Digging Deeper~ 7th Sunday of Pentecost

Gen. 28:10-19a :Jacob has a dream that the angels were climbing up and down from heaven to that place on earth on a ladder. Then he dreams that the Lord is standing at the foot of the ladder and tells him that he is to be the Father of a great nation.  Jacob names the place Bethel. Ps. 139:1-12,23-24: God knows everything about us and is always with us. A prayer for God to test us to see if we are on the right path, if not help us to chance that.  Rom. 8:12-25: Paul tells the Roman believers that they are saved from slavery of sin & become the children of God. Mat. 13:24-30,36-43: Jesus tells the story of the weeds & then explains it to his followers. The theme is being God's people.  Jacob had a dream & in it he saw angels going up and down a ladder from heaven to earth. Then she sees the Lord standing next to the ladder. the Lord tells him that is is going to be the Father of a great nation. a nation that will be set apart for God. That is just what happened! He had 12 sons and they became the tribes of Israel~ God's chosen people (Gen. 28:10-19). .  God wants us to be his people also. That is why Jesus came to earth. He knew that we were spiritually in slavery called sin & that we needed someone to free us from that slavery. To do that, a price had to be paid. The price was a blood sacrifice of a perfect person. Jesus was that person. He died on a cross to free us from the slavery of sin (Rom. 8:12-25). Jesus tells a story about seeds that are sowed on the earth. A man sowed good seed, but the enemy sowed bad seed into the field also. those bad seed is called weeds. Jesus explains to his followers that God sows the good seed of the Word of God we call the Bible. But the enemy of God~ Satan sows bad seed into the world. God is allowing both seed to grow up together until it is time to harvest. Our souls are harvest. that is when we die( Mat. 13:24-30,36-43). It is like the earth is a flower garden and we are either flowers or weeds. If we have accepted Jesus as our savior, we are flowers & if we have not we are weeds. God knows who are flowers and who are weeds (Ps. 139:1-12). But he wishes for all of us to be flowers in his flower garden. We can choose to be a flower or a weed. If we are a weed, we can go to God and ask him to  search us and see if we are a weed (Ps. 139:23-24), and to save us from our slavery of sin & then we become the flowers in his flower garden on earth. I like to look at it this way, when a Christian dies, god has picked that "flower" and put them into his bouquet in heaven. When we are God's flowers, we are also his people. Challenge of the week: This week take the time to sit with God and examine yourself to see if you are a weed or a flower. If you are a weed, get right with the Lord. If you are a flower make sure you are acting like the people of God should. Accomplishment of the week: So what did you and God work out this week? How has that helped your walk with the Lord?