Our paragraph topic for today is: (God clothes the lilies).
Christ continues to talk about how God feeds us. Today he tells us that we should not be anxious for our clothing. He gives us an example to ponder by telling us to consider the lilies of the field. He says that the lilies do not toil or spin but in their glory they have more splendor than King Solomon in all of his kingly splendor and glory. So, if God will take care of the lilies of the field and the grass, how much more will he take care of us.
In today's time it is not God whom we believe that will provide for us. We believe that it is not our heaven Father that will give us our daily bread. We believe that it is the government. We believe that it is the local supermarket. We believe that it is the gas station, the laundry mat, the airlines, the trucking company, the manufacturer, the car dealership, the restaurants, the convention center, etc., that will provide us with a job and give us a weekly or monthly paycheck to pay our bills. We depend on these entities to provide for us. We believe that God does not employ, at least not in these hard times. Those who wish to become priests and ministers and deacons may be provided for by their parishioners, but the rest of us depend on a job to sustain us and provide for our well being and not God.
We place our faith on being able to get a 9 to 5 that pays a descent wage that will allow us to survive. We do not put that faith in God. We place our faith in the world, that it will be stable enough to maintain our economy so that we can live in peace and harmony. We believe in the system, and not in God. Yet God gave us the system. God maintains the system. God allows for the system to exist so that it will provide for us.
God created the heavens, the stars, and moon, and the sun. He is the reason that the sun holds its orbit and does not pull the earth into it. He provides for the rain that waters the earth and the rain gives us water to drink. He is the reason that the earth grows food. He is the reason that we have fish in the sea and the reason that life regenerates itself through the animals that we rely upon for our food. He causes the wind to blow. He makes the sun to shine. He has provided the earth with all kinds of minerals and elements that we use to make the products that assist us with our daily life. God created the beauty that surrounds us in the trees and the flowers, and the birds, and the plants, and all life. He created the stars and the galaxies that we see in awe and wonder. Yet within our minds we do not accept the evidence that is before us.
We accept football games. We accept parties. We accept cars, and clothes, and money, and sex and lust, and beer and wine, and alcohol, and wealth, and music and TV, and all manner of earthly things. It is not his glory that we accept but the glory of men that we worship. For man has done great wonders on this earth. He has created great inventions that give us the pleasures of life. He has created great buildings and great machines, and great marvels that give us the life we live. All of these things keep us focused on man and yet even man himself is the glory of God.
But even the creation of man is being refuted by our great minds, making us believe that we are creations of chance. We are products of evolution that has created all life on this planet. Therefore, we are not alone in this universe. As a result of evolution, our great minds would have us believe that somewhere out there in the universe there are other beings great and small. And with that mindset we have the TV and movie, scientific fantasies of today. We now believe that we will live into the twenty fifth century. We will travel the galaxies. We will encounter other life forms. We will survive all manner of dangers and battles. This is our future. This our mindset without God as our focus.
We have taken away the central belief in our God. We have abandoned our faith in our creator and substituted it for smoke, created by man and supplanted by the devil. Christ, in this sermon, admonishes us as being of little faith. He has given us proof of the existence of our heavenly father and how he provides for us, yet we do not believe. We have no faith in our God. And when trouble comes, do we turn to him? When hard times come do we believe that God will provide? When good times come do we acknowledge God and give him the glory? We can see the beauty in the flowers, the birds, the trees, and even in each other. Can we give glory to God for the wonders that he has put before? With this evidence, can we have just a little faith that we will survive and God will take care of us?
It is amazing the structure and sequence of these sermons that Christ has given us. He tells us of true riches. Then he tells us that God feeds the birds of the field and in this sermon he tells us of the lilies of the field. All three sermons point to our faith in our heavenly father. We spin and toil over such little things and miss the one thing that is of most importance, God our father. Believe that he is alive. Believe that he will provide. Believe that you are more than just flesh and blood. Believe that you are a spirit being created in the image and likeness of God. Seek the evidence of your existence for Christ has told us that the eye is the lamp of the body and if the eye is sound we are full of light. Let your light shine within and know that you are a child of God. Let your faith know that you believe.
Christ continues to talk about how God feeds us. Today he tells us that we should not be anxious for our clothing. He gives us an example to ponder by telling us to consider the lilies of the field. He says that the lilies do not toil or spin but in their glory they have more splendor than King Solomon in all of his kingly splendor and glory. So, if God will take care of the lilies of the field and the grass, how much more will he take care of us.
In today's time it is not God whom we believe that will provide for us. We believe that it is not our heaven Father that will give us our daily bread. We believe that it is the government. We believe that it is the local supermarket. We believe that it is the gas station, the laundry mat, the airlines, the trucking company, the manufacturer, the car dealership, the restaurants, the convention center, etc., that will provide us with a job and give us a weekly or monthly paycheck to pay our bills. We depend on these entities to provide for us. We believe that God does not employ, at least not in these hard times. Those who wish to become priests and ministers and deacons may be provided for by their parishioners, but the rest of us depend on a job to sustain us and provide for our well being and not God.
We place our faith on being able to get a 9 to 5 that pays a descent wage that will allow us to survive. We do not put that faith in God. We place our faith in the world, that it will be stable enough to maintain our economy so that we can live in peace and harmony. We believe in the system, and not in God. Yet God gave us the system. God maintains the system. God allows for the system to exist so that it will provide for us.
God created the heavens, the stars, and moon, and the sun. He is the reason that the sun holds its orbit and does not pull the earth into it. He provides for the rain that waters the earth and the rain gives us water to drink. He is the reason that the earth grows food. He is the reason that we have fish in the sea and the reason that life regenerates itself through the animals that we rely upon for our food. He causes the wind to blow. He makes the sun to shine. He has provided the earth with all kinds of minerals and elements that we use to make the products that assist us with our daily life. God created the beauty that surrounds us in the trees and the flowers, and the birds, and the plants, and all life. He created the stars and the galaxies that we see in awe and wonder. Yet within our minds we do not accept the evidence that is before us.
We accept football games. We accept parties. We accept cars, and clothes, and money, and sex and lust, and beer and wine, and alcohol, and wealth, and music and TV, and all manner of earthly things. It is not his glory that we accept but the glory of men that we worship. For man has done great wonders on this earth. He has created great inventions that give us the pleasures of life. He has created great buildings and great machines, and great marvels that give us the life we live. All of these things keep us focused on man and yet even man himself is the glory of God.
But even the creation of man is being refuted by our great minds, making us believe that we are creations of chance. We are products of evolution that has created all life on this planet. Therefore, we are not alone in this universe. As a result of evolution, our great minds would have us believe that somewhere out there in the universe there are other beings great and small. And with that mindset we have the TV and movie, scientific fantasies of today. We now believe that we will live into the twenty fifth century. We will travel the galaxies. We will encounter other life forms. We will survive all manner of dangers and battles. This is our future. This our mindset without God as our focus.
We have taken away the central belief in our God. We have abandoned our faith in our creator and substituted it for smoke, created by man and supplanted by the devil. Christ, in this sermon, admonishes us as being of little faith. He has given us proof of the existence of our heavenly father and how he provides for us, yet we do not believe. We have no faith in our God. And when trouble comes, do we turn to him? When hard times come do we believe that God will provide? When good times come do we acknowledge God and give him the glory? We can see the beauty in the flowers, the birds, the trees, and even in each other. Can we give glory to God for the wonders that he has put before? With this evidence, can we have just a little faith that we will survive and God will take care of us?
It is amazing the structure and sequence of these sermons that Christ has given us. He tells us of true riches. Then he tells us that God feeds the birds of the field and in this sermon he tells us of the lilies of the field. All three sermons point to our faith in our heavenly father. We spin and toil over such little things and miss the one thing that is of most importance, God our father. Believe that he is alive. Believe that he will provide. Believe that you are more than just flesh and blood. Believe that you are a spirit being created in the image and likeness of God. Seek the evidence of your existence for Christ has told us that the eye is the lamp of the body and if the eye is sound we are full of light. Let your light shine within and know that you are a child of God. Let your faith know that you believe.
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