The Gardener

I can’t believe it’s already March! Easter is just around the corner, and then after that, warmer weather will soon follow, and you know what that means! Now is the time for pruning! You may not realize this, but the bible teaches us a lot about gardening, and especially the importance of pruning. Unfortunately, we don’t have a vineyard at our home, but we do have several bushes and plants that require annual pruning in order to retain their splendor later in the year when it comes time to bloom and grow.

     We have four bird of paradise plants in our front yard that I cut completely back every February, while it’s still chilly outside, and just before the weather starts to warm. I didn’t do this at first though, not until we had the plants for a few seasons. The first few years after we planted them, we didn’t prune them, and they just got over grown and ugly. As time went on, the next season they didn’t produce as much growth and those beautiful red and yellow blooms never came in the spring and summer. Well, after a year or two of leaving them alone, I decided to take a gardeners advice and prune them down to nothing in the late winter. Low and behold, as soon as the weather warmed, they took off and grew and produced the most beautiful flowers in the coming spring and summer. So every year, I prune them, I cut them down to nothing and it works every time!

     Jesus often used metaphors in his parables and lessons, and many of those revolved around plants. I know they say he was a carpenter by trade, but I really think he was also adept at gardening as well! Take a look at this verse from the John 15;

    

     “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

    

     To God, our lives are just like the vines in the vineyard. There are parts of our lives that occasionally need to be cut off or pruned away, in order to allow us to produce or bear fruit and grow more productive. Are there any parts of your life that need to be pruned? Perhaps it could be a bad habit you might have or a negative attitude, or maybe it could be the quality of your worship time with God. Whatever the case may be, open your heart to God and let him help you decide what it is that needs to be pruned in your life, and you might find to your surprise that just like the flowers or vines, your life will regain its splendor and bear fruit as an even greater blessing because of it.

Happy Easter!

Dave

The Church of the Future

I have always thought it fun to hear and read what people think the future will be like. I remember as a kid (I’ll give my age away here on this one!) reading predictions about Moon Colonies and space stations in orbit by the year 2001 followed by manned mars landings shortly thereafter. My favorite was the prediction of flying cars, robot maids and TV/telephones! Looking back at all those predictions – at least a few of them have actually come true!
I’ve spent the last few days looking over dozens of articles on the web about what pastors, worship leaders and congregation folk in general predict churches will look like in the future – let’s say twenty-five years from now or the year 2038. If I stay reasonably healthy, I will be 76 years old and still around in the year 2038! It’s really been interesting and thought provoking to read all of them! For the sake of time, I’ve shortened the list down to about four of the most common predictions made – and feel free to add any of your own at the bottom of this.


More Multi site churches – 37% of people polled recently on a survey question thought there would be more “multi-site” churches – those are several small local churches that are all connected to a main church hub. Sharing resources, staffing, as well as facilities, this type of church actually does exist today and is a growing trend in modern church planting. Multi site churches will be small in size as well as a combination of multigenerational family groups.


Stronger Mission emphasis – Many believe we will see even more emphasis on missions in the future, both local and abroad. With tough economic times sure to be a constant, there will be even greater need to help others less fortunate as well as spread the gospel message to the entire world.


Return to ancient roots and principles – In all aspects of ministry (the message, the music and the fellowship) there will be a consistent return to the basic New Testament principles in churches of all generations. There will always be hymns sung in churches, as well as modern worship music – however, the emphasis will be more on the worship of God, rather than the worship of the music.


Growth in persecution – This is the scariest one – and most challenging! Persecution has always been around, but in the future it is predicted to increase ten fold. We’ve never seen the severe types of Christian persecution in America that they see in countries such as China, Russia or in the Middle eastern countries – but it is coming our way and many will probably say – it is already here! This is the strongest argument for strengthening our study and knowledge of the word of God. Putting on the “armor of God” as protection for the coming days!

Blessings,

Dave Farmer

The Heart of Worship (part 2)

The Heart of Worship - part 2

In last month’s newsletter, the topic was the meaning of worship. What does worship mean to you, the church or – more importantly, to God. I spoke about direct worship of God through our singing, prayers and corporate worship time, in which we directly give God praise and acknowledgement that He is supreme in all things and is worthy of our attentions and our praise, but what about the “indirect” kind of worship? What would that kind of worship look like? Is one kind of worship better than another? Let’s take a look.

First of all, I had to really think hard about what that would look like first. Try it yourself and you might realize just how difficult it is to define indirect worship. The best – and most “Biblical” way to describe or define indirect worship, is to live your life in such a way, that others will ‘see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” Matt. 5:16 NIV.

So simply put, our doing good deeds for others; is a basic definition of “indirect” worship. We are worshipping God and giving Him glory by helping others. That could be; giving food, drink or clothing to those in need or doing anything in which we are rendering assistance or aid to those who need it.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matt. 25:35-36 NIV.

This kind of worship is important and vital to God. God wants us to help others and delights in us when we worship Him this way. However, we cannot stop at that. He also demands us to worship Him directly as well through our singing, prayers and corporate worship time. These two kinds of worship are vital to our spiritual growth and well-being and both give God great pleasure, and pleasing God is what worship is all about.

Blessings to all for a Joyous Easter,

Dave

The Heart of Worship (Part 1)

The Heart of Worship – part 1

What does the idea of worship mean to you? What do you think the idea of worship means to the church, or the body of Christ? And what do you think the idea of worship means to God? Do you suppose that sometimes our idea or the church’s idea of worship might be completely different than God’s? If you said yes, then I think you might truly have a “heart for worship” after all…

First and foremost true worship in the biblical sense is exultation! It involves exalting God above all other things on earth and in heaven above. The Hebrew words used for worship are usually communicated as submission to God, reverence or paying God homage. By engaging in the act of worship, we are acknowledging that God is above us, all-powerful, worthy of our affection, attention, devotion and praise. There are really two basic ways to go about doing this – either directly (singing, speaking or praying etc.) or indirectly. In this article I’ll speak about worshipping God directly. I could go on and give a long list of scriptural references about “singing a new song” or “praising God with the loud praise…” but let’s keep this simple and honest – shall we? Ask yourself (seriously, just yourself, not anyone else around you) these two simple questions next time you come before God to worship Him;

1. Are my thoughts and my attentions focused completely on God when I worship Him?
2. When I worship Him, am I being honest and open with God?

I will simply leave it at that for now, without adding any more or embellishing those two simple questions beyond what they are - I will save that for later. God knows our hearts better than we realize… I believe, the closer we draw near to Him in our time of worship of Him – the closer He will draw near to you in His presence, protection and Grace.

Blessings,

Dave

Finish your vegetables!

“Finish your vegetables or you’ll get no dessert…”

You know when I was younger I remember my parents would try to get me to eat new things once in a while to “broaden” my horizons! One day they would serve me broccoli, the next it would be split pea soup. Meanwhile, I would sit and stare at it – turn my nose up at it – and refuse to eat it. My mom – being a typical mom, would say something like, “come on David try it, you’ll like it” or maybe she’d use the old timeless standard “if you don’t finish your vegetables you won’t get any dessert afterwards.” Ring any bells with anyone out there? I’m sure someone in their youth was defiant when it came to eating their veggies!
Now, let me flip the table on you (pardon the pun) for a second. What would you say to a child or youth in the church who absolutely refused to sing (I mean, just folded their arms together and closed their lips to any notion of singing) a timeless, classic and deeply scriptural hymn from the church hymnal, something like, say “How Great thou Art,” or “Great is thy Faithfulness” for example? Would you scold them or chastise them somehow? Would you lecture them on the merits of hymnal singing? Or enter into a lengthy discussion on how important singing hymns are in deepening our relationship with and our worship of God? Or, would you just smile at them – tell them you love them and that God loves them too - even when they won’t sing. I’ll stop there. The story I am sharing with you is somewhat a parable.
I pray right now – that you have ears to hear what I’ve written. When we sing together on Sundays in our worship, we are not singing for our own pleasure; we are not singing only the songs we like – we are singing to our Maker, our Redeemer and Friend. Jesus our Lord – who died on a Cross, to take away our sins in order that we might one day live with Him and rejoice in His incredible offering of Grace! So, unfold those arms, open those mouths – and SING!

Have a Blessed week! (Now go eat your vegetables!)

Dave

A Wonderful Life!

“It’s A Wonderful Life”

As you might have thought by the title of my article, I am writing about a famous holiday movie… Well, not exactly. This is sort of a “let’s pretend for a minute” story using the fictional character George Bailey from the famous holiday classic in the scene where George tells Clarence (the Angel who’s trying to earn his wings...) that he feels things would have just been better “if he’d never have been born!” Then Clarence grants him the opportunity to see what life would have been like for everyone else if that had indeed been true. Here is where the “pretend part” comes in… imagine for a moment what the world be like today if Jesus had never been born? Really, think about that for a few moments and ponder that thought… What if God had decided to NOT give his only son to the world to die for our sins? There would be no Mary and Joseph in the manger, no three years of ministry with twelve disciples; no miracles; no resurrection of Lazarus; no upper room meal on Passover; no trial before Pilate; no crucifixion and suffering before a hostile mob; no death on the cross – and NO resurrection!

What would the world be like today if Jesus had never been born?

If one takes a historical look over the last two-thousand years – it would be difficult to find any major historical event or civilization that has not been affected by the Ministry of Jesus Christ. No single person that has ever lived has had a greater influence on the history of our world than Jesus. I shudder to even think of what the world would be like today if Jesus had not been born, and I am so thankful that he was. As the Angel Clarence in the movie tells George Bailey, “Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?” I can’t even begin to imagine how immense the hole in our world today would be, without Jesus.

We all, in our own way – touch so many lives around us - It is truly a wonderful life we live and have been freely given by the birth of baby Jesus so long ago. Have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Dave Farmer

Ten Thousand Reasons!

10,000 Reasons…

Worship leader and songwriter Matt Redman recently released a new worship CD titled “10,000 Reasons.” In his notes he writes of his inspiration behind this new album of worship music which he wrote them down in a book titled “Mirror Ball”. He relates the journey of a Christian life as being one of “wandering and wondering – journeying from scene to scene and taking time to explore the magnificence of God.”
All our lives are filled with daily testimonies to the magnificence of God; some so small they may go unseen to our own eyes while others are so great that they can often overwhelm us – if only we choose to look, we can FIND them. I am blessed to have Tammy as a partner in my life – her devotion to sit with me for hour upon hour recently in my visit to the emergency room at Banner Hospital, grilling the nurses and doctors and asking all the “right questions” that I was too sick to even think of – was one such overwhelming testimony to me of God’s magnificence… My daily life is filled with even more testimonies than this – sometimes small, sometimes unseen even, but I can find them if I only look.

In a line from Matt’s new song “10,000 Reasons” he sings;

Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me,
Let me be singing when the evening comes,
You’re rich in love and You’re slow to anger,
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind.
For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing,
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.

Every day of our lives is filled with moments and testimonies to the Magnificence of God, maybe it’s in a cooling summer rain, watching a lovely rose as it blooms and opens before our eyes. Maybe it’s in the colors of a desert sunset or perhaps in the smiles of our children (or grandchildren) or in a hand to hold on to in a time of need. Perhaps it’s just in simply being able to rise and stand to greet one more day of life and existence is this world before our time comes to finally be with our Lord. Meanwhile, I listen and ponder the words of the song, “Whatever may pass… For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.”

Blessings,

Dave