Weeding Your Garden

Today I heard a sermon by Bill Williams from all the way back in May of 2007 that is one of my all time favorite sermons.  I saved it all those years ago and listen to it no less than once a year.  I really love it and had to share.  If you'd like to hear this sermon it can be found HERE.  (Really you should go listen first, my notes below don't hold a candle to hearing his lesson for yourself.)

The topic is around 2 Peter 1:1-11.  He has a way of putting perspective on it that is just so easy and clear to understand.  He references so many scriptures and pulls them all together so well.

The lesson is all about how some seeds
(seed beeing someone trying to grow in the word of God)
can land on good ground, but thorns
(thorns being the cares of this world)
can grow up around the seed and choked it out.  

He highlights 2 Peter 1 as a step by step direction on how we can weed our lives each day of the sin and cares of this world.  But if left as they are can get deeply rooted, out of hand, unmanageable, and will choke out our spiritual well being.

I love how he lets us know that everyone falls victim to these little things and none of us are perfect.

There are tons of different scripture he references, but this is the paragraph of scripture he focus's on:  The number/bullet points are an add in of my own to help simplify it (for my own simple mind).  

2 Peter 1:4-11

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith…

1. supply moral excellence 
2. and in your moral excellence, knowledge
3. and in your knowledge, self-control
4. and in your self-control, perseverance
5. and in your perseverance, godliness
6. and in your godliness, brotherly kindness
7. and in your brotherly kindness, love 

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  :)

2 Timothy 1:7

Matthew 5:7

Matthew 11:28

1 Corinthians 13 4-7

Set Your Mind on Things Above

 What we dwell on is what we shall be.

Deuteronomy 6:4-12
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! ⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  ¹⁰ “Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, ¹² then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Psalms 1:1-3
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers. 

Proverbs 23:7
For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

Matthew 4:4
“It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.”

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

 If you can find these things around you, LIVE there, let your mind stay there.

Colossians 3:1-4
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. ³ For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Romans 12:1-2
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

And how do we "transform" and "renew our mind"?  By our thoughts!

Armies train to prepare solders so that whenever they are in a war time scenario - fear won't overcome them.

We are at war.  The devil is after our soul, our children's souls, familes souls, friends souls, strangers souls...  The sad fact is that there are casualties that outnumber the victories. 

Prepare.




The notes above are all quotes and scriptures from a sermon given by Bill Williams on December 30th, 2007 at Valley Church of Christ in Wasilla, Alaska.  If you'd like to hear the full sermon you can listen to it or even download it free HERE.  Bill is presently the preacher at the Church of Christ in Juneau, Alaska.

The Father's Love Letter

Someone passed this link on to a few of us today. It's amazing and wonderfully timed. Hope you enjoy....

Praying Daily for your Family

Are you in prayer for your family each day?

Today myself and other members of a Christian forum I am a member of had the most encouraging reminder from another faithful woman who prays for her family. I'll skip quoting the private details of her story and the wonderful reports of answered prayer she gave and just leave you the stuff the struck me the most...

I can't emphasize enough how *important*, ESSENTIAL, it is to be IN prayer daily for & over your family & your husband!!!

YOU are HIS wife--it is your duty, responsibility & privilege to cover him in prayer like NO OTHER woman can do!

DO NOT neglect the diligent prayer over your children & husband. AS WELL AS, seeking God first in all things, *especially* moments of crisis.

He is a God of harmony, reconciliation, endurance and encouragement. Be sure of it.

The bold emphasis above in her quote is mine, those words just penetrated me! What a blessing to have such an encouraging reminder.

She also left us with these 4 helpful pieces, I hope you can find as much encouragement as I did:

• 31 Days of Praying for Your Husband
• Praying Daily For Your Husband
• 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Children
• Prayer Calendar for Moms (Same as above but in calendar form.)

Psalms 53

I read Psalms 53 tonight and really found it to be a humble reminder not to let days go by without speaking to The Father, without reading his word, and without teaching my kids about this great, loving, protecting, and wonderful God.

Not to have fear, over things I haven't much control over (which is just about everything right??). God is looking out over his children, and protecting us daily. So as the New Testament says even simpler...

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:33-34)

I usually would post the Psalms53 scripture here but this time I'm not going to. When I first read it, it was out of the new american standard version, which I had a hard time following for this particular chapter.. So I read it in the NIV and then went on to confirm what I was getting out of it from a study guide. I feel like if I posted Psalms 53, I would not be encouraging any reader to give close attention to it and might misinterpret it easier. You can read both versions at biblegateway.com if you'd like to take a closer look.

Another in closing....

Luke 12:22-31
²²Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ²⁶Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

²⁷"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! ²⁹And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.