the farmer and the seed

Mark 3:31-35, Matthew 12:46-50, Luke 8:19-21, Mark 4:1-20, Matthew 13:1-23, Luke 8:4-18, Mark 4:21-29

There are four types of soil (hearts) in Christ's parable of the farmer and the seed:

1. hard path - Satan steals away the Word before it sprouts
2. rocky soil - the Word may sprout, but the heart is too hard for it to take root and grow
3. weedy soil - the Word sprouts, the plant grows, but it is in competition with worldly things so it never produces fruit
4. fertile soil - the Word sprouts, the heart is watered, cultivated, and receives plenty of "Son-light" so that the Life of Christ grows an abundant yield of the Fruit of the Spirit is produced!
   

Several observations from Christ's parable of the farmer and the seed:

1. I need to be scattering seed (i.e., sharing the Word of God) every day.  "How can they believe in whom they have not heard?"
2. I am not responsible for the type of soil that the seed lands on, but the Lord will use me to water, cultivate, and kill weeds.
3. I think that a lot of people in The Church have hearts of the third type - choked by the cares of this life, riches, etc.
4. I want to be the fourth type - 100 fold producer.  Practically, it takes a lot of water, nutrients, and energy to yield such an abundant fruit.  The plant must be very efficient in allocating material and energy resources in root, stalk, leaves, and fruit production; an imbalance renders the plant ineffective.

So, what is in my life that makes me type 3 soil?  What does it take for me to be type 4 soil?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for planting your Word in my heart, and thank you for growing the Life of Christ in me.  I pray that you will give me boldness to share the Gospel so that your Word and Life may grow in others.  I pray that you will use me to water, cultivate, and kill weeds in other people's lives.  Lord, please do not let me be distracted by the things of this world; please show me anything that is competing for resources.  Father, please produce the Fruit of the Spirit in my life - a hundred fold!  I ask you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

forgiveness requires a sacrifice

Luke 7:18-35, Matthew 11:1-19, Luke 7:36-8:3, Mark 3:20-30, Matthew 12:22-45, Luke 11:14-26

After the sinful woman washed Jesus's feet, He told her "Your sins are forgiven."

Luke 7:49The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

It finally dawned on me that the reason Christ's statement was so provocative was because when a person has sinned against God, forgiveness requires a sacrifice.  How could this Jesus guy skip the whole sacrifice ordeal?  Christ's statement necessitates at least two realities: 

1. Jesus Christ was fully God, which gave Him the authority to forgive sins
2. Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for forgiveness (past, present, and future)

Love dare - seek to understand your spouse at the deepest level possible.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ.  Thank you for the forgiveness of sins.  Thank you for taking hold of me.  I pray that I will be focused on you and you alone, that I will deny my self, take up my cross, and follow Christ.  Please help me seek to understand my wife.  I pray that you and you alone will be my heart's desire.  I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, the only name by which men are saved.  Amen.

supernatural healing power

Luke 6:17-49, Luke 7:1-10, Matthew 8:5-13, John 4:46-54, Luke 7:11-17

The supernatural power of God was flowing through Christ and healing people.  If I am a Christian ("little-Christ") then, do people around me experience the supernatural power of God at work in their lives?

Luke 6:17He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, 19and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

Love Dare - promote emotional intimacy.  It's really simple when you think about it.  My stupid flesh gets in the way, though.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for this beautiful day!  The sunrise reminds me of one day when Christ will be coming on the clouds!  Holy Father, please draw me close to you and mold me into the image of your Son so that you can pour your Holy Spirit through me and into the lives of those around me.  Please pour your healing power through me; may I be a pure vessel that you can use to glorify yourself.  I pray that you will help me culture intimacy with my wife; help me not be a mechanical husband - help me be a husband that demonstrates the fullness of your αγαπη love.  I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

speck/plank

Matthew 5:21-7:29

I used to think that Jesus's Sermon on the Mount was kind of short, but now I realize that while it might not be that long, it's packed so deep that it will take me the rest of my life to understand it.

The one that jumped out at me the most this morning was:

3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

A couple of months ago, I told a Brother that I thought some of the things he had said were inappropriate.  Man, was that a case study for this verse.  I'm sure I say inappropriate stuff, too, I'm just not as sensitive to it.  Fortunately, this was to a more mature Brother, so he showed me grace when I apologized.  I'm really thankful that I didn't make this mistake with another one of the Brothers that I am in accountability with - it was hurtful the way I went about it.  I have a lot to learn about getting my own stuff straight and then speaking the truth IN LOVE!

Love Dare - pray for your spouse.  Wow, how simple is that, yet how many times to I take her for granted instead of investing time in prayer for her?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the teachings of Christ that instruct me on practical living.  Lord, please help me be a humble man; I am so selfish and conceited.  I need to know you better so that I won't think so highly of myself.  Please help me put other people before me.  Help me know what to pray for my wife.  Lord, I pray that your will be accomplished in my life today.  I ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

too much to do

John 4:27-42, Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:12-17, Luke 4:14-15, John 4:43-46, Luke 4:16-30, Mark 1:21-28, Luke 4:31-37, Mark 1:29-39, Matthew 8:14-17, Luke 4:38-44, Mark 1:40-45, Matthew 8:1-4, Luke 5:12-16

I have been wrestling for some time about how to deal with all of the stuff I have going on.  I oscillate between thinking I am doing too much versus thinking that God is leading me through a challenging season.  I don't know which is the case - perhaps both.  On the one hand, I see that my relationships with my wife and friends are stressed because I'm stressed, but at the same time "to whom much is given, much is expected."  I certainly don't think I'm wasting time on anything worthless, except for what little time I spend watching TV each week.  So, it is interesting to observe the life of Christ and see how He lived; here are a few things I noticed:

Everything He did was prompted by the Spirit:

Luke 4:14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

I don't know if everything I'm doing is prompted by the Spirit.  I need to evaluate what is of the Spirit and what is not.  I don't know how to do that.

He served in three principal functions - preaching the Gospel, discipling, and healing:

Mark 1:39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

I am currently involved in several Gospel and discipling opportunities, and I suppose a few "healing" ministries, but perhaps it's too much.

He was systemically connected to the Father through prayer:

Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

I need to grow a lot in prayer.  I do not pray systematically as I should, nor is my prayer as consistent as breathing (spiritual-physical analogy).

Prayer
Heavenly Father, please help me know what to do.  Thank you that I can always come to you.  I know that you love me and that you have a good plan for me.  Please help me find the balance according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  I pray that I will be consistent in prayer as you pour your love, life, and light into and through me into the lives of those around me.  I pray that my teaching/discipling service would honor you and that you will use me to heal others as Christ did.  Father, please help me honor my wife. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, my model for living.  Amen.

Living Water

John 2:1-4:26

What are the two verses immediately preceding the most famous verse in the Bible?  In his explanation of what it means to be "born again", Jesus Christ recaps one of the most obvious pictures of the Sacrificial Messiah:

3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.  16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

What should my attitude be when I consider the significance of Christ's sacrifice?  Echoing the words of John the Baptist:

3:30 [Christ] must become greater; I must become less.

And just in case the Gospel message in John 3:14-17 is not clear enough, John the Baptist reiterates:

3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.

As a specialist in drinking water treatment, I really enjoy Christ's words to the Samaritan woman at the well:

4:10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." ... 13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for your words of truth.  Thank you that Christ is the Living Water; O Lord, may I drink deep every morning.  I ask that you would overflow me with Living Water into the lives of people around me.  I pray that I would be a conduit of Living Water to my wife.  Lord, please humble me - that Christ would be exalted, and my identity would be found in Christ alone.  Refine me today.  I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Living Water.  Amen.

I want to want

Mark 1:9-11, Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29-34, Mark 1:12-13, Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13, John 1:35-51, Mark 1:16-20, Matthew 4:18-22, Luke 5:1-11

I had a great conversation this morning with a guy I met on the bus sometime ago.  He told me that he has decided to purchase a new car.  As we were packed standing-room-only on the bus, he began to relate to me that he has been having some conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses, and that he is suspicious that their world-view is a little skewed.  While I am certainly not an expert on the beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses, I found this link that seems to detail quite a few misconceptions:  http://www.carm.org/witnesses.htm.  I thank God that he trusts me enough to discuss this with me, and I am amazed that this trust has been established over the last year and a half in 5-10 minute conversations walking from the bus stop to our buildings.  I need to pray diligently that he will not be lead astray, and that the Lord will use this situation to draw him to a better understanding of the true Gospel.

My heart echos the prayer that is the benediction to the first chapter of The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer:

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing, I thirst to be made thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.' Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus' name. Amen."