Problems In Your Garden?

 I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk:
eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
Song of Solomon 5:1

In the Garden
1)  I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

2)  He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

When we believe and read the King James Bible, we are truly walking with the God in His garden.  We just picture our walk together - we talk to Him through prayer and He talks to us through the Bible! That great and most marvelous private walk is the source of our joy - ...that our joy may be full.

... truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.  I John 1:3b,4

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
Song of Solomon 1:2

Those kisses are a great figurative application to the very words that we have in this King James Bible - the words of Jesus Christ which in all final authority, are the words of God.

What kind of fruit are you bearing from your walk in the garden with the Lord?  Remembering Ken Dean's sermons last week: do you bear God's joy or do you bear the devils despair?  do you bear God's enthusiasm or the envy of the devil?

In this garden walk, we ought to be bearing some fruit, amen?
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.
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.
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.
(A bundle of sticks, twigs or small branches of trees, used for fuel are called fagots, by the way)
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit;
so shall ye be my disciples.
John 15:4-8

Many of you have seen a lot of growth in your lives!  God has blessed you with victorious fruit as you have walked with Him many times in that private garden of His!
But then, as the song says in verse 3...
I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.
We know that must leave this garden and walk daily IN this world (but not OF this world - John 17:14-16), we must be constantly be reminded of  II Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. & 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Note: As we walk daily IN this world, we really don't have to leave the garden!  The fellowship with the Lord can be and must be maintained in order for us to see some fruit in our lives.

For example:  In the course Bible reading and preaching, etc. we have had the opportunity to have our eyes opened little by little as to the true condition of this world.  We know what is going on!
Jude 16-19
I Timothy 4:1-3
II Timothy 2:20
II Timothy 3:1-7
II Timothy 4:3,4
Romans 1:21-32
We see these conditions coming closer and closer into our home - to ourselves and to our children!

And we must also just keep in mind that it is going to get worse before it gets better!  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.  II Timothy 3:13.

So should we let this daily crumbling of our country - the world that we have lived in for years (some longer than others) - contribute unhappiness to our lives to 'spoil' our day?  Is this where some of our unhappiness comes from?

It is true that we would all rather ...lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty as mentioned in I Timothy 2:2.  But as we see it happening more and more on a daily basis, is it getting harder and harder to smile through it all?

But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.  Numbers 33:35

America has not driven out the inhabitants that eventually have ruined our land.
AMERICA IS BEING VEXED!

America has chosen path that the Israelites chose in Psalm 106:34-42
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.
And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan:
and the land was polluted with blood.
Thus were they defiled with their own works,
and went a whoring with their own inventions.
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people,
insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
And he gave them into the hand of the heathen;
and they that hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies also oppressed them,
and they were brought into subjection under their hand.

As in I Samuel 4:21,22, America will be soon called Ichabod as the glory of the Lord will some day be totally departed from this country.  And she named the child I-chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.

NOTE:  When that happens, we will be totally out of here - the Rapture, etc.  Amen, Praise the Lord!
My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,
and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Song of Solomon 2:10-13
So, until then, let's consider for a few more minutes here, what it is that we do in this garden!
Turn to Acts 9:3-6  And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

Saul, before he was made Paul, was kicking against the Lord.  Can you imagine such a thing?

I wonder, as we walk in this garden, I wonder if sometimes we don't actually kick against the very work of the Holy Spirit in our lives?

Wouldn't it be something if what we thought were thorns were actually the flowers that God wanted in this garden.

With the world going so bad... with evil being called good and good evil, etc... I wonder how much of that is actually of the Lord?

People Make These into Weeds!
I.  These modern corrupted perverted bibles that everybody seems to want instead of the King James Bible; or those that turn to Greek & Hebrew instead of just having their faith in ONE Book!

Don't they just 'bug' you?  You have tried to 'reason' with them - show them the obvious problems with the new versions - you have explained the attack on doctrine - you have shown them the missing verses - you can even prove to them where their bibles came from (the DEVIL through the Roman Catholic Church).

And they still just don't want to see it!

It can bug you enough to ruin YOUR joy and they go merrily on their way down their blind path of ignorance and are quite possibly deceived into thinking they are saved when in all truth, God will say to them,  I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.Matthew 7:23

But don't let it ruin your joy!  God has allowed this whole thing!  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.  Amos 8:11-13  Note the words I WILL SEND...!

God knows exactly what is going on!  We should just earnestly contend for the faith - let's talk to folks about the BOOK - but we need not get troubled or perplexed with it all.  The condition of our country is because of peoples rejection of God's words!  It is as simple as that.

Hosea 4:1-3 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.  By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

Hosea 4:6,7 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

People are choosing to believe a lie!   II Thessalonians 2:12 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

They don't have to be weeds in our garden - we can learn and grow from that whole thing!  Have you not learned your Book better because of that whole issue?  Has it not made you  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.?  II Timothy 2:15  See! - It still can be a blessing to you!

Don't let the whole issue rob YOU of God's joy!

II.  How about God's voice?

Is that a weed to you or a flower in the garden?

Do you find yourself trying to get God's voice out of your garden because of what he 'says' to you in a sermon or in your Bible reading?

To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old;
lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.
Psalm 68:33

The entrance of thy words giveth light;
it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psalm 119:130

That light exposes our sins - our weaknesses - our faults - as husbands, as wives, as children, as missionaries, as pastors, etc!

But maybe we treat God's words as weeds and try to get them out of our garden.  Can you imagine walking in the garden with the Lord and us doing all the talking - telling God what we want to do and how we are going to do it, etc.?  How about ignoring his words as He talks to us during that walk in the garden?  Hard to imagine such a thing, eh, but we do it, don't we?  Don't we!

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:12,13

Don't let the word of God trouble or perplex you or cast you down!  Don't lose your joy as you learn about God and what He has to say to you!  Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  ...blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. John 20:29b

Don't try to figure God out - just believe what He says and trust Him to take care of your life!  You have not done that well on your own, anyway, amen?  Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

Gods words are not WEEDS in His garden!

III.  How about those evangelists, pastors & teachers?
Don't they just irritate you sometimes?  Well, if they are not correctors, corrupters or wolves in sheep's clothing not speaking the truth in love, they are given to you by God and you had better count your blessings because not all people have them in their garden!

These are Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 15:26
God has sent these men into your lives!  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:  Ephesians 4:11-15

Hear them out!  Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.  Hebrews 13:7
 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Hebrews 13:17

I Timothy 5:17,18 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.

I Thess 5:12,13 ...And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

Don't pull them out of your garden and throw them away!
They are God's flowers in His garden!
Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
Psalm 119:165

IV.  The work of The Holy Spirit in our lives as it convicts us during our daily walk can be considered a weed if we don't like what he is telling us.  In our flesh, we often don't even desire the fruit of the Spirit - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22  As we learn more about the Holy Spirit in the next few weeks, you will see that there have been times that we actually have tried to kick out the Holy Spirit from the garden - We have actually considered the work of the Holy Spirit as weeds!
V.  The Brethren - Christians have a tendency to consider the brethren as weeds in their garden.  Selfishness, jealousy, anger, wrath, strife, rejection are all things that we do to each other because of something that happened, or something that was said or not said to each other - misunderstandings - and all these things eventually turn into bitterness towards our own church family.

...the immediate local 'church' family
...missionaries and their flocks
...those who are in bonds and suffering persecutions
...those in hospitals and nursing homes
...those in the lonely country outskirts with no local church
...the World Wide Web Christians
...those who have been 'set aside' but are still not our enemy

Let the Scriptures speak for themselves!:

Romans 12:1013,15,16
10  Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love;
in honour preferring one another;
13  Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
16  Be of the same mind one toward another.
Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.
Be not wise in your own conceits.

Romans 14:13
Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather,
that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

Romans 14:19
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace,
and things wherewith one may edify another.

Romans 15:5-7
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded
one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
6  That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7  Wherefore receive ye one another,
as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

Romans 15:14
And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren,
that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge,
able also to admonish one another.

I Cor 12:25, 26
That there should be no schism in the body;
but that the members should have the same care one for another.
And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it;
or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

Ephesians 4:2, 3
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love;
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:25
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour:
for we are members one of another.
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Neither give place to the devil.

Galatians 6:1, 2
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

I Thess 4:18
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

I Thess 5:10-13
...whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you,
and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.
And be at peace among yourselves.

Heb 3:12, 13
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,
in departing from the living God.
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day;
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Heb 10:24,25
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
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.

James 5:16
Confess your faults one to another,
and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

I Peter 1:22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

I Peter 4:7-10
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves:
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another,
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

I Peter 5:5, 6
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
Yea, all of you be subject
one to another, and be clothed with humility:
for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time:

I John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Our brothers and sisters in Christ are NOT WEEDS
that need to be pulled out of our garden!

Do you get my drift of this message?  When we are suppose to be taking out the thorns of our garden according to Luke 8:14: And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection, we have a tendency to mistakenly consider a flower in God's garden to be thorns when in all truth and reality, they are actually blessings from God.

Luke 8:15: But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

And finally, turn to II Timothy 3

If we truly purpose in our heart to stay in the Book and with the strength of the Lord Himself and through the daily power of the Holy Spirit, we truly have some difficult days ahead.

12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

But the Lord will deliver us through them all!  10,11 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

As Paul charged Timothy, God charges us to stay IN the Book, stay BY the Book and to stay WITH the Book! 14-17 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

And go for the gold - the REAL Gold!

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:18-20
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