or New Age or Wicca or whatever. Why? Because they “tried” Christianity and it just didn’t work for them. They didn’t try Christ; they tried the man made version of Christ.
2. THE ROCKY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:20-21
“As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.”
Now these people are just the opposite of the first group, the people in the first group had the seed stolen by Satan, the people in the second group have only themselves to blame, it is the flesh that keeps the seed from producing. These people are not in the deep freeze, they are in the oven – they are warm, emotional, crying, and just really moved. They are like Alka-Seltzer, just a lot of fizz. Like a rocket on a launching pad, making noise but never quite getting into orbit. They have great zeal and energy during special meeting and like a burned out roman candle after the meeting are over.
They are like paper on the road, lying there, and when you run over it, it flies up in the air and then settles back on the road again, waiting for the next car. This is the way it is with a lot of these so-called Christians, when there is a sensational meeting going on, they get really excited, but they have no relationship with Christ, it’s just an emotional high. They are the rocky Christians.
3. THE THORNY CHRISTIANS
Matthew 13:22
“As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”
With the thorny Christians, the world crowds out the Word of God. The Devil got the Pathway Christians, the flesh got the Rocky Christians, but the world chokes out the Word of God for this group. The cares of the world move in. Sometimes it’s poverty; usually it’s the deceitfulness of riches. It’s interesting that the people at each end of the social spectrum – extreme poverty and extreme prosperity – are the people that are the hardest to reach for Christ. I find that a lot of people have let the cares of this world crowd out the Word of God. Now I have used the word Christian to describe these three types, but I have used it tongue in cheek because I don’t believe that they are Christians at all. They have heard the Word and have only professed to receive it.
4. THE BUMPER CROP
Matthew 13:23
“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (ESV)
These are the ones who hear the Word and receive it, understand it, believe it and live it. Some don’t produce as much fruit as others, some only 30 fold but some produce 100 fold. There must be an understanding of the Word.
Do you remember in Acts 8:26 when the Ethiopian eunuch was riding along in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah and God put Philip in his path so that he could tell the eunuch about Jesus? The eunuch was reading the Word but he didn’t understand that it was about Jesus.
Philip was sowing the seed of the Word of God. This is a kingdom-of-heaven situation as it revels that the Sower, the Lord Jesus Christ, is sowing the Word of God in the world and that the Holy Spirit applies it to the hearts of those who want to believe.
Now Jesus tells another parable, He has already told us that only ¼ of the seed got into good ground, I think that His average is far better than mine, I think for me it’s about 1 in 10 at best, which is about average, some of the big evangelist will say about 3% of theirs can be considered true converts. Jesus had ¼ averages, but now He picks up where He left off.
Matthew 13:24-30
“He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.”
Notice who is asleep? While his men were sleeping, the enemy came. Remember the sower is the Lord, and He neither slumber nor does He sleep. Satan is the enemy, and he sows weeds among the wheat. The weeds are false doctrine, false teachings. There is a lot of that type of sowing going on today.
26 “So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'” (ESV)
When wheat and weeds first begin to grow it’s hard to tell which is which, but when they head out you can always tell, when they get some growth on them you know. A lot of these other religions sound good at first but when they begin to grow you realize that it isn’t Jesus they teach, it isn’t Grace.
You will also notice that the sower, Jesus, knew who was responsible for the weeds, Satan! You will also notice what happens to those who are not of Jesus.
Now let’s hear it in Jesus’ own words.
Matthew 13:36-43
“Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)
The time in which Jesus is talking about is now!
1/24/2010
FRUITFUL
I am going to post my last two sermons....the first one I preached on January 17, the first in a series, enjoy....
Before I begin today’s message, I need to explain how this came to be. During my down time, after having my prostate removed, I was doing my bible reading, and I was reading Luke chapter 13. And as I was reading, God stopped me and had me reread the verses that I am about to share with you.
“FRUITFUL”
Luke 13:6-9
“Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 8 "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'” (NIV)
After God had me to reread these verses 2 more times, He said this to me, He said,
Before I begin today’s message, I need to explain how this came to be. During my down time, after having my prostate removed, I was doing my bible reading, and I was reading Luke chapter 13. And as I was reading, God stopped me and had me reread the verses that I am about to share with you.
“FRUITFUL”
Luke 13:6-9
“Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 8 "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'” (NIV)
After God had me to reread these verses 2 more times, He said this to me, He said,
“2010, LET THIS BE THE YEAR OF FRUITFULNESS.”
Now He did not say, “2010, The Year of Fruitfulness”, He said “Let this be the year of fruitfulness.” He said that it is a choice; that we must choose to be fruitful.
Let’s take a closer look at these verses. I want you to see how this relates to you. I want to show you today what God is saying to His Church, what He wants us to understand.
Jesus is talking and He says that “a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard.”
Now the fig tree represents the human soul, it represents each one of us, and three years represents an ample amount of time.
The man went to the tree to pick some fruit off of it, but he found none. He said, “For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?”
The vineyard owner expected to get good fruit off of the tree, but instead he received nothing, he turned to the man who actually took care of the vineyard and said, “For three years I have tried to get fruit off of this tree and I have received nothing, cut it down, it just sits here and soaks up water and sunshine and nutrients and gives nothing in return. I am sick and tires of looking at it; cut it down and burn it. It isn’t worth the space it takes up.”
But the vinedresser, the man who took care of the trees and vines said, “Master, let me try harder, I will feed the roots and prune it and water it and do everything that I can to get it to produce, and if it doesn’t produce fruit this year, then you can cut it down and throw it into the fire.”
Now we could say that the man who owned the vineyard represents God and the gardener is Jesus or maybe even pastors. We know that Jesus is our mediator, and we know that pastors are to shepherd the flock, so it makes sense. But more on that in a minute.
Let me ask you this;
Did you know that Jesus expects fruitfulness? Did you know that God expects fruitfulness?
Do you know that Jesus expects us to be fruitful, to be productive for His Kingdom?
There are 3 things I want you to see.
1. God Will Not Tolerate Unfruitfulness!
Matthew 21:18-19
“Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.” (NIV)
Do you know why so many Christians are not happy, or live lives that are so empty? It is because they produce no fruit for the Kingdom of God! When we refuse to be productive for the Kingdom, when we refuse to produce we are miserable.
Matthew 3:8
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” (NIV)
We need to produce fruit, time is short. If you don’t believe me take an honest look at what is going on in our world.
We have been warned.
Matthew 3:10
“The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (NIV)
How long do you think God will give you to become fruitful?
2. God Wants You to be Fruitful!
John 15:1-8
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Jesus expects fruitfulness!
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Now He tells us how to be fruitful! 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (NIV)
Why does Jesus want us to bear fruit? For the glory of God!
3. You Can Produce Fruit!
We are back in Matthew 21, Jesus has spoken to the fig tree and it has withered.
Matthew 21:20-22
“When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked. 21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (NIV)
So How Do We Become Fruitful?
Well we just read in Matthew 21 to have faith in God, we need to have faith that we can be fruitful, that God wants us to be fruitful, and we need to take action.
Matthew 7:7-8
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
So we need to ask God to help us be fruitful, or if you are producing fruit to be more fruitful. Did you know that it is impossible to be fruitful the way that God wants us to be fruitful if we don’t ask God to help us? If we are not willing to ask, then we are not willing to be fruitful.
Then after we have faith that God wants us to be fruitful, and we ask Him to help us be fruitful, we need to seek ways to be fruitful for Him. If we have faith that God wants us to be fruitful, and we ask Him to help us be fruitful, but we never look for ways to be fruitful, will we be fruitful? NO!
It’s like a cartoon I saw once; these 4 guys are pushing this hotrod into the gas station. This car has been built to run, big motor with headers and a blower and an air scoop on top, a full race cam, torsion bars, wheelie bars, wide tires in the back for drag racing, beautiful paint and wheels.
And these guys push it up to the gas pumps and they start checking the air in the tires, oil in the motor, cleaning the glass, shinning the chrome, doing everything they can do, except put in gas.
The owner of the gas station is watching and he asks, “Aren’t you going to put in any gas?”
They say, “No, we spent so much on building the car, we can’t afford any gas.” And they push the car away. They looked good, but didn’t do anything!
If we believe that God wants us to be fruitful, we have faith, we ask Him to help us, but we never look for a place or a way to be fruitful, it’s like having the hotrod and no gas.
And then we need to knock on the door of service. When we have the faith, and we have God’s help, and we have found a place to be fruitful, we need to do it! We need to be involved, be active. A great way, is to teach, or be involved in our outreach, go with us to knock on doors. We need to put our fear behind us and walk in faith.
Ask, seek, and knock show a continuance action, showing that we are to keep it up.
We continue in verse 9; 9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (NIV)
Do you know another reason we will not be fruitful? When we try to mix the ways of this world with God’s ways. Too many Christians today are trying to please their carnal nature and please God, it won’t work.
Last week we learned that the thing God is most concerned about in us is Obedience!
When we are obedient to God and His Word, everything else will fall in line.
Two weeks ago we talked about prayer. I want to close with this verse.
Matthew 18:19-20
“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (NIV)
To be fruitful we must be obedient, and we need a prayer partner or group that will really fervently pray, that will not just say words but will pray until they get through.
1/17/2010
Now He did not say, “2010, The Year of Fruitfulness”, He said “Let this be the year of fruitfulness.” He said that it is a choice; that we must choose to be fruitful.
Let’s take a closer look at these verses. I want you to see how this relates to you. I want to show you today what God is saying to His Church, what He wants us to understand.
Jesus is talking and He says that “a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard.”
Now the fig tree represents the human soul, it represents each one of us, and three years represents an ample amount of time.
The man went to the tree to pick some fruit off of it, but he found none. He said, “For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?”
The vineyard owner expected to get good fruit off of the tree, but instead he received nothing, he turned to the man who actually took care of the vineyard and said, “For three years I have tried to get fruit off of this tree and I have received nothing, cut it down, it just sits here and soaks up water and sunshine and nutrients and gives nothing in return. I am sick and tires of looking at it; cut it down and burn it. It isn’t worth the space it takes up.”
But the vinedresser, the man who took care of the trees and vines said, “Master, let me try harder, I will feed the roots and prune it and water it and do everything that I can to get it to produce, and if it doesn’t produce fruit this year, then you can cut it down and throw it into the fire.”
Now we could say that the man who owned the vineyard represents God and the gardener is Jesus or maybe even pastors. We know that Jesus is our mediator, and we know that pastors are to shepherd the flock, so it makes sense. But more on that in a minute.
Let me ask you this;
Did you know that Jesus expects fruitfulness? Did you know that God expects fruitfulness?
Do you know that Jesus expects us to be fruitful, to be productive for His Kingdom?
There are 3 things I want you to see.
1. God Will Not Tolerate Unfruitfulness!
Matthew 21:18-19
“Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.” (NIV)
Do you know why so many Christians are not happy, or live lives that are so empty? It is because they produce no fruit for the Kingdom of God! When we refuse to be productive for the Kingdom, when we refuse to produce we are miserable.
Matthew 3:8
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” (NIV)
We need to produce fruit, time is short. If you don’t believe me take an honest look at what is going on in our world.
We have been warned.
Matthew 3:10
“The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (NIV)
How long do you think God will give you to become fruitful?
2. God Wants You to be Fruitful!
John 15:1-8
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Jesus expects fruitfulness!
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Now He tells us how to be fruitful! 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (NIV)
Why does Jesus want us to bear fruit? For the glory of God!
3. You Can Produce Fruit!
We are back in Matthew 21, Jesus has spoken to the fig tree and it has withered.
Matthew 21:20-22
“When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked. 21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (NIV)
So How Do We Become Fruitful?
Well we just read in Matthew 21 to have faith in God, we need to have faith that we can be fruitful, that God wants us to be fruitful, and we need to take action.
Matthew 7:7-8
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
So we need to ask God to help us be fruitful, or if you are producing fruit to be more fruitful. Did you know that it is impossible to be fruitful the way that God wants us to be fruitful if we don’t ask God to help us? If we are not willing to ask, then we are not willing to be fruitful.
Then after we have faith that God wants us to be fruitful, and we ask Him to help us be fruitful, we need to seek ways to be fruitful for Him. If we have faith that God wants us to be fruitful, and we ask Him to help us be fruitful, but we never look for ways to be fruitful, will we be fruitful? NO!
It’s like a cartoon I saw once; these 4 guys are pushing this hotrod into the gas station. This car has been built to run, big motor with headers and a blower and an air scoop on top, a full race cam, torsion bars, wheelie bars, wide tires in the back for drag racing, beautiful paint and wheels.
And these guys push it up to the gas pumps and they start checking the air in the tires, oil in the motor, cleaning the glass, shinning the chrome, doing everything they can do, except put in gas.
The owner of the gas station is watching and he asks, “Aren’t you going to put in any gas?”
They say, “No, we spent so much on building the car, we can’t afford any gas.” And they push the car away. They looked good, but didn’t do anything!
If we believe that God wants us to be fruitful, we have faith, we ask Him to help us, but we never look for a place or a way to be fruitful, it’s like having the hotrod and no gas.
And then we need to knock on the door of service. When we have the faith, and we have God’s help, and we have found a place to be fruitful, we need to do it! We need to be involved, be active. A great way, is to teach, or be involved in our outreach, go with us to knock on doors. We need to put our fear behind us and walk in faith.
Ask, seek, and knock show a continuance action, showing that we are to keep it up.
We continue in verse 9; 9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (NIV)
Do you know another reason we will not be fruitful? When we try to mix the ways of this world with God’s ways. Too many Christians today are trying to please their carnal nature and please God, it won’t work.
Last week we learned that the thing God is most concerned about in us is Obedience!
When we are obedient to God and His Word, everything else will fall in line.
Two weeks ago we talked about prayer. I want to close with this verse.
Matthew 18:19-20
“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (NIV)
To be fruitful we must be obedient, and we need a prayer partner or group that will really fervently pray, that will not just say words but will pray until they get through.
1/17/2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
STATE OF THE CHURCH ADDRESS, 2009
Today is the day that I do my State of the Church Address, for those of you who are new to this, I started doing this in 2002, after watching our President’s State of the Union Address. And at that time we were without a physical house of worship, the fire had taken our church building, the Church, the ecclesia, was of course still in tact. We had just broken ground in December and were in the process of moving dirt. I watched the President’s address that night and the Lord showed me that our body of believers needed to know what state we were in. It had been an unusual three months; we were meeting every week in the City auditorium, having to carry everything in and out every week. We were excited that we had finally agreed on what to build and that we were starting to do just that, build. But we were uncertain about what the future held, so the Lord showed me what to say, He said that I was to report on the past year and give plans for the new one. And so I called it the “State of the Church Address.” I continued to do these every year and then I believe it was 2006, I thought that everyone was getting tired of these so I didn’t do one. I was asked towards the end of January that year why I hadn’t done one yet, so I did. So here is this year’s “STATE OF THE CHURCH ADDRESS.”
During 2009 we saw presidential history; we saw history made when Barak Obama was sworn in as our president. We saw the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan increase as the war in Iraq decreased. We saw the economy go into the tank as the recession grew worse and as our elected officials pushed through healthcare reform that will cost the taxpayers billions and sign a stimulus package the we will never got paid off. We lived through all of the swine flu hype and fact and then watched as it wasn’t as bad as any other flu in the U.S. We listened to all of the Climategate people as they tried to tell us how doomed our planet is if we didn’t agree with them, even as they themselves ignored scientific facts that global warming is a natural cycle that the planet goes through, and as a matter of fact we will be in global cooling for the next 50 years.
We saw Edward Kennedy and Michael Jackson die, and we saw a radical Muslim gun down military personal at Fort Hood. And we also saw how a very courageous pilot of a commercial airliner hit a flock of birds and the set his plain down in the Hudson River, sparing all of his passengers and crew. We also saw how another Muslim tried to blow up a plane with explosives in his underpants, making airline travel even more stressful for law-abiding people.
Personally, 2009 was a rough year for our family, we started off driving over 500 miles a week taking Becky to have cancer treatment, and then as she went into remission, we found out that I had cancer, and then that my mom’s cancer had returned. We had our ups and downs during 2009, but we ended on a high note, Becky is still in remission, mother’s treatments are going well, my cancer has been removed and we have another grandkid on the way!!
In our church in 2009 we saw 6 Salvations, 5 Baptisms, 6 New Members and 2 rededications.
As you know I set goals, why? Because numbers are important! People who try to tell you that numbers are not important are just making excuses. Why are they are making excuses, some of them may be too lazy to go out into the hiways and byways and tell people about Jesus, or bring people to church. Or they may be comfortable with things just as they are, or maybe they are trying to cover up for whatever, or it may be many other excuses. Whatever it is, Numbers Do Matter!!
I want to share with you some concerns that are on my heart concerning our church;
1. CORPORATE PRAYER
We need to have more corporate prayer going on in the church, not only do we need to have our personal prayer time, we need to be meeting in prayer groups for the church. We need to get back into the habit of praying with each other for the life and health of this church, this body of believers. If we don’t make this church a matter of priority and concern we will lose it.
2 Chronicles 7:14
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (ESV)
This is a very power packed verse; it starts off saying if we will humble ourselves. If we will not humble our selves it means that we have a pride issue.
Proverbs 11:2
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (ESV)
Proverbs 16:18
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (ESV)
We cannot not let our pride get in God’s way; we must humble ourselves before Him.
And then it says that we are to pray and seek His face, but it is impossible to do that unless we humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways. Did you know that the person who is not willing to humble himself is also not willing to turn from his wicked ways? Why? Because when pride is in the way we are not only unable to see our wicked ways, but we are unable to really pray.
If we are willing to humble ourselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways, then God says that He will hear us from heaven; He will forgive us of our sins and heal our land.
But we must get ourselves out of the way. And a good way to start is with corporate prayer, praying with each other.
2. EMPTY CLASSROOMS
I look around and I see 3 empty classrooms where we used to have no empty rooms and we were looking for more space, and some of the rooms that we do have being used, some weeks no one shows up for class. Our Kidzone classes we have had to combine, going from 6 rooms to 4 because we had some teachers who had to step down and we had no one to replace them.
Acts 5:21
“At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.” (NIV)
We must be willing to teach the people, no matter if they are children or adults, and if we don’t teach, we need to make it a priority to be here.
3. EMPTY CHAIRS
Do you realize that when we fill our classrooms we will also fill our empty chairs? And when we fill our empty chairs we will also fill our empty classrooms?
Colossians 3:16
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (NIV)
4. APATHY
A teacher asked her students one day, “What is the difference between Ignorance and Apathy?” No one answered so she asked little Johnny, little Johnny really didn’t like school, it was a wastes of his time, he never gave the right answers and was always in trouble. So the teacher says, “Johnny, what is the difference between ignorance and apathy?”
Little Johnny looked up and said, “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
And the teacher said, “Correct.” Because ignorance means that you don’t know and apathy means that you don’t care.
What is apathy; lack of interest in anything, or the absence of any wish to do anything, indifference, lack of concern, lack of interest, boredom.
The worst thing that we can do as far as our church is concerned is to not care. We need to fall in love again with Jesus, with God and with the church; we need to get excited again.
Colossians 3:17
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (NIV)
What have we grown apathetic in? What in our church do we not care as much about as we once did? Maybe it’s coming to Sunday school, or worship as we should, or in our giving or some other area. If you were here for business meeting last week, then you saw that giving was down last year
HOW DO WE CORRECT OR IMPROVE ON THESE THINGS?
Hebrews 5:7-8
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” (ESV)
Let me ask you something, what have you learned from what you have suffered?
Do you know what God is most concerned about in your life? OBEDIENCE!
How do we improve the things in our church that need to be improved? OBEDIENCE!
How do we improve the things in our own life that need to be improved? OBEDIENCE!
What does OBEDIENCE mean? It is the act or practice of following instructions, complying with rules or regulations, or submitting to somebody's authority.
What does Obedience mean? Submission, respect, agreement, compliance.
2 Corinthians 10:6
“And I am fully prepared to punish every act of disobedience, when once your submission has been put beyond question.” (Montgomery NT)
We must be obedient in everything God says, we must humble ourselves before God, we must be praying. Do you know one of my favorite prayer times? On Sunday mornings before anybody gets here, that’s when I come in and walk through this church praying for you, for the message today, for this church and for the vision God has given me for this church.
Going back to 2 Chronicles 7:14; We must humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.
Romans 16:25-27
“Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.” (ESV)
2 John 1:6
“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.” (NIV)
So what happens when we decide to improve or to do better or to try and do better? Do you think it will be easy? Anytime that you decide to improve any area of your life, it is really easy to slip back into the way that you were doing things. But we cannot improve by doing things the way we always have, we can only improve by doing them better.
What is insanity? Doing things the way we always have and expecting different results.
We only get better things by doing things better.
When I was a kid, I would gather the ashes out of our fireplace and mix them with water and pour them into a hole. The water would go away and the ashes would be hard, so in my mind I was making concrete. I wasn’t because the ashes would break real easy. Now if I am going to build a house and I decide that I can save money by going around gathering ashes from everyone’s fireplaces, and I mix it with water for the foundation of the house, will it work? NO, because it is just ashes, not concrete.
We cannot do things with apathy and expect excellent results.
Now I want to ask you, what can you improve on? How can you be more obedient?
During 2009 we saw presidential history; we saw history made when Barak Obama was sworn in as our president. We saw the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan increase as the war in Iraq decreased. We saw the economy go into the tank as the recession grew worse and as our elected officials pushed through healthcare reform that will cost the taxpayers billions and sign a stimulus package the we will never got paid off. We lived through all of the swine flu hype and fact and then watched as it wasn’t as bad as any other flu in the U.S. We listened to all of the Climategate people as they tried to tell us how doomed our planet is if we didn’t agree with them, even as they themselves ignored scientific facts that global warming is a natural cycle that the planet goes through, and as a matter of fact we will be in global cooling for the next 50 years.
We saw Edward Kennedy and Michael Jackson die, and we saw a radical Muslim gun down military personal at Fort Hood. And we also saw how a very courageous pilot of a commercial airliner hit a flock of birds and the set his plain down in the Hudson River, sparing all of his passengers and crew. We also saw how another Muslim tried to blow up a plane with explosives in his underpants, making airline travel even more stressful for law-abiding people.
Personally, 2009 was a rough year for our family, we started off driving over 500 miles a week taking Becky to have cancer treatment, and then as she went into remission, we found out that I had cancer, and then that my mom’s cancer had returned. We had our ups and downs during 2009, but we ended on a high note, Becky is still in remission, mother’s treatments are going well, my cancer has been removed and we have another grandkid on the way!!
In our church in 2009 we saw 6 Salvations, 5 Baptisms, 6 New Members and 2 rededications.
As you know I set goals, why? Because numbers are important! People who try to tell you that numbers are not important are just making excuses. Why are they are making excuses, some of them may be too lazy to go out into the hiways and byways and tell people about Jesus, or bring people to church. Or they may be comfortable with things just as they are, or maybe they are trying to cover up for whatever, or it may be many other excuses. Whatever it is, Numbers Do Matter!!
I want to share with you some concerns that are on my heart concerning our church;
1. CORPORATE PRAYER
We need to have more corporate prayer going on in the church, not only do we need to have our personal prayer time, we need to be meeting in prayer groups for the church. We need to get back into the habit of praying with each other for the life and health of this church, this body of believers. If we don’t make this church a matter of priority and concern we will lose it.
2 Chronicles 7:14
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (ESV)
This is a very power packed verse; it starts off saying if we will humble ourselves. If we will not humble our selves it means that we have a pride issue.
Proverbs 11:2
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (ESV)
Proverbs 16:18
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (ESV)
We cannot not let our pride get in God’s way; we must humble ourselves before Him.
And then it says that we are to pray and seek His face, but it is impossible to do that unless we humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways. Did you know that the person who is not willing to humble himself is also not willing to turn from his wicked ways? Why? Because when pride is in the way we are not only unable to see our wicked ways, but we are unable to really pray.
If we are willing to humble ourselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways, then God says that He will hear us from heaven; He will forgive us of our sins and heal our land.
But we must get ourselves out of the way. And a good way to start is with corporate prayer, praying with each other.
2. EMPTY CLASSROOMS
I look around and I see 3 empty classrooms where we used to have no empty rooms and we were looking for more space, and some of the rooms that we do have being used, some weeks no one shows up for class. Our Kidzone classes we have had to combine, going from 6 rooms to 4 because we had some teachers who had to step down and we had no one to replace them.
Acts 5:21
“At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.” (NIV)
We must be willing to teach the people, no matter if they are children or adults, and if we don’t teach, we need to make it a priority to be here.
3. EMPTY CHAIRS
Do you realize that when we fill our classrooms we will also fill our empty chairs? And when we fill our empty chairs we will also fill our empty classrooms?
Colossians 3:16
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (NIV)
4. APATHY
A teacher asked her students one day, “What is the difference between Ignorance and Apathy?” No one answered so she asked little Johnny, little Johnny really didn’t like school, it was a wastes of his time, he never gave the right answers and was always in trouble. So the teacher says, “Johnny, what is the difference between ignorance and apathy?”
Little Johnny looked up and said, “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
And the teacher said, “Correct.” Because ignorance means that you don’t know and apathy means that you don’t care.
What is apathy; lack of interest in anything, or the absence of any wish to do anything, indifference, lack of concern, lack of interest, boredom.
The worst thing that we can do as far as our church is concerned is to not care. We need to fall in love again with Jesus, with God and with the church; we need to get excited again.
Colossians 3:17
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (NIV)
What have we grown apathetic in? What in our church do we not care as much about as we once did? Maybe it’s coming to Sunday school, or worship as we should, or in our giving or some other area. If you were here for business meeting last week, then you saw that giving was down last year
HOW DO WE CORRECT OR IMPROVE ON THESE THINGS?
Hebrews 5:7-8
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” (ESV)
Let me ask you something, what have you learned from what you have suffered?
Do you know what God is most concerned about in your life? OBEDIENCE!
How do we improve the things in our church that need to be improved? OBEDIENCE!
How do we improve the things in our own life that need to be improved? OBEDIENCE!
What does OBEDIENCE mean? It is the act or practice of following instructions, complying with rules or regulations, or submitting to somebody's authority.
What does Obedience mean? Submission, respect, agreement, compliance.
2 Corinthians 10:6
“And I am fully prepared to punish every act of disobedience, when once your submission has been put beyond question.” (Montgomery NT)
We must be obedient in everything God says, we must humble ourselves before God, we must be praying. Do you know one of my favorite prayer times? On Sunday mornings before anybody gets here, that’s when I come in and walk through this church praying for you, for the message today, for this church and for the vision God has given me for this church.
Going back to 2 Chronicles 7:14; We must humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.
Romans 16:25-27
“Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.” (ESV)
2 John 1:6
“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.” (NIV)
So what happens when we decide to improve or to do better or to try and do better? Do you think it will be easy? Anytime that you decide to improve any area of your life, it is really easy to slip back into the way that you were doing things. But we cannot improve by doing things the way we always have, we can only improve by doing them better.
What is insanity? Doing things the way we always have and expecting different results.
We only get better things by doing things better.
When I was a kid, I would gather the ashes out of our fireplace and mix them with water and pour them into a hole. The water would go away and the ashes would be hard, so in my mind I was making concrete. I wasn’t because the ashes would break real easy. Now if I am going to build a house and I decide that I can save money by going around gathering ashes from everyone’s fireplaces, and I mix it with water for the foundation of the house, will it work? NO, because it is just ashes, not concrete.
We cannot do things with apathy and expect excellent results.
Now I want to ask you, what can you improve on? How can you be more obedient?
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