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.