Few things are as refreshing to me as big cold glass of “sweet tea”. (Sweetened Iced Tea)

My wife makes great tea. My mom always made good tea. I remember Ms. Iris Gibbs in Tifton made good tea too.  Chick-fil-a always has good tea.  MacAlister’s Deli also has some good sweet tea.

When I am thirsty, when I am hot, when I am hungry, nearly anytime during the day I can take a nice glass of sweet tea and devour it. It is so good and refreshing. It doesn’t sit heavy like a Pepsi or Mountain Dew. It tastes so much better than water. It simply is refreshing.  It quenches your thirst,  satisfies and makes you feel better.  Sweet tea refreshes you.

In Philemon 7, Paul writing to his brother Philemon says that the hearts of the saints are refreshed through Philemon.

Philemon is refreshing. The Apostle Paul praises him for that. Paul knew the people who were refreshed by Philemon.

The saints longed to be around Philemon. The saints were better people because of Philemon. The saints loved Jesus more and lived more faithfully toward Jesus because of Philemon. The saints were refreshed by Philemon.

Now, when I drink sweet tea I feel refreshed. Who is that refreshes me like that?

Are you refreshing? Do you make anyone’s world or day better?

Do you need refreshing? Do you know someone who needs refreshing? We all do at times. Pastors need refreshing. Moms need refreshing. We all do at times.

Lets be like Philemon, be faithful to God, and allow others to be refreshed through us.

The older I get the more I find myself doing the things I’ve always known my father to do.

And I think this is a good thing because I want to be like him. I love my dad. He is one of my heroes. There are so many admirable qualities in him that I really hope to possess someday.

One of the most recent ways that I have become like my dad is by gardening. I have found a new love. I love my garden.

My father is a serious gardener. He keeps one every year, and every single evening you can find my dad out “messing around” in the garden.  (I know you have to water and hoe and rake and pluck, etc. But I have yet to figure out how he spends so much time out there. Except for that he just enjoys it.)

About a month ago, (along with my dad’s help) I planted my first ever garden. It was awesome.  I have 12 tomato plants, 6 cucumber plants, 2 squash, and 4 peppers. They are doing great. The soil could be better. I will work on it a lot this fall, but for now it is good. I cannot wait to reap the harvest, teach the boys how to pick the vegetables, and save money from not buying produce.

I had a gardening veteran in our church come over to check out my garden. He is 81 years old and has his own beautiful garden. He encouraged me. He told me it doesn’t look as bad as he thought it would but it could also use some work. Haha.

One of the reasons I like gardening is because it is so devotional. I know of nothing else I do that sends me as many God-centered thoughts as gardening. Its incredible.  Each evening as I am out there alone (sometimes the boys join me) my mind is flooded with Godward thoughts. The Bible speaks a lot about gardening. I believe the Bible and love it.

Countless men have also found gardening to be so refreshing to the soul. Please read what was written about Thomas Jefferson our nation’s 3rd president
” Jefferson wrote freely of the therapeutic value of gardening. His gardening activity increased during periods of stress, including the death of his daughter, Maria, and during the Aaron Burr treason trial. Jefferson made no secret of his weariness of public life while he was still in the White House. After he returned to Monticello, he wrote that “I am constantly in my garden, as exclusively employed out of doors as I was within doors in Washington, and I find myself infinitely happier in my new mode of life.”

I am new into gardening and admittedly not very good at it, but I sure do enjoy it. It is refreshing to me. Honestly, almost every older man in my life that I admire likes to garden. I like this commonality.

I want to be like my dad, and my dad loves spending time in his garden. I love spending time in mine now. I thank God that I’m becoming like him.

Wednesday mornings we have a Men’s Bible Study at FBCF.  It is one of the highlights of my week.

This morning our lesson was on “Salvation”. Here is something we learned.

John Edie, the nineteenth-century Scottish preacher said, “Men without Christ are death walking. The beauties of holiness do not attract man in his moral insensibility, nor do the miseries of Hell deter him.”

Then John MacArthur writes, “You can talk about heaven to him, he’s not interested. You can talk about hell to him, he’s not afraid.
Now this kind of man doesn’t need renewal, this kind of man doesn’t need repair, this kind of man doesn’t need restoration, resuscitation; this kind of man needs resurrection. He needs life, because he’s dead.”

Have you been made alive to Christ? Or are you still dead to the things of God?

I am currently reading David Sills new book  Reaching and Teaching: A Call to Great Commission Obedience.

I am really enjoying it.

Get this from the book… “So many of those who made the greatest difference in missions history were not those who promoted fads or adopted the latest innovations; they simply loved Jesus with all their heart and persevered in what He gave them to do.”
Wow! That is such a great point. I want to persevere in what God gives me to do.

I also wanted to quote one other sentence from the book that is sticking with me.

In chapter 1 he writes, “It matters what teachers teach and what believers believe.”

We need to take that sentence seriously and be careful to teach and believe according to God’s Word.

Valeria’s brother, Andres, is a great photographer. (His new website launched today www.andresvalenzuela.com)

He was here visiting, along with his wife, a few weeks ago.

Click here to see some pictures he took of the boys. They are awesome.

The true follower of Jesus has a commitment to the truth of God.

If there is no commitment to God’s Word, then there are serious concerns surrounding the faith of the believer. Jesus told the Pharisees “and you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom He has sent.” (Jn. 5:38-39) Elsewhere, He says “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (Jn. 8:31-32)

And then later Jesus prayed to His Father in the garden, “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.” (Jn. 17:17)

The follower of Jesus has died to self and has abandoned selfish and worldly purposes, influences, and motivations. And those have been replaced by the foundational powerful and active truth of the Bible.

Now the Bible also says that believers, upon being saved, are to grow and strive for maturity. The Apostle Paul writes “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” (Col. 1:28)  And the Apostle Peter writes “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Pet. 3:18)

And we know that God is pleased, honored, and glorified when His redeemed people know Him and understand Him accurately from His word (see Jeremiah 9:23-24, my favorite passage in Scripture).  Therefore, we must know in order to grow.

So we conclude and resolve that as true followers of our King Jesus we commit ourselves fully to growing in our knowledge and understanding of God’s truth so that we may grow up to maturity and further glorify our God and Savior Jesus Christ who suffered and died under the judgement of God in our place for our sins.

So that as Paul wrote to Titus we would have a  “knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness.” (Titus 1:11)

Back in October, we started back up the WMU at our church. WMU stands for “Women’s Missionary Union,” and it is the thrust of all of our Women’s ministry. It is going really well. God surely has His hand in it. Each meeting is different, but the focus of the WMU is prayer and ladies fellowship.

This past Tuesday, they had a special occasion WMU. It was a “Ladies Tea.” From what I have heard, it was so nice. There were over 50 ladies there to hear the special guest speaker, Kim Wigginton. There was special music, wonderful food, and a powerful message. All of the ladies were impacted by God’s Word with one lady that night believing in Jesus and asking Him to save her.

We are so humbled at what God is doing in our ladies.

In the mornings, JJ & Eli sometimes watch this show called “Word World.” Its pretty cool. It teaches kids how to spell and read. One episode I saw was really cool. It was explaining how simply adding an “S” to most words will make it plural.

Like the word cookie becomes cookies when you simply add an “s” to it.

Thats a really neat concept for a kid to grasp.

Just add an “s” to it, and you go from having 1 of something to having many of that something.

Well, as I was thinking of that, I was reminded of how people in Fairdale do that with places. Its really cool.

For example, Kroger is often called Krogers. Or Meijer is often called Meijers. I have heard people add an “s” to all sorts of different places.  Big Os, Bass Pros, White Castles, Moby Dicks, and so on.

Its really cool and fun and local. Listen out for it.

No matter what the place….just add an “s” to it.

Every night, JJ asks for me to read him the story of David & Goliath. This night without any planning, we acted it out. David wins! God is great!

I have always found this interesting.

Why is it that people think that certain actions or WORDS that, I guess, would be ok outside of a church building all of a sudden turn bad or wrong once you are inside the building? When I get to thinking about it… its quite troubling and humorous!

And this happens pretty regularly. I hear people say things like “man, don’t talk like that in a church.” or “you’re not supposed to say that in church.”

I appreciate the attempt at respect. But I am more concerned at the major misunderstanding.

The church has never been a building; its always been a bride… a body… a community…  a people.

If something is wrong in a church building, then it is most likely wrong outside of it too.

Listen to what the Bible says in Ephesians 5:4:

“Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

This is so helpful to this discussion. There is a type of talking that is out of place. That is why I said I appreciate the attempt at respect. But where is out of place? Not in the building. A building is a building. God lives in hearts not buildings.

So where is out of place?  In our lives! In our walks. In verse 1, we are told to be imitators of God. God never spoke inappropriately, and we should not either. In verse 2, we are told to walk in a certain way. Verse 4 is a continuation from that. Wrong, bad, dirty, filthy, inappropriate speech is out of place. But not in a building… in your life.

So, lets clean it up. CLEAN UP YOUR WAY OF TALKING. Ephesians 5:4

Be slow to speak. Let your words be few. Guard your tongues. If necessary, put your hand over your mouth.

Because according to God, its out of place in your life.