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February 18, 2015

Pros and Cons of Looking Back

I recently was doing my morning Bible readings and was in the passage about Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot and his family living there. I read the passage where the angels grab Lot, his wife, and two daughters and get them out of the city. They were told not to look back but Lot's wife did and was turned into a pillar of salt.

It got me thinking about the good and bad of looking back. Sometimes, we look back fondly. We look and remember old memories, old special times with loved ones or from childhood. There's nothing wrong with that. I actually think sitting with your spouse and talking about times when you were dating or when you first got married can spark and ignite new passions! Memories are dear to us. They tug at our heart strings and always hold a special place within us.

Sometimes looking back can help us to evaluate where we need to make changes or make different decisions than those made in the past. In other words, this looking back evaluation can help us to learn from mistakes.

Sometimes looking back, especially if done too much or too often, can keep us stuck. Who hasn't known someone who is stuck in the past? We all know people who like to re-live the glory days of a particular sport they were involved in while they re-tell the same old stories over and over. Some people never move past an old relationship and this keeps them from ever allowing themselves to fully love again. Some people are stuck in another decade (but hey, if they wait it out, it will eventually come around again right?!). Their clothes, hairstyle and home decor is maybe from the 70s, 80s or 90s. What? the 90s was really 15-20 years ago! wow! Time sure flies! Have you ever been stuck looking back? I think we all have had times where we are guilty of that. I know I have been. I have looked at different times in ministry life and even before full time ministry and wondered if God would ever allow things to be that good and blessed again. Sometimes I get discouraged looking forward and feel like the good days are over and it is just a hanging on til Jesus returns. Guilty! But then I get a kick in the pants sometimes from myself (hard to do but I've done it!) and sometimes that kick comes from someone else -- from the words they say or remind me of. Sometimes the kick comes straight from God....from reading His Word or from the man of God He has chosen to preach to me. Whatever the kick, it jolts me back to reality and keeps my eyes forward and up! I reckon, I occasionally need to re-read my post about being future sighted!

I must daily remember that as long as I have breath, I have opportunity for giving glory to God and doing for Him. I need my looking back to be fondly, to be an evaluation of past things that work and do not work and to actually stay in the past and to press forward!

February 2, 2015

Preparing the Field - Lessons from the Farm Series 1

Once there were two farmers that during a drought, prayed for rain but only one of them went out and prepared his field. Which one trusted God to send the rain? This little story helps us to remember that while prayer is important; it is also important to put feet to prayers. Ex. You can't just pray for a job - you have to go out and apply for a job.

Prov. 24:27 - Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. (shows us to prioritize and do first things first)

Hos. 10:12 - Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. (if we sow righteousness we will reap mercy, we must till up good ground, not ground full of weeds, thorns & rocks, and we must do some planting)
           - fallow means tilled but unplanted or inactive

When getting ready to plant you must prepare the field first. You must PLOW the ground (break up sod or hard ground). You must then TILL the ground (break up the dirt further), You must then FERTILIZE the ground (to add nutrients to soil & help plants grow). When a farmer or gardener does this they do it believing a harvest will eventually be reaped. In the same way that the farmer in the story who prayed for rain and then prepared the field.

In this lesson we will look at three different fields in our lives and ways to prepare these fields for the service of God.

1. Field of Your Heart - need to get your heart right
      - Ps. 4:4 - (check your heart)
      - Ps. 51:10 - (ask God to clean your heart)
      - Ps. 19:14 - (good daily prayer)
      - Ps. 51:17 - (God wants us sorry for our sin)
      - Ps. 66:18 - (prayers are not heard if un-confessed sin is harboring)

2. Field of the Church - Ex. 26:1
      - God gave specific details about how tabernacle should look - He cares about our building

1 Tim. 3:14-15
      - Paul wrote to Timothy how he should behave in the house of God - covers a broad area including teaching children respect for the building, and adults and their attitudes & conduct

Ps. 100:4 - come to church being thankful & praising God

Ps. 96:8 - Come with an offering (financial, praise, thanksgiving)

Rom. 16:1 - Phebe was a servant - become a servant with a servant's heart - pitch in and help!!

3. Field of the World - 2 Cor. 6:1-10
       - you prepare this field by your testimony & conduct, no matter the circumstances of how others are acting
       - show compassion and charity towards others so the ministry is blameless - don't give people a reason not to like church or church people!
  
2 Cor. 9:6 - sow alot of seeds - the more seeds sown, the more likely to reap a harvest

Ps. 126:5-6 - weep over lost souls you know, pray for them to be reached by someone
       - the fact that there is weeping says it may be hard, there may be work for you to do to reach them

Luke 13:6-9 - a parable that shows not to give up on someone too soon - the vinedresser asks for time ( a year) to break up the ground around the plant and then fertilize it & if it still doesn't produce then it may be cut down
        - the way we break up the ground around a person is by being kind and showing compassion to their hard heart
        - the way we fertilize around them is by giving them the Word of God