See you at the Park

A large crowd of Aberdeen kids met at Melgaard Park tonight to share and worship, play and eat and lift up Jesus in the community. New Life's youth band helped in the worship time. Kids testified afterward of what things happened at their various See-you-at-the-Pole activities that morning. Looked like a great witness to the Aberdeen area.

The POWER of LEMON

The POWER of LEMON

In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus tells the story of a wise builder and a foolish builder. He tells in that story that rains and windstorms came and beat upon both houses being built.
We all recognize the story and we all remember how each time we have heard it, there seems to always be an emphasis on the houses; how one stands because the builder was wise and built on a solid foundation and how the other collapsed because its builder was foolish and built on shifting, unstable sand. But another important part of that story is the rain.

The rains come. In Jesus’ story they came on both the wise and the foolish alike. It is a reality that we sometimes forget, but rain -- or one might say, trouble and hardship, pain and suffering -- all come upon every life at some time or another. Job said (14:1) “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. Jesus said (John 16:33) “…in this life you will have trouble.”

That isn’t very comforting news today because everybody knows trouble is no fun. Pain and hardship are nothing to be messed with -- they often leave people ruined and only a shell of what they used to be.

In His great wisdom, God added to the creation a bright yellow fruit we know as the lemon. The lemon for many years now has been associated with things unpleasant. It has happened because the juice of the lemon, in its natural and unaltered state, is very sour and bitter. Bitter is the kind of taste that dealing with trouble and hardship leaves in our lives.

We don’t like hardship and trouble.

We go to tremendous lengths and burn up enormous volumes of energy to avoid trouble or to get out of trouble we find ourselves in.

Thirty-eight years ago this coming November, at the age of 14, I ran away from home: not because my life was in danger; not because I was neglected or abused; not even because I was a rebellious or troubled child. I ran away from home simply because I was facing troubles at school and I didn’t know how to deal with them.
“No big deal,” you say? Let me share the magnitude of my actions: I hitchhiked over 851 miles away from home and family, in just three days, simply because I was facing challenges that I was unable to figure out. That is an example of human nature when confronted by hardship at times. We don’t like turmoil in our lives.

We buy into the lie that a good life is only a life free from trouble.

Radio Bible Teacher, Chuck Swindoll, has been quoted as saying, “Life is only 10% what actually happens to me and 90% how I choose to respond or react to it.” That is true, and since it is it means we must learn to adjust our attitude about problems and trials.
If Jesus said trials would come then we must also remember that Jesus, in the very same breath (John 16:33) said we can “Fear not, for I have overcome the world.” Your life, my life, every life will know trouble and trial and hardship along the way- that’s a fact. But how we respond to that trouble is up to us.

Paul made a very important point in 2 Corinthians 2:14,15 when he said, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

The lemon as a fruit is bitter to the taste, but there are some powerful and wonderful qualities on the inside. The only catch is, in order for us to benefit from the lemon’s qualities the lemon has to endure some trouble and hardship. Here is the big picture: the more you mar and tear at the flesh of the lemon, the more you release its refreshing aroma into the atmosphere to be enjoyed by all -- a fragrance known to exemplify freshness and purity.
Hear in your spirit Paul’s words echoing down the corridor of history: “But thanks be to God, who always (even in what appears to be or feels like hardship and turmoil) leads us in triumphal procession (this life in him, no matter the strain, is a victory march) in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” Even in our worst moments, we are to God the aroma of Christ to this world.

We need not fear hardship. We best not shrink back from turmoil…how can we accept blessing from his hand and not tests at the same time? Attitude adjusted should result in, “But thanks be to God…”

With love and respect,
Pastor Joe