Four Seasons Of Life Part 2 Series

Four Seasons of Life – Part 2

Fall

Scripture: James 4:7-8; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

This is part two of my series the “Four Season of Life.” Last week I talked about our spiritual winters and this morning we will be examining our spiritual fall. As a recap from last week, I told you that the Holy Spirit gave me an analogy about how we experience spiritual seasons. He told me that “The further you are away from Christ the colder you are and the colder you become. Remember, love is warm.” As I thought about what He had revealed, I began thinking about how to convey that message to you so that in these times in which we are living, we can determine what spiritual season we are living in and, if necessary, make the decision to choose to be in the season that God wants us to be in with Him.

I told you last week that a season is a period of the year that is distinguished by special climate conditions (or spiritual changes). The four seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter, follow one another regularly. Each has its own light, temperature, and weather patterns that repeat yearly. I told you that seasons occur because the Earth tilts on its axis relative to the orbital plane either towards the sun or away from it. When the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the sun, the sun’s rays hit it for a greater part of the day meaning it gets more hours of daylight. The opposite is true in the winter when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun and there are fewer hours of daylight. Seasons have an enormous influence on vegetation and plant growth while winter typically has cold weather, little daylight, and limited plant growth. New Light, we need to understand something very important about seasons. Just like they impact vegetation and plant growth, which have life in them, seasons also have an enormous influence on us mentally, emotionally and also spiritually. And the interesting thing is this: seasons can impact one without impacting the other. And, just as vegetation grows in the spring and summer, we experience spiritual growth when we are in our spiritual springs and summers. Last week I focused on winter and how our spiritual winters are reflective in how we respond to those around us. When we are experiencing a spiritual winter, the love of God which flows through us gets cooler and cooler until it is hard to determine if it is present at all. New Light, if we take care of our spiritual seasons, then we will have less difficulty when it comes to dealing with “seasonal attacks” on our mind and emotions. This morning I will be focusing on fall. In the natural, autumn is represented by temperature drops and trees losing their leaves. Things are still growing, but not as they were. Fall is represented as a transition period from summer to winter.

In the natural, in the fall (or autumn) the weather begins to get colder and many plants stop making food. It is easy to identify that fall is beginning because the leaves on the trees begin to change their color. Deciduous trees shed their leaves as the leaves change from green to red, orange, yellow or brown before falling. Also during the fall there is less sunlight because the days are shorter. The season of autumn is largely associated with harvest time. In western cultures, this is the time when various harvest festivals are celebrated. These are a few of the things that takes place in the fall in the natural. So let’s talk about the spiritual.

As I closed the message out last week I shared with you that fall signifies the start of the shifting (tilting) away both spiritually and in the natural. I introduced you to the article I read from the Cultural Research Center that talked about how American Christians are redefining the faith; how Christianity is undergoing a “post-Christian Reformation.” I close the message with what was recorded in James 4:7-8. It says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Before I go into the heart of the message on fall, I want to share with you some of the findings from the “American Worldview Inventory 2020” which surveyed 51 beliefs and behaviors among Christian groups and found that rather than Christians transforming the culture around them with biblical truth, the culture is transforming Christians with unbiblical beliefs and values. As you listen to the results of this survey, I want you to remember what Paul wrote in Romans 12:2. He said, “And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2) Here are some of the key findings showing that Christianity is rapidly conforming to the values of the post-Christian secular culture: