Sunday, August 20, 2023

SEEDLESS FRUIT | PASTOR TRE TOWNSLEY | 10AM

Seedless Fruit

  • Genesis 1:11-12 11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.   
  • “We can do it better”
  • Production of seedless varieties are produced through means such as grafting and chemical application
  • The major appeal to seedless fruit is not much more than convenience
  • In the U.S., the popularization of seedless varieties has made it more difficult to find seeded varieties of fruits
  • Seedless varieties allow us to enjoy the pleasure of the fruit without fully submitting to the process
  • The fruit exists but cannot reproduce by natural means. It is sterile.
  • We’ve bought into it because it seems to be the norm

In Society

  • The nuclear family has been a staple in society since the beginning of time
  • Matthew 19:4-5 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 
  • Colossians 3:18-21 18 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.  20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 
  • Eugenics movement across the world 
  • The Asexualization Act authorizes the involuntary sterilization of thousands 
  • Jewish Holocaust
  • Margaret Sanger movement
  • Toxic masculinity
  • Gender role reversal
  • We’ve bought into it because it seems to be the norm
  • I just want you to take a look at the industry

Hollywood and music, look at the symmetry

Look at what they push, look at what they claim to be about

Look at how anybody in disagreement gets weeded out

Think about what you and them agree about

(Abortion and same sex) and the one result they both bring about: death

But God is life so the plan is murder your seed or make sure it don’t get planted…

-lyrics by Bizzle

In the Spiritual

  • Ephesians 2:8(a)  For by grace you have been saved through faith...
  • Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God
  • Luke 8:5, 11 “A sower went out to sow his seed. 11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
  • 1 John 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
  • Matthew 13:24, 37-38 24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field  36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
  • Misinterpretation of scripture
  • Downplaying the expectation of the scriptures
  • Ex: only Jesus can live free from sin
  • We’ve bought into it because it seems to be the norm

Recognition

  • What do you produce? 
  • Matthew 7:16-20 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
  • What is your shelf life?
  • John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing
  • Mark 1:35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.
  • What drives you?
  • Luke 4:42-43 42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; 43 but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”
  • John 4:31-34 31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

Reseeding/Overseeding

  • We usually continue in something when we see the desired results from the activity. Sometimes, we must continue in the activity in order to see the desired results.
  • Many have become accustomed to living according to the standard of the pastor, apostle, teacher, etc. that we become comfortable when we come close to the standard they’ve set.
  • There is a place of uncommon connection for each of us.

Sunday, August 13, 2023

CHORE TO CHOICE PT.2 | Pastor Chris Searcy | 10 am

Recap:

The beauty perspective: Embracing God’s beauty, and his beautiful plan for our lives.


Delighting in the beauty of Jesus is essential to walking in victory, especially in this hour when fear, lust, offense, and violence are increasing. 


Psalm 27:4 

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.


The ways to do that are:


Prayer, Proclaiming scripture, or Praise.


  1. Prayer
    Talking to God.
  2. Proclaiming scripture
    Reading the Bible and speaking what we see in it about God’s beauty and character. Our delight of His beauty grows by speaking it. We are to speak to God the things we admire about Him.
  3. Praise
    Singing to him. 



PART 2


In the scripture there is a clear call to commune with God, but who are we talking to and what is He like?


THE I AM

David exhorted us to look up to see God’s beauty in His heavenly art gallery


Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.






THE BEAUTY ABOVE US


  1. You can see 5,000 stars with the naked eye, but in the Milky Way our Galaxy there are over 100 billion stars.
  2. Astronomers estimate that in the known universe there are over 100 billion galaxies, each having billions of stars.
  3. The diameter of the observable universe is over 15 billion light-years.
    A light-year is the distance that light travels in one year, which is  6 trillion miles per year. (It moves at 186,000 miles per second.)
  4. The galaxy closest to us is the Andromeda galaxy. It is over 2 million light years from earth (15 quintillion miles—15 with 18 zeros).
  5. After the sun, the nearest star to us is Proxima Centauri—it is over 4 light years from us which equals 24 trillion miles from earth.
  6. The largest star known so far is Betelgeuse, with a diameter of 800 million miles (about 1,000 times wider than our sun). Some stars are 50 million times the mass of the earth!
  7. Our Sun: It is 93 million miles from the earth and is over 800,000 miles in diameter. It would take one million earths to fill the space the sun occupies. 
    1. On the surface of the sun the temperature is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. In the core of our sun the temperature reaches 30 million degrees. 
    2. In our sun, billions of trillions (10 followed by 38 zeros) of nuclear fusion reactions occur every second producing energy comparable to 100 billion hydrogen bombs exploding every second.


Romans 1:19-21

19…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.


THE VAST COMPLEXITIES OF THE MID AND SUB-ATOMIC WORLD


There are approximately 100 trillion cells in the average adult body.
There are an estimated 100 trillion atoms in each cell.


Plants and animals: Scientists estimate that there are more than 10 million species of plants and animals, including 25,000+ species of orchids, 60 species of eagles, 50 kinds of kangaroos, 200 species of turtles, and 3 million species of insects. All the way to an elephant has more than 40,000 muscles in its trunk alone!


Psalm 147:5

Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is inexhaustible


Colossians. 1:16-17

16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers…all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 


There is a Universe above us around us but also inside of us. 

And ALL of it all exists to glorify and display God’s beauty and power.


The Lord makes things beautiful because he is beautiful

He makes things grand because he is grand

He makes things awesome because he is awesome.


Who are we to question his power or commitment?


Context:

  1. The prophecy was given by Isaiah about the sixth century before Christ. Somewhere in the 500 BC’s 
  2. God’s people were defeated and in exile (kicked out of their land) 
  3. They were exiled because they turned to idols and false Gods desiring earthly security and prosperity.



Isaiah 40:19-31

19 

An idol! A craftsman casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
    and casts for it silver chains.

20 

He who is too impoverished for an offering
    chooses wood[h] that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
    to set up an idol that will not move.

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear?
    Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

23 who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
    scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
    and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
    and because he is strong in power,
    not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    and my right is disregarded by my God”?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.


HE IS GOD!

The maker of Heaven and earth and sea, and everything in them.

Who is Omnipotent and Omnipresent!


That radically changes our prayer life!

We get to talk to the God of Creation. 

We get to praise the God of Creation


1 John 5:14-15

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.




Further Study

God Is Infinite – He is Self-Existing, Without Origin

"And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." - Colossians 1:17


God Is Immutable – He Never Changes

“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” Malachi 3:6


God Is Self-Sufficient – He Has No Needs

“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” – John 5:26


God is Omnipotent – He Is All Powerful

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” – Psalm 33:6


God Is Omniscient – He Is All-Knowing

“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please” - Isaiah 46:9-10


God Is Omnipresent – He Is Always Everywhere

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.” Psalm 139:7-10


God Is Wise – He Is Full of Perfect, Unchanging Wisdom

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” – Romans 11:33


God Is Faithful – He Is Infinitely, Unchangingly True

“If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13


God Is Good – He Is Infinitely, Unchangingly Kind and Full of Good Will

“O, taste and see that the Lord is good” – Psalm 34:8


God Is Just – He Is Infinitely, Unchangeably Right and Perfect in All He Does

"The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.” – Duet 32:4


God Is Merciful – He is Infinitely, Unchangeably Compassionate and Kind

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." - Romans 9:15-16


God Is Gracious – God Is Infinitely Inclined to Spare the Guilty

"The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness." – Psalm 145:8


 God Is Loving – God Infinitely Loves Us

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” - 1 John 4:7-8


God Is Holy – He is Infinitely unchangingly Other than

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord Almighty” – Revelation 4:8


God Is Glorious – He is Infinitely Beautiful and Great

19 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1