What is Growing in Your Garden?

John 15:1–6 KJV 1900

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Psalm 1:1–3 KJV 1900

1 Blessed is the man That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Title: What is Growing in Your Garden?

The bible is a book of allegory!

Shepherds, sheep parallel the church and people

Family and marriage parallel the church

Body and members/parts paralleling the church

Physical armor vs. spiritual armor

Light and darkness vs. truth and deception

Salt and light paralleling influence, witness and morality

Potter and clay and God’s shaping us

The wilderness vs. spritual training and dependence on God

Leaven vs. sin

Lost sheep, coins and sons vs. restoration

Buildings, temples and stones vs. growing in God and the home he makes in us

One of the greatest parallels is the allegory of the garden.

So many aspects to this…

Reaping what you sow

Harvest

Rain

Roots, branches and vines

Pruning

Fruit

The idea of things being carefully and purposefully grown is a principle that we read all throughout the bible.

The first thing that God after creating Adam was plant a garden…

Genesis 2:7–8 “7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”

As much as 25-30% of the bible deals with agricultural references, themes or imagery!

It would seem to me that God is fascinated with growing stuff!

6 things that are required to grow anything:

Seed - Word of God

Water - Spirit of God

Proper atmosphere - Worship, House of God

Light - Doctrine

Oxygen - Holiness

Good soil - the heart (soul/thinking)

Wayside soil (hard hearts/thinking)

Stony soil (shallow hearts/thinking)

Thorny soil (divided heart/thinking)

Good soil (open, receptive, obedient hearts/thinking)

Time and timing (season)

Gardener - Care and intention

Works the soil, prepares the heart, monitors the thinking

Protection from the devourers

Pests, disease, weeds

Harsh weather

I don’t have time to teach on each of these… Focus on the gardener

The parallels here are many!

God is the Great Gardener

Pastor is the gardener of the local assembly

YOU are the gardener of your life!

We alone are responsible for what grows in the garden of our lives!

I work the soil of my life.

I protect agains the things that try to grow in my spirit and divide and separate me from the truth of the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 11:28 “28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”

1 Corinthians 11:31 “31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”

2 Corinthians 13:5 “5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

Galatians 6:4 “4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”

Lamentations 3:40 “40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.”

Psalm 139:23–24 “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”

James 1:23–25 “23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

Matthew 7:5 “5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

I have a responsibility to first examine myself and look to see what is going in my life!

And then to root it out and pluck it up!

Conclusion:

It is hard enough to just do right sometimes…

BUT we live in a time when there is a spirit of trespass at work.

Seeking to sow into our lives the things that will destroy us!

Parable of the wheat and the tares.

Matthew 13:25 “25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.”

We have to guard our garden!

Pull weeds, dealing with thoughts.

2 Corinthians 10:4–5 “4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

These next couple weeks are of intense, importance!

February: Bishop Haygood and Five Fold Team coming - have to be ready!

January: RESET. One service at 2pm for everyone. Specific training for groups

Now: Fasting and prayer

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