John The Baptist Was A Forager

Weekly Message

Tom Seymour

March 2, 2014

John The Baptist Was A Forager

John the Baptist lived in the desert and ate locusts and honey. No doubt, John consumed other foods too, probably plant products. But scripture concentrates upon locusts and honey.

References to food occur throughout the bible. Herbs, fish and olives all come to mind. Drink, too, gets more than ample mention. Wine is used again and again throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Today we know that grapes and wine made from grapes have some health benefits. We know that through science, but in biblical times, people knew simply because they were aware that God had provided grapes for them. The wine Jesus drank at weddings and banquets did not come in a bottle, bought in a store.

I am particularly interested in references to herbs. Herbs, in a biblical context, are not only pleasant seasonings and spices, but actual foods, main-dish foods. In bible times, people depended upon the local flora as a significant portion of their diets. Today, we have largely gotten away from personal involvement in procuring our food directly from the source.

In addition to preaching the word of God, I am a naturalist and as such, concentrate upon wild plant foods. The term “foraging” describes what I do. In fact, I have written several books on the subject and continue to host seminars and plant walks. And guess what? The level of interest in foraging increases each year. It seems that most everyone wants to get in touch with the land, to re-establish their connection to the natural world.

When preaching from the pulpit, I frequently brought in samples of newly-picked plants. I would explain the uses and benefits of these plants and often used the last phrase of the last sentence of Genesis 1:30 to drive my point home: I have given every green plant for food.

Just because we have largely become supermarket-dependent for our physical sustenance doesn't mean that we must continue in that walk. I’m beginning to see that part of my own personal ministry is to expand upon Genesis 1:30 and in a way that not only helps people to become more self-sufficient regarding their diets, but also shows people, even people who do not look to the Lord and have no relationship with Jesus Christ, how much God loves them.

And my plant talks and walks are available for all. If you have a church and wish for a substitute or fill-in pastor with a down-to-earth program, I am available. 

Happiness A Sign Of The Christian Life

Weekly Message

Tom Seymour

February 23, 2014

Happiness A Sign Of The Christian Life

How can people who have not sought a close walk with God live a truly happy Life? The answer is, they can’t.

Sure, people in the secular world can have what passes for happiness. By earning lots of money, we can buy things that please us and therefore, we are happy…well, at least for a while. But happiness based upon material possessions doesn't last very long. In fact, it has an expiration date. After a while, our possessions stop pleasing us and so we search for more and more of whatever it may take to help us think that we are happy. We may have a form of happiness, but without God, we are never fulfilled.

And it’s not only material possessions that blind us to the true nature of happiness. Some people revel in their knowledge. Some just wait for every opportunity to boast of their extensive education. And when the listener evidences a “ho-hum” response, it only aggravates the self-loving types.

If we judge everyone else according to how they compare with ourselves, and we believe that we ourselves are somehow “special” because of our material, academic and other accolades, we are on a path to renouncing true happiness forever.

So how can we, any of us, find true happiness? First, we must walk with God on a daily basis. When we turn to him for everything, that is, when we recognize that God is in everything we think, say and do, we can then leave the door open for him to act and work in our lives. Otherwise, he is just a silent observer. We must invite God into our lives. When we do that, amazing things begin to happen.

Next, having established our relationship with God, we need to review our relationship with other human beings. And if those relationships aren’t operating according to Godly principals, we must overhaul them.

The person who judges everyone else must cease judging. It’s human nature to form opinions and most of us form an opinion of people we meet upon our first meeting. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking of judging from an attitude of superiority. When we think that we are smarter, better, more qualified than everyone else, then we cannot deal with anyone else on anything like an even playing field.

So we must humble ourselves. In order to do that, we must first humble ourselves to God and then we will quite naturally find a new degree of humility in our dealings with people. Without a humble attitude, we are spiritually doomed. We may think that people like us, but when we find out that they only abide us because they must, it becomes a tremendously traumatic experience.

But God can help us to find humility. He does that by giving us a certain knowledge, a conviction, that what we have asked has become a reality. So ask for humility and you will gain it.

So what happens next? Well, just as the apostle Paul said that love does not remember wrongs, we must do just that. It’s like the person who, at the most inappropriate times, brings up someone else’s past offenses…rather they were truly bad or only just bad as perceived in that person’s mind. No matter. The meeting is ruined. The dinner is ruined. The relationship may well become pitched toward an irreconcilable end.

Finally, none of us is an island unto himself or herself. Anyone who thinks so is certainly unhappy. It takes first, a relationship with God and next, relationships with members of our own kind. And in order to have a good relationship, we must work toward a good relationship.

We need friends. Not just acquaintances, but true friends. And what is a friend? A friend is someone you love, in the Godly sense of the word and also, someone in whom you can place your trust.

Will friends ever betray your love and trust? Sure they will. We all sprang from the two original forbears and because of that, are sinful creatures by nature. But because sometimes people let us down, does that mean that we should not trust anyone ever again? By no means.

A righteous person may fall down seven times, but that same person gets back up seven times. And, as Jesus said, “Seven times seven.” We cannot penalize ourselves and our personal happiness by holding the world at a arms length simply because someone, somewhere, failed us.

We as Christians are told to serve as an example to the world. Our Christian walk should therefore, be visible to everyone we meet. We should let our light shine so that people we meet recognize that light and want to be bathed in it. But if we are not happy, our light remains cloaked, covered by an opaque cloth.

So learn to be happy with every new day God gives you on this earth. Be thankful for each new sunrise and don’t disparage the sunset because a new day is sure to follow. Don’t judge others, only judge yourself. Find peace with your walk with God and in your relationship with humanity. Appreciate every blessing, no matter how small, because somewhere in the world, someone else is starving for that same blessing. And walk in humility before God and man.

Do these things and you will be truly happy. And the world will surely note your happiness.

The Pearl

Weekly Message

Tom Seymour

February 23, 2014

The Pearl

Revelation 21:21- And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.

Scripture makes frequent mention of pearls. Pearls stand as a measure of value, since they were, and are, valuable. Note that in Revelation 21: 21, that pearls are included in a sentence that describes a kind of heavenly gold. Such was the esteem that people in bible times held for pearls.

But what is a pearl? It is a product of strife, formed over a period of time. The longer the strife, the bigger and more desirable the pearl. Specifically, pearls are formed when a foreign object, usually a tiny grain of sand or grit, becomes trapped inside the shell of an oyster. The sand irritates the oyster’s membranes and as long as it remains there, the oyster’s body reacts to the foreign presence and coats it with a smooth, shiny material. The grain of sand then becomes a pearl.

You never find big, beautiful pearls in young oysters. It takes time to form the biggest and best pearls. In fact, not all oysters even make pearls, only ones that are plagued with the grain of sand stuck in their mantle.

Human experiences reflect the oyster and its pearl. Sometimes, we, too, are stricken with something that hurts us, but that we cannot shake. This may be a person in our lives who continually harms us, a bad workplace situation or any number of things. When we put this harmful thing, whatever it is, in perspective and no longer let it dictate our path, then we are like the oyster coating the grain of sand with the pearl material.

In the end, we grow as a result of our perseverance, a perseverance born of a thorn in our side. And like the oyster and the pearl, we don’t grow much if our pearl is small or if it is only short-lived. The best in us only comes out after a lengthy period of adversity, a time when we don’t waver, but continue plugging away, doing what we know to be good and righteous. After our work is ended, our pearl is then of immense value.

We all encounter adversity. Everyone has to contend with some kind of opposing entity. It’s what we make of it that counts in the end. God wants us to take our problems and coat them with the smooth substance of a pearl. If we don’t do that, that little grain of sand will continue to irritate and harass us for the rest of our lives.

But luckily for us, we have the means to produce that smooth, pearl coating. The grace of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross so that we may live. When we give over our problems, our irritating grains of sand to Jesus, He will smooth them so that we can continue in peace, joy and happiness. 

To Walk With God

Weekly Message

February 9, 2014

This is a copy of a sermon I preached in April, 2012. The church was at a turning point and for a while, it looked as if it might not have an adequate number of congregants to continue. But then, in a flash, things changed and people flooded in. I’m not sure of the state of the church at present, but at the time when I preached this message, it was beginning to strengthen in its walk with God.

To Walk With God

We live in an age of micro-managing everything, including our spiritual lives and our church life. We analyze, we quote people with lofty-sounding names and impressive titles; we attend lengthy meetings, we seek, we read,

we form committees. All the while we wander in a spiritual desert while looking for the truth.

But the truth is right there in front of us and has been there all along. It is so simple, though, that we overlook it. “Is that all there is to it?” we ask. Our minds are always busy and so we complicate the simple and obfuscate the obvious.

         

Putting these things aside, all we need do to walk with God and be right with him is follow his greatest commandment. Here it is: “Believe in the name of God’s son Jesus Christ and love one another.”

What could be simpler? Having done this, we can then enjoy the refreshment and rest that God offers to his beloved ones. But sometimes our minds and our determination to do something more or be something more complicates this simple process. It boils down to trust.

Last time we met I spoke on  faith, how to acquire it and how to strengthen it. Today, let’s look at trust. We can have faith, but trusting completely in what our faith tells us is sometimes difficult. Walking with God, or as John put it in his gospel, “abiding in him and he abiding in us,” requires trust and also submission.

We must submit to God’s will in order for him to abide in us. And what is his will? John says to obey his commandments and by doing so we will abide in him and he will abide in us.

Someone will say, “I can’t obey all the commandments…I fail when I try.” True enough. We all fail one time or another. We all have failings and sins. That’s why God provided Jesus, our redeemer, to be our advocate before the Lord in heaven.

Jesus tells us that when we fall, read that to fail, or to sin, we must get up and keep getting up. That means to start over, believing that once we admit failures, sins, the blood shed by Jesus on the cross will erase them. As Paul said, this is by no means a license to continue sinning, or doing wrong. But it does free us to be strong in our faith and to trust in God.

We all have our own wants and needs. And we are told to take these to God in prayer. Does everyone here do that on a regular basis? If not, it’s time to begin. Look to God in all things, both large and small. And then, after handing everything over to God, trust that he will act in our best interests. This does not always mean that things will instantly change and go our way, although that can and does happen. But it does mean that by putting our trust in God, our problems are then in his capable hands and we can go about living a happier life. Simple, yes?

What about corporate, or communal cares and concerns? Let’s take our church. We here have gone through some changes and for a while, our numbers were down and our outlook somewhat grim. We, as a body, set out to do what we could to change that. We did everything that humans can do. We looked at our situation from every angle, we studied and we planned. We did that. We continue to do that. No one can ask more of a small group of believers.

And what do we want as a body? We want more people to share in our church life. We want to be energized and we want to be energizing for others. We want to attract people from the community to come and worship with us. We want to once again have a church filled with young people, to hear children’s laughter. We want to have a Sunday school.

And on a human, nuts-and-bolts level, we have done all we could and are doing all we can. So now it’s time to turn it over to God. That’s not to say that we may rest from our labors, on the contrary. We need to continue, be heads-down chargers, to demonstrate our zeal for the things of God.

But most of all, we need to trust that God sees our work…since as James the brother of Jesus says, “faith without works is dead,” and we need to trust that by putting our situation in God’s hands that he will open the door for us, that he will go ahead of us and make things happen. All we need to do is what we have been doing and then put our complete trust in God. That opens the way for him to do the rest.

We have done good works and we must and will continue to. Now we need to let our light shine through so that others may see the good works we do in the name of God. If we are faithful, God is faithful. That is an absolute truth. And so it is that if we only keep up and trust in God, we will achieve our goals.

If we do these things, people will see it and they will want a part of it. And that is precisely how we as individuals and also as members of the church body need to proceed.

No one is attracted to someone who does not have a glad heart. Our faith and our happiness must be apparent. For that to happen we must let the light of God shine through us. We must smile. We must be kind, gentle and we must let everyone know of our faith and our trust in God Almighty. And then watch out, because once God puts his hand to the steering wheel of this body of believers, he is not going to stop. It will be a long and glorious road trip.

So trust. Trust in God. Trust that Jesus Christ is the only way to the father. Do your best not to fail, but if you do know that you are forgiven. Get up and keep on going. The road may be long but with Christ at the helm, we will reach our destination safely. His burden is light, his yoke is easy.

Short And Sweet Always The Best Way

Weekly Message

Tom Seymour

February 2, 2014

Proverbs 10: 19a - When words are many, transgression is not lacking. (New Revised Standard Version)

Short And Sweet Is Always The Best Way

I once participated in a daily reading of the Proverbs so that in the end, I would have read the entire book. For some reason up to that point, I had only skimmed over Proverbs. But my daily readings changed all that. The lessons learned (and still being learned) have helped me in life, which was the purpose of the book of Proverbs…to help us live our lives to the fullest.

As a professional writer, I have found that achieving any degree of success requires adhering to certain principals. The first sentence of Proverbs 19 says it all. Many words do not necessarily win awards, sell books or induce magazine or newspaper editors to accept a writer’s work. But well-placed words do just that. So how does a writer differentiate between the meaningful and the trivial or nonsensical? I have found that at least for me, the answer lies in writing about what I know the best.

I have 11 published books out on nature topics and hope that the Lord allows me to write even more. Why are all my books on these subjects? Because that’s what I know best. And knowing a topic allows me to write short, concise sentences. A good rule for writers is to say the most with the least words. Adding more words just muddies the waters.

This same principal applies in our lives and in our walk with God. If we talk only to be heard and write only to be read, we accomplish nothing and do nothing to advance the Kingdom of Heaven. But if we choose our words carefully and likewise our actions, we put ourselves in a place where God’s Holy Spirit can work through us.

How many souls have been brought to Jesus by one who talks incessantly? Most people only want to get away from such a one. But the person who talks little but exhibits Christian principals in his or her life, is one whom others seek out.

So let your life follow those writer’s guidelines, the same guidelines outlined in Proverbs 19a. The fewer words the better. Choose wisely and rewards will surely follow.

God's Word

Weekly Message

Tom Seymour

January 26, 2014

Song Of Solomon: 12b Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The Word Of God

          The word “book” or “books” occurs frequently throughout the bible. These references pertain to a number of different books, but not the one we know as the Holy Bible. That book, actually a collection of numerous books, or scriptures, was not yet codified and established in ancient times.

          The writers of the books of the bible never considered that their efforts would be forever contained, as a part of a whole, in one collection, a collection that would shake the foundations of the world and persist until the end of time.

          But the bible as we know it has the stamp of official authority in that it contains only the oldest and truest prose, taken from the original manuscripts and translated from the original tongues. And, of course, there were several original tongues in the bible, prominent among them being the Greek. In order to faithfully translate the ancient manuscripts to English, or any other language, scholars necessarily had to be conversant in the ancient languages.

          For so many years, the bible was written in Latin, which meant that only church officials could read it, because laymen were mostly illiterate. And so the priests were keepers of the Word of God. In time, the bible was copied to the language of the land, English, making God’s word available to everyone. This occurred amid much strife and turmoil.

          Today, we have countless versions of the bible, translations of the same original manuscripts. Which one a person uses depends upon which one resonates with him or her. What’s more, the translations just keep coming. As biblical scholars and researchers learn more, or feel that they have learned more (there is a difference and we’ll discuss that in another message), existing editions are revised and offered anew. It’s hard to keep up with the plethora of new translations of holy scripture.

          So do these new editions of the bible in fact supplant older versions? And is one so much better than another as far as faithfully imparting the Word of God? After all, every bible is translated from the same basic sources.

          The answer to this is probably, but not necessarily. The King James version, for instance, was for many years, “the” bible. But, as the committee that put together the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the bible says, “…the King James (KJ) version has serious defects. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the discovery of many biblical manuscripts more ancient than those upon which the King James version was based made it apparent that these defects were so many as to call for revision.”

          Sorry to drop another question, but this last bit begs the question of the KJ’s validity. Is the KJ version wrong? No, it is not. The revisers changed some small things, but nothing in the way of fundamental doctrine was affected. The original truths of the original manuscripts, reflected in the various bibles offered throughout the ages, remains unchanged.

          So any authorized bible tells the absolute and honest truth of the ancient scriptures and reflects God’s word and actions. The only variable in this equation, then, is the reader. People, me included, are reluctant to embrace change. We stick doggedly to our old ways. Furthermore, some, no, many, Christian denominations parse scripture and extract, often out of context, that which suits their needs. This results in a list of “don’ts,” mostly things that the bible does not necessarily condemn. Dancing comes immediately to mind. Some churches condemn it, others dance in the spirit.

          As an example of picking something out of the bible and wrongly following it, I recently spoke with a friend concerning the 10 commandments that the Lord gave to Moses. My friend mentioned that he has determined to keep the commandments, including Commandment 4, which in his KJ version, reads: “Though shall not make to the any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Commandment 5 continues: “Though shall not bow down thyself to them…”

          “I went through my house and took down all my pictures,” he said. I told him that pictures or artwork was not what the fourth commandment was directed toward. He disagreed.

          However, the NRSV version makes this clearer: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow town to them or worship them…”

          It’s easy to see how my friend misconstrued this commandment. He took “graven” for “engraved” and applied it to any representation of anything. That’s not what the commandments address, however. They specifically, at least in the NRSV version, say not to make an image of something and than worship it, as opposed to worshiping only the one, true God, the Lord. My friend missed Commandment 5, the commandment that resolves questions in Commandment 4, even in the KJ version.

          Different denominations do this all the time and it only harms their witness as Christians. The bible-preacher who isolates verses against drinking conveniently forgets other verses that tell us drinking is okay as long as it is not done in excess. In fact, Paul tells us not to allow people to deceive us regarding food and drink, since such prohibitions are only to make themselves feel righteous. The Lord does not look at people according to whether or not they eat seafood or pork barbecues or whether or not they drink beer and wine. Jesus drank wine and appears to have very much enjoyed it.

          So here is the gist of the matter, as I see it according to the light that God has given me. Look at scripture, no matter what version of the bible it is contained in, according to what it really says and not how that version says it.

          Of the making of books there is no end. But of the reading and understanding of scripture, there is only one way, and that is the correct and true way, uninfluenced by personal feelings, dogma or politics.

         

Intercession

Weekly Message

Tom Seymour

January 17, 2014

Intercession

Hebrews 7: 25

Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

[Before offering this week’s message, let me apologize for the lack of a message last week. The recent ice storm had knocked out my internet access and I had no way to post a message. Things have finally returned to normal.]

Were it not for Christ interceding for us with the Father, we could never be acceptable to the Lord. But as Paul points out in Hebrews 7: 25, Christ does intercede for us. And not only sometimes, but as the scripture says, “always.”

My goal in this message is not only to point out how Christ petitions the Lord on our behalf, but also to suggest that as we are to be imitators of Christ, we therefore must intercede for others.

Scripture tells us that the prayers of the righteous (that is, on the behalf of others) can cover a multitude of sins. To fully understand this is to grasp something almost incomprehensible. We, as followers of Christ, have the power to pray to God to restore someone who has sinned.

John, in his first letter, says (1 John 5:16a) “If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask and God will give life to such a one…”  This sounds less like a suggestion and more like a commandment, doesn’t it?

How then, knowing what we have just read, can we possibly not pray for others? Faith without works is dead, but not all works are corporeal. Some are spiritual. So while doing our best to help others materially has much value, the most powerful and important thing we can do is to intercede on someone’s behalf before God in heaven. The two, the physical and spiritual parts of intercession are not to be taken separately, but as a whole. And in the everlasting light of eternity, our prayers and intercessions have more profound and long-lasting results.

Sometimes it’s hard to pray for others, especially if those others hardly seem deserving of our time. But always remember how Christ, while the members of the Roman crucifixion team were nailing him to the cross, prayed to his Father to forgive them their sins for they knew not what they were doing. If Christ, in the midst of his deepest passion, can pray and intercede for those who are torturing and killing him, how can we not pray for those who have wronged us?

Our intercession does not always need to be on behalf of someone’s specific sin. We are all sinners and thankfully, we have Christ to go on our behalf. So what about our friends who we see falling away from God? What about those we love who are sick, and perhaps dying, either spiritually or physically or both? We are bound to intercede for them too. Perhaps God’s will won’t be exactly what we would have it be, but nonetheless, we need to pray, to intercede with the Lord on behalf of our friends and loved ones.

Always remember, God hears our prayers. The prayers of God’s people are the most powerful forces in the universe.