Abiding In Jesus John 15:1-10

This summer I was able to grow some corn. Not in our garden area, but in a new place that came by divine provision. In 2008 we moved into our little house with a partial lot, and that being steep in parts. Out by the street corner it is beyond our property line. It belongs to the city or the state, but we get to maintain it. In my heart I had really wanted to level that piece of ground and hoped that one day I could request some company or the city dump some kind of free fill there. In May my hearts desire was fulfilled when a contractor friend called wanting to know where he could dump a few load of top soil.

We had been parking our motor home and my pickup in this area, but now it seemed appropriate to make use of this ideal soil and sunny area, to grow some corn. The year before a friend of our had given us a bunch of corn seed and we grew a little in the garden patch below, but now it was time to get serious.

Two 40 ft rows planted by hand started growing as June and July went by. I was learning some important lessons about farming, but also about how Jesus is the Vine and how I need to abide in Him. What does this mean? It means we draw our life from him. When we bear fruit he prunes us back to bear even more fruit. It means that what I do or who I am is because of Him, my life source.

With the Corn, I learned to side dress it with some 16-16-16. Whew! That made it sprout up fast and be bright and shiny green. How much fertilizer is applied and how and when is very important. With Tomatoes one can have a huge plant with lots of growth, but little or no fruit. We as disciples of Christ can be tempted to be "religious" and as Ecclesiastes 7:16 says, "overly righteous." ¹ The Lord spoke this word many times to me in Mexico, to balance out missions and ministry with family time and values. He has also been impressing me lately that just like the corn or most anything else we grow in our garden, to much water is not good.

Can we get to much of Gods word? If we are only taking it in and our heads are gettting bigger and bigger with knowledge and we are not practicing what we preach, we need to take heed.

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: - Matthew 7:22-24 NKJV

What happens when crops or veggie gardens get to much water? Fungus, bugs, and all kinds of things can hinder good fruit. So I learned that watering in cycles helps good root growth. What may seem to be a dry time spiritually, is intended by the husbandman, or the vine dresser to be a strengthening or what is called in sports, "physical conditioning."

There is also another important aspect to consider:

When we live as branches abiding in the Vine, we will suffer.²

We get pruned or disciplined so that we can bear even more fruit. I experienced a little of this 9.13.2008 when I fell 25 ft out of a tree. No broken bones but months of pain and lots of sleep less nights. In 2010 on the exact same date, I fell playing basket ball and injured a different part of my back even worse. 3 days immobilized and 2 weeks of recovery gave me time to re-think, "what is it that I am not learning here?"

First, I tend to cram to many things into my life and try to accomplish more than is feasible. If I would have planted all the corn 2-3" apart and left it all in that way, there would have been little or no fruit come September. As it grew, I kept thinning it out to recommended spacing of 15" to 24". Each day I set out to check of lists of things to do. Trying to keep the most important at the top. Usually half gets done, but a lot of little distractions pop up every day. Climbing trees and trimming them is still something I do, but with a lot more caution. Basketball at 6 a.m. is history now. Just jogging and swimming will meet my need for exercise. Even though they are boring, they increase my need for self discipline to get up and get out.

Spiritually speaking in 2008 the opportunity came to make marriage and family a larger priority in my life. This included not returning to live and serve in Mexico another season. We were still able to be involved in sending a couple shipping containers of wheat to NK and both Marianne and I have been able to take long trips back to our village and the Christian School in Mexico. Personally, dealing with pain management has been a point of trust in the Lord like never before in my life. New temptations have come, but nothing that is not ordinary³ or that cannot be overcome.

Has there been a relationship or a circumstance that you have taken as evil but it was really for the good that God allowed it in your life? I found what I thought was a serious blight on the corn. I rushed off to wikipedia to find that it is a common fungus or a mushroom. It is edible and Huitlacoche is a delicacy in Mexico. I fried some up with onions and other garden veggies, and it was just like mushrooms. I would not have been full of joy if this would have taken over the whole patch, but I am for the few that appeared this year. Through this I learned that the difficult relationships in my life are allowed by God so that I can bear more patience, understanding, or choose to separate from evil, even if I loose a friend. What ever it take to serve the Lord, I want to be willing to be rid of it. Watching football this season was one a few things that I sensed needed to go. By faith, we can encounter the good that the husbandman wants to replace the pruned back area with. Receiving an encouraging call from a life time friend yesterday was my answer to a specific prayer. I asked for any kind of a blessing that I trusted Jesus for in place of self- pity and indulging in unneeded food. I needed something unseen, a fulfillment of hope that Jesus would bless me if I obeyed. That is faith.

What is it that you are wanting to do or be for the Lord? None of us, who have come to believe in Christ should refrain from being disciplined or pruned. It helps us to abide even more. "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. - John 15:3-4 NKJV

I am tired of the Chritian -ease and I am hungry for the deep waters of the Spirit. I long for good accountablity, but also hearts knit together in real love and care.

Amos 6:1 gives a warning to those that are "at ease in Zion." To me, the "Fear of the Lord " needs to be impacting me enough so that I won't be like a goat⁴ on the last day. Or as Luke 12:45 delares, living for my own pleasure and feasting when my brothers and sisters are not cared for.

" I just want a rescue shop, next to the gates of hell." John Marr

Jesus, " I want to be your disciple and make disciples. Not just chalk up "decisions for Christ."

May we grow in our faith or trust by obeying in areas that have not been bearing much fruit. May we be bold in asking for the desire of our heart to our loving and caring Father. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ... "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. - John 15:5, 7 NKJV

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. - John 15:8-10 NKJV

Obedience leads us under the covering of Gods love. May we all find more grace for it.

G.W.

1 Do not be overly righteous, Nor be overly wise: Why should you destroy yourself? Ecclesiastes 7:16 NKJV

2 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. - John 15:1-2 NKJV For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, - Philippians 1:29 NKJV

3 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV

4 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Matthew 25:31-46 NKJV

Ready For Every Good Work

"Ready For Every Good Work" 2 Timothy 2:21

This fall we tore out the carpet of our Living room. Not only was it worn, but we had never used a rental cleaning machine on it during the last 2 yrs that we have lived here. All the 100+ times we vacuumed over the warm brown fuzz were not enough. I knew that this was not the best living condition for us, or any of our grandchildren to be playing on. We knew that down under the surface there was some things that not even a steam cleaning would take out. Under the carpet was a foam pad. Under the pad was a few layers of dirt. After we set all the furniture out in the front yard and rolled up the first 2 layers and swept all the dirt up, a once beautiful linoleum was revealed. We took up 3 layers of different patterns of this vinyl flooring with 1950's newspapers being the final barrier above the worn, torn, and diesel stained red fir floor. For 20 some years the original owners probably lived on the medium to poor quality, untreated wood floor with hopes of having a "new look some day." Layer after layer were installed to keep the "new look". Now we were going back to the "rustic look" and it took hours and hours of sanding to get this floor ready for normal use. Gideon did most of the work. I researched the products, rented the tools and helped with the corners and the edges. It was worth all the cleaning and elbow grease we put into an area of our house that is ready for good use.

Paul used a similar analogy of the floor removal that I just described. He described the various vessels that a great house would have in it. Some of clay, some of wood. Others of gold or silver. Some of these need to be need to cleansed out, if we are going to be useful to our Master, Jesus.

2Timothy 2:21 ESV says, "Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work."

As a follower of Jesus I have a choice to cleanse out of my life the sins and iniquities that he has called me to depart from. If I want to be useful to him, and ready for every good work this is a necessary exercise. Confession is a good start. Daily choices, and habit changes have to happen or change is not really change. Change of mind that brings about a change of action is what it means to repent.

"We sow our thoughts and reap our actions. We sow our actions and reap our habits. We sow our habits and reap our character. We sow our character, and we reap our destiny."

As a follower of Jesus, I have a responsibility to not take our Gods name in vain. To me this means that if I am going to call myself a Christian, and profess to know God, I am commanded not to deny him in my conduct. I always used to think of this command relating to swearing curse words that included one of Gods' names. The application that I just shared with you may be obscure, but a true moral principle. Don't do any thing in Jesus name that does not honor and glorify him. Don't let it be for nothing. Don't run the race 3/4 of the way and quit. These are the some of the things that I am hearing. "Pursue peace with all men" but also holiness or I won't see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14

How do we find a proper balance for this as we live out our faith? Over a decade ago I marched our whole family out of the middle of a worship service. The church we were visiting was playing the music a little louder than I liked it. What we were accustomed to in our "home birth, home school, home church" environment was hymns and Maranatha scripture songs. I felt not only compromised myself listening to these secular style love songs to Jesus, but I sensed that I needed to lead my family away from its exposure. Another time I was in a service at a church camp where a group of young adults were trying to share a few special songs. The sound equipment kept cutting out. I gave a loud cry, "God doesn't want this rock music in his house!" Then I stormed out. While attending a similar outdoor meeting with the same church group, a singer who is now a nationally known music artist, came with a visiting youth group. The artist who was at that time barely a teenager, stood up to share his talent in the rough. His special was a hip-hop style played with a custom made stringed instrument. The lyrics were rhyming rap lines. That time I did not round up all my young adult children from their various seats in the crowd. Right in the middle of song, I marched out, and left the service. I did not give ear to the lyrics, because of the music style, and the location of the situation. If it would have been on the street or in a home I would have had more tolerance for the music talent trying to be shared. I would have had more patience to hear out the faith of this young man. My preconception of "how it should be" in an organized church service, or what kind of worship our Father desires was very narrow.

Over the centuries the church as whole has seen a lot of changes. Eventually I experienced enough change in myself that my judgments and reactions have changed in relation to the way things are done or the way that other people are. Especially when it comes to worship.

I've changed. For those who know me now, its obvious when one hears what music I play myself or what you would find us listening to in our house. What happened? When did this change occur or where did it start? I have to ask myself that question as I write this article. I am sorry to leaving you hanging, but I am going to leave off writing this and call this part "A" and follow up this with a sequel. The answers to questions above will be explained in detail and testimony the next time I get share another "Soul Food" article.

The bottom line answer needs to shared now, in case I don't live to type in all the that I have scratched on my notes for this subject. What happened was I faced the fact that I failed miserably to win the hearts of my young adult children. I may have been winning some battles, but I was definitely loosing the war. The enemy was my own flesh, not a style of music. The tempter had trapped me into condemning myself in the way that i was judging. The vessel that I was being, did not point them to Christ, or attract these precious ones that I love the most to be connected with his love. It might have been my private faith, obedience, or heart felt love for God at the time. But it did not bear good fruit in the end. God declares that he can work it all together for good, and I believe that there are ways that he is redeeming what I have ruined in my own life.

The few "righteous" acts that I testified about above...along with a dozen other incidents that occurred in Mexico, Southern Oregon, and a few other places in between; may have been some good conservative food ( see John 4:34 ) but it was served on wood, hay, and stubble platters ( 2 Timothy 2:20 and 1 Cor 3:12-14 ) My heart attitudes of pride, criticism, and desire for selfish comforts of being surrounded by others who were just as like minded as myself were the dis honorable vessels that Paul wrote about.

The good work that I missed out on doing, was the call to be an intercessor for those I was among or in difference of opinion with.

May our Lord Jesus, by the Spirits power, cleanse us and help us to do our part in cleaning out of our own house any thing that dis-honors our Master. We have a great hope. As His property you have a great and noble destiny.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 ESV

There is a bright future of good works to be fulfilled in and through us, despite any past or present circumstances, true? My vision is fixed on the finish line ahead of me. I see 10- 20 years of life ahead. Each day the faithfulness in the small things will matter. Each day, until final day, there will be a work or two that I need to be ready for. Peace to all who read this. Blessings to you, in Jesus our Savior and Lord. G.W.

Are You Finished With Judging? John 8:9

Are You Finished With Judging? John 8:9

“...being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. “ John 8:9

I have often wondered why the eldest left first. In recent years I have have observed a pride among the young single men in the church. A blinding pride. The young adults have learned to judge. Their parents have faults and have hurt them. They see injustices in the world, but how many have realized their own shortcomings? As elders, we should be all the more humble, realizing Gods mercy over us for so many years. Being aware of so many of our own faults, we should learn to not judge, lest we we be judged also. Matt 7:1 Whatever measure or standard we use on others will be used on us, true? If so, why judge at all? We are only condemning ourselves when we point the finger. Jesus said, “ I judge no man.” John 8:15 In another place it is written, “ The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the son. So if Our Father is not judging, and Jesus is not condemning any one, why do we pass judgment on others?

This is the enemies plot to trap us into condemning ourselves. This is the temptation to not help another person. Most of the time, judging a person will not help. Let me give an example. I worked in the woods falling timber with a wise man, Dale Norling. We worked on the buddy system falling timber for a large company run by a compassionate man who would, at times, hire “low rents” and drug addicts to run his equipment. Dale showed me an example of imparting truth and wisdom to these young men just by asking questions. Out there hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment could be damaged, and our lives could be hazarded every day by operator error. Rather than yell at them “Hey, you could get killed doing that!, or its gonna break if you keep doing that.” He would ask them questions, several questions, to make a point about their attitude, wrong conduct, or to offer a better way to operate the equipment. As I noticed his way, and complimented him, he said, “ If they can't get it and figure out the answer for themselves it won't do any good to tell them what to do.”

This is true in parenting. At a toddlers age, you just command them, “don't touch the hot burner!” With a teenager, coaching not command is more appropriate. With young adults, and especially my married and grown children, counsel, when asked for, is the most common way of bringing a correction or insight to one that may be bringing harm to themselves or others.
There is a time for discipline, and correction and consequences must come if parents love their children. I tried to make it clear that the spankings were only correction for getting off the path, not condemnation and punishment.

Employers and legal authorities all have the responsibility to uphold the standards and civil laws and pass sentences and fines on those who break them. In the church there will be times that determination has to be made when some one has crossed moral lines and we need to expel them from the assembly. This is a grave and sober decision that elders and Pastors must make, for the health of the body. Amputation is a severe trauma to a body, but often necessary or a life will be lost. We must consider the parameters of 1 Corinthians 5 and follow what is written in the whole cannon of scripture. Jesus could have said, “Yep, the law says stone her, but lets get the man here also, and any and everyone else that we know that deserves this sentence.” If he could not have differed these teachers of the law, and the stoning would have occurred , Jerusalem would have been cleansed of one adulterer. In pardoning her, and extorting her to sin no more, how many more lives may have been saved by her living testimony?

May we practice discernment, even in our own life, if there is any thing infectious to the body of Christ. Not only sexual immorality needs to be cleansed but greed, drunkenness, idolatry, rebellion, and swindling. How many of us need cleansing in one of these areas? May God give us grace to keep his church clean. Paul said, “ I don't even judge myself, but I let the Lord judge me.” Start with me Lord. You are the only law giver and judge. You are able to save and destroy. James 4:12 Give us grace to quit judging and be occupied with interceding with you for others. Hebrew 7:25 G.W.