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Some of the seed fell among the weeds, and the weeds grew up with it and choked it.
Luke 8:7 What is a weed? Do you know the difference between weeds and not weeds? Sometimes it is hard to tell and it is usually left up to the person who is in charge of the garden to determine what is a weed and what isn’t. We had some people helping us pull weeds in Agape Village once and they pulled all the strawberry plants up – a weed to those who don’t know. So, what is a weed? The word used in this passage for weed is actually thorns. Israel has lots of thorns and prickly plants. When you are walking around in sandals most of the time, you definitely don’t want any thorns around. Officially a weed is any plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals. In this parable, however, the weeds aren’t up for debate or left to a matter of human opinion. The weeds Jesus is talking about are anything in our life (according to Jesus that can be the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life) that conflicts with God’s preferences, expectations, or goals for us. The problem with those kinds of weeds is that we can easily justify them. We can also think we can control them, that we are stronger. But, in the end we are not. Those weeds we let grow in our life, the ones we have justified, actually choke us out and destroy the Truth God has for us. What are you letting grow in your life that is choking out the Truth of God? What is hindering your walk with Him? What is stopping you from maturing and producing the kind of fruit God created you to produce? Weeds can be anything. Sin is always a big weed – one we need to get rid of. By sin I mean anything that goes against God’s Word, any act of disobedience – either doing what you shouldn’t or not doing what you should. There are also weeds that can be harder to recognize – relationships, habits, attitudes, behaviors, and even some of the things we ‘enjoy.’ If we truly want to live a life of victory and bear good fruit then we have to get rid of the weeds. Ready to pull some weeds? Ask God to show you what needs to go and do what you need to do to get it out of your life. Looking for weeds with you, Pastor Matt
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A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it.
Luke 8:5 How often do you walk the same path? We probably do it far more often than we realize. I know my dogs do, they have walked and run the same path in my backyard enough that they have killed the grass. They have created a trail through the grass. I see the same thing in some places around the church as people cut through the grass heading home – they wear it out they walk the same direction so much. Animals do it in the woods, we call them game trails. Paths are everywhere in life and we tend to always walk the same ones. Jesus told a parable about a sower who was spreading some seed. Some of that seed fell along the path. Jesus said the seed is the Word of God and the devil was able to steal it from those on this well beaten path before they were able to allow it to do a work in them – before they could be saved. It struck me, how many times do I walk the same path trampling right over the Word God has for me, leaving it for the devil to devout? We walk these paths because they are easy, comfortable, and known. They lead us in a direction with little effort or even though – we just have to stay on the path. The crowd is in front of us walking the same path – so might as well follow along. The thing is, these paths become a distraction and often don’t lead us in a good direction, especially if we are trampling God’s Word while we walk them. These paths could easily represent the busyness and distractions in life. All the things, the sin, that keeps us from seeing and hear the Lord. So long as we stay in it or on it, we keep trampling over the seed God has cast before us. Would you join me in slowing down, looking around, and perhaps getting off the well beaten path so we can better hear and see the Word of God? I don’t know about you, but I want to stop trampling God’s Word and start living in it. Walking with you, Pastor Matt |
AuthorPastor Matt Huff leads Portland Central Nazarene Church. He loves being in ministry and seeing lives transformed by the power of Christ. Archives
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Phone: 503-760-6272
Service Time: Sunday, 10:00 am |