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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-08-25, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2005 PAGE 15 From the Minister's Study An invitation to experience God’s riches By Pastor John Kuperus Blvth Christian Reformed Church Suppose you pul your house on (he market for $100,000. You bought the house for $16,000 years ago and felt that was a fair price. The house sold within 24 hours. A week later you discover that a house similar to yours in the community sold for $150,000. You probably would think that you sold your house too cheap. You might even be upset with yourself because you sure could have used that extra $50,000. Did you ever think that in our relationship with God that we can settle for less? God has more for us and we do not take the riches that are available to us. Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians that his job was to “preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." How can we tap into those riches if they are available to us? We desire material riches, but riches in Christ? How can we draw from those resources? We are a material people and are forced to engage in the material world just because we are alive. Some people are able to accumulate more wealth than others. Each of us decides how important accumulation of material wealth is and how much we are going to focus on it. The Bible tells us we are also spiritual beings, because we are created in the image of God. This means that this world is not all there is and this is only a shadow of what is to come. God reveals Himself to us through His word. One of the ways God teaches us how we can tap His riches is through the imagery of farming. A farmer knows the first step in receiving a crop is that the land needs to be cultivated. This is the same in the spiritual realm. Our hearts and minds need to be cultivated. We do this by plowing God’s Word into our hearts and minds. When our lives are saturated with His word, we begin to understand God and ourselves. We are commanded to this cultivating by God in Deuteronomy 6: 6-10. “These commandments that 1 give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses Mtlian Tdhmfiip and on your gates.” Are we doing this'.’ Are we talking about God with our family and friends'.’ Are we reading and talking about His word in our homes? I bis is the first step if we want to draw from Christ riches. In addition to the cultivation, a farmer knows the timing of planting is very important. If crops are planted too early, frost might wipe it out. If it is planted too late, the crops will not be mature at harvest time. Spiritually we have a window of opportunity to let God's seed be planted inside of us. which is important to take the step to plant. A farmer knows that if he never plants the crop, thorns and thistle will grow on the land. When the land is prepared, it needs to be planted. If this step is neglected, all the cultivation has been done in vain. Our hearts are the same way. We can cultivate, but we have to invite Jesus into our hearts. I Peter 1:23 says. “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God." What Peter is saying is when we invite Jesus into our lives, this seed is imperishable or this seed will not die. When this comes inside of us. it causes such a radical change that Peter calls it being born again. That seed takes over our whole being and it transforms us totally. The third step is to cultivate again. (I know a number of fanners practise no-till planting and we use chemicals to deal with the weeds, but I am refem ng to how farming was done in the past.) This is done to keep weeds from overtaking the crop. Spiritually we need to continue to cultivate God’s truths into our lives by reading our Bibles and praying. We need to get together with friends and talk about how Go<|\ Word relates to our lives. Cultivation takes place when we go to worship God in church. II we do not cultivate our crops, it becomes a big mess Our lives and the world we live in become a place ol chaos w hen we do not hear from our Creator how to live our lives. Cultivation ol God’s truth is extremely important in keeping our lives to producing fruit. Cultivating and planting are steps, but farmers know that bugs or fungus can destroy their crop. As a result, they watch their crop carefully and treat it as soon as this happens. Spiritually there is an enemy that does not want you to connect with God. He will do all that he can to prevent cultivation, the seed from entering your heart and the continued cultivation. You need to be on guard from this, like any good farmer carefully watches his crop. This teaches us not to forget to tend to your soul, because something will grow' there and the devil wants to prevent you from growing God's: fruit. The next step is to wait. The farmer has done all that he can in his power, and now relies on things out of his control. He cannot give the crop the heat units they need. Finally, the waiting is over and the crop can be harvested. The yields are carefully calculated and this brings great joy to the farmer. He gets a reward for his hard work. On a spiritual level, some things are our responsibility and for other things we have to rely on God. Our responsibility is to cultivate God’s truths into our lives and accepting God’s imperishable seed into our life. Once this imperishable seed is planted in our lives, our lives are transformed. In Galatians 5 it says that without God our lives are described as being controlled hv oui sinlul nature or weeds \ lite lull ol weeds or spiritual deadness is described wnh as being ■'repetitive, loveless, cheap sex a stinking accumulation ol mental and emoiional garbage; frenzied and |ovless grabs lor happiness, trinket god. magic show religion. paranoid loneliness cutthroat competition. all consum i ng- y e t - ne v e r sa11 s 11 ed wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community” (Galatians 5: 19-2 I The Message). The riches of God or " the fruit ol the Spirit is love. joy. peace, patience. kindness. goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self­ control” (Galatians 5: 22-23. NIV). When this fruit comes into our lives, what happens? Over time wc discover with cultivation that the weeds begin to lose their grip. I like to highlight a few of the I run When the fruit of love is growing in our lives, we notice that we have a great affection lor others and do noi need to force our way. Love is opening yourself up and serving someone else It is not using them to leel good about yourself II is not using them to get your way The Bible says, perfect love casts out fear. This means thL opposite ol love is fear or self-protection. You cannot love and protect yourself. When we love, we sacrifice ourselves. If we say, l am going to enter this relationship to enhance my goals and dreams, which is not Biblical love. Love is opening to someone lor who they are and not what they do lor you. Love is not being selfish. Joy is delighting in God for who He is. It is rejoicing in the blessing and not the blesser. You may be filled with joy for God because He is answering your prayers and doing Continued on page 20 THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA ytw, to conte and (wia/ufa CU&&, 04 SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 rrn Trinity, Blyth St. John's, Brussels |O»| 9:30 a.m.____________11:15 a.m.______ The Rev. Tom Wilson, B.A., MDiv. 887-9273 August 28 Guest Dr. David Sloss Bible teacher in Hungary, Cambodia, Cuba Christ-centred, Bible-believing, Fellowship-friendly, Growth-geared 10:30 am Blyth Public School Pastor: Ernest Dow - 523-4848 http://getlivingwater.org Donation-based PASTORAL COUNSELLING • Marriage • Family • Budgeting Sunday, August 28 Morning Worship Service - 10 a.m. Evening Worship Service - 7:30 p.m. BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH Pastor John Kuperus Hwy. 4, Blyth 523-9233 Wheelchair accessible BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA Church Office 887-6259 E-mail - bepc@wightman.ca "The Church is not ato% Building, % It is People Touching > People" Sunday 9:15 a.m. - Prayer Meeting 111:00 a.m. - Worship Service Phone 523-4875 308 Blyth Rd. E. - Pastor Les Cook 523-4590 HURON CHAPEL EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY CHURCH SING ASOTxKjOf- Sunday Auburn - 526-1131 PASTOR DAVE WOOD 10:30 a.m. For the month of August Brussels & Ethel Congregations are worshipping with their friends at Melville Presbyterian Church, Brussels Worship in Brussels & Ethel United Churches resumes September 4, 2005. MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS Sunday, (Luyu&t 28 11:OO am - Sunday Morning Worship 9:30 am - Sunday Belgrave Service l/l/e welcome our friends from Brussels United who will worship with us for the month of August. Wheelchair accessible Nursery care available Rev. Cathrine Campbell - 887-9831 ^j^Wednesday Morning Worship Service For the month of August there will be special guest speakers NO Sunday School in August 7:30 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 7:15 p.m. Evening Worship Service Adult Bible Study Adult & Youth Bible Study Blyth United Church Corner of Dinsley & Mill Street Sunday, August 28 Worship Service 11:00 a.m. Minister: Rev. Robin McGauley Office: 523-4224 Blyth United Church is a welcoming community of faith. We celebrate God's presence through worship and study, and through responding to the needs and gifts of each other.