Good Soil

4 When a great crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from one city after another, he spoke to them in a parable: 5 “A farmer went out to scatter his seed. As he was scattering it, some fell on the path where it was crushed, and the birds in the sky came and ate it. 6 Other seed fell on rock. As it grew, it dried up because it had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorns grew with the plants and choked them. 8 Still other seed landed on good soil. When it grew, it produced one hundred times more grain than was scattered.” As he said this, he called out, “Everyone who has ears should pay attention.” 9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “You have been given the mysteries of God’s kingdom, but these mysteries come to everyone else in parables so that when they see, they can’t see, and when they hear, they can’t understand. 11 “The parable means this: The seed is God’s word. 12 The seed on the path are those who hear, but then the devil comes and steals the word from their hearts so that they won’t believe and be saved. 13 The seed on the rock are those who receive the word joyfully when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while but fall away when they are tempted. 14 As for the seed that fell among thorny plants, these are the ones who, as they go about their lives, are choked by the concerns, riches, and pleasures of life, and their fruit never matures. 15 The seed that fell on good soil are those who hear the word and commit themselves to it with a good and upright heart. Through their resolve, they bear fruit. (Luke 8:4-15, CEB)

How do we make sure our life is good soil?

How do we make our hearing of God’s word not be the path, or rocky ground, or thorny plants? We don’t want the word to be stolen, or not take root or be choked out. We need the word of God to take root and help us to be trees planted by streams of living water that flourish and grow.

How do we do this?

Can we control the kind of soil we are?

We can meditate on God’s word and trust what God tells us, and try to make God’s word a part of our life.

Choose to follow and believe and that is a place to start.

Love People. Love God.

Eternal life

We know that if the tent that we live in on earth is torn down, we have a building from God. It’s a house that isn’t handmade, which is eternal and located in heaven. 2 We groan while we live in this residence. We really want to dress ourselves with our building from heaven— 3 since we assume that when we take off this tent, we won’t find out that we are naked. 4 Yes, while we are in this tent we groan, because we are weighed down. We want to be dressed not undressed, so that what is dying can be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who prepared us for this very thing is God, and God gave us the Spirit as a down payment for our home. (2 Corinthians 5:1-5, CEB)

We must realize that the eternal is already here. We have eternal life now, and this life is merely a stepping stone to the time we will spend with God.

We are weighed down by this life and all that happens here, but this is only a part of our journey. Keep moving forward and know that we are already, but not yet, there.

Go into the world and share the love that God has give you.

Love People. Love God.

What to do?

7 The end of everything has come. Therefore, be self-controlled and clearheaded so you can pray. 8 Above all, show sincere love to each other, because love brings about the forgiveness of many sins. 9 Open your homes to each other without complaining. 10 And serve each other according to the gift each person has received, as good managers of God’s diverse gifts. 11 Whoever speaks should do so as those who speak God’s word. Whoever serves should do so from the strength that God furnishes. Do this so that in everything God may be honored through Jesus Christ. To him be honor and power forever and always. Amen. 12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised about the fiery trials that have come among you to test you. These are not strange happenings. 13 Instead, rejoice as you share Christ’s suffering. You share his suffering now so that you may also have overwhelming joy when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are mocked because of Christ’s name, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory—indeed, the Spirit of God—rests on you. 15 Now none of you should suffer as a murderer or thief or evildoer or rebel. 16 But don’t be ashamed if you suffer as one who belongs to Christ. Rather, honor God as you bear Christ’s name. Give honor to God, 17 because it’s time for judgment to begin with God’s own household. But if judgment starts with us, what will happen to those who refuse to believe God’s good news? 18 If the righteous are barely rescued, what will happen to the godless and sinful? 19 So then, those who suffer because they follow God’s will should commit their lives to a trustworthy creator by doing what is right. (1 Peter 4:7-19, CEB)

Above all show sincere love to each other.

We do not know what someone else is going through, what trials they are undergoing. We see only the tip of the iceberg that is their life and what is holding them down might just might be undone by your love and grace to them.

Love frees the soul and allows the person to be who God created them to be.

Love People. Love God.

lamp under a basket?

21 Jesus said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp in order to put it under a basket or a bed? Shouldn’t it be placed on a lampstand? 22 Everything hidden will be revealed, and everything secret will come out into the open. 23 Whoever has ears to listen should pay attention!” 24 He said to them, “Listen carefully! God will evaluate you with the same standard you use to evaluate others. Indeed, you will receive even more. 25 Those who have will receive more, but as for those who don’t have, even what they don’t have will be taken away from them.” (Mark 4:21-25, CEB)

Have you ever put a lamp under a basket? Why have the lamp at all?

There are reasons things exist and to use them for the contrary is defeating the purpose. And everything we think we have hidden away will be made known to all.

God knows all of your secrets and still loves you.

So go into the world and share that love. Do not hide yourself. But share the love that you have been given!

Love People. Love God.

Speak to others

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn’t come preaching God’s secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. 2 I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. 3 I stood in front of you with weakness, fear, and a lot of shaking. 4 My message and my preaching weren’t presented with convincing wise words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. 5 I did this so that your faith might not depend on the wisdom of people but on the power of God. 6 What we say is wisdom to people who are mature. It isn’t a wisdom that comes from the present day or from today’s leaders who are being reduced to nothing. 7 We talk about God’s wisdom, which has been hidden as a secret. God determined this wisdom in advance, before time began, for our glory. 8 It is a wisdom that none of the present-day rulers have understood, because if they did understand it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory! 9 But this is precisely what is written: God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being. 10 God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, including the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-10, CEB)

Have you evert gotten up to speak to a group of people and just were petrified?

You are in good company. Paul, the person who started many gatherings for worship in communities in the early church also had issues speaking to people. He confesses it was not him but God speaking through him.

So know when you get up to speak that God is with you.

And speak truth in love.

Love People. Love God.

Comforting?

After this I looked and there was a door that had been opened in heaven. The first voice that I had heard, which sounded like a trumpet, said to me, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in a Spirit-inspired trance and I saw a throne in heaven, and someone was seated on the throne. 3 The one seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and surrounding the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald. 4 Twenty-four thrones, with twenty-four elders seated upon them, surrounded the throne. The elders were dressed in white clothing and had gold crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came lightning, voices, and thunder. In front of the throne were seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God. 6 Something like a glass sea, like crystal, was in front of the throne. In the center, by the throne, were four living creatures encircling the throne. These creatures were covered with eyes on the front and on the back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion. The second living creature was like an ox. The third living creature had a face like a human being. And the fourth living creature was like an eagle in flight. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings, and each was covered all around and on the inside with eyes. They never rest day or night, but keep on saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is coming.” (Revelation 4:1-8, CEB)

As you read that vision were you comforted?

A rainbow that looks like an emerald…

Twenty-four thrones with twenty-four elders in white clothes with crowns…

Lightning, voices, and thunder came from the throne…

Torches and a glass sea…

Four living creatures with 6 wings each and completely covered in eyes, on their front and back, all over.

This is not a comforting scene to me. It is a little creepy and makes me wonder.

This is what heaven is like, no rest, constant praising, and the creepy creatures watching…

How do we take parts of the book that leads us to a better understanding of God and our relationship with them? I say we read it and read it again and see what the context is, and if we still don’t get it, that is ok. The disciples lived with Jesus for 3 years and they didn’t get everything Jesus said either.

Faith is believing what we can’t see and having hope in what we do not understand.

Ours is to know that God loves us, and everything else will fall into place.

Love as you are loved.

Love People. Love God.

born anew?

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.” 4 Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?” 5 Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don’t be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8 God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said, “How are these things possible?” 10 “Jesus answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things? 11 I assure you that we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you don’t receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. 17 God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:1-17, CEB)

You must be born anew this translation says. If you have read or heard this passage in worship before you probably heard this as born again. This is the place we hear about being born again. And of course of that is what Nicodemus was told he would be confused. I mean how can a person enter their mother’s womb again and be born again? At least anew is a little easier to understand.

But does anew really get it?

The word in the Greek means again, anew, or from above. Which then it makes a whole lot more sense to me. You have to be born of water and of Spirit. Now everyone who is born on earth is born of water. There is a lot of fluid that is water like at a birth. And the Spirit enters a person when God so chooses for it to happen. So if you have the Spirit, you are born of water and the Spirit, and this is born from above, or anew.

Not reentering the mother’s womb, but done by God.

Know you are a part of the kingdom and go and help others know that too.

Love People. Love God.

Hate you

18 “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, I have chosen you out of the world, and you don’t belong to the world. This is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you, ‘Servants aren’t greater than their master.’ If the world harassed me, it will harass you too. If it kept my word, it will also keep yours. 26 “When the Companion comes, whom I will send from the Father—the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 You will testify too, because you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:18-20, 26-27, CEB)

If it feels like you are fighting the world and the world doesn’t like what you are standing for, maybe you are in the right place. Jesus was hated by the established leadership because he stood for something they didn’t. Not that they didn’t love God, it was just that they loved their own power more than what God was calling them to be/do.

Sometimes it is hard for us to let go of what we want and do what God is leading us to.

Sometimes our privilege gets in the way.

Let the world hate you, you will be in good company!

Love People. Love God.

Belong

9 But you aren’t self-centered. Instead you are in the Spirit, if in fact God’s Spirit lives in you. If anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, they don’t belong to him. 10 If Christ is in you, the Spirit is your life because of God’s righteousness, but the body is dead because of sin. 11 If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your human bodies also, through his Spirit that lives in you. (Romans 8:9-11, CEB)

If the Spirit lives in you you belong to Christ and you are not self centered.

Well honestly then the Spirit comes and goes in me. Because there are definitely times that I am self-centered. That I want what I want and I want it now and don’t get in my way. And according to this passage if that is the case, the Spirit isn’t in me and I’m not a part of Christ.

So how do we know if we belong?

I will say that the moments I am self-centered are fewer than think about the needs of others, so maybe in our humanness we never really get rid of the old Adam, and are in that struggle.

Let God have control over your life and give like God gave to you. In abundance!

Know that when you love others you are bring God to the world and that is what we all need, more love, grace, forgiveness.

Love People. Love God.

Please God

So now there isn’t any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 God has done what was impossible for the Law, since it was weak because of selfishness. God condemned sin in the body by sending his own Son to deal with sin in the same body as humans, who are controlled by sin. 4 He did this so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us. Now the way we live is based on the Spirit, not based on selfishness. 5 People whose lives are based on selfishness think about selfish things, but people whose lives are based on the Spirit think about things that are related to the Spirit. 6 The attitude that comes from selfishness leads to death, but the attitude that comes from the Spirit leads to life and peace. 7 So the attitude that comes from selfishness is hostile to God. It doesn’t submit to God’s Law, because it can’t. 8 People who are self-centered aren’t able to please God. (Romans 8:1-8, CEB)

People who are self-centered aren’t able to please God.

People who are only thinking about themselves and how they can get what they need will not be able to make God happy, because Christ is the very opposite of self-centered. Jesus stepped down from the throne and became human and gave up what it meant to be God to be like us.

You can not serve your own needs and God. You can not look out for yourself and serve others.

We need to let others worry about us and let the love of God flow through us.

Do not worry about yourself, but share the love you have been showered with with others, and in doing so, others will shower you with love.

We love because God loved us when we were unlovable and made possibly what was impossible through Jesus.

Love People. Love God.