A few Sundays ago, we had one of members preach since our pastor was out of town. This church member did such an awesome job that I wanted to share with you what he shared....
The subject was the "Church Garden" and what it needs. He started out by reading part of Genesis 2 which describes the garden of Eden. There are three main components in a great garden:
*Good Soil
*Good Plants
*Good Workers
We must have a good soil to start. Jesus talked about sowing seeds in the gospel and that seeds thrown along a road, among the rocks or in thorny soil won't produce a good garden. The soil (our hearts) must be prepared to receive Christ and follow Him.
Every garden needs excellent plants...here are some ideas of things to plant:
Three rows of squash
-Squash indifference.
-Squash criticism.
-Squash gossip.
4 rows of turn ups
-Turn up for meetings.
-Turn up with a smile.
-Turn up with a visitor.
-Turn up with a Bible.
Five rows of P's
-Participation
-Prayer
-Persistence
-Patience
-Peace
Five rows of Let-us
-Let us love one another.
-Let us welcome strangers.
-Let us be faithful.
-Let us worship God.
-Let us give generously.
Every church garden needs excellent workers!
Great workers come in the form of
corn and
sweet potatoes!
Christians that are like corn have tons of ears. Christ tells us that we should listen more than we talk! Many words lead to sin! Christians also need to be like sweet potatoes. You can cut them, fry them, bake them and boil them, but no matter how you treat them they turn out sweet!
There are also characteristics that we should avoid as Christians. We should never be like
bell peppers,
green beans, or
okra. What do you see when you cut open a bell pepper? It is hollow inside. We should never be hollow Christians, but should be people of substance. "Green Bean Christians" are runners and climbers. They won't produce much unless they are staked! Remember to be still and know that He is God! Ever tried to pick okra? They are prickly and an irritant to the skin! As Christians, others should be able to approach us without fear of rubbing us the wrong way and receiving a prickly disposition from us!
We started out with Genesis 2 and the first garden...we finished with Revelation 22 which describes the eternal garden...so the Word of God begins and ends with a garden! I never thought about that!
May God bless our gardens!
