Grace 4 All

This week, our message is “Plant, Plant, and Plant Again,” as we close out this sermon series.
 
I have never been a very big marigold fan.  I cannot tell you why - I really have nothing against the bright yellow and orange flowers.  They just have never been my “thing.”  And yes, I know they are good for lots of different things.
 
This year, I attended the plant sale at the middle school, and three marigolds caught my eye.  They were taller than most marigold starts I had ever seen, and I thought - let’s give this a try.
 
So I planted them.  I had no idea what they would “become.”   Maybe you are all about marigolds.  If you are, you know that what I planted was Tagetes erecta, (African Marigolds).  They are now an astounding three feet tall!
 
And now I LOVE marigolds.  I am making sure I have the seeds for next year, and will plant even more!  My plan is to have not just three, but marigolds all the way down my porch. 
 
I did not know what the plants would become, but I assure you GOD DID.  We plant God’s seeds, and watch them grow.
 
When we do this, the result is SPECTACULAR.
 
Want to plant again?
 

This week we continue our sermon series “Cultivating a Life With God” by talking about EVERYONE’s favorite subject….

WEEDS

If you garden at all, you LOVE WEEDS don’t you?

We (meaningly husband) put in a beautiful planter this year in front of our house.  I love to mess with flowers, and he indulges me.  Before we had that planter, I NEVER noticed the Maple (helicopter) seeds.  This year, boy did I ever notice - because they were choking out my flowers!

I have to say, we mulch really THICK so weeds are not much of a problem.  However, the maple seeds root right in the mulch, and with all of the rain this year, they really prospered.  I was driving out of my garage, and I looked over at my planter and thought - how nice, look at how GREEN everything is!  When I came home that evening and did a closer inspection, I found that I had a billion (not much exaggeration) maple trees growing all around my flowers. 

Once I could SEE what was really going on, I sat and pulled out each and every maple tree, and put them on our dirt pile. 

THAT is exactly what we will be talking about this weekend - Jesus recognized that sometimes weeds happen. AND sometimes they are hard to recognize.

Join us as we discuss  “Weeds” this weekend.

In His Love,


Pastor Tracy

Two weeks ago, I shared with you the story of my father growing up on his farm in the 1940s.  If you missed it, I relayed this from my father:

“When I was a young man on the farm in the 40’s, wheat harvest was a two-stage project.  My Father cut the crop in late summer with a horse drawn binder, which bound the stalks loaded with grain into bundles about 40 pounds each.   My mother and I stacked these into shocks, the wheat bundles standing upright, grain husks toward the top with six or eight bundles to a shock and one on the top horizontally as a cap for weather protection, awaiting the thresher.”

Now, my grandparents had my father a little later in life.  They had one stillborn daughter before my father, and did not anticipate being able to have my dad.  Therefore, Grandma Catherine was 36 when my father was born.  Nothing wrong with that!  I had Mike when I was 36 too (must run in the family).

That being said, when she was grabbing those 40 pound grain bundles, she was probably about 46 years old.  I never got to meet my grandma, but the stories of her being a hard worker have certainly been passed down to my generation.  She was tough - I hear she even shot a snake off the side of the farm house with a shotgun!

This got Jim and I talking. He figures tough women run in my family, and it is time for me to start mowing the lawn.

I am waiting for a riding lawnmower.

We are all called to work hard in our lives and to work for the glory of God.  This, I remind Jim, is what I am doing.

Plus, time for that teenager of ours to mow the lawn.

I think he is waiting for a riding lawnmower too.

Learn how to take an active part in your faith life this weekend - as we discuss “Working the Fields.”

This weekend, as we continue our sermon series “Cultivating a Life With God,” we are going to cover one of my all time favorite topics - mustard seeds.

If you have any time on your hand at all between now and then, I want you to Google mustard seeds, and do a little “pre-service” reading.  I think that you will find it fascinating.

As a teaser (still go out there and read), you will find:

-The mustard seed is NOT the smallest seed there is.
-There are conflicting accounts of what kind of plant to which Jesus was referring.  That is, what did the mustard seed really grow into?
-There are conflicting accounts of how big a mustard tree (plant, or shrub) actually grows.
-Quite a number of people spend quite a bit of time arguing about all of these things.

And NONE OF IT REALLY MATTERS.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear.”    

Hear all about it here.

Pastor Tracy

Happy 4th of July weekend!

Join us this week as we begin a new sermon series "Cultivating a Life with God."

This week, we conclude our Sermon Series “Forgotten God.”  I hope you have enjoyed this sermon series, and have come away with the sense that the Holy Spirit is very real, and working in each of our lives.

It is all about relationship, relationship, relationship.  Always.

I think sometimes we stand around waiting for God to “show up” in our lives, without realizing that we have an active part to play as well.  God ALWAYS shows up.

The question is, do we?

Healthy relationships are bi-directional.  There is give and take to both sides.  WE ARE CALLED TO ACTION, now more than ever.

As we end this series, consider the following:

-How is your relationship with The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit evident in your life?
-What is God calling you to do?
-Are you lukewarm for God?
-What fans your flame?

This week, we will be talking about “Comfort in the Spirit” in our “Forgotten God” series.  In preparation for this week’s message am sending along the following quote from Francis Chan’s book:

“Have you ever thought about the significance of having “another” Counselor who is “just like” Christ? Right now, imagine what it would be like to have Christ standing beside you in the flesh, functioning as your personal Counselor. Imagine the peace that would come from knowing you would always receive perfect truth and flawless direction from Him. That sounds amazing, and none of us could deny the benefit of having Jesus here physically, guiding and enabling us every step of the way. Yet why do we assume that this would be any better than the literal presence of the Holy Spirit? Those of us who believe in Jesus would never deny the truth that we have the Spirit of the living God, the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead, living inside of us. I’m just not convinced we’ve internalized this truth and enjoyed His blessings as He intends. It seems like this is mostly head knowledge to us, and that we have not owned it. It has not really made much of a difference in our lives, to the degree that if we woke up tomorrow and discovered that it is not true the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, most likely our lives wouldn’t look much different.”

— Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan
https://a.co/eZ9Jyex

Most of us would gladly take a physical Christ in our presence for one day rather than a vague Holy Spirit in our lives EVERY DAY.  That is the disconnect.  The Holy Spirit is JUST AS REAL AND JUST AS COMFORTING IN OUR LIVES AS CHRIST.

So this week we will be exploring what is REAL in our lives, the comfort we can derive from this, and how the Holy Spirit impacts HOW we live our lives.

Pop culture.

And reality.

How authentic do YOU want to be in your walk with the Holy Spirit?

Have you ever thought you were headed in one direction - only to realize that plans have changed? Well sure, this past YEAR should have taught us THAT, if nothing else.

This week, as we continue our sermon series “Forgotten God", we are going to discuss two men whose paths were RADICALLY changed by the Holy Spirit.

Cornelius - a Roman centurion - who believed in God, but who is about to have his world rocked by an angel.

Peter - the Apostle - follower of Christ, who is going to be asked to do the unthinkable.

In terms of Biblical watershed moments - this week’s story ranks high up there. 

Two men, led by the Holy Spirit to change the WORLD.

What if they had not listened?

Where is the Holy Spirit leading YOU?  Are you listening?  Join us this week for “Revival.”

Every weekend is special, but this weekend is SPECIAL SPECIAL.  We are continuing in our Sermon Series “Forgotten God” with the message “Healings.”

What an appropriate message as we are coming out of COVID, out of a year of mourning.  We all need God’s healing as we grieve our own unique experience of this past year.

In that vein, this Memorial Day weekend, we honor the lives of our brave service men and women, as well as all those gone before us.  This year, will also be celebrating the lives of all those we lost during COVID, because this year  we did not get to have “normal” funerals for so many.  

“Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”

Psalms 147:1-5 NIV