Stagnant

Stagnant and Unpruned • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Introduction*

I grew up in Indiana on farmland, truth be told I was raised with a slightly different culture then most Americans of my generations so my outlook on life and the things around me tend be different then most.

Example, I grew up with doing laundry with this thing called a wringer washer, and if it was down we simply used the wash boards with the washboards outside. There was a day everything had do be washed.

My mom was raised that Saturday was cleaning day so that was how I was raised as well growing up. Everything was taken out of the room, walls were washed floors were swept, mopped, and waxed. All wood furniture was polished. The majority of laundry was also to be done on Saturday and hung on the line, if it was raining that day we had to hurry along the cleaning so that the laundry could be hung on drying racks in the house.

I remember mom not feeling well one Saturday and I asked her if we could just skip cleaning for one Saturday so everyone could rest- needless to say I received that mom look- you all know that look I am talking about.

Mom sat me down and asked me what happened to the water troughs for the live stock if we left it without emptying it, cleaning it and putting fresh water in it, I replied that the water gets gross and the trough get slimy.

Mom explained to me that the house chores were the same, you let it go and everything starts to become grows and is more work to clean up when you do finally get back to it.

I know what my mom was teaching me at the time was more of a lesson in keeping up with the house work and the live stock, but over the years I have put that same principle into my Spiritual life.

If we take a clear glass vessel and wash it clean and dry it then poor fresh, cool water in it, that water is welcoming to drink. But if I take that same cup and put on my night stand and it ends up staying there overnight and through out the next day because I forget about it, am I going to drink it or am I going to dump that water out and pour fresh water in it? What if that cup sits on the table for a week with the same water in it, is it going to be as welcoming as it was with the cup freshly washed, dried then cool water poured into it? After a week of stagnated water that water may have things floating in it, depending on the environment, temperatures and such that water may even not smell like you want to drink it.

Our Spiritual life is the same, if God washed us clean 5 days ago, a year ago, 5 years ago, 15 years ago, 20-30-40 years ago of our sins first we may be finding that we are well overdue for a washing. Repentance is a daily action that absolutely must take place because unless you are Jesus you have fallen short of the glory of God and there are things daily that we all do, or think that places sin in between God and us.

Jesus was talking to the Pharisees about how they made themselves look clean and holy on the outside but they were filthy on the inside:

Matthew 23:25–26

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

It is not enough to make yourself look good before man because we have a God that sees what is on the inside and we know that what is on the inside will start seeping out.

We can ask God to forgive us of our sins everyday, yet if we allow God to pour into our lives and do nothing with it, it is like the Parable of the talents:

Matthew 25:14-30

The Parable of the Talents

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a] and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The same way if God pours Himself out on you, go pour it out on someone else, go use what He has given you so that you can receive a fresh outpouring. God knows if you are 8 years old in the room or in your 90s in the room, he knows where you are and the stage of life and chapter you are in and most important the environment you are in. He knows if there are people around who still do know Christ, he knows if you have siblings, children, grandchildren who are lost.

God will give you what you need, for where you are, and what he wants to use you in but you have to be open and willing to pour out what he gives you, to use what he gives you so that you can be open and ready to receive a fresh outpouring from God.

I grew up with a grandfather who was quite literally crazy in his early years ---in his 90s.....

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