Brother Bill Sunday Evening 6/8/14

Brother Bill Sunday Evening 6/8/14

Our spiritual garden:  The word of God doesn’t ever get old.  The words that we have read for many years can still affect us. 

The seeds we plant in the spiritual garden:

Gal 6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Gal 6:8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

This thing of sowing and reaping is greater than I have realized.  What we have been taught is that every sin has a reaping.  There is no action taken that doesn’t have a reward.  The consequences of sin may be greater than what we even realize. 

In planting our seeds, you young ones learn this principal and really get it down, that you will really reap what you sow; it is an important principle for our lives.

I was meditating on the thought of sowing and reaping:  the choices that people make, we don’t have a God that says, “If you don’t choose me, I’m going to get you for that.”  God is really a good God.  The thing is that to the seeds that we sow there are really consequences. 

See if people don’t serve God and choose their own way and then they get companions in the world, God will not force your companion to get saved even if you do.  See the picture of the automatic conflict and reaping that will come?  That is just one example.

The seeds that you plant in the natural realm, if you plant tomato seeds you will get tomatoes.  If you plant knapweed then you will get knapweed. God has instituted that if you plant good seed then you will reap good seed.

If we plant the right seed it is certain that we will get a good harvest in our individual life.

Gal 6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

In our unsaved families, there was drama and turmoil.  The scripture says the way of the wicked is like the restless sea, a churning and turmoil of the water hitting the dirt and turning it up and up. 

If you plant the right seeds, according to the scripture, you shall reap if you faint not.  If you plant the wrong seeds, it is going to be certain that you will reap the consequences of it.  You will not get by with it no matter the side of the track that you were raised on.

It is good that God has made available that we can reap good consequences because of sowing the Word of God.

Pro 12:14  A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him.

You will get what you labor for.

Hos 10:12  Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

Sow in righteousness and you will reap in mercy.  You will reap the good things from God.  The Word of God is so sure that you can count on it that you will reap good things. 

It is time to seek the Lord.  The sooner you sow good seed, the less bad seed that you will reap.

I got saved when I was sixteen years old.  It was as early as God dealt with me in truth.  The only thing that I would have changed, even in the years that I did get saved, I would have done a better job of serving God. 

You young ones have a beautiful opportunity, you can serve God in your youth and he will be just as real to you as anyone.  He is no respecter of persons.  You have a golden opportunity to serve God even younger than I.

Pro 11:31  Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.

The wicked and the righteous will be rewarded here in this life.  They will be rewarded in the earth.  We have promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.  God can bless us now and there is a good reward after this life.

Luk 8:11  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

The seed that you want to plant is the Word of God.  In the Gospel it talks of the different types of soil.  The one that had the good soil planted the seed into the earth. 

Luk 8:15  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

It takes time to grow.  In all truthfulness, it has taken time for me to grow.  I am still trying to grow.  Don’t worry if you are not a flash in the pan.  Throughout the years I have seen those that have gotten the oil hot in the pan and you let it warm up good and the steak gets on there and the sizzling lasts a short time. 

There are times when people come around that are just flashes in the pan, they flare up and then are gone.  Don’t worry about it if you are not a flash in the pan.  Bring forth fruit with patience.  It takes time to grow.  The main thing is that we keep growing.

Luk 8:18  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

Take heed how you hear.  Get that Word in your heart and take heed how you hear. 

Pro 4:18  But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

The design is that as we walk with God we will have more and more light.  We will have a better and a better understanding on how we can please God.  I want God to help me to please Him.

How can you be successful in your spiritual garden? 

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

Eat the word of God and it will help you grow.

Psa 109:4  For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

I give myself unto prayer.  We need to give ourselves to prayer to be successful in our spiritual garden.  We must keep this up.  Not that we have to read and pray for an hour, but put your heart into it.  Pray.

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

God will work to help us with our spiritual garden in pruning us.  Next month I will be 55 years old.  At my age I still need pruning.  If I make it to 80 and still have my mind, I am still going to need pruning.  I have not reached the place where I have no need to grow.

Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

We cannot bear fruit except we abide in Him and He in us.  I have noticed that I really need God in my life.  It may sound comical, bringing it that way, but I really need to draw from Him.  If I don’t then I mess up; I fail of the grace of God.  I have to keep contact with Him to be successful in my walk with Him.

Abide in Him and Him in you. 

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

If we will abide in Him as He wants us to then we will bring forth much fruit.  Without Me you can do nothing.  Without God we cannot do it.

Joh 15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

It is imperative that we abide in Him if we don’t then we will be cast off and men will gather us.

Joh 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

We have a God that will do this.  Abide in Him and He in us.  Then when we have prayer requests “God help me to be fruitful and abide in you,” then He will do it.

Joh 15:8  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

God is glorified when we are fruitful.  He will help us.

Joh 15:9  As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

Joh 15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

The way to abide in Him is by keeping His word.

1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

As we walk in this life with our spiritual garden there is need for upkeep.  That hill where we are pulling weeds, the weeds were not there when we pulled them last spring.  More weeds came up. 

I have noticed that I have to work to purify myself even as He is pure.  There will be some things that will start to come up.  Sometimes you look and say, “How did that get there?”  Pull it up.  The way to do it is to ask, “Lord wash me of this.  Dig it out by the roots.” 

There will be a continual weeding of your spiritual garden.  We have to dig it out and burn it up.  Sometimes I dig something out and let it lay and it sprouts.  With dandelions, if you pick a flower, unless you burn it, it will still go to seed.  The professional people not only take care of it but incinerate it.

Mat 13:31  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

Mat 13:32  Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

What is the plan of God for a spiritual tree?  You get to the place where you grow and the fowls of the air can lodge.  Others can benefit by your tree, by your garden.  God intends for us to edify one another.   Others benefit by our shade and by our fruit. 

God wants us to go forward so that we can be a benefit to each other that way.

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 6/8/14

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 6/8/14

The desire of the Angels:

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

It is marvelous that the angels desired to grasp what was available to men and women whose lives were in the process of perishing and then Jesus came.

1Pe 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

We are preaching this morning from an epistle written by one of the first converts of Jesus Christ. 

Mat 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mat 4:18  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

Mat 4:19  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Mat 4:20  And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

I was thinking of the thought of repentance recently.  It is what God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God designed so that mankind could deal with their past and be right with God.  It is to turn away from our past and to repent and confess and turn to God.

AD 31 Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  31 years later, if it is as the historians say, Peter wrote the epistle of Peter.  He was inspired of God to write First Peter.  He wrote it and addressed it to those that are scattered and strangers. 

He begins verse 2 with the thought of, “To the elect.” 

1Pe 1:2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

It is wonderful that we are called and we elect to choose to serve God.  It is a choice to serve God and I’m glad that we can make that choice.

God has a plan that we be saved, sanctified, and then for the peace to be multiplied.  The taxations, the uncertainty of our day is greater maybe than when my parents were traveling to Montana.  One reason may be because we have greater inputs from news.  Another may be these are the last days and as the scripture says, “As in the days of Noah, people will be eating and drinking and giving in marriage.”

I am shocked at how few people have respect to the first day of the week that is to be set aside and worshipped God in.  The best thing that we can do for Sister Margaret, she needs to be loved and cared for, but we must keep our priorities right so that we can have the reality of the Spirit of God in our life. 

There are a million of religious people that the vitality of the spirit of God is not alive in their life.  We must have God first so that we can be our best in the church of God and as we take the Word to the lost and dying world.

The way my sins got washed away is by the blood of the lamb.  I didn’t have money, cattle, or children to offer.  On the old rugged cross Jesus shed His precious blood that made an atonement for my sin.

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

“I am saved by His mercy”, a song.  This is what Peter said, “According to His abundant mercy begotten us again to a lively hope.”  Isn’t it wonderful that you can have a lively hope, that you can be saved, sanctified, have fellowship with the saints, and even though all men don’t speak well of you, we are saved by mercy.

When things go adverse and people begin to shoot poisonous arrows with their tongues, and modern technology, you are blessed to be saved.

This hope is not only for this life.  We have hope in this life but we have hope of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled.

1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

Isn’t it wonderful that that inheritance cannot be defiled?  There is no one that can mess it up as long as you and I stay true to God.  Anything that we would be in line for here it is such a short duration.  There is an inheritance incorruptible. 

Think of heaven, there is absolutely no immodesty.  Think of how wonderful that will be.  There will not be one individual with an ugly spirit. Or an individual with the attitude, “I’m going to get this one or that one.” 

There is one thing that counts and that is that we know that we have come through the blood of the lamb and that I know my inheritance is clear.

Jesus said that He’d go and prepare a place.  There will be no homeless there; everyone will have everything that they need.  There will be lots of children there.  It is a place of much singing and such music.  I would not want to miss it.

“Oh I would not want to miss it, walking up those streets of gold, with the saints and martyrs blood-washed playing on their harps of gold.”  Think of you and I being with those that gave their lives and wrote these marvelous epistles.

You stay true to God and the promise is true.  You have an inheritance, undefiled, imperishable, unable to be eaten up with anything, reserved in heaven for you.

No wonder the angels wanted to look into this.

Those that kept sweet in the times of losses.  Those that stayed true no matter what the crowd said. 

We are headed to a place where there will be no shortage of being able to get around.

What is this that the very son of God would give His life so that children don’t have to be all marred by sin?  That bright mind of these children: you don’t have to let it perish by being warped, by what’s wrong in the school or what is wrong with whomever in the crowd that would try to influence you. 

Think of how blessed we would be if we never had our past come to our mind.  My cousin is still living in the past instead of the present.  There is a way out of it, repentance.  You children don’t have to go that way.  You can keep your minds pure. 

Moms and dads are to teach their children, but it is up to the child to make the choice, “I’m not going to be disobedient or give myself to the lust of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life.”  Children face it when they are not very old.

You don’t have to give in to anything.  You can be kept by the power of God through faith in God.

1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

There may be pressure that would try to move you away from being what God would have you to be but through faith in God you can be kept.

1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

When the trials and disappointments come and they will come.  When the one that you thought would be a rock chooses to not be anywhere around to support you, that is life.  When difficult seasons come, remember that the trial of your faith is more precious than gold that perishes. 

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Think of the congregation of hard workers.  All that hard work in the tie plant, as loggers, all that we work for will all perish, gone, gone, gone. 

Listen, the trial of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes though it be tried by fire…

All that you went through, all that was gained and lost: The trial of your faith, “I’m holding onto God.  He is the one that will see me through.”

1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

When the trial comes or things are going good, hold onto God.

Isaiah 61 a prophecy of Jesus that He would bind up the broken heart.

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

The prophets received and looked at the promises.   They tried to grasp it.  The angels look and wonder.

That heart that was so broken… a broken heart is a part of life.  Some of you have experienced heartbreak that no one else knows.  Isaiah and the prophets read this and thought, “How can this be?”  The angels looked, “How can this be?” 

Then Jesus came.  Luke records, “I will heal the broken hearted.”  Life will leave you with a broken heart but if you openly confess to God, “Life has left me broken, I am not here to blame anyone, I want to be healed for the honor of God, so I can love, so I can work, so I can forget the past and step out, so I can go forth.”

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

He came to preach the gospel to the poor: those that realize that they need the gospel.  He came to heal, not just to patch up and bind.  He said, “I will heal the broken hearted.”  

He said, “I will preach deliverance to the captives.”  Isn’t it wonderful that you can be totally delivered from lust, from a faultfinding or a mean spirit.  Sweet and bitter water doesn’t come out of the same fountain.

Recovering of the sight to the blind:  The prodigals need their sight recovered.  So they can see that the pleasures of sin do not recover what they have lost by leaving God.  I know what real pleasure is.

Liberty.  If you are bruised, if life has beat you up and you feel that you are about to fade away, when you feel, “If something doesn’t happen then this bruise will turn into bitterness and I will be lost,” Jesus came to heal the bruised.  To heal those things that would have worked toward bitterness.

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

I want a ladder into my mind from heaven.  Not from Superior, not from Plains, not from the Kelly’s of west Virginia.  Gird up your mind. 

The riches or bestowment of His grace:  The inspiration of the Divine shining into our heart and then reflecting out.  Bestowment: We are so blessed to know about the grace of God.

As obedient children:  I’m not going to ask how tender these children are.  They need to be so tender that knowing just by the look from your mother what she wants you to do, that you are obedient. 

Not fashioning yourself: don’t go down that road again.

1Pe 1:14  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

1Pe 1:15  But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

Be holy in all your conduct.  Be holy when you go to the bank, when you have a picnic be holy.  Be holy in your business.  Be holy in all manner of your conversation. 

1Pe 1:16  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1Pe 1:17  And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

There is no respecter of persons with God.  He requires holiness out of this congregation and out of this preacher.