Note from Pastor

 Luke 6:43-45

43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

What determines a person’s actions, words, attitude, etc.? How can we be better behaving Christians? How can our family relationships and our work ethic better match God’s desire for us? It comes down to what is in your heart?

THis week, as a congregation, we’ve been reading through the first chapters of the book of Luke. I hope that you have enjoyed this endeavor and, you can be reassured that God will accomplish good with every verse you plant in your heart. Isaiah 55 promises that God will accomplish his purposes through His Word being read and heard and pondered:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

    and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

    it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11 

That verse correlates with the passage above from Luke 6. There is good treasure and evil treasure. Put God’s Word in your heart and there will be good treasure from which to have good words, good thoughts, good actions, good attitudes, and good desires. BUt, as might be all too common today, fill up your heart with Not-so-righteous words, music, videos, thoughts, your actions and words will go quickly south; and that is not a good thing. 

So my encouragement to you this week is to filter out the bad things that can enter your heart. Consider what enters your eyes, your ears, your thoughts. What kind of music are you listening to? Is that book you are reading God-pleasing? Would you feel ashamed or proud of the movies you watch as a couple or as a family? Does the content fit godly desires or does it push the envelope toward raucous? What we fill our hearts with determines our actions, attitudes and words.

Let’s see how filling our hearts with the Word of God can make a difference -  the pure and holy Word of God. Blessings as you fill up with the Powerful Word of God!