Bread of Life Painting Sermon

How despairing it is to observe an empty painting of an empty plate. We are all consumed with emptiness and we spend our entire lives attempting to fill that empty plate within our souls. In John 6, we see a demonstration of this vain attempt. The multitude of John 6 was guilty of wrong motives and wrong methods in their quest to fulfill their void.

Farming For Joy!

Have you ever planted a garden? I had the privilege of growing some of my own vegetables this past summer and oh what a treat it is to be able to step out your backdoor and pick your supper! What a gratifying experience!

I thought I would be a real man this past year and do this the "old school" way...by hand. I got my shovel and ho and went to work. Two days and many blisters and sore back muscles later, I had cultivated my own small garden. (note to self: tillers are our friend, don't deny them) After planting my little plants and a few weeks later, I began to see the fruits of my labor budding out. What a cool experience...work a little, plant seeds, water, then watch it grow.

Throughout this experience, I witnessed an interesting thing...did I cause the seeds to grow? No, they were underground. I had no clue what was taking place under there. The only responsibility I had was to plant and water. So, who or what caused these seeds to grow into these tall beautiful plants yielding delicious vegetables?

This is where an old principle that is taught throughout the bible begins to take a whole new meaning. One passage in particular comes to mind, 1 Corinthians 3:6-8:

"I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour."

 Notice who does the planting and watering: Paul and Apollos...people...like you and me. But, it's God who "gives the increase". This principle runs all throughout the Scriptures in almost all areas of our lives. We witness and evangelize, but it's God who gives the increase. When people are born again, they are born of God and His will, not by blood or the will of the flesh, or the will of man (John 1:13). yet, it is our responsibility to sow and water...how shall they believe in whom they have not heard? (Romans 10:14)

This principle also applies to JOY. I must be honest here...over the past few months, one of my greatest struggles is maintaining joy. We know that true joy is a fruit of the Spirit according to Galatians 5:22. I say "true joy" because I want to make sure we differentiate deep satisfying joy with the fleeting temporal emotion we call "happiness". Don't get me wrong, being joyful will bubble out to your emotions causing happiness but you can also have joy in the midst of extreme suffering...However, we all know it's hard to be happy when you're suffering. True joy is finding satisfaction in God. He is our source of true joy.

The problem lies in, how do I get this joy? Can I wake up in the morning and command my heart to be satisfied in Christ? Can I command myself to not be depressed, like I command my fingers what to type here? The answer is, NO. I'm utterly useless in this area.

So, how do we solve this? Are we doomed to just sit and wait for God to miraculously produce joy in ourselves? How miserable we would be!

Our answer lies in the biblical principle of sowing, watering and reaping. If I want God to produce joy in me, then I must be satisfied in Him and this is accomplished by me doing my part of the cultivation process. I must sow and water. I'll list a few things that help me...there could be more for you, I suppose there's no exact formula.

• Daily bible reading...even if you don't want to. Sometimes you have to force feed yourself. When you're sick, the last thing you want to do is eat...but it's usually the eating of nutrition that will stop the sickness.
• Listening to Christ-honoring music. Music plays an important role in your emotions. Feed it with quality food.
• Witness...a passion of mine is evangelism. Joy is an almost automatic result when I overcome those barriers of fear and tell someone the gospel or share a testimony.
• Study Theology...read a book or an article on the promises of God or His attributes. Our understanding of God is directly related to how we will live our lives. If my knowledge and understanding of God is shallow, then I shouldn't expect to live in much victory. The more I learn of my wife, the more I love her...the same applies with God.
• Get Inspired...when I get stagnant as an artist, I surround myself in inspirational places and with inspirational people. Surround yourself with other Christians...joy can be contagious.
• Take care of your physical body...be active and get rest
• Pray...just be honest with God and ask Him to produce fruit in you. The more you spend in relationship with God, the more He will manifest Himself to you.

 So, are you caught in the funk of little or no joy? Rejoice in the fact that God has designed you to find no satisfaction outside of Christ. He is our Bread of Life and our Living Water. It's now time to start cultivating! Get your spiritual garden tools out and get to work! The fruit of joy is waiting!

God's Perfect Will or God's Permissive Will?

What child doesn't like playing with play-dough? Many pounds of play-dough have been ruined here at the Sams' house from my daughter's love and neglect of this pliable medium. Maybe she'll be a potter or a sculptor one day.
In high school, I once tried putting my hands to the potter's wheel. I had these plans in my head of the exact pot I would make. It would have a large bowl area at the bottom, a tapered more narrow neck opening up to a wider spout with a little dip in the top for pouring liquids. As much as I could envision the final product, my hands and my inexperience prevented this work of art from coming to pass. As much as I loved getting dirty, I found out rather quickly that my artistic area was painting. So, I made a few ashtrays to accompany my leaning pots and called it quits.

However, in the bible, we have typologies and references to God as being the Master Potter. You can rest assured that this Master Potter is unable to make mistakes or have (as the PBS artist, Bob Ross would call) "happy little accidents". This brings us to question our understanding of God's will and His purpose. Does God have a permissive will which is separate and distinct from His perfect will? Or, is God's permissive will one in the same as God's perfect will? In a practical sense, does God, as the potter, begin forming a pot with a planned piece in mind (God's perfect will) only to have something go wrong...then, He changes His plans to form it into something else (God's permissive will)?

Ashland St. Baptist Church Mural

Thanks to Ashland St. Baptist Church, Archdale, NC for their commissioning of this mural. The mural resides behind the choir loft inside their sanctuary.

We Fail but Christ Fulfills

In John 6:1-15, we see the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 men with five barley loaves and two fish. Most people read that and think, "Wow, look what Jesus did in the bible almost 2,000 years ago! He sure did some crazy miracles back then!" But, does this same God still work in miraculous ways today?

God has blessed me for some 13 years now to make a living as an artist. In today's economy, let's just be honest...art is not a necessity. If I had to choose between feeding my family and purchasing a painting, the painting had better be digestable, come with plates and forks, and cost under $9.95. Yet, somehow, even in this horrible economy, I still have food in my pantry and diesel fuel in my car. How does this happen?

In John 6:1-4, we see the Faithless Crowd. These people were motivated to follow Christ because they saw Him as some side-show, miracle worker. They were just looking for a cheap thrill. How many today only want Jesus if He'll show them some sign or wonder? John 2:23-25 tells of this type. They believed on Him because of the things they saw Him do, but Jesus did not believe in them because He knew their motives.

John 6:5-9 tells us of the Failed Test of the disciples. With the approaching crowd, and being so late in the day, Jesus tested His disciples with an impossible task. "Where can we buy bread to feed these people?" My first reaction is reflected in Philip's response: "Who cares where we'll buy bread...we don't have the funds!" So Philip, like me, when faced with the impossible, looks toward his starving wallet.

Andrew does a little better; he at least puts forth an effort to find the goods. He finds the material that could be used (five loaves and two fish). However, like me, he says, "But what are they among so many." So, his response is "We don't have enough material!"

If you look at this same story in Matthew 14:15, some of the disciples made the suggestion to just send the crowd away. So, their response, also like mine at times, is to just ignore the problem...and make it go away.

So often I fail the tests of life and trusting God by looking toward money, material, and making the problem go away.

However, in v.10-13, we see a Fulfilling Christ. Notice also in v. 5 that Jesus lifted up His eyes and saw... He knew the problem before the disciples did. We can take great comfort in knowing that Jesus already knew of our problem before it ever was one. In v.10, He takes control of the situation. How great it is when God takes control of our impossibilities! In v. 11, He creates the solution. He supernaturally defies the laws of nature to multiply the food. Then, as if that wasn't enough, He uses those same doubting disciples to distribute to the crowd. How often has God done this in our lives? He will miraculously provide and then use us, who doubted and were faithless, to distribute blessings to others. Then, in v.12, He left nothing to be wasted. He always provides enough; He completely satisfies. What a great, fulfilling, compassionate, and graceful God!

Lastly, in v.13-14, we see the crowd's reaction. They wanted to take Him by force to make Him king. Is that all that bad? At first glance, one wouldn't think so. But Jesus leaves them. So, the reaction of Jesus is very telling. Their motives was one of  "make Him king, so He can feed us all the time!" They were lovers of Christ because He filled their bellies. He met their physical needs and fulfilled their fleshly desires and they stopped there. They didn't see the miracle as a sign pointing to the supremecy of Christ. They saw Him as a means to fulfill their physical desires. This sounds a lot like the prosperity gospel being preached today...Come to Jesus so He can make you rich...come to Jesus to fix your marriage...come to Jesus to fix your physical problems! However, you'll not use Jesus as some way to fulfill your carnal desires. If we come to Him, we'll come to Him on His terms, not our selfish terms.

To see this painting, visit http://www.jeremysams.com/

Our Trip to Mt. Moriah

Mt. Moriah has been the place of several significant events in Jewish and Christian history. It was the mountain to which God told Abraham to offer his only son, Isaac (a type that was fulfilled with God offering His only begotten Son). It was also the place that God chose to let Solomon build the temple...a place designated for God to manifest His glory and holiness. With all the glorious events that have taken place on this mountain, it seems very fitting to name a church after it.

We were privileged to minister this past Sunday morning, Feb. 13, at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church located in Marshville, NC.