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Sowing the Seed

2/27/2022

Farming is a familiar occupation.  Many are products of such an upbringing.  I’m one of those.  So, when Pastor Josh began talking about the good seed, he was right down my alley.  It was easy to understand about planting seed in good ground and then, to wait for it to grow.
          Sermon text was Mark 4:26-29.  Yes, it is true, farmers plant and as time passes, the seed grows until it is ready for harvest.  It takes little reflection to realize that God has a hand in raising that crop to its’ fullest.  We just plant the thing.
          While listening to Pastor Josh, it dawned on me that Christians are kind of like farmers.  Our seed is the Word of God.  It’s up to Christians to plant the seed as much as we can to as many as we can.  God takes care of the rest.  And the day of harvest will come.  It’s spoken of in Matthew 13:38,39 and Revelation 14:14-16.
          As an example of how important Christians are in planting the Word of God, Pastor Josh mentioned the evangelist Billy Graham and that there was one who came before him, Mordecai Ham, that influenced Billy Graham as a young man.  It’s a chain that gets formed.
          While researching, I discovered that there is, truly, a chain.  Billy Graham was led to Christ by Mordecai Ham.  It was Billy Sunday who recommended Mordecai preach at the event Billy Graham attended.  It was J. Wilbur Chapman who witnessed to Billy Sunday and it was Frederick Meyer, a pastor who witnessed to Mr. Chapman.  Pastor Meyer, in turn, was led to God by Dwight Moody.  And Dwight Moody was led to Christ by a Sunday School teacher named Edward Kimball.
          The seed, the Word of God, was planted and it spread.  Look at the results.  And it all started with a Sunday School teacher.  It could just as easily start with us.  We don’t really know where it will go.  God just asks that we do His Will and He will do the rest.  What a privilege!

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Spiritual DNA

2/20/2022

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  Lest we forget, before Jesus came to Earth in the flesh and was part of a family. He was a member of the Godhead.  More precisely he was the Word (John 1:14).  To him, Jesus, we owe everything.
          So here he is on Earth.  He’s thirty years old.  John the Baptist has done his job, and it’s time for Jesus to begin his ministry.  He leaves his earthly family and heads for Galilee (Mark 1:15) preaching as he goes.
          Along the way, he asks twelve men to join him.  They do.  Three of them don’t have the best credentials—a thief, a rebel rouser, and a tax collector.  But Jesus isn't checking credentials.
          He makes the religious leaders, the Pharisees, so angry and jealous they could spit nails.  Why are they angry?  Jesus ignores their rules for the Sabbath.  He forgave the sick with palsy of their sins (Mark 2:5), ate with low-lifes and sinners (Mark 2:16), and allowed his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23).  In short, he had blasphemed, violated religious rules, and broken the Sabbath by gathering corn.
          All this gets back to his family and they are convinced he has gone off the deep end.  This was the context of the Sunday sermon taken from Mark 3:20-35.  They decide it’s time to go after their son/brother and bring him back home.  Surely, he has lost his mind.
          Only thing is, when they try to get to him, they’re blocked by all the people who follow him everywhere.  The crush is so complete that it is hard for Jesus even to eat a meal.  So, they get as close as they can and start yelling for him.  They must have been yelling for him to come back home with them.
          Imagine it.  The family he shared DNA with wanted to stop his ministry.  He couldn’t let that happen.  All of us have families that we share DNA with.  What we really need is spiritual DNA.  The kind Jesus offers.  “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…(Romans 8:16-17).”
          Jesus was no longer just theirs.  He had become so much more.  And he did it for all of us, not just a few.  Pastor Josh said, “Today, I would that American would crowd around Jesus like that.  The world has the same problem and the same need.  He, and he alone, can meet the needs that the world has.  Jesus can save the world if they’d just accept him.”

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Cleaning Up the Mess

2/13/2022

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   This world is in a mess. Short story. It was in a mess when Jesus was a young man just beginning his ministry here on Earth. He became immensely popular. But what were their motives for following this young man?
          No so good when you read about it. People were coming from everywhere. Even without technology, news travels fast. Mark 1:28 says, “And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.” Why? Because even the “unclean spirits” obey him (v. 27). Next Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law (v. 31).
          That’s all it took. After that people from everywhere were showing up to be healed. The press on Jesus was so great that he had to have a small ship standing by to withdraw to just to be able to preach (Mark 3: 9). Because of his great love, Jesus healed many. But he didn’t come to Earth to heal infirmities. He came to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
          Jesus probably thought that day, “The harvest truly is great…” (Luke 10:2). There was much that needed to be done. He was limited by his physical body. He needed helpers, “…but the laborers are few” (Luke 10:2). Jesus goes up into a mountain and takes with him the ones he invites. While there, he ordains twelve. The ones that we know as the Twelve Disciples (Mark 3:14).
          First, though, he calls them to be with him. Later he will send them to preach. And then to have power to heal and cast out devils. His ministry was carried on by the Twelve. Through Jesus and them the message of God’s love, mercy, grace, and salvation has been carried on down all these generations. (From the crucifixion to today it would be 81 or 101 depending on how you want to count it, 25 or 20 years.)
          The world is in a mess. We already have the message of Jesus Christ our Savior. What we need now is for more Christians to be with Jesus and then to follow his call. That’s what the Twelve did. And it made all the difference.

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God's Way, Not Our Way

2/6/2022

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Imagine what went through people’s minds when Jesus called a tax collector to be a disciple!  That’s right.  His name is Levi (later changed to Matthew) and it’s recorded in Mark 2:14.  Not only that, Jesus went to Levi’s house to eat with Levi and his friends.  It was probably a kind of celebration for Jesus calling him to be a disciple.
          There’s proof that this dastardly deed took place.  Proof, yes, the scribes and Pharisees followed Jesus and saw him with their own eyes.  How is it possible for a religious person to sit down and eat with these low-life publicans and sinners?  That’s the question they posed to the disciples of Jesus.
          It’s a familiar story even in today’s world.  Some circles call it guilt by association.   Parents teach their kids from an early age to be careful who they choose as friends.  It’s an axiom.  An old country song, Friends in Low Places, says “Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots, And ruined your black-tie affair” reflects how ingrained this sense of status permeates our society.
          “In the world we see people who are determined things are going to be a certain way.  But God has already determined the way things will be.  People say ‘It’s my truth’ when they actually mean ‘It’s my experience’.  Truth lies outside of personal experiences.”  Words spoken by Pastor Josh in our Sunday service.  The point is Jesus called Levi, Levi got up and followed him.  And the Pharisees wanted to have a snit over it.
          Jesus heard it and said that if you’re whole, you don’t need a doctor and that he didn’t come to call the righteous but to call sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17).  Interesting that the Pharisees didn’t confront Jesus but picked on his disciples.  Remember that Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well and offered her living water.  And the criminal on the cross went with Jesus to paradise.
          What of the Pharisees?  Jesus had a long discourse with them.  It’s in John chapter 8.  Jesus told them point blank that those who did not believe that he was the messiah would die in their sins (John 8:24).  Only God knows what became of them.

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Sowing the Seed

Spiritual DNA

Cleaning Up the Mess

God's Way, Not Our Way

Linda Johnson

Andrea Strong

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