My husband is currently home-churching with some neighbors up the road, along with their family/friends.
I am what you might call taking a breather. Some would say back-slid. I've heard it both ways :)
I still love the Lord Jesus, and still trust Him for everything on this side of eternity, and beyond.
Spring 2020
When COVID hit, services ended.
My husband, Bryant, preached at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Junction City, GA, October, 2016 thru Spring 2020. Sweet folks, small congregation, 11AM Sunday service only.
Original Post:
I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked this question,
but it’s almost always painful for me to answer. Because we’re church-homeless. Not in the larger “the-church-is-the-bride-of-Christ-sense”. But in the smaller “fellowship-with-local-likeminded-faith-and-practice-believers-sense”.
Inside, I’m thinking/admonishing myself:
Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching. Hebrews 10:25
Out loud, I generally answer:
“We are not currently part of a
local body of believers.”
Or: “We’re
backslid.”
Sometimes the conversation goes further. When prompted, my answers to the inevitable
questions & comments go something like this:
Our family is not looking for a
perfect body of believers. We just feel
led to live our lives simply. We prefer
to stay together in worship service, not split up to gender-age-specific
“classrooms” for indoctrination. We’ve “home-churched”
with other families, and I prefer that atmosphere to “institutional” church. I like being able to meet in one another’s
homes, break bread together, visit one another, serve one another, love one
another, bear one another’s burdens… pray together. I like the atmosphere of a group of believers
where the men share the responsibility of leadership & teaching.
We take our walk with the Lord seriously. We understand the eternal impact our lives
have not only on our children, but on others we are in relationship with –
believers and unbelievers.
Accountability is a very real aspect of a believer’s walk.
We have prayed earnestly over this issue. We’ve visited churches within an hour’s drive
of our home. We've even visited a couple a little
farther than that. Inevitably, there
ends up being some sort of doctrine we cannot embrace so we move on – not
wanting to stay and be a stumblingblock in someone’s walk, or a seed of
division in the body.
My husband has been in contact with some folks in the last
year or so that have given our family hope in this area of fellowship. The contact led to a real life “cabin church”
meeting last weekend. My husband was
asked to bring a message to share. There
were to be several families getting together, sharing a meal, etc. We’ve been to similar get-togethers over the
years, so the format was familiar. And
most welcome. We’d met some of these
people when they visited us for a mini-farm-tour the previous month.
I asked my husband to share with me his notes/scripture
references. I’ll post them at the end. Basically, the theme was the part in Mark 4
beginning in verse 3 where the Lord is saying “Behold, there went out a sower to sow.” I like how my husband was clear to tell folks
that if anyone had something they felt led to share on the subject, to be
obedient to the Lord to do so. Such a
blessing to be part of a meeting of Holy Spirit led believers, willing to trust
and obey!
My husband focused on the need for soil preparation when
sowing seed. He shared some of his
experience in regard to our land and the lack of nutrients present, and the
need to amend the soil. Bryant talked
about how he’s taken weeds and manure and dead vegetable matter, and turned
them into compost, and how that helps to nurture growth in the seeds he
plants. I liked how he compared that to
how God works in our lives. When we
allow the dead things to be taken away – the sin, the dead works, etc., then
God can grow us – make us fruitful and beautiful for Him.
I was very much blessed by the message, the meeting, the
fellowship. There was a time towards the
end of the meeting when the women (my girls & I stayed together) went to
pray inside, while the men & most of the young’uns stayed outside. I very much enjoyed the time with the women –
to share, to encourage one another, to pray.
On the way home, the girls also said they enjoyed that time with the
women.
So, why don’t we just meet with these folks every week? Well…. Driving two hours to get there &
knowing there’s a two hour drive back home is certainly a factor. If gas wasn’t such a burdensome cost & if
we didn’t milk our goats twice a day… it might be less of a challenge. We’ll pray about it. For now, Bryant said maybe we could try to
swing it quarterly. I’m agreeable. And hopeful.
Maybe next time someone asks me what church I go to, I can answer: cabin church.
Beginning
of Bryant’s Notes
Accountability
Does anyone want to share, what God is doing in their lives concerning
discipleship? With whom have your shared
your story? With whom have you shared God’s plan of salvation? New believers? People who have undergone a change of heart,
or experienced a shift in understanding what church is? Or what you are
training a disciple on (share their own story and to explain to others God’s
plan of salvation?)
Vision
What’s
next for you? Where are you going?
One of the lessons, insight I learned in preparing for
today, is “the field” we’ve been called to is in varying states. I am not the One who knows what those states
are whether ready to plant, weed, or harvest.
Some parts of the field are ready for harvest now, already having been
prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive Christ.
My task is to be faithful to go, sow the seed, and make disciples.
Mark 4:3-8, 14-20A
3
Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
4 And
it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way
side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
5 And
some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up,
because it had no depth of earth:
6 But
when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered
away.
7 And
some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it
yielded no fruit.
8 And
other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased;
and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. (see Mark
3:26-29)
14
The sower soweth the word.
15
And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when
they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16
And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard
the word, immediately receive it with gladness; (perhaps not unlike people who
said “they enjoyed it”)
17
And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward,
when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake,
immediately they are offended (stumbled, occasion, or enticement to sin, or
distrust the word. Psalms 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and
nothing shall offend them.).
18
And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19
And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the
lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it
becometh unfruitful.
20
And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some
thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
Mark 4:26-29
26
And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth;
27 and
should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up
and grow, he knoweth not how.
28 The earth beareth fruit
of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
29
But when the fruit is ripe, straightway he putteth forth the
sickle, because the harvest is come.
What
is our responsibility in field preparation?
Sowing? Tending? Harvest?
Discipleship? Seed?
We
cannot forget each other, and ourselves in discipleship. In other words, we are disciples too, some of
us do not have someone who is discipling them, or with which we have regular
fellowship and accountability.
Field
Observations - Guesses
Soil Layers
Put
the dirt in the jar, shake it up and see how it settles.
Observe
the soil conditions by examining the current growth or habitat:
·
Weedy
·
Bad fruit
·
Good fruit
A
barren soil, is dead, with no life in it at all; no decaying self, no water
retention. Since we are talking about a
person, maybe think of them as a heart that has no understanding of who they
really are. The “life” is still in
themselves, no death to self. God’s
word, through the work of the Holy Spirit, can change a soil from barren to
good ground. But man’s choices may
change that heart to Stony Ground, just like our choice of fertilizer which
makes plants look nice, but burns and depletes the soil. First crop good, remaining crops diminish.
Thorny
·
cares of
this world, and
·
the
deceitfulness of riches, and
·
the lusts
of other things entering in
Stony Ground
No
depth of earth
The
ground is a hard, rocky ground, nowhere for seed to grow, or no ability to
retain water.
Religion
– like the use of artificial inputs into the soil, religion will act upon the
heart of a person in much the same way as chemical fertilizers. The wrong religion is like pouring concrete
over the heart, and into a form, giving the outward appearance with all the
right “specs” and conforming to the form where the concrete is poured. Religion gives people the outward structure,
the “right” answers, a heart encased in stone, and a life full of dead
works. Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof… 2 Timothy 3:5
Good Ground
Good
ground is ready to receive the seed. In
order for the ground to be good, full of organic matter, something had to die,
and break down into components needed for life, which is ready to receive the
seed.
What
I don’t see in Scripture, is much time spent on analysis, finding out what they
need etc. Just sow the seed, the word of
God.
Adding Compost
How
do we maintain good ground? And
encourage others to maintain good ground?
Compost piles for Christ!
I
die daily… He must increase, I must
decrease. God can use the “waste” in our
life, for good.
Preparing
ourselves for working in the field“Pray”paring
the field - all soils need a covering
Keeps
what is good and usable from floating or blowing away, or being snatched up by
the evil one.
Softens
hard soils, by keeping moisture in, water is a universal solvent.
Thorny
ground
Needs
clearing.
Stony Ground
Stony
Ground needs soil giving it ability to
retain water. Death to self, when we die
daily, we in essence become the compost amendment to the soil.
Sowing the
Seed
Intentional
act of a person expecting a harvest, why else would you go this far? Seed is the word of God.
Unlike
physical seeds which grow plants, then fruit, then produce a seed, a spiritual
seed once planted and sprouted in a believer can be re-sown immediately.
Warning
about TransplantsField
Cultivation
A
time of waiting and watching for the seed to germinate, careful not to pull
“weeds” which are either close to the seedling (uprooting both) or our
erroneous expectation of what the seed should look like. With seeds, an average germination period is
known, not so with people. Keeping the
field protected with prayer mulch.
Field
Harvesting
The
question isn’t do you know the status of your field, but are you prepared to
work the field(s) and respond to the fields that you encounter? How do we get prepared for such work? What is our part?
Acts
17:23 For as I passed by, and beheld
your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
Application:
1. Not get bogged down in analysis while people
perish.
2. Work under God’s direction, through us and
not the other way around.
3. Use your observations to pray for the field
God has given you, give it a good covering of prayer mulch.
4. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what each
person needs and where they are. Our
work, is to be faithful in obedience to God.
When we give a word, that word goes into the heart of the hearer. The same word may be a tiller (on religious
ground) or just a gentle sweeping away of the weeds just beginning to form in
the life of the person we encounter (on good ground), or a soil amendment on
barren ground.
5. At the end of working in a physical field I
stand back and see what I have done, same as working a display of furniture, or
preparing a quarterly report. When we
work in God’s field we stand in awe looking and seeing what God has done. If I took credit for God’s work, that would
be like my rake, tiller and hoe taking credit for my work.
6. Transplants – Grown in friendly, good ground
environments (out in the field), set out in stony, religious ground, may die or
become weak and lethargic.
End of Bryant’s Notes
We sell extra goats throughout the year. The goats have the whole reproducing after their own kind thing down pat. Each freshening, we keep one or two and sell the rest. We HAVE eaten goat, but it's been a few years. I think the last goat processing appointment I had scheduled at Fort Valley State University (Small Ruminant Center) was when Hurricane Irma came through. We cancelled that appointment due to the weather, and ended up selling those goats here instead.
