If you know my husband, a day cannot go by without enjoying one, two, or even seven FARMING videos.  Yes, you read right.  YouTube in our home is forever planted in one theme—the planting, tilling, and harvesting of crops, along with the repairing of all the working parts needed to farm.  Never did I think that the majority of my video-intake would be centered in the world of farming, but it is—focused upon farming, and not just farming in America, but world-wide.  On one particular Saturday afternoon, I remember sitting with my husband watching one farmer work on his cultivator to remove a stubborn, broken bolt so that he could insert a new, stronger, and un-broken bolt into the broken-down cultivator connected behind his tractor.  Such Saturday fun!!!  My husband teases me all the time saying, “You like watching them as much as I (do),” to which I reply, “Yeah, right,” even as my eyes remained glued to the television screen as we enjoy the NEXT video.

Thus, as I sat reading the Scripture this morning, I find myself recalling a particular farming video we just watched of a farmer in California preparing & planting of a new almond field as the farmer utilized a machinery that dug a furrow, allowing two workers to plant the tender almond trees into the fertile soil.  Yet, it was not the machinery, the soil, the farmer, or even the workers that caught my attention as I read this morning, but it was the reminder of how Christians are grafted into the family of God.

First SEE WITH ME a passage from God’s Word.

Have you ever wondered—If I were a tree, what kind of tree would I be?

No, probably that thought has not been one of deep ponder as you have walked through life, but today, I propose that it does not matter WHAT KIND OF TREE WE BEGIN AS WHEN GOD GAVE US TO OUR PARENTS—WHAT MATTERS IS THE KIND OF TREE WE “BECOME”—

• WE BECAME—THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS—A FRUIT-BEARING TREE!
• WE BECAME—THROUGH THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS—A TREE PLANTED FOREVERMORE!
• WE BECAME—THROUGH THE PROMISE OF JESUS’ RETURN—AN ORCHARD OF BELIEVERS “ENGRAFTED” INTO GOD’S FAMILY FOR ALL ETERNITY!
• WE BECAME—THROUGH GOD’S LOVE FOR US EVEN WHILE WE WERE LOST IN OUR SINS—A CHILD OF THE KING!
• WE BECAME—EVERYTHING THAT GOD DESIGNED US TO BE—ALL BECAUSE OF JESUS!

Henceforth, I return to the farming video my husband and I watched of a California farmer preparing his soil for the planting a new almond field.  At the end of his row of growing, blooming, firmly planted almond trees (saplings that have taken root and begun to grow strong), the almond farmer paused to point out his “fruit tree” growing at the end of the row.  That point intrigued me because as he explained:

Every almond tree is engrafted with the same root-stock from a peach tree because the peach-root is more hearty, less susceptible to disease, and longer-lasting. WHO KNEW that a delicious almond grew from a tree planted with the root-stock of something OTHER than an almond root & WHO KNEW that a delicious almond grove contained a tree with its branches filled with ALL KINDS of DIFFERENT FRUIT TO ENJOY!  Truly, that is an Amazing thought!

• A person must—first give himself to the Master.
• A person must—trust the One who died to set mankind free.
• A person must—forsake all else and follow Jesus.
• A person must—trust in faith that God raised Jesus from the dead.
• A person must—accept that God is who He says He Is—Almighty God.
• A person must—turn from following the world & seek God’s forgiveness of sins & allow himself to be “engrafted” with God’s Spirit.
• A person must—trust with all authority of the truth, given by God, that Jesus will come again one day & when He does—Come Again—He will take us home to live for eternity in the presence of God.

Let us who Believe, who are called Christians—

• Live out loud, remembering we have been “engrafted” with God’s Holy Spirit living inside us!
• Live out loud, remembering we are “filled” with the living water of Jesus inside us!
• Live out loud, remembering we have been “planted and are engraved” deeply into the palm of God’s hand!
• Live out loud, remembering we are called to be “fruit-bearing” Christians because we have received the HOPE, the ASSURANCE of SALVATION through the resurrection of Christ!
• Let us—Live out Loud—witnessing to all who will listen—how Jesus died to set them free!
• And Let us—Live out Loud—proclaiming to all who will listen—how God raised Jesus to life & how Jesus will come again for each man, woman, boy, and girl—Individually!

Let us Live for Jesus!

The apostle Peter said it best, these words spoken AFTER Peter saw the resurrected body of Jesus Christ, and so I end today with the Word of God.  Read & Believe the TRUTH.