VIDEO Invasive Threats and Parable of the Sower

And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. Matthew 13:7

 

One afternoon in May 2018, a conservation biologist in the Pobitora National Park in India was riding his elephant on an inspection tour when he saw something alarming—the growth of a “bushy herb with small green leaves and creamy white flowers.” It’s called congress grass, and it’s a highly invasive plant that has damaged ecosystems in more than twenty countries around the world. Park officials worry they won’t be able to stop the plant from spreading and suffocating the natural plants that are fed on by their one-horned rhinos. It’s a constant fight against time and the invasive plant.¹

Jesus warned that the worries of life and the deceitfulness of riches are highly invasive threats to our spiritual health. When it comes to worry, we have to trust Him with our cares and keep His peace guarding our heart and mind. When it comes to the deceitfulness of wealth, we need to give generously to God’s work, which helps to keep our possessions in perspective.

To keep your spiritual health strong and vibrant, avoid earthly distractions that occupy your time and obscure your vision.

[Our hearts are] filled with a vast quantity, and, as I may say, a thick forest, of thorns… I do not say to root out, but even to cut down the thorns!
John Calvin

1. https://india.mongabay.com/2019/03/assams-rhino-habitat-overtaken-by-invasives.

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Pastor Greg Explains the Parable of the Sower

Use Your Voice

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.  1 Corinthians 12:4

 

I was invited to meet a world-renowned pianist. Since I grew up immersed in music—playing the violin and piano, and primarily singing solos for church and other events—I was thrilled at the opportunity.

When I arrived to meet the pianist, I realized he spoke little English; and to my surprise he provided a cello for me to play—an instrument I’d never touched. He insisted that I play and he would accompany me. I screeched out a few notes, trying to mimic my violin training. Finally admitting that I was lost, we parted ways.

I awoke, realizing the scenario had been a dream. But since the musical background presented in my dream was true, in my mind lingered the words, Why didn’t you tell him you could sing?

God equips us to develop our natural talents and our spiritual gifts for others (1 Corinthians 12:7). Through prayerful reading of the Bible and the wise advice of others, we can better understand the spiritual gift (or gifts) that is uniquely ours. The apostle Paul reminds us that whatever our spiritual gift, we’re to take time to find it and use it, knowing that the Spirit distributes the gifts “just as he determines” (v. 11).

Let’s use the “voices” the Holy Spirit has given us to honor God and serve other believers in Jesus.

By:  evanmorgan

Reflect & Pray

What’s your spiritual “voice,” and how can you use it today? Why is it wrong to want others’ spiritual gifts?

Father, show me how You’ve gifted me and how I’m to use those gifts for others.

God Is Always With You

Hebrews 13:5-6

Craig Stowe served on a naval ship during World War II. As his vessel prepared for an attack, the commanding officer lined up the men. As usual, a volunteer was needed to ride out the battle in the crow’s nest and send pertinent information to the captain. No one stepped forward. Then, Stowe heard the Lord speak to his heart: I’ll be with you up there, as I am down here. The young man volunteered, and he endured without a single scratch. In fact, he reported that no harm even came near him.

Years later, Mr. Stowe told this story to his Sunday school class of teenage boys. The truth in that adventure made a profound difference to one of the students, who came from a difficult and chaotic home situation. He never forgot the life-changing message: “God is always with you no matter where you are.”

I was that young man. As I matured in my faith and studied Scripture, God confirmed what Mr. Stowe had taught me. I saw that Jesus stressed His abiding presence to His disciples. He knew how quickly a sense of rejection would settle in after the crucifixion. Moreover, potentially discouraging hardship awaited them as they carried the gospel to the rest of the world. So the Lord promised a Helper who would remain with Christians forever—the Holy Spirit.

Every day of a believer’s life is lived in the presence of Christ through His Holy Spirit. He comforts during hardship, encourages amidst difficulty, and strengthens in times of weakness. The benefits of a relationship with God are not postponed until heaven; we walk with Him now and always.

There Are Life’s Uncertainties

Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5)

Many times along life’s way we face uncertainties, opposition, and even doubt. When we do, it is helpful to recognize that those who lived with Christ when He was here on Earth faced the same perplexities. His answers and assurances to them in John 14 are meant for us as well.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” He said (John 14:1)—an emphatic command that could be rendered “Don’t continue to be troubled.” The solution: “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” We believe God can supply all the answers to our troubles. But Christ is God! He is the solution. He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6), and is the only solution, for “no man cometh unto the Father, but by [him].”

He is the way: “In my Father’s house are many mansions. . . . I go to prepare a place for you. And . . . I will come again, and receive you unto myself” (14:2-3). Whatever else may befall us, our destiny is  sure. His reputation is at stake, for He has promised a place in the Father’s house.

He is the truth: Peter had just been informed of his coming denial (13:38), that he would openly assert a lie. Jesus said He is “the truth.” “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but of the Father that dwelleth in me” (14:10). Words and thoughts not in accordance with His are not “truth,” we can be sure of that.

He is the life: Speaking of His imminent death, Christ said, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards” (13:36), indicating their own eventual persecution and martyrdom. Yet their ultimate victory, as well as comfort (14:16-18), were assured.

How can those things be? “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,” Christ said, “that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (14:13). JDM

Salvation Not Available Apart from Obedience

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

—Ephesians 2:10

Therefore, I must be frank in my feeling that a notable heresy has come into being throughout our evangelical Christian circles—the widely accepted concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need Him as Savior and we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord as long as we want to!…

I think the following is a fair statement of what I was taught in my early Christian experience and it certainly needs a lot of modifying and a great many qualifiers to save us from being in error.

“We are saved by accepting Christ as our Savior; we are sanctified by accepting Christ as our Lord; we may do the first without doing the second!”

The truth is that salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred Scriptures. Peter makes it plain that we are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience” (1 Peter 1:2).   ICH001-002

Lord, as I rejoice in the free gift of salvation, by grace through faith, remind me regularly that it is a salvation unto good works, that we’re saved to serve. Amen.

 

The troubles of my heart are enlarged

The troubles of my heart are enlarged: Ob, bring Thou me out of my distresses.—Psalm 25:17.

 

Low at His feet lay thy burden of carefulness,

High on His heart He will bear it for thee,

Comfort thy sorrows, and answer thy prayerfulness,

Guiding thy steps as may best for thee be.

J. S. B. Monsell.

 

The greatest burden we have to carry in life is self. The most difficult thing we have to manage is self. Our own daily living, our frames and feelings, our especial weaknesses and temptations, and our peculiar temperaments,—our inward affairs of every kind—these are the things that perplex and worry us more than anything else, and that bring us oftenest into bondage and darkness. In laying off your burdens, therefore, the first one you must get rid of is yourself. You must hand yourself and all your inward experiences, your temptations, your temperament, your frames and feelings, all over into the care and keeping of your God, and leave them there. He made you and therefore He understands you, and knows how to manage you, and you must trust Him to do it.

Hannah Whitall Smith.

 

A Plentiful Refreshment

“Their soul shall be as a watered garden.” Jer. 31:12

Oh, to have one’s soul under heavenly cultivation; no longer a wilderness, but a garden of the Lord! Enclosed from the waste, walled around by grace, planted by instruction, visited by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, and guarded by divine power, one’s favored soul is prepared to yield fruit unto the Lord.

But a garden may become parched for want of water, and then all its herbs decline, and are ready to die. O my soul, how soon would this be the case were the Lord to leave thee! In the East, a garden without water soon ceases to be a garden at all: nothing can come to perfection, grow, or even live. When irrigation is kept up, the result is charming. Oh, to have one’s soul watered by the Holy Spirit uniformly — every part of the garden having its own stream; plentifully — a sufficient refreshment coming to every tree and herb, however thirsty by nature it may be; continually — each hour bringing not only its heat, but its refreshment; wisely — each plant receiving just what it needs. In a garden you can see by the verdure where the water flows, and you can soon perceive when the Spirit of God comes.

O Lord, water me this day, and cause me to yield thee a full reward, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.