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Check your "Roots"

4/27/2015

 
No, ladies,  I am not talking about our hair, but our roots planted in God. How do we bear fruit in a desert? The time we are going through in our church right now is a "time in the desert". These are some thoughts from a message preached by Dr.Irwin Lutzer of Moody Bible Church entitled "Streams in the Desert". 

The first requirement is to BE THE RIGHT PLANT---A tree is known by it's fruit. Orange trees yield oranges, apple trees yield apples, etc. The tree that we are will determine the fruit we will bear. The contrast between a shrub and a tree is interesting. Both have the same environment, but a very different outcome. Shrubs do not bear fruit. They represent a life that is empty, a life that exists, but there is nothing there. No sense of well-being, no meaning, no sense of accomplishment. The tree, however, represents a life that is really fruitful. God wants us as believers to be fruit bearing. the tree that we are will determine the fruit we bear. Fruit is the expression of the inner nature. You are capable of bearing fruit! Fruit is the life of God being demonstrated in your life. Jeremiah 17:7 says "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord, He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for it's leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
We might ask how does God develop fruit in us? He does that by allowing all types of circumstances in our lives such as a difficult diagnosis from the doctor, loss of our job, our home, loss of a loved one, financial problems. relationship problems, and the list goes on and on.


Second, WE MUST BE PLANTED IN THE RIGHT PLACE---We must have confidence in God and believe God and His word. We are not in control, it is not our will that will prevail, it is His! Finally, when we are exhausted from trying everything on our own, we give it over to God. We need to be planted close to the heart of God, our inner "hidden stream". We must be willing to say "I trust God in the midst of the drought, in the midst of the heat, and I will NOT be shaken just because there does not seem to be any rain, because I have a secret stream (Jesus), and I'm planted next to it and I CAN make it!" 

Third, WE MUST GROW TO THE RIGHT DEPTH---Jeremiah 17: 8 says "he is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream." A very interesting fact about trees is that there is as much beneath the ground as there is above the ground. In other words, that trunk and root system goes down as deep as the tree is high, and then it extends its roots everywhere. When we face a drought, we need to be like the tree, which when thirsty, begins to send its roots down deep to find water. We don't need to fear when the heat comes, because our roots planted in Jesus will give us stability. We will grow straight toward the heavens, just like trees, and we will be able to withstand the storms because we are nourished by God's word. In a time of drought, a more extensive root system is developed. God brings drought into our lives to develop us. One of my favorite things I've learned about trees is that there are some types of trees such as Poplars or Redwoods, that share a common root system, which is extensive. They form an underground network like a spider web and they support each other. This is what the body of Christ is meant to do! When one of us is sick and we don't know where to turn, there is a fellow Christian to uphold them, when you're hurting so much that you can't pray, there is someone who will pray with you and for you, when you're going through a difficulty of any type, there is someone in the body of Christ to help you! We grow together, and we can't grow alone! Remember, God brings us time of drought to develop us. We CAN bear fruit in our desert. Our fruit is our witness to the lost world around us. We must maintain our "green leaves", because the world is watching! Both Christians and non-Christians go through the same trials and hardships. The difference is how we respond. We respond without fear, because our hope is in the Lord and only in Him. Your root system must be planted in God. Are you planted by God? Do you know Him personally? Have your roots gone to the hidden stream of God?

We need each other and we need the word of God. Pray for our church body to be united and one in the Spirit as we go through this time in the desert. Pray and fast for revival in our church body. Pray that there would be no dissension in our body and we would see His face and seek His will for us. Pray for God's mighty, righteous right hand to remain on McGregor Baptist Church! Send your roots deep in Jesus, my sweet sisters!


 LINDA DAVIS

Kindness

4/21/2015

 
In my homework for the Book of Ruth study, I came across a word explanation “Hesed” that is translated kindness. But Kelly Minter – author of the study – explains, that the original word has much more meaning.

“A strong relational term that wraps up in itself an entire cluster of concepts, all the positive attributes of God – love, mercy, grace, kindness, goodness, benevolence, loyalty, covenant faithfulness: in short, that quality that moves a person to act for the benefit of another without respect to the advantage it might bring to the one who expresses it.”

Learning and understanding a new word is part of my everyday life, since the day I moved to this country 20 years ago. Sometimes I can remember a new word, sometimes it takes a while to stick. Part of the challenge of learning new words/language is when I use words that I thought I knew the meaning of…and I was wrong. For example, in the first few years of learning the language, I worked in a furniture shop using glue to laminate furniture. It took me months to learn the difference between the two words: sticky and stinky – as the glue was both. That was kind of funny (for my coworkers). But there were other times, when it was not so funny using the wrong word and I was misunderstood.

The word kindness is such an everyday word, until you see behind the real meaning that God intended. A kind of act that only benefits the other person. The kind of love that encourages us to do and serve and care for others without ever expecting any benefits for ourselves.  This was the relationship between Naomi and her daughter-in-laws, and also this is what she wished for them as she asked them to return to their families. “May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me.” (Ruth 1:8)

It is this word that was often used as a description of the unique, covenant-love between God and Israel. It is used several time in the book of Ruth and throughout the Bible over 240 times. It is translated to God’s loyalty, love and kindness toward His people.

Spend some time meditating on how God has shown you “hesed” (love, kindness, loyalty)! How He still does every single day and praise Him for it.

Psalm 33:22 says:  “May Your faithful love (hesed) rest on us, Yahweh, for we put our hope in You.”

May the Lord show kindness to you!

Krisztina White

Encouraging Words from C. H. Spurgeon

4/12/2015

 
"That those things which cannot be shaken may remain."—Hebrews 12:27.

"We have many things in our possession at the present moment which can be shaken, and it ill becomes a Christian man(woman)* to set much store by them, for there is nothing stable beneath these rolling skies; change is written upon all things.
Yet, we have certain "things which cannot be shaken," and I invite you this evening to think of them, that if the things which can be shaken should all be taken away, you may derive real comfort from the things that cannot be shaken, which will remain.
Whatever your losses have been, or may be, you enjoy present salvation. You are standing at the foot of His cross, trusting alone in the merit of Jesus' precious blood, and no rise or fall of the markets can interfere with your salvation in Him; no breaking of banks, no failures and bankruptcies can touch that. Then you are a child of God this evening. God is your Father. No change of circumstances can ever rob you of that. Although by losses brought to poverty, and stripped bare, you can say, "He is my Father still. In my Father's house are many mansions; therefore will I not be troubled."
You have another permanent blessing, namely, the love of Jesus Christ. He who is God and Man loves you with all the strength of His affectionate nature—nothing can affect that. The fig tree may not blossom, and the flocks may cease from the field, it matters not to the man who can sing, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His." Our best portion and richest heritage we cannot lose.
Whatever troubles come, let us play the man(woman); let us show that we are not such little children as to be cast down by what may happen in this poor fleeting state of time. Our country is Immanuel's land, our hope is above the sky, and therefore, calm as the summer's ocean; we will see the wreck of everything earthborn, and yet rejoice in the God of our salvation."

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing"               
                                                                                           I Thessalonians 5:11

Heaven's Very Special Child

4/7/2015

 
Shortly after my husband and I learned that God had chosen us to be the parents of a child who may live with a life-long neurological disorder, we were fearful and discouraged to say the least. Parenting any child is an overwhelming responsibility, but there is an added level of difficulty and uncertainty of raising a child with special needs. The burden of inadequacy that surfaced weighed heavily on our hearts.

A sweet couple in our church was aware of this challenging journey that was set before us and reached out to encourage us by offering us a poem, simply titled Heaven’s Very Special Child. This poem had once been given to them as well when they learned of their own child’s special needs. If you are a parent with the remarkable task of raising a child that needs extra help, may this poem encourage your heart. If you are a friend or relative of someone who could use such an encouraging word, then please pass this poem along to them.

As we offer hope to one another, I am grateful for how detailed and intentional our Heavenly Father is in the creation of every child, as Psalm 139 records. He understands first-hand with having a Son, Jesus, who accepted the physical limitations of a human body. It was in that human form that Christ accomplished God’s specific will and purpose through suffering His death on a cross. Thankfully in dying for our sins, Jesus did not stay dead. He was raised to life and ascended into heaven where He sits with His Father in His resurrected body. I look forward to a glorified body too. How about you?

 Heaven’s Very Special Child

A meeting was held quite far from Earth.

It was time again for another birth.

Said the Angels to the Lord above ---

“This special child will need much love.

His progress may be very slow,

Accomplishment he may not show.

And he’ll require extra care

From the folks he meets down there.

He may not run or laugh or play,

His thoughts may seem quite far away.

So many times he will be labeled

‘Different,’ ‘helpless,’ and ‘disabled.’

So, let’s be careful where he’s sent.

We want his life to be content.

Please, Lord, find the parents who

Will do a special job for You.

They will not realize right away

The leading role they are asked to play.

But with this child sent from above

Comes stronger faith and richer love.

And soon they’ll know the privilege given

In caring for their gift from heaven.

Their precious charge, so meek and mild,

Is heaven’s very special child.”   --- Anonymous

 

Tamar Miller

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