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Plant * Harvest * Repeat by Pastor Andy

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reaping and sowing

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

6Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
8And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
10For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
11Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 12So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.
13As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. 14And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you.15Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

Green Thumbs

Planting and harvesting is one of my favorite word pictures from the bible. You put something into the ground and more of the same thing comes up.

My son Beale has developed a green thumb. This year for Easter, he received a small trowel and several packets of seeds. He promptly cleared space in one of our flower beds and planted his seeds. He waters and checks his little seedlings on a daily basis. Already we are noticing the truth in verse 6 – plant a little and get a lot back.

Beale loves the law of planting and harvesting.

Paul shares on this law here and in Galatians 6. Jesus teaches from it in Luke 19 and Matthew 13. Old Testament authors refer to sowing and reaping in their writing (Psalm 112; Proverbs 11).

The law of planting and harvesting is an important principle to God. If it’s important to God, it’s important to us. We need to incorporate it in every area of our lives – especially finances.

Plant, Harvest, Repeat

In this passage, Paul points out a critical component. God begins the process.

In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources…(vs 10)
Yes, you will be enriched in every way…(vs 11)

God sows in us, so we can reap rewards. Unfortunately, too many people stop there. They experience the grace of God, but they don’t repeat the process. They simply receive the increase and hold it.

God expects us to reinvest – sow back into others.

…and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. (vs 10)
…so that you can be generous. (vs 11)

God plants in us, so we can harvest the benefits. Then we can turn around and sow in others. Why? So God can reap glory!

So two good things will result from this ministry of giving — the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. (vs 12)
As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. (vs 13)

It doesn’t end there. When we plant into others, they harvest the blessing and plant back into others!

And they will pray for you with deep affection…(vs 14)

Wow. A few seeds planted. An entire crop harvested.

Thank God for this gift is too wonderful for words! (vs 15)

Today, take stock of your life. Financially, what has God planted in you? How are you to reinvest that into others?

The Joy of Giving by Pastor David

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Worship – Since Your Love – United Pursuit Band

Yesterday, Pastor Chris preached a great message on giving.  In his sermon, he referenced a Harvard Business research article written by Michael Norton which suggests that the old adage, “Money can’t buy you happiness,” is wrong.  Money can in fact buy you happiness if you spend it right.  In Michael’s TED talk he describes the happiness one receives in giving rather than receiving.

 

Mr. Norton, whether he realizes it or not, is highlighting a 2,000 year old principle that Jesus preached to His followers,
“It is more blessed to give than to receive”  Acts 20:35 NLT

 

In the original Greek “blessed” can also mean happy.  In other words, Jesus tells us– you are more happy when you give than when you receive.   I’m sure many of us would agree that giving is a wonderful thing in which to participate.  Yet, the action of giving is more difficult than meets the eye.

 

Why is it that giving is so hard to do?

 

Because giving requires sacrifice.  And by and large we don’t like to sacrifice.  Sacrifice costs something.  It isn’t free. It comes with a price.

 

A certain joy therefore only comes about by sacrifice.  Some happiness is wrapped up in surrender.  Jesus also taught us, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” Matt 6:19-20 NLT

 

The act of storing up treasures in heaven is partly done in the way in which we give.  We store up by giving away.  It’s a paradox.  But Christian spiritual principles usually are.  The first shall be last, the humble are exalted, the meek inherit the earth.  God urges us to experience true happiness through sacrifice.

 

This week I’d like you to spend 5 minutes a day in prayer to God.  The focus of our prayers this week will include us asking God what He would have us give.  What is He asking you to sacrifice?  It’s a difficult question to ask, yet for those who are willing to be obedient,  I guarantee that you’ll experience great spiritual joy!  Go ahead, I double-dog dare you!!

 

At 6:48 AM or PM, (set your phone alarm) I’d like you to:

 

Exalt Him
Ask what you should give
Thank Him for His blessings in your life

 

 

Don’t Worry…EAT! – Pastor David

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STRONG GOD – Desperation Band

4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

The Grammy Award-winning Song for 1989 was, “Don’t Worry!” Remember that one? The first verse of the song went like this:

Here’s a little song I wrote

You might want to sing it note for note

Don’t worry, be happy

In every life we have some trouble

When you worry you make it double

Don’t worry, be happy

Don’t worry, be happy now

It was a catchy little tune with quite a bit of truth laced throughout. However, it was missing one key ingredient, PRAYER. Much like the song, Paul urges believers to let go and relax. He is simply restating one of the commands of Christ in Matthew 6:25-34, “don’t worry about anything.”

That’s a strong command. It’s a difficult command too because there are a lot of things to worry about in life. The bills, our health, the kids, the job, the school, the country, the world, the “you fill in the blank”.

There are so many things that can distract us from the life of Christ. If we are not careful though, we will feed on the wrong things and find ourselves with terrible indigestion.

You see, Jesus knows when we feed ourselves with worry it only brings harm into our lives.

In our passage for today, we are encouraged to gorge ourselves on JOY. Read the passage again, verse 4 states, ALWAYS be full of JOY in the Lord. I say it again-rejoice! Then a little bit further into the text we read: Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, and right and pure and lovely and admirable.

When we EAT and fill ourselves with Joy and all of these other beautiful things our spiritual body is strengthened.

So let me leave you with this thought: Don’t get indigestion from EATING the wrong things, FILL yourself with JOY by EATing the right things. Remember, at 6:48 we are all EATing together!

**E**xalt God

**A**sk God

**T**hank God

Don’t worry, PRAY

Oh and here is a link to that happy song! Don’t worry…

Christian Chat – By Pastor Matt

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Song: Restless

Artist: Audrey Assad

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

James 5:13-18

For the first thirteen or so years of my life I lived on a little street called Knodishall Dr. It was a decent enough street, long and straight, with a big downhill right in middle. As you might imagine, this created a bit of a problem: cars would fly down our street.

So, the people responsible for the safety of our community took action. First, there was the stop sign at the top of the hill. Then, there was the stop light. But finally, they called in the big guns…the rumble strips.

I was just a kid. I’ve got no idea if they were effective. But I do know they were loud. Every few yards the sound of cars bumping over those rumble strips. It was almost rhythmic. B-bump, b-bump, b-bump.

Reading through James’ letter reminds a bit of that street from my childhood. Seems like every few sentences you’re running over the same bump: the way we talk matters. Every couple of yards, rumble strip. A warning – pay attention to what you say. He cares an awful lot about how Christians talk and how that talk affects the community.

Just before our reading today, James has challenged his readers not to make oaths (5:12). Have integrity in your speech – plain talk. Let your yes…be yes. Think about it – typically, it’s when you’ve broken trust or lacked integrity that your speech is full of oaths. I swear I’ll never… Or, I promise I won’t… Rumble strip.

Just before that bit on oaths? James says stay away from grumbling against each other (5:9). B-bump. Before that? Careful with boasting (4:16).  B-bump. Before that? Don’t speak evil against others (4:11). B-bump. Before that? Quarrelsome and selfish chat (4:1-3). B-bump. Before that? Boasting (again) and falsehood (3:14). Before that? The tongue and hellish flames, deadly poison, and cursing (3:8-10). Before that? You get the idea.

All of it divisive, corrosive, and destructive to the Christian community.

And then we hit this passage in James 5: Pray, sing, confess. A different kind of chat. An entirely different mode of…talking. And this kind of chat? It takes suffering and sickness and sin…and somehow works life and healing and salvation.

So today, as you E.A.T. (Exalt, Ask, & Thank), know that what you’re doing in that moment…it matters. It makes a difference. It takes suffering and sickness and sin and invites God to work life and healing and salvation. Bon appetit!

Keep on EATING! by Pastor David

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You can have it all, Lord – Worship

It’s time to EAT!

Good morning (or possibly evening)! For many of you it may be very close to 6:48. As our theme is prayer, I am challenging all of us to EAT each day this week at 6:48AM or PM.

  • Exalt
  • Ask
  • Thank

We chose 6:48 based on our theme scripture – James 4:8 –

So come close to God, and God will come close to you…

Luke 18:1-8

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

I don’t know about you but I usually don’t like to wait for things. I remember being in a Wendy’s restaurant a few years ago. The lady behind the counter took my order and then apologized. She exclaimed, “I’m sorry would you like to order something else? We can’t have your burger ready for about 3 1/2 minutes? I looked at her and said, “Yeah, I’ll get something else.” As I looked at the menu it dawned on me, I just said no to an order because I didn’t want to wait 3 1/2 minutes. As my mind began racing I realized, I was not in a hurry, had no particular place to be and was saying no to a meal because it would not be ready for 3 1/2 minutes! What’s wrong with me? I looked at the woman behind the counter and smiled, “on second thought,” I said, “I’ll gladly wait.”

As I reflected on that moment it became clear to me that our culture does not value waiting. We want everything now. Everyone is in a hurry. Everyone is busy. Everyone has a million things to do. We live in a culture where speed is valued.

Jesus, however, taught us to wait. He taught us to be patiently persistent.

The widow in Jesus’ parable was patient in her persistence. In other words she persistently applied pressure to the judge but did not take justice into her own hands. She knew who could give true justice and appealed to him for the solution.

As believers we are instructed by Jesus to persist in our prayers. We are to pray always. We are to ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking (Mat. 7:7) Persistence is a virtue in the Christian faith. Yet we are not to take matters into our own hands. At the end of the day we are to trust God for his verdict in our situation.

What about you? What are you praying about? Have you given up on a certain request? Have you fainted and given up? Jesus is speaking to you today, to not lose heart. He wants you to be persistently patiently. Re-engage your heart with your Heavenly Father and begin to ask Him to help you with those things that have not been answered in your life. Don’t give up!

Keep on asking…it’s the kind of faith that pleases the Father!

What are you persistently praying for?: