Last Wednesday marked the first full day of Spring for this new year and what a beautiful day it was here in Coshocton, Ohio. Time to break out the gardening tools and get to work. Many will be planting gardens with hopes of a great harvest this fall. I’m not much of a gardener, yet I surely enjoy the fresh “fruits of the soil.” So, I have to start praying now for God to lie upon the hearts of you who do plant gardens, to remember to pay your tithes to the man of God. I am amazed at the miracle of the seed when it leaves the farmer’s hand. It is placed in the ground with the expectation of bringing forth a new plant of its kind. For me there was always the question, “I wonder if anything will come up?” When the farmer plants corn seed he expects corn stalks, when he plants wheat, then wheat comes up. Never will a man plant corn seed in his field and then have wheat rise up. It is so impossible that the expectation we have for corn to come up is taken for granted –we forget the miracle of the seed. We must remember the words of Jesus when He said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abideth alone. But if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit.” I like what someone else once said, “You can count the seeds within the apple. But you can’t count the apples within the seeds.” Both statements are so true and because they are, we can apply them to ourselves as we look to harvest something up from the field that God has given to us to plow. First thing: Don’t expect to reap if you don’t sow. This not only applies to evangelism but also to our own personal growth. If I don’t burrow deep into the Word of God, I shouldn’t expect to know the mind of the Spirit. If I spend more time listening to the television and the opinions of men (because that is what television is) how shall I ever become what God is trying to make of me? I think when Jesus said that, “a tree is known by its fruit,” He was thinking of exactly this. Garbage in –garbage out! In Luke’s gospel Jesus gives the parable of the sower with this little twist: “… But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” Jesus isn’t just talking about evangelism here. I think He is talking to Christians who hear the Word on Sunday to no avail because Monday through Saturday they couldn’t retain what they didn’t persevere in. But I have a greater hope for all of you as you place your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ! For I believe that as you drink in the water of the spring and autumn rains, the soil of your hearts shall produce seed for the sower and bread for the eater. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace. You will be oaks of righteousness –a planting from the Lord Himself! The mountains and hills will burst forth into song before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Its Springtime –Let God be the caretaker of your garden.

The other day, Jimmy Green was helping me take up a cement walk. I had arrived earlier and tried to get as much done before he got there as I could. Jimmy works third shift and I know that sleep is precious and often times interrupted. I had drilled some holes in the walk, chipped here and chipped there, dug a little dirt, but needless to say, I hadn’t gotten very far when Jimmy arrived. He walked across the street with his pop and his tool –a twenty-pound sledge! I had a little eight “pounder” and a chisel and a drill and a pry bar! Jimmy had a twenty-pound sledge! He looked at my sledge and just smiled and said, “What are you doing with that?” Well, I wasn’t doing very much that’s for sure. Jimmy lifted that sledge above his head eight or nine times and the walk was busted up. Twenty minutes tops and the walk was out of there! I was impressed. It just goes to show you, you’ve got to have the right tool.
I was reminded of the Jewish priest who had seven sons. One day they confronted a man who had an evil spirit. Seven against one, you would think that the evil spirit would have just sent up the white flag and surrendered. But he didn’t. So these seven men approached this one man and said, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, come out of him.” The spirit responded, “Jesus I know and I know Paul. But who are you?” And with that he jumped on those seven men and beat them so badly that they ran out beaten and naked. You’ve heard the old adage, “Don’t send a boy to do a man’s job.” The Bible says that our fight is not against flesh and blood… so our weapons of carnality are useless. Paul tells us that our weapon is prayer and it is mighty through God. We pray to see God’s will accomplished and people set free from the oppression of the enemies of the Gospel. Jesus used the Word of God against the devil. I don’t think we should think to use anything else. Prayer and the Bible are the tools, the only tools, for every Christian. We will not only win victories in our own lives but in the lives of others as well.
Now, God, He isn’t particular and He is willing to use anything or anyone for His purpose. You can be just the right tool that God needs for a particular job. I’ve always said if God can use a donkey, He should be able to use me. If He could bring a victory out of a slingshot in the hands of a shepherd boy and the deliverance of a nation through a staff in the hands of an eighty-year old, then He certainly can do something with me. How about you? Are you the right tool for God? Are you one of the laborers that He has commanded the church to pray for? I believe that you are and I believe that God can use you and whatever is “in your hand” to bring about the kingdom of God. What an awesome calling! Just think about it; the Creator of all things desires that you be a part of His purpose. Through the eternal Spirit, and the blood of Christ, you and I can be the right tool for the job.

Here is something to chew on: John says, “This is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness…”1John1:5 Now if the Bible says that God is light, then it is not giving us a definition of God, but is actually proclaiming what God is. For instance, the Bible says that God is love. It is not telling us that love is God. If it was, then we should be worshiping love. No, the Bible is telling us something that God is. God is light. Therefore, light is an attribute of God and because God is infinite, this light is also infinite. It is an uncreated light that always was and always will be. It is a light that has no dimness or shadow of turning. It is an infinite light that is uncreated. Did you ever notice that God first said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Gods saw that the light was good and he separated the light form the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning –the first day. But the sun and the moon and stars were not created until the fourth day. The light that shined the first day was different than the light that shined on the fourth day. The light of the first day was uncreated –it was the light of God! That light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. Darkness must flee when the light of God shines in the hearts of men. Listen to how Paul puts it. “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” Made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Therefore, brethren, we have an obligation! To let the light of God to shine ever brighter in our hearts until He is fully revealed in us. This light is the knowledge of God and that knowledge will continue to give us more understanding, not only of God, but of ourselves as well. Let us let the light of God reveal who we are instead of trusting our own understanding. Remember, God’s light can reveal the truth!

Have a blessed week!

Pastor Jim

Solomon tells us that the path of the righteous is like the first gleam of the dawn shining ever brighter until the full light of the day. We walk in the light even as He is in the light. God has ordained that Jesus Christ’s life would be that light by which the peoples of this world should live by. David said, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” If one would desire to walk in this dark world without stumbling, then he must walk by the Light of the world –Jesus Christ.

Over the years, since I have become a Christian, I have heard a number of Christians and even preachers, talk about Christians who fall into sin. There has even been the occasional statement that Christians are not perfect –everyone sins. They back it up with John’s statement in 1John 1:8 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” But John isn’t telling us that no matter how long we live for God, that we are going to have sin in our lives and we might as well get used to it. That kind of thinking only fosters a tolerance for the sin that is in our lives. No, what John is saying is that when God brings to light the sin that is in us, and then we confess that sin, God will be faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If this was not true then he wouldn’t have said later, “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” Back to what John said in verse eight: “If we claim to be without sin,” is spoken in the same spirit as Solomon’s adulteress; She eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”Pr,30:20 This is the attitude of many Christians today. They believe, that because they asked Jesus to forgive them of their sins, that there isn’t really any reason to keep going to the light to disclose any more. That would cramp their style. And it’s better not to know that Jesus considers some things as sin, then, I would have to give those things up –and that wouldn’t make me very happy. Actually, just the opposite is true as we see in the song, “What a Friend we have in Jesus.”

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

No, saint of God, it behooves us to run to Jesus with the cry, “Lord, Search me with Thy penetrating light. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me. For you alone can discern my hidden faults. I do not want to be like the wicked who do not come to the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. For I know that those who conceal their sin will not prosper, but those who confess and renounce them finds mercy.” Pr.28:13