Podcasts about spiritual garden

Andy Becker is a writer, a gardener, and a lifelong learner. He makes his home in western Washington, where he's spent decades nurturing and creating his garden, discovering that the earth and plants speak to him, which he beautifully translates into relatable stories. Andy now has three books in his "Spiritual Garden" series, and we turn the pages of his first, "The Spiritual Gardener."https://Andybecker.life  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Andy Becker is a writer, a gardener, and a lifelong learner. He makes his home in western Washington, where he's spent decades nurturing and creating his garden, discovering that the earth and plants speak to him, which he beautifully translates into relatable stories. Andy now has three books in his "Spiritual Garden" series, and we turn the pages of his first, "The Spiritual Gardener." https://Andybecker.life  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Richard Hong "Doctrine of the Church: Spiritual Garden” Mark 4:26-32 www.risenhayward.com

www.davidhmedium.co.uk Enjoy this relaxing and energising meditation guided by DavidH:Medium. This meditation takes you into a place which allows you to open some of your senses by visualisation. This meditations aims to bring some relaxation, upliftment and some energising, to give us some of our energy back. Music: Relaxing Sleep No Copyright Free Ambient Meditative Background Music For Study - 'Nature' by Aylex Get David's debut book 'Coming down to Earth' on all amazon platforms: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coming-down-Earth-Spiritual-development/dp/1527280985

Galatians 6:6-10In Galatians 5, we learned about the fruit of the Spirit, claiming it wasn't the fruit of our really hard work. However, Andrew and Edwin discuss that doesn't mean we do nothing. We are to sow to the Spirit. We must plant the seeds in our lives that the Spirit will water and fertilize and grow into His fruit and into eternal life.Read the written devo that goes along with this episode by clicking here.    Let us know what you are learning or any questions you have. Email us at TextTalk@ChristiansMeetHere.org.    Join the Facebook community and join the conversation by clicking here. We'd love to meet you. Be a guest among the Christians who meet on Livingston Avenue. Click here to find out more. Michael Eldridge sang all four parts of our theme song. Find more from him by clicking here.   Thanks for talking about the text with us today.________________________________________________If the hyperlinks do not work, copy the following addresses and paste them into the URL bar of your web browser: Daily Written Devo: https://readthebiblemakedisciples.wordpress.com/?p=9521The Christians Who Meet on Livingston Avenue: http://www.christiansmeethere.org/Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TalkAboutTheTextFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/texttalkMichael Eldridge: https://acapeldridge.com/ 

Original Air Date: 01 15 22Rev Ned talks on liberation within the galaxy and how that impacts the moon, Mars, and even an event on Jupiter. This is a conversation that Rev Ned has been very shy about sharing with the public, but I think we are more than ready to hear them. We are so blessed to have him reveal these updates for the first time on 3rd Eye Salon! (see bio below) 3rd Eye Salon:Thanks: https://ko-fi.com/3rdeyesalon/ (Buy 3rd Eye Salon a Coffee!)Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3rdeyesalonEvents: https://www.facebook.com/3rdEyeSalonEventsHomepage: https://www.3rdeyesalon.com/Telegram: https://t.me/ThirdEyeSalonApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3rd-eye-salon/id1603899554Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0YartXNwExBpXdHDsVOehr?si=eb8066da1b03445fRev Ned believes we are here for Divine Cosmic reasons and filled with Divine Connections and saturated with Divine Purposes and Divine Potential….He teaches that each person is a  Cosmic Gift that needs to be unwrapped in Pure Love and Light and Gratitude. He has taught on this Pure Love for 38 years.His father always taught him to test the waters of all man made institutions and not to become a walking breathing programmable robot.  His much older cousin would teach him as a young teen about NDE'S and Reincarnation and other spiritual matters.He was raised close to the Earth and not in Brick and Mortar institutions. At his Walden Pond he would spend hours in the woods and be one with All That Is. This was a Spiritual Garden for him where he was planted in the deep rich soil of not just Momma Earth but the ever expanding Cosmos.He had an amazing spiritual experience in 1983 near the land of the Battle of Chancellorsville, it was like a Deep Spiritual Cleansing to become one with All That Is.Rev has done Earth ceremonies since he was a young teen and his friend & Lakota adopted brother, Uncle Dave, has been instrumental in introducing Rev to Lakota Sweat Lodges 27 plus years ago which led to Lawampi and Yuwipi Ceremonies which always leads to Spiritual Energies and Entities emerging.Meeting his wife in college he started becoming more involved in this person called Yeshua. He even tried to enter a local seminary and was rejected because he was too far out there. He eventually was accepted and the start of his 3rd year he was released for expanding his far outness, to Cosmic.Through his knowing of Yeshua he became involved in over 44 different denominations, teaching on Pure Love, yet still being true to his Earth roots.For many years Rev managed International Housing for a local college where he met precious folks from 177 countries and gathering these diverse religious/spiritual paths together to show how we are all one.In these ways Rev has experienced Cosmic cousins and spiritual entities of various species.  He always had troubled with the brick & mortar institutions using fear when his experiences of Pure Love has had no f-ear. Like, his NDE in 2018 and his recent stroke expereince in July where Mystical Cosmic Entities and guests brought in Higher Healing Energies.To name just a few experiences of Rev, Native Elder Spirit and orbs and Momma Earth lighting up and and Pleiadian energies arriving during a Navaho Bear Ceremony and the Elementals dancing  and assisting (NDE) and spirit animals flowing around and so many ancient ancestors joining in and winged ones coming to be one with this Higher Pure Love and Higher Energy beings showing up on their back deck on the Hill they call home. Recently during a ceremony while he was drumming and singing Spirit drums in the Northwest SkyRivers, sounded like a 100 Nations gathering made Divine sounds for almost an hour.He loves to get up and be one with the Star Rise and also be one with the Star Set in the evening.  The SkyRivers communicate he says.  Much of his news arrives from different aspects of Creation and not from TV or radio. Every step and breath he says is Sacred!Rev Ned:spiritarise@yahoo.comInstagram  - revnedtahttps://www.facebook.com/groups/1915605531910194CoHosts:Angela Anderson: Homepage: www.onenessworksllc.simplybook.me/v2/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR4G3I3YCJKfHMtRLmxTcVw#Disclosure #Ascension #Oneness #PlanetaryAwakening #Gaia #GalacticUpdate #PsychicDownloads #NDE #CosmicPortal #Jupiter #Moonbase ★ Support this podcast ★

Luke 8:7-8; Luke 8:14-15; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Proverbs 28:19; 1 Timothy 4:13-16; Jeremiah 1:10

Discussing culture, appropriation, protecting culture, elderhood and lineage as well as mental health and the garden as a model of wellness.

Pastor John warns us that some of us have let the wrong seeds grow in our hearts and lives. Going to Proverbs 4:20-23, he exhorts and instructs on how to have a spiritual garden that flourishes. After all, faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God.

Welcome to TAKE TWO of Exploring Our Souls of Shame! Rerunning this episode was an obvious choice because we *all* deal with shame. Curt Thompson beautifully describes not only the experience of shame, but also its antidote: Jesus. Join us as we learn resilience and joy in this brilliant conversation! I Highlights I “The gospel–if it is good news–does not begin with ‘I am more sinful than I believe.' It begins, in fact, with ‘I am more loved than I can imagine.' It is in that space of being loved incessantly, relentlessly, that we become aware just how sinful we are.” –Dr. Curt Thompson, M.D. “God–even in His pursuit–He is not going to shame us. He is not going to twist my arm. He is not going to shame me for not having my shame cleaned up well enough. He is going to relentlessly pursue me.” –Dr. Curt Thompson, M.D. “The healing of shame is not just a way for us to not longer feel bad about ourselves. It's a way to re-commission us to do the work of goodness and beauty that God has had for us since before the creation of the world.” –Dr. Curt Thompson, M.D. I Do the Next Thing I Check out Curt's book, the *Soul of Shame.* https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Shame-Retelling-Stories-Ourselves/dp/0830844333 Want to learn more about shame? Listen to our other episodes on it here! - Episode 155: Getting to the Root of Porn in a Time of Turmoil with Michael John Cusick - https://lauriekrieg.com/podcast/getting-to-the-root-of-porn-in-a-time-of-turmoil-with-michael-john-cusick/ - Episode 164: The Spiritual Garden with Carolyn Schroeder - https://lauriekrieg.com/podcast/the-spiritual-garden-with-carolyn-schroeder/ - Episode 166: The Emotional Garden with Peace Amadi - https://lauriekrieg.com/podcast/the-spiritual-garden-with-carolyn-schroeder/ - Episode 173: Marriage and Mental Health with Aaron and Jamie Ivey - https://lauriekrieg.com/podcast/marriage-and-mental-health-with-aaron-jamie-ivey/ - Episode 83: Sexuality and Shame with Dan Allender - https://lauriekrieg.com/podcast/sexuality-and-shame-with-dan-allender/ - Episode 82: How to Lament with Mark Vroegop - https://lauriekrieg.com/podcast/how-to-lament-with-mark-vroegop/ Are you liking this series? Have thoughts about this episode? Email us at lk@lauriekrieg.com. Have you seen our new favorite Bible yet? Check it out here! https://csbholylandillustratedbible.com Follow Laurie on Instagram for more ministry updates! https://www.instagram.com/laurie_krieg/?hl=en

Episode 164: The Spiritual Garden with Carolyn Schroeder Guys? Anybody out there struggle with experiencing Jesus? Us, too, some days. Personal, intimate experiences with Christ are hard to find in our chaotic world. Today, Carolyn Schroeder (Laurie’s real life mentor!!!) is here to invite us into Jesus’ presence and teach us how to have those experiences wherever we are! Join us as we dive into deeper relationship with our Savior and Healer today. I Highlights I “God had to get me to the place of being powerless and desperate for Him so that I could be a receiver.” -Carolyn Schroeder “My sins cannot condemn me, because there’s a solution to sin. And everyday, I take that solution.” -Carolyn Schroeder “Only a life lived in anticipation of [God’s] goodness can live in the chaos we live in.” -Carolyn Schroeder I Do the Next Thing I Would you consider partnering with us in our mission? Click here to learn more! https://lauriekrieg.com/partner/ Check out Carolyn’s recommendations for time with Jesus: - Lectio 365: https://www.24-7prayer.com/dailydevotional - 1010 Thrive Podcast: https://www.audible.com/pd/1010-Thrive-Podcast/B08JJM4X8Z And here’s Carolyn’s prayer featured at the end of the episode! (COMING SOON) Watch this conversation! https://vimeo.com/522938791

Tilling the ground of the Spiritual Garden. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vikki-semple/message

Teaching from the Word of God.

Teaching from the Word of God.

I hope everybody is well. I also hope the audio is okay with this episode I did report it outside last night. I hope you enjoy! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/firelotusthewitch/message

Do we have a spiritual garden in our heart? How do we tend it? http://gerimcghee.com

How can planting a Spiritual Garden help you grow emotionally, achieve your goals and change your life for the better? Tune in to Stephanie O’Hara - wife, mother of 3, entrepreneur, community leader and fertility overcomer to learn to look at obstacles and challenges from an elevated perspective. Learn to overcome fear by reaching for higher thoughts and using challenges as a tool for personal growth.

A message given at Bible Baptist Church by Brother T.J. Wilson

Did you know you are a gardener? You have a spiritual garden which you are either tending or neglecting...like it or not. Find out what this means and how important it is that you learn to tend it well. Love, Will

This month on 101 Dimensions we have another great selection of interesting stuff spannign five decades! Here's the playlist:Kitaro – Island Of Life (from the maxi-single Island Of Life, 1992)Hawkwind – Levitation; Motorway City; Psychosis; and World Of Tiers (from the album Levitation, 1980)Depeche Mode – In Chains; Hole To Feed; Wrong; and Fragile Tension (from the album Sounds Of The Universe, 2009)Patrick Moraz – Heroic Fantasy; and Satellite (from the album Future Memories I & II, 1985)Jean-Luc Ponty – Cosmic Messenger; I Only Feel Good With You; and Ethereal Mood (from the album Cosmic Messenger, 1978)Kitaro – Gentle Forest; The Stone And The Green World; and Sunlight Dancing (from the album Spiritual Garden, 2006)Echelon Effect – Goodbye Sierra; End Transmission; Signals; and Outbound (from the album Signals, 2017)

Join us as Christopher welcomes back his good friend Sherry Dmytrewycz from Healing Gateway. We are celebrating Sherry's 10th appearance on the show today and sharing in a general discussion about ways to clear the weeds from your spiritual garden and live a meaningful and positive life! It's always a treat when Christopher and Sherry get together! Come celebrate with us and join in the discussion! Visit Christopher online at http://www.reburn.org Visit Sherry online at www.healinggateway.com  

Andrew McKnight

Sowing the Seed of the Kingdom 1. The Sower 2. The Seed 3. The Soil 4. Satan 5. Savior

Scripture: John 15; Isaiah 8; Psalm 80, Sunday morning message from February 2, 2014.

Anna Waara är samhällsengagerad norrbottning med många identiteter. Hon är aktiv inom fredsarbete och samhällsförändring, debatterar gärna och vill att hennes insatser ska leda till minskade fördomar och färre konflikter. Den här lördagen handlar det om individualism och ensamhet. Musik:Whispers From a Spiritual Garden med Yusuf Islam Producent Ragnhild Herminge

• What Do You Do With William Tapley...Early In The Morning • Apostle and Prophet Dennis Walker Discusses His Spiritual Garden Vision • Church Repents of Its Racism • Sermon Review: Legos to Legacies by Clay NeSmith, Barefoot Church

In the classic nursery rhyme, there is a line that says, "how does your garden grow?" As we begin to phase out of Paul's introductory section of Colossians, we begin to learn of the imperatives used to guide believers in the basic structure of the Christian life. In this lesson, we learn that order, organization, and self-discipline are keys to a good spiritual "garden". Are you including in your own daily structure reading God's Word, prayer time, and Bible study? If Paul were mentioning twenty-first century believers in his greeting as he was the Colossians, would he be thankful for our own orderly, organized, and self-disciplined spiritual life? How does your (spiritual) garden grow?

Pastor Jeff Williams: August 7, 2011 Weeding Your Spiritual Garden, Part I, “Identifying Weeds.” (The service begins with a video, which you can find by following this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T2QaNgNuA4). We're talking about weeding our spiritual gardens. Does anybody know what it means if your soil is loamy? Does anybody know (Pastor is asking the congregation.) If it's sandy? That's loamy, okay. I wasn't familiar with that word, but we'll talk a little bit more about her tips in a little while. Welcome back, campers. We had over 100 campers come back yesterday. Did any campers make it to service today? I'm expecting most of them at the 11 o'clock service. My daughter came home exhausted. She was on the couch, and we were talking. I was talking, and I turned around, and she was sound asleep in a position that I don't think human beings are actually capable of sleeping in. Wow, she was a little pretzel over there and was out! We are talking about “Weeding our Spiritual Gardens” today. If you've come into the church-especially if you're new, not so much if you've been around for a while and don't notice it-but there's a mound of dirt out there just beyond the parking lot. You may have seen that big mound of dirt and wondered what that was doing there. That's leftover from phase three, and the contractor had an oversight in pushing it all back. We said, “Well, we'll just take what we need for our gardens and backfill, and then we'll let the city help themselves to what they need. It'll be fine.” We did that, and then the city said, “We really don't need it.” Then we found out it was going to cost money to move it, so we said, “Well, we'll just kinda keep it there until phase four,” which is in 2013. We'll be building a new sanctuary, and it will come in handy then. It's been sitting out there, so the Board and I got together and said, “Somehow, we have to figure out a way to get some weeds on there. We've tried everything, and we just can't get weeds to grow there. We have gone to the weed store. We bought some of the finest weeds money can buy (congregation laughing). They just won't grow. It just seems like no matter what we do… We've imported weeds from other countries. We tried planting them out on the mound, but they won't grow no matter what we do. Some of you are thinking, “What in the world is he talking about? What kind of crazy church is this? Gardening tips? The guy is trying to plant weeds?” I'm being facetious, obviously. You don't have to plant weeds; weeds just happen. They just grow. That's because they're in the soil. You can look at soil that looks completely weed-free, but there are the seeds to those weeds under there somewhere. They can lie dormant for 90 years. Did you realize that? They can lie there until the right amount of moisture, sunlight, and temperature for that particular weed [take place], and then out they'll come. For 90 years, some of them can lie dormant. Weeds are in the soil. When we identify weeds this morning, what we're going to be talking about is that they're in our soil; they're in our nature. We are born with these weeds in us that have the propensity to grow very rapidly with very little effort. They just kind of happen. A selfish bend, it's not something you have to teach your children. You don't teach your children to be selfish, right? “Now you keep this and never share!” “No! Share!” (in Pastor's best baby voice). “No, no, keep it to yourself.” “No, share!” You haven't ever had that conversation with your child, and you never will. “Now, Junior, when little Johnny takes your toy, hit him over the head with your rattle.” “No, no retribution! Forgiveness!” “No, no! You hit him over the head with your rattle!” “No, no! Must forgive! Must not take revenge!” You don't teach that! You teach forgiveness. Retribution comes quite naturally to the child. Some words are a struggle, and other words like “mine,” they seem to learn them automatically. It's like it's innate. With this whole weed nature within us, Jesus is going to identify some weeds you and I need to work on in the garden of our hearts. In the Book of Proverbs 4:23 (page 628 of pew Bibles) gives us an admonition. It says, “Above all…” In other words, this is really, really important. This is your top priority. It says, “Above all, you and I are to guard our hearts, for it is the wellspring of life.” Guard your heart. Guard your heart. It is the wellspring of life. If you're not careful, that wellspring can become contaminated. If you're not careful, that wellspring can become polluted; so be careful what you allow into your hearts. Don't allow your hearts to become hardened. Don't allow your hearts to become unforgiving. Don't allow your hearts to become full of bitterness, hatred, and prejudice. Don't allow your hearts to become lazy and careless. Don't do that; watch over your hearts. So you are in essence the gardener or your hearts. You're the overseer of your hearts. You are to prune your gardener and take care of it. Jesus used nature all the time, didn't He? He talked about birds; He talked about flowers; He talked about weeds. He talked about being the living water. He was always using nature and the things of nature to teach. Why? Because it's where we live, and people could just look at nature and be reminded of His teachings when they'd see the lilies, when they'd see a sparrow, or when they'd take a drink and remember that He is the one you can drink from and never thirst again. He is the bread of life. So He would always use the stuff of earth to teach Heavenly lessons, and those were called Parables. Parable means to lie alongside. That is the literal meaning of the word. It is an earthly story with a Heavenly meaning; so Jesus would tell stories of things that were familiar, and it would allow you to hold on to that story because you'd remember that word picture. You'd remember that analogy, and then you'd contemplate what it meant. In Luke 8, we see one of Jesus' most famous Parables of all. It is what we call the Parable of the Sower, but it's really the Parable of the soils. It is really about the soil. There is a consistent in the story. The Sower is God. The other thing that is consistent in the story is the seed being the Word of God. What changes in the story is the soil, the condition of the soil, and the end result of what has been sown. This has to do with the condition of our hearts. He talked about how the sowing seed fell alongside the road and birds came and ate it. That was seed in which there was no understanding. It didn't even take root. People didn't understand it, and they couldn't receive it. You cannot receive what you do not understand. I have been in churches where I think the pastor's main objective is to show you all the fancy words he learned in seminary. You will walk out of there thinking, “I have no idea what he just said. It sounded important, but I don't know what he was talking about.” We want to make sure here at Faith that when I'm done with a message, or one of the pastors is done, you understand. You say, “I get that Passage now. I understand that it's application,” because you cannot receive what you cannot understand. Secondly was the seed that went alongside into the rocky soil. There was no root, no substance to it, so it didn't grow. It kind of shot up, but it died. Then there is seed sown in thorny soil or weedy soil, and then the weeds come and choke the life out of it. Fourthly, there was seed that fell along good soil and produced much fruit. Jesus is going to explain that to them in Verse 11 (of Luke 8, page 1024). He said, “‘This is the meaning of the Parable: The seed is the Word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the Word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 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.'” Each one of your soils today is in a different condition. Some of your soils are hard. It's hard to penetrate with the Truth today. Some are rocky. Some are consumed with the tribulations of life. Others of you have thorns and weeds that are choking out the Word. Others of you have good soil: it's soft and receptive. You have a good and noble heart, and you're eager to receive and hear. The Word is implanted in you; it takes root and it bears fruit. We're going to hone in today on Verse 14, the seed that fell among the thorns. In the Greek, this word thorn basically means weeds. It stands for any kind of weed you're describing You know how weeds sometimes do have thorns or prickers to them? This is kind of a coverall word. It's like how we use weeds as a coverall. We have names for different plants, and we might call them by their individual name. We have a name for this flower or this vegetable; but for weeds, they have names as well. There are botanists that can tell you, “Well, this weed is for this family, and its name is this.” To us, they are simply weeds. We use a blanket statement-one word for all. There are all kinds of flowers. They have names, but if you know the names, you simply say, “It's a flower,” and that covers it all; and we just simply say that for weeds. This is kind of an all-inclusive term for weeds that the Scripture uses. Jesus identifies those weeds, and we don't have to look hard. You say, “What are all those weeds that He is talking about?” Well, He says but they are choked by life's 1.) worries; 2.) riches, and 3.) pleasures. These are the weeds that are innate in all of us. We worry; we want things to go well. We don't want things to go poorly, so we can be consumed by worry. We can worry about the things that might happen to the point where it consumes us. I'm a worrier. I'll tell you that; I am a worrier. I worry about things. There was a big storm this week in DeKalb where my son goes to school. He told me about it, and I said, “I didn't know that.” I saw it on the news a couple of days later, and I said, “I would have been worried sick if I'd known there was a tornado warning where you were at.” Parents worry. When your children grow up and get their license, it's the worst. When they're late, you're hoping they're okay. We worry; we have that propensity to worry. The second word here talks about materialism. He says that the “riches…” In Matthew it says, “The desire or the deceitfulness of riches” chokes us-the deceitfulness of riches, the material things. What is the deceit? What is the lie of riches? The lie of riches, of course, is if you have this, you will be happy. That is the lie that you are told. Madison Avenue preys on that. It tells you, “If you have these clothes; if you drive these cars; if you take this vacation; if you live in this kind of a house; if you have this kind of a watch, then you will be happy. You will have what you need.” If you have water so you won't choke while you're preaching… Thanks, Jesse (congregation laughing as Pastor was coughing). They say you'll be happy, and we buy the lie. We buy it when we're kids. When you're in the nursery, “If I just had that toy to play with, I'd be happy.” As you get a little older, “If I just had that bicycle…” As you get a little older yet, “If I just had that car, I'd be happy” or “if I just had that girlfriend or boyfriend…” Then you grow up and say, “Well, if I just had that house, that job, or if I just had that much money in my bank…” “If I could just take that kind of vacation… I've seen the ads. Everybody who goes to that island is happy. Everybody who takes that cruise is happy. If I could take that cruise, if I could go to that island, then I'd be happy.” There are all these material things [thrown in our faces], and we don't want to experience lack, so we think if we have enough… “If I could just get more money, more material things, I'll have enough, and I will be happy because I won't have to be concerned with lack.” There are insecurities there. Then the third is pleasure or desire. That has to do with the scenes, sensual desire. “If I could taste that; if I could smell like that; if I could experience that comfort, experience that pleasure…” This leads to affairs. It leads to people going to all kinds of things to pursue comfort and so forth. There's nothing wrong with having comfort, but what happens is people pursue these over God; so I try to be satisfied in what I experience. With materialism, I try to be satisfied in what I have, what I possess; and through these pleasures, I try to be satisfied in what I experience. “If I just experience that, then I'd be happy. Then I'd be fulfilled. People come to Jesus to taste that bread. “Give us more of that bread,” and Jesus says, “You didn't come to receive from Me. You came because you wanted the bread that I make.” Jesus said, “He who hungers after Me will not be hungry. He who thirsts after Me and drinks from me will never be thirsty again.” He says, “I alone have what satisfies. Experience Me, and you can be satisfied.” These things rob us; these weeds rob us. That's what the gardener said in her clip. She said, “The number one thing and the reason why you need to get those weeds out of your garden is they rob you. They take from you. They take nutrients from the plants, vegetables, and flowers you want to grow and you want to be seen. The things that are good to eat and good to look at and bear fruit-that's what you want; but the weeds rob from that. They steal nutrients; they steal water. They steal sunshine. They compete for space from that which is good, and they rob you.” We talk about worry and how it robs us of faith. It robs us of peace of mind. We talk about materialism; it robs us of contentment, always needing more. We talk about pursuing pleasures to this point. That's the word we get hedonism from, this Greek word. It robs us and deceives us into thinking we are going to find satisfaction through our senses and what we experience rather than the living God. These weeds choke, they rob, and they take; so Jesus is warning us about that. He says, “These weeds need to be removed from us so that our soil is receptive to the Word of God where it can be planted and where it can grow.” You notice all three of these things are futuristic. They worry about what might happen. Worry is worrying about what might happen. Materialism is pursuing the next thing and pleasure is pursuing the next pleasure and trying to avoid the bad. I want to avoid the bad, and I want to have the good because I want to know comfort. I don't want to know lack. I want to have all that I need, and I don't want to have to worry about everything. I want everything to go smoothly, but sometimes in life it doesn't happen that way. I'd say most of the time in life it doesn't happen that way. We were taking a vacation to California a couple weeks ago, and we were flying home. I don't like to fly. Talk about worry-I worry when I fly. I try to give that to God, but I worry about the pilot. Do they know what they're doing? I worry about the weather conditions; are they going to be good? I worry about the gear; is the landing gear working? Is the wing going to stay on the plane? Are the engines going to work? I concern myself, and I don't like to fly at all. Anybody with me on that? Thank you. We're up in the air, and we are over a storm. It was really cool out west. There were black clouds, black as night. The sun was setting, so it was getting dark anyway, so the clouds were just pitch black. There was lightning; it was an electrical storm. I'd never seen lightning from that perspective before. I've flown over clouds before. Looking down on an electrical storm is really cool because you don't see the lightning; you just see the cloud light up. It's like it's black, and then all of the sudden it lights up. You don't hear anything; it just looks like somebody turned on a brilliant light bulb inside of the cloud. It just lights up, and then you see a little bit of the lightning; but you really can't tell what it's doing. You're like, “That is so cool.” Then off on the horizon, you can see some of the lightning coming down; but the ones you're flying directly over, they don't put off any turbulence . We were over the storm; the dark clouds were down below. I could see the lightning, and I was thinking, “Oh, I'm glad I'm not down there! I'm glad I'm up here.” Then this idiot pilot starts to descent into the clouds, and I'm like, “What are you doing? Go back up there! We're okay up here, but you are actually taking us into where the lightning is. Are you aware of that? Do you know that you are flying into the lightning, the source of the lightning? It's coming from the clouds. As far as I know, it doesn't shoot up. It shoots down, and you're going to fly us into that stuff?” I wanted to run into the cockpit and say, “What are you doing?!?! Where did you get your pilot's license? Stay above the clouds. Now we can't see anything because there are dark clouds all around, and you can't see anything either, smart guy! Now you have to use your instruments and panel. How do you like that? Go back up where we were before!” No, instead he flies through the dark clouds and we hear, “Ladies and gentleman, take your seats. We'll be passing through some turbulence here.” I'm like, “We don't have to! This wasn't necessary! If you would have just stayed where you belonged, we wouldn't be going through this!” I'm being Mr. Pilot, thinking I know better than the guy flying. There is probably a reason why we had to drive into those storm clouds. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure he must have known why we did that. That was nerve-racking flying through those dark clouds, experiencing that turbulence. It was very nerve-racking to me. I tell you that story because sometimes God seems to fly our plane like that. It seems like we're above the clouds. “I don't have to worry. I'm looking at that storm, and I'm glad that's not happening to me! I'm feeling comfortable, safe, and secure. I'm content with my circumstances,” and all of the sudden the plane starts to go down. You're like, “Lord, it's dark. Lord, there are some thunder and lightning there. Lord, there is some turbulence there. Do You know what you're doing? Let me fly the plane, okay? Let me fly the plane.” You want to tell the Lord how to fly it, right? You're like, “I don't want to go down there! That's scary! I want to stay above the storm,” but sometimes God drives us right into it, doesn't He? Here's the thing: when we are in that darkness, we're dependent on Him to guide us. When we are encountering that turbulence, we are sober, awake, and listening. We're responsive, right? We are weeding our garden. You get right with God in a hurry when you're in turbulence in an airplane. You weed fast. You make sure your accounts are clear. Jesus is talking about this. He is assuring us that when we go through these storms of life, we would rather have no storms and have everything clear. Yet, what we want is comfort. We want enough. We don't want to know lack. We don't want to have any worries. If you get your way, guess what happens? If you were to get your way, you'd be fat, lazy, spoiled, unfruitful Christians. “No storms in my life! No fires in my life!” We went to Yosemite, and Yosemite was beautiful; but it's kind of like the Disneyworld of national parks. There are so many people, it can take so long to get to an attraction, and then it's over with and you're back in line. It's wall-to-wall people in the valley. We said, “Let's get out of the valley. Let's go see the sequoias today. There are supposed to be fewer people there. The sequoias are the largest living things on the planet. The redwoods are taller. They are cousins [to the sequoias]. We went to Mirror Woods, and we saw the redwoods as well; but the sequoias are the largest size-wise compared to anything on the planet. We thought, “Let's go see the sequoias.” You think about how many years they've been there. There was a fallen redwood, and they took the trunk and put a map in the middle that said, “A tree is born in the middle.” Then you'd start following it to the left. It said, “Here's when Leif Ericson came to the Americas. Here's when Christopher Columbus discovered America. This tree was this big when America was founded, etc.” You could just watch the timeline of this tree, and they are magnificent to look at and behold. One of the things we noticed in the Sequoia Forrest was there were a lot of trunks that were burned and charred. We were very curious about that. We thought there must have been some kind of fire there because they were still living. They were still growing, but the trunks looked like they'd been through fire. We wanted to read about it, and we think the best family vacations to take are the ones where you learn. I don't know if our children necessarily agree with us. They think every trip should be Disneyworld, but we like the ones where we're learning about our history or nature. We said, “Let's find out why these trees are the way they are.” We learned something very important. We learned that they try to protect the sequoias from fire. If there were any fires, they would quickly put them out. In fact, they tried to make conditions where there were no fires around there. This is a national treasure-our sequoia trees. It's a world-wide treasure, actually. You'd be surprised that people from all over the world are there. Sometimes as an American you'd feel like a minority because there were so many people from other countries at Yosemite. The [scientists] said they prevented fires at all cost. What happened was the sequoias began dying. No new sequoias were growing, and the ones that were there were struggling. They asked, “What is going on?” Then there was a fire that they couldn't stop, and it did some damage. They watched, and what they saw after the fire was over a period of years, the sequoias came back stronger. They thought, “Oh, okay.” What was happening by having no fires was all these other trees were growing up. To sequoias it would be the equivalent of weeds in a garden. Those trees are like weeds to the towering sequoias. Those trees were competing for sunlight, nutrients, water, and space. All the needles were falling down on the ground, and it was making it hard for the sequoia seeds to take root and begin to grow, so the scientists said, “Here's what we need to do. We need to start fires. We need to have controlled fires from time to time. If there isn't a fire, we need to make a fire,” so they would have controlled fires to enable the sequoias to flourish and grow. These weeds here, these things we pursue, are all designed to avoid fires. They are all designed to avoid storms. “I want to be comfortable. I don't want to lack.” The problem is they're robbing from us. They're robbing us of faith; they're robbing us of contentment; and they're robbing us of satisfaction, desiring God, and the things of God. We naturally pursue them like weeds are naturally in the soil. We naturally want that comfort; we naturally want that provision; we naturally want that protection, and sometimes God allows controlled fires in our lives. They don't consume us, but they consume the chath. They allow us to grow, and sometimes we're not even aware of what's going on, that the growth is taking place. I'll tell you something about myself. I am a kid at heart when it comes to my hobbies. I'm a comic geek; I love old comic books-the superhero genre: Spiderman and those other superheroes. I also love baseball cards. I still collect baseball cards from when I was a kid. Once a year, I get to go be “Anonymous Baseball Card Guy,” in Chicago-sometimes twice a year. I put on my cap, and I go to the show. Nobody knows me. A couple people know me, but not many. I just get to be a guy looking for a 1971 Topps baseball card set or looking for some rookie cards. I'll spend hours looking at cards, which may sound boring to you, but it is very relaxing and fun to me. When you're a pastor-and not many of you are pastors, so you may not understand this and it's not that it's a burden-but when I'm in church, I'm talking about the Lord, the Bible, and spiritual matters. When I go to the grocery store, go to the club, or I'll go shopping, and I hear, “Aren't you Pastor so-and-so? You're that guy from that church. What do you think about this? What do you think about that?” Many times, you feel like you're always on the job. It's nice for me to be able to throw on the cap and just focus on something trivial like baseball cards. While I'm there, there is a booth that I go to a lot, so I've gotten to know the guy over the years-not on a deep level, but on the surface, a friendship level. He knew I was a pastor but really didn't want to talk about spiritual matters or church in the past. Normally when I see him, he's a very vigorous fellow, and now he's looking kind of solemn, kind of sad. I asked, “Hey, what's going on, man?” “Nothing much. Things aren't going well.” I said, “Really?” “Yeah, I was going to call and talk to you, but I thought maybe I'd see you at the show. I was kinda hoping I'd see you. Things aren't going well at home,” and I could see the tears forming in his eyes.” I said, “Oh, yeah. What's going on? Are you having some marital problems right now?” “Yeah,” and then the tears got really big, and he started to get choked up. “Well, tell me what's going on,” so I spent the next two and a half hours doing marriage counseling. When a collector would come, I'd be quiet. When the collector would leave, we'd resume the conversation. I was trying to share things that I thought would help him. I was trying to hear where he was at. I was listening to him talk about the pain of what he and his wife are going through and the fear he has about losing his marriage. I was reflecting on how much he truly loved her, but that love wasn't being reciprocated; and he shared how painful that was. I noticed something different about him. He was really going through a storm; he was really going through a fire, and he said, “My daughter became a Christian and started going to a really good church in our city. She is going to be baptized.” “Well, that's great!” He said, “I'm going to go. My wife and I have been going too. We don't really talk together, but we do go to church together.” I said, “That's good! That's a good thing!” He started talking to me about the sermon series and how much he was getting out of it. He was telling me what the pastor was talking about. He shared all the books he was reading, and he was excited. He said, “I'm reading Gary Smalley's book on speaking love languages.” I've never had love language talk with this baseball card guy before, but he was telling me his love language. Normally we talk about Pete Rose and things of that nature. Now we're talking about love language. He said he was taking the Dave Ramsey financial course. I told him we were doing that at our church too. He started talking to me about the Bible study he was going to in his small group and how important it was. He started talking to me then about matters of faith. I could see his character; I could see maturity that I'd never seen. I said, “Don't you realize-can't you see what's going on in you? You're concerned about spiritual things. You're becoming a man of God. I know from talking to him in the past that that wasn't even on his radar screen. Now, as this fire was going on in his life, as his plane seemed to be going through this storm, things he'd been worried about-how he wanted to be comfortable, how he wanted to be safe-what was he doing here? He was learning a dependency on Christ. He was learning faith; he was learning patience. You might be asking, “Are you saying that God caused the marital problems?” Not at all, but I'm saying that God works in the midst of those storms. God is able to teach in the midst of those fires. He is able to burn off the chath and come out stronger. We come out stronger in our faith and are filled with more character if we allow Him to work in our lives. I saw that in my friend. I saw the fire begin to consume the weeds. I saw a guy who wasn't concerned about his sales anymore. He wanted to save his marriage, and he was interested in knowing more about this God he'd been seeking. I want to share with you some gardening tips quickly before we go. The clock got away from me a little bit this morning. I'm basically going off the woman that shared the gardening tips earlier in the clip. I'm taking her tips and reiterating them. 1. All gardens have weeds. All of us have this weed nature inside of us that longs for things, that wants to be saved, comfortable, and void of worries. We all have that in us. 2. Due to neglect, weeds grow deeper and expand. That's a fact. You know that. When you deal with a weed right away, it's easy; but if you let it grow long enough, that thing can be like a tree and become harder to move. It's going to be very apparent to all who look at your garden that those weeds are there. Understand, if you know a weed is growing and you neglect it, it's going to grow. It's going to deepen; it's going to broaden; it's going to multiply in your life. That's why this is so important. It's going to choke out the seed of the Word of God. 3. She said the ground should be soft when we are removing weeks. That's one of the reasons why we come to church; to keep our ground soft; to hear the Word of God; to pray. When you pray; when you read Scripture; when you meditate; when you fellowship with other believers; when you sing; when you serve-when you do these things, it keeps your heart soft. When your heart is soft, it's not only ready to receive the Word of God, but it is in a right condition to remove the weeds that are present. 4. Weeds must be removed at the roots. You know what happens when you casually remove a weed and leave the root system. You have to dig. The deeper the weed-the bigger the weed-the more you have to dig, and it's work. Why is it there? Why is this insecurity here? Why is this need for materialism here? Why is this need for comfort here? What's going on in my life that is causing me to worry so much? You have to dig deep into the soil. Do you give permission for other people who know you and love you to help be gardeners in your life? You should have a few people who know you really, really well who care about you and love you who can point out the weeds in your life and help you with that. They can even help you remove them. That should not be a church-wide effort, but there should be a few who know you well enough to do that: a spouse, close friends-people who can come alongside you and say, “There is a weed.” They should be people who you won't get defensive with and say, “Go weed your own garden! Pay attention! You have weeds too, buddy!” You should be saying, “It's okay. It's okay to help me. It's okay to point these things out!” I had somebody who tried to weed my garden who doesn't know me. I only know him through emails, and he was just swinging at everything. “Your church is bad because you have an affiliation with Chuck Colson, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, or Stuart Briscoe. He's a mystic. Colson's a heretic. You shouldn't have a strength team. That was wrong. You shouldn't have camp; that's frivolous-pies and swimming suits and all of that.” I said, “Let's get together. Let's talk about these things you object to.” “I can't meet with you. The Scripture says I'm not to meet with immoral, ungodly people, so I can't meet and talk with you because you would contaminate me with your worldly Christianity.” He said all of those things that we're doing are wrong: camp is wrong; all of that is wrong. I don't know what's right, but so far all of that stuff was wrong. I don't need that guy to weed my garden. Don't just let anybody weed your garden. If you have people who love and care about you, give them permission to help you with this project. 5. You have to be relentless. It isn't like you weed your garden and say, “Well, that's done for this season,” while brushing your hands off. No, it's done for this week if you're growing a good garden. They just keep coming back; they're still in the soil. The ones in the soil are late; they're dormant, and they're still going to grow. Maybe you didn't get the entire root. If you didn't get all of the root or maybe you dropped some seeds from that weed, it's going to come back; and you have to be relentless. 6. She talked about practicing prevention. She talked about herbicide. Basically, all of the things we talked about-keeping our hearts soft-those are preventative as well. When we are in the Word; when we are praying; when we are fellowshipping; when we're serving the Lord; meditating on His Word; challenging ourselves to grow spiritually, that's going to prevent new weeds from forming. It's going to prevent weeds from growing, but understand we're always going to struggle with this; and we're all in it together. Jesus says, “It's so important. Above all, guard your heart for from it flow the wellsprings of life.” Let's pray together: Father, we thank You for the Truth of Your Word this morning. We thank You for the Parable of the soils. It's a reminder to look at the soil of our heart. We're also mindful that we cannot do this weeding on our own. We need the help of Your Spirit. Lord, we pray that Your Holy Spirit would help us as we seek to remove these weeds. We all have them, so we can't judge each other because we have them too. Lord, help us to have people in our lives that know us well that we can trust, people who love us and can help us in this process so that we're not doing it alone. Lord, we pray that the seed of Your Word would take root in our lives, in our hearts, and it would produce fruit for Your glory and for Your name. Lord, as we receive communion today, we thank You for the One who came and lived a sinless life, the One in whom there were no weeds. He came and offered that sinless life for us. Heavens rose when He came and offered that life on the cross that we could know forgiveness of sins and eternal life through His resurrection. It is in His name, we come. Amen.

Well … how about a shovelful of repentance? Charles Fillmore explains the importance of repentance in “The Relation of True Repentance to Growth” from his June 12, 1932, talk. I will have a very special guest with me too.