Recently, I knew a Local man who just up and packed up and moved 1800 miles across the country, because he was tired of the location and didn't like it any longer.
Only to discover, that when he had reached his new location he liked it even less than the location that he left
and then decided he wanted to return to the original place that he didn't like..because he realized he liked it more than he thought he did
Our Location seldom changes our circumstances, the players are usually the only thing that changes, life is the same wherever you may go.
Psalms 127:1,2 MSG
1-2 If God doesn’t build the house,
the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn’t guard the city,
the night watchman might as well nap.
It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late,
and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don’t you know he enjoys
giving rest to those he loves?
Never in the history of the world have there been so many bored, restless people, and so much technology and things available for people to do
Conversation has all but been replaced around the table, after supper, with the advent of the smart phone.
And Lord forbid that your battery is about run down, after a full day of phone calls, endless text and meaningless web searches of I wonders...
And to think, that you might have to actually entertain yourself and communicate the old fashion way and talk to one another face to face.
You see it a lot more in the younger generation and you often wonder if they could ever actually entertain theirselves,
without something that has a battery in it, or is connected to the TV.
And you try to tell them, when I was a kid we used to go outside and entertain ourselves with no help at all
And they look at you, like you must be joking if you think I'm going to do that
Recently, I rediscovered gardening again.
Who knew all the useless information that our parents taught us when we were kids, kicking and screaming all along the way, would one day come in so handy.
Have you ever noticed that when you plant a seed you may forget about, but that doesn't stop it from doing what it was meant to do,
Low and behold..when you come back later to it...you discover a miracle...
you find it grows where you planted it?
It doesn't complain about the location, or it's circumstances, or what it cant seem or not seem to do, for whatever reason, it just does what it was meant to do right where it is.
Seed time and harvest is a law that God created and people still marvel at today ..it a process that happens and actually takes place.
Eventually that seed germinates and grows into the plant it was meant to be and bears fruit.
In the right set of hands, one kernel of corn could be a fortune for one person and just a small snack for another.
Whenever you take a seed and plant it, given the correct conditions it will grow.
It is an amazing truth of God's plan for everything, including us!
We are the same, were where we are at for a reason, we are meant to grow where God has planted us.
Then Why is it that so many Christians fail to flourish in life?
Life, with all the curve balls it seems to throw us, does not have the power to dictate, though some would think that it does...what happens in our lives.
The Word of God clearly tell us the way we can flourish no matter where we are!
this is what TBS. Psalm 92:12, 13 MSG
12 The righteous as a palm-tree flourisheth, As a cedar in Lebanon he groweth.
13 Those planted in the house of Jehovah, In the courts of our God do flourish.
What does it say?
Those who attend..Those who visit occasionally?
No, those who are planted in the house of the Lord.
Oh yes, there's one other thing..we must not forget the benefits of doing so..those who are planted in the house of the Lord...TBS. "They Flourish"
You see, Anyone can just visit a church and not be planted there.
Some folks call it just visiting...some call it a lot of things...I call it church hopping..been going on forever..and church's all over the globe suffer from it!
You should have a servants heart...and always be willing to do more for Gods kingdom and the local church..then you are trying to receive from it!
By doing so..the opposite happens to you..you always receive more back from The Lord, then you give! Amen?
If you don't believe me...you should try it sometime and you will find out why TBS "it is more blessed to give than receive" you could never out give God if you tried!
Being planted in a church means...
that you tithe to that church,
you serve at that church,
you help others in the church,
you talk well of the church and all of its members
you listen to the word that comes out of that church and apply it to your life, even when you think it's always for someone else!
When your planted in a church..it means you value the church,
the pastors, the leaders, the message..the hope it brings and the people it is trying to reach
It means a commitment of faithfulness and loyalty to God and His message of the Gospel to all!
In Proverbs 28:20 NKJ TBS
“A faithful man will abound in blessings.”
Loyalty and faithfulness to God and the church always results in God’s blessings in the lives of those who practice this.
And why are we being loyal and faithful?
Because God loved us enough to send His only Son to die for us and thus rescue us from the punishment of sin, even though we didn't love Him
Do you remember the song, "oh how I love Jesus" and why? because He first loved us! Amen?
How quickly we are to forget when we just aren't feeling the love in the local church the way we think we ought to.
Even when we were unlovable and had nothing to offer Him, He loved us....
If there was no other reason, wouldn't that alone be enough? Amen? Well come on now!!
Jesus rescued us from our sin and God gave us His Holy Spirit to guide us and gave us the church,
so we could serve and bring others into the same knowledge and understanding that we have.
The church is not a hotel for the saints, its a hospital for sinners,
it's a place even when the whole world tells you your nobody, the love of God lets you know that you are somebody
If you are planted here then you need to make a difference, where you are planted.
Did you hear me? Church's all over the globe..need people to step up, get involved and start making a difference, touching lives for the kingdom..
If your looking for just the right program...lol with that...and I guess you might find one somewhere..if you look hard enough
But here's a thought..maybe God is really speaking to you to get involved and help start that program your so busy looking for...
The rewards and fruit produced from your efforts with Gods Help...could be amazing!
The mega church down in the next town running 1000 people..how do you think they got where they are...
because at some point in time somebody became faithful and started giving back in their back yard...
Realized it wasn't just about them..saw the bigger picture..got involved started helping in ministry...and as a result were ministered to in the process!
When you plant a seed, if you leave it where it is and water it with the word...it is going to grow...
None of us are here by accident, we are all here for a purpose....
I believe God has planted us all here and I also believe that if God has planted us here, then we should grow and produce fruit..where we are planted.
If you are in a church and are fed and watered by the Word of God..you will grow
It's God's law of seedtime and harvest
Genesis 8:22 MSG
For as long as Earth lasts,
planting and harvest, cold and heat,
Summer and winter, day and night
will never stop.”
There is an urgency to this message..I'm going to tell you something you don't hear nearly enough..
"Jesus Christ is coming back very soon for His Bride"
For those who are not ready..it's not going to be pretty..
It is time for people all over the world, to find their place in the kingdom of God, to be found faithful and loyal to God
and to the church and its mission..start making a difference and begin to yield fruit for the Kingdom of God.
We need to understand that nothing in this life is guaranteed except this,
God loves us, Jesus died for us, the Holy Spirit is willing to help us..and the church helps us to be able to help others avoid eternal damnation!
Sadly in the church in America there are millions of people who call themselves Christians..but are failing to produce fruit!
What did Jesus do to the fig tree that failed to produce fruit? He cursed it!
I'm not saying that they should be cursed..but one day they'll be asked and held accountable as to why they failed to produce fruit for the Kingdom!
TBS in James 4:17...to him who knoweth to do good and doesn't..it's sin!
MSG..As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil.
Those are strong words..but those aren't my words..there Gods! Amen??
If people would begin to grow and produce fruit in the churches they have planted in and just be faithful...
the church could easily accomplish what it is called to do.
gifts and talents from God are and were meant to be used to build His Kingdom and glorify His name.
There is no exception to this rule.
1st Peter 4:7-11 MSG
7-11 Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!
Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it
Everyone has something to offer the church they are in...There are no exceptions to this rule...the question is will they?
Sadly there are so many in our churches today across this city, across this state, across this nation who feel they have nothing to offer...
If you are a child of God, washed by the blood of Jesus..and you're still alive..then you have something to offer,
something unique, something special..it's called knowledge and God has given it to you and you should be sharing it!
When people within the church are not willing to use and release their gifts and talents for The Lord....churches die as a result from it!
John 15:1-8 MSG
15 1-3 “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.
4 “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
5-8 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.
Each and everyone of us, have many different opportunities to minister in our church and in our community.
There are many different ways we can help build the Kingdom of God. But what good is it to have all these opportunities...if no one is willing to take advantage of them!
During Superbowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years.
Looking like the bedraggled Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand.
When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her.
She gives a simple, "Thank you."
But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, "If I may ask, what was in that package after all?"
She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, "Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds."
Just Like the contents in that package, the resources for growth and strength are available for every Christian who will take advantage of them.
Matthew 24:36 NKJ
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,[a] but My Father only.
Time is short friends, the only things that truly matter, are the things we do for the kingdom of God.
TBS Jesus is returning for a glorious church, let us all be found faithful to do our part..to make it standing room only on the good old Gospel Ship and present Him with nothing, but our very best!
Amen? Amen!
Let us pray
