Cold, Hot or just Lukewarm?

This past week at work I was issued a new phone and this required me to go down to the service center to help get it setup. I walked in and gave the phone to the service technician and he proceeded to help me with the setup of the new phone. We were working on the last component of setting it up and it was not going well. He ended up calling for technical support and the first person he talked with he blew up at, hung up on them and proceeded to tell me how stupid this person was. This did not sit well with me and I prayed, Lord do I say something to this guy that is older than my own father about his actions? The service technician then asked me for the password that I used to protect the phone. My password was Revelation 3:16. He then looks at me with a puzzled look and says interesting. He then starts to think and then asks what does this verse say since he cannot recall it.

I replied, “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”

He did not say much after this except he asked me were I went to church and he finished helping me setup my phone. The interesting part is that the next couple of people for technical support that he talked with he treated with a great deal of respect.

Today I write this to you for two reasons. First is to encourage all of us to be who we say we are in season and out of season, since you will never now who you will encounter. The other part is to encourage those that are talking the talk without walking the walk to stop immediately. I am not sure about you, for myself though, I know that I do not wanted to be vomited from Christ’s mouth if I am not actively seeking and serving Him. I encourage all that have become lax in their walk with Christ to surrender your lives again to Him and be hot once and forevermore.

Rick

Bountiful Crops...

Do you remember the movie "Speed" with Keanu Reeves? At the beginning of the movie the bomb squad is called to a bomb threat. Two guys from the squad (one being Keanu) are sent to assess the situation and while they are waiting for the green light, they start asking each other "what do you do?" scenario questions to keep their minds focused. "Hostage situation, bad guy has a hostage in arm, what do you do?" Okay, the answer to this particular question isn't important for us, but the "what do you do" scenario question is. I am going to ask you a scenario question. God grace gives you Jesus, Jesus' love for us gives you a free gift of salvation, he calls your name, "what do you do?"

Reading the other day I came across the verse "You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops." ~psalm 65:10 After mulling over this verse I came to the "what do you do?" scenario question. God call us to plant seeds and be disciples of the nations. Yes, he calls our name, so what do you do. We have to act on that call. "My heart has heard you say,"Come and talk with me." And my heart responds, "Lord, I am coming."" ~Psalm 27:8 Are you willing to stand up and say I am here Lord, I am coming?

In my previous post, getting your garden to grow, I talked about digging your garden deep to lay the foundation for bountiful crops. This doesn't have to be done all alone. God helps you. You just have to take those first initial steps of faith, take action to his call of your name and start digging and God will rain down on you blessings to level and soften those pesky ridges and dirt clods, preparing a healthy seed bed for his bountiful crops.

Love Steph

Getting Your Garden To Grow...

Easy right?... just use the rototiller and work up the ground, plant the seeds, water, and whalah, abundant fresh veggies and fruits... mmmm... maybe not so easy. After you are able to quickly enough work up the ground with rototiller and plant and water then you fight those pesky weeds that you continuously have to pull so they don't choke out your small plants. Is there a better way? Rick has been reading a lot about gardening (trying to figure out how to do a better job of growing more of our own food, hence saving us some cash at the grocery store). He has come across what is called deep bed gardening, where digging by hand a section of land about 2 feet deep, working it, cleaning out all the weeds deep at the root as he goes. This is hard work, a long, slow process of digging deep to get your garden ready. Then the seeds can be planted and let the water and light do there job and not worrying about weeds with an end result of a abundant harvest.

Lets see, remember the saying for Hillside, "long, slow, deep" that we hear from Zach all the time...bingo. Is it the same as what Rick is finding with gardening. He started thinking about this after a sermon a couple of weeks ago about rototilling a garden ( I missed that one, but we have talked about it ever since). Do we just rototill our gardens so they look pretty from time to time, by saying and doing all the right things, but only spreading and hiding the weeds, which easily grow back. Thus causing us to continually have to weed, but never getting to the root and getting rid of the weed completely. It isn't something we can do quickly. It is something we will have to work hard at and struggle with to dig down deep and clean out the roots of the weeds. God's grace, Jesus' saving sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit's power living in us, help us get to that deep to the pure soil for the seeds to grow (the fruits to share with others for the glory of God). Do you have that thirst, the longing to grow such harvests? If you do, dig deep into the word and continuously pray, and "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him." ~Psalm 62:5, and know that "The river of God has plenty of water: it provides a bountiful harvest of grain." ~Psalm 65:9.

Love Steph

Earthquake

The other night some friends were over and we were talking about the big earthquake that we experienced back in 93 (I know, this was a long time ago!). But as we chatted we talked about how when the earthquake started we had no idea how it would end. Would our houses be standing? Would the roof cave in? Would we be alive? So as it was happening, I know for me, I was about 14 and I shared a room with my sister who was 8. I remember hearing her crying and I was telling her everything would be ok...but at the same time I had my eyes closed and was holding onto my trendle bed for dear life.

It wasn't until the quake was over that I let go, got off the bed and ran to my parents. How cool would it have been if instead of closing our eyes, covering our ears, holding still, if we would have jumped out of bed and seen what was going on outside? The ground rolling, the trees shaking, the pool moving! We tend to not enjoy the ride and trust God that he's going to bring us through something and that He's got a plan and will protect us. We stress in the middle of circumstances without knowing the outcome. And then we look back and say, "that wasn't so bad." Hindsight is what? 20/20. Our God always has a plan and I'm going to practice this the next time I am in the middle of something. Whether it's an earthquake, a storm of some sort, a sickness, whatever it might be. I am going to open my eyes, pray and trust that the Lord is carrying me through it. So that as the situation takes place, I don't miss out on the beauty of what God has to offer.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
they will sing before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in truth.
Psalm 96:10-13

Psalm 94:18-19

When I said, "My foot is slipping,"
your love, O Lord, supported me.
When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought joy to my soul.

So true for me this week...Thank you Lord for your love. Fill me with your fruit Lord Jesus!

Cammie

The Body Of Christ...

... we all belong to each other. ~ Romans 12:5 NLT

Controlled By The Spirit...

Yesterday during church, Zach asked, what does it look like if we are fruit trees instead of a decorated Christmas trees (in other words, being someone who bears fruit rather than someone who is decorated to look like a christian), and I have been thinking about that ever since. The thought came to me while reading today, that being a fruit tree looks like someone being controlled by the Holy Spirit. "Letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace." ~Romans 8:6b If we allow ourselves to be lead by the Holy Spirit all the things we listed yesterday will fall into place. We will know the fruit that God wants us to bear, the path he wants us to take, the ministry he has for us, the gift we are given to use, the part of the body of Christ we are suppose to be. "I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart." ~Psalm 40:8 The Holy Spirit allows us to see the instructions on our heart, he is our heart, he is the instruction. All we have to do is give the Spirit the lead of our life and ask him to take control. I know this won't be easy and God tells us so through out the Bible. "Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later." ~Romans 8:18 Just think of the future and the fruit that can be produced by God, for the glory of God if we let the Spirit take over our lives and we look past the difficulty and hardship that it might cause. Thank you Lord for your gift of the Holy Spirit!

Love Steph