Seed of Faith 2/25/2023

Seed of Faith – Leaving and Following   By Pastor Dave  

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.” Matthew 4:17-20

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers and followers of Jesus,
The Lenten season is upon us. We have 7 Sundays of feasting along with 40 days of fasting ahead of us. Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days after just being baptized and being declared that he was God’s beloved son. We just had a message on how to respond to trials, temptations and tests. Ask yourself if you are HUNGRY, ANGRY, LONELY or TIRED (HALT). Your reply to the enemy is to be the same as Jesus’: IT IS WRITTEN.

During this season of Lent, write down a few of your favorite verses and have them ready. I like John 10:10, “The enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy. I have come to bring life abundantly.” Philippians has 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Strap in and let’s get through this Lenten season, friend and followers.

I took my wife to see “The Jesus Revolution” last night. What a great, inspiring movie! Don’t wait for it to come out on DVD. GO SEE THIS MOVIE! What really touched my heart is that when the pastor started reading from the Bible, everyone raised up their bible and said, “THIS IS THE WORD OF GOD!” and pointed with their pointer finger to heaven as they said, “Amen.” Good stuff. Just a really good movie.

Right now, I encourage you to go pick up your Bible and read Matthew 4:12-25. Jesus begins His ministry after being baptized and tested in the wilderness. This bible really is the WORD of God! Amen?

Let’s start out this message with a “so what” question: how did Jesus call you?

Can you remember? I challenge you to sit down, talk it out, write it out…and send me a copy of how Jesus found you and called you to FOLLOW HIM. It can be in one moment of time, or it can be a lifetime of moments of following—just get it written down. Someone in your family is going to need to know how you know that you know!

Follow Me! Powerful words! In all, the words “follow me” occur thirteen times in the Gospels.
John’s call to repentance was a call to turn away from something!
Jesus’ call to repentance was a call to turn toward someone!
Where is Jesus calling you to turn today?

Lord Kenneth Clark, internationally known for his television series Civilization, lived and died without faith in Jesus Christ. He admitted in his autobiography that while visiting a beautiful church he had what he believed to be an overwhelming religious experience. He wrote, “My whole being was irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy far more intense than anything I had known before.” But the “flood of grace” as he described it, created a problem. If he allowed himself to be influenced by it, he knew he would have to change, his family might think he had lost his mind, and maybe that intense joy would prove to be an illusion. So, he concluded, “I was too deeply embedded in the world to change course.”[i]

A question that comes to me is why would anyone trade away the joy of this world for a heavenly joy? One is fleeting, the other is forever.
Another question after reading our gospel for today: Why would anyone respond as Peter and Andrew did?
The answer is in the link between Isaiah’s words in chapter 9 and these fishermen’s locale. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2
Because they’re fishing the “Sea of Galilee” (v. 18), they’re among those whose “darkness” has been broken by the “great light” — the dawn of Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus is Fishing — He is fishing, surprisingly, not for the religious or political elite (e.g., Nicodemus, Caiaphas, Herod) but rather Jesus went fishing for the average Joes of this world—Peter, James, and John.

Jesus welcomes Galilean fishermen, Samaritan women, and Roman soldiers, and his church welcomes Irishmen and Indonesians, Indians and Americans, Russians, Chinese, Taiwanese and so many others. Tell me another religion in the first century that did that. Tell me another religion in the world today that does that. It’s part of our history. It’s part of our theology. It’s part of our gospel!

So What?

Following Jesus is not only a door to be entered but a path to be followed, and the true disciple proves the reality of his discipleship by following that path to the end. David wrote about it in Psalm 119. The section of the psalm that begins, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (v. 105), ends with the words, “My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end” (v. 112).

That is it!
A true disciple is one who follows Christ to the very end.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
I have suffered much; preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word. Psalm 119:107

I wrote in my Bible these words, “I have suffered much. What a powerful statement. I personally have gone through rashes all over my body for 4-5 years. Lead poisoning … three rounds of chelation. (Now on my fourth round.) The last round was extremely hard. Churches have fought and people lied and hurt me. My finances are depleted. Yet will I praise you.”

Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end. Psalm 119:111-112
If I do not focus on the joy of the Lord … I could lose heart all earthly joy and heavenly hope.
How about you? Where is Jesus calling you to leave behind something and follow HIM?

Are you a Sunday disciple? Attending church on Sunday but not following Jesus Monday through Saturday? Or are you in it to win it? Is your heart set on following Jesus to the very end?

Are you watching THE CHOSEN? They now have 3 complete seasons of 8 episodes each (24 episodes). If you haven’t watched it, DO! Go see THE JESUS REVOLUTION and ask yourself, “Where am I in this movie?” Powerful question. Are you sitting in the pew being the judge and jury of everything? (Bad song, pastor’s tie doesn’t match his shirt, I could give a better, more organized message.) Or are you the person who crosses over the aisle to sit with the new person? Are you the person who stays to clean up the sanctuary? Maybe you’re the person who serves snacks and coffee after church?

FOLLOW ME….and then…I WILL MAKE YOU FISH FOR MEN AND WOMEN…AND YOUTH…AND CHILDREN…AND HIPPIES…and OLD PEOPLE…and every single person who needs to hear the LIVING WORDS OF LIFE!

This week, I’m praying for us all to follow Jesus all the way home, all the way to very end of life.

WHERE ARE YOU IN THIS JESUS STORY?

I pray we are all following HIM. Amen.

See you Sunday!
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

 

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Seed of Faith 2-9-2023

Seed of Faith – Temptations and Trials  By Pastor Dave  

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Matthew 4:1

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers:

Greetings! Today’s assignment? Read Matthew 4:1-11. Put yourself in the story and then put the story in you!

 

The enemy of our soul loves to get us when we are alone or lonely. I think that is why worry or being anxious was listed as the number one temptation. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, led into the desert, and tempted. And right before all of this, Jesus was baptized…the dove descended and THE VOICE of God was heard saying God was well pleased with Jesus! Immediately Jesus is out in the desert having not eaten for 40 days. (Are you there in the story? Ever taken a tour of the desert?)

There’s one thing I’ve noticed: Temptation doesn’t come when we are the strongest; temptations come when we are the weakest. Or, maybe when we are strong—we can resist easier. It is when we are tired, worn out, poured out—that we often fall to temptation.  One of my spiritual directors taught me HALT. He told me that most temptations and failures come when these four things happen:
Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired|
As a pastor, I am constantly trying to scan my horizon so that I am not hungry, angry, lonely, and tired all at the same time. I know what happens when I am all four of those dangers. I am at my weakest.
True confession here, I do not sit and read my Bible and do my daily devotionals because I am some sort of religious freak. I read my Bible because for me not to HALT…I need to fill my mind and heart and spirit and soul with God’s living word

Jesus being in the wilderness for forty days parallels the stories of Moses on Mt. Horeb for forty days (Exodus 34:2,28; Deut. 9:9) and Elijah on the way to the same mountain in I Kings 19. Paul also went into the wilderness after his conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul’s wanderings in the wilderness of Arabia are recorded in Galatians 1:17. More importantly Jesus’ wilderness experience reflects the wandering of the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for forty years. The temptation of Jesus also parallels the temptation of Adam. In fact, you could say that the first Adam had everything that he wanted. He was in the Garden of Eden with everything at his disposal and the serpent came slinking into the Garden in the form of a snake and said, “Did God really say?”

The first temptation here in our story is a simple test to destroy the confidence that Jesus had in His Heavenly Father. Do you see how subtle the devil is? He comes along and twists a word of two and says — ““If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” The devil speaks lies and accusations and tempts Jesus to distrust the powerful words that were spoken earlier at Jesus’ baptism — “This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased.” What a contrast — “If you are God’s son” and “This is my beloved son.” Whom will you believe? God says you are precious in His sight, beloved…Satan wants us to question IF we are God’s child.

Temptation is serious business. Remember that God will not tempt you, but God will test you to see what you are made of.
Temptation is common to all people—pastor or not. Temptation is a time of trial and testing. It is a process of experience. I think Jesus was trying to show his disciples that our lives will be filled with temptations. He went first to show us the way to overcome. Are you in this story, yet?

Jesus had a choice to either believe the devil’s words or to believe the words that His heavenly Father spoke to Him. The devil first tries to get Jesus to distrust God. The devil plants doubt in Jesus mind that he will not be provided for His personal needs. Jesus responds with the clue to overcoming, “It is written!”

The devil speaks and then Jesus speaks — “It is written.” Jesus knew how to defeat the devil’s wily schemes! Jesus knew the Words of God. Jesus believed what His heavenly Father spoke about Him. This is why it is so important for you and me to spend time in God’s word. Read a verse…read a chapter…read a psalm…so that you can reply to the tempter, “IT IS WRITTEN… GET OUTTA HERE!”

First Temptation — Serving Self
Why are our physical needs so hard to trust God with? Was God capable of feeding Jesus?
Remembering the mocking cry at the cross — Matthew 27:40, 42-43 “If you are the Son of God…”?
How often do we put our physical needs above our spiritual needs? Seems to me that during one week, there are 3 meals a day—or 21 meals a week that are available for us to feed our physical body. How many of us are opening our LIVING WORD 21 times a week? How about just 7? How about once a day? Buckle up. Open up.
“It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” Luke 4:4 Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 that says: “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Second Temptation — Testing God
The devil quotes Scripture — Psalm 91:11-12 with a subtle twist — Satan left out the important phrase “in all Your ways.
Jesus replies, “It is written, ‘Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah.’” Deuteronomy 6:16
This story is when the Israelites started quarreling with Moses in the desert and they tested God! Moses named the place MASSAH—which means TEST—and MERIBAH—which means ARGUING. The people were griping and saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not?” Evidently, the people weren’t getting their way. They were being tested and they didn’t like it. (Sound familiar?)

Third Temptation — Worshipping Satan
First, Satan suggests what Jesus should do for himself. Second, Satan suggests what God should do for Jesus. Third, Satan suggests what Satan can do for Jesus — that is how Satan comes to us. Telling us that what we desire belongs to us and he will give it to us. Do you think self-will is Satan’s will or is it the opposite of God’s will?
What does Matthew 6:24 remind us to do — “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
One of my favorite passages in the Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 6:33 … “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
When Jesus is tempted to worship something or someone us his reply is simple but not easy. It is written — “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” Deuteronomy 6:13

Many of us can recognize a huge, Niagara-like temptation when we see it. Many of us decide to go a different route. But so often it is a million little decisions that lead us into a lifestyle of sin and failure.
We begin the story of Jesus in the wilderness by saying, “Me, too! Yes, me too—on being tempted and tested!” Remember that Jesus went into the desert full of the Holy Spirit. He had just been baptized. He had just heard the Father’s voice. A huge weapon in our arsenal against the wilderness and temptation is to fill our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits with God’s word.
I referee high school wrestling. This weekend was a big tournament and I reffed 12 hours each day. When I got home last night, I said I wanted to go to In N Out. Listen, at 8:30 pm that place was full. There were cars everywhere. There was nowhere to sit and the drive up was backed out past the intersection. We parked and walked inside. We were number 47. As we scanned the packed dining room with no place to sit, I heard them call number 3. I looked at my wife and said, “You got to be kidding me.” After 15 minutes, I spotted a family leaving so I walked over to claim the seats. Funny thing, so did another guy! We got there first. Those seats were ours! But there was a problem. We only need two seats, he needed all four. My wife said, “We can eat in our car…” We talked back and forth with the guy who didn’t want to take our seats from us. “NO! We insist” cried my lovely wife and she grabbed my arm and walked me away. Ten minutes later, we got two seats at the back counter. There we sat and continued waiting for number 47! Remember the guy who stole my table? He walked up to us and said, “Please, here’s $20—I want to buy your dinner for giving up your seats to my family. I feel guilty for taking them.” We talked back and forth and ended up shaking hands but telling him to go for yogurt after dinner! Tempted. Hungry. But not LONELY. Seriously, this could have ended differently for me.

This week I want you to do a daily, personal inventory. Every day ask yourself: Am I hungry, angry, lonely or tired? Listen, you don’t have to be all four before you HALT and go find quiet time to read God’s word, or listen to Christian music. An amazing thing happens when we read or hear God’s word…it becomes the living word inside of us and the living word is what will help us to overcome our hunger, anger, loneliness, and tiredness—our trials, tests, and temptations.

Is this story in you, yet? The story of how Jesus overcame temptation three times in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting. This story…offers us some key wisdom for the tests, trials, and turbulence in our lives.

IT IS WRITTEN…say it with me…IT IS WRITTEN…and the quote your favorite bible verses out loud. We are more than conquerors, friends, we are overcomers because CHRIST overcame hell, death, and the grave. On the third day, He rose.

See You Sunday!
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.