Insanity. doing the same thing over and over again and expecting change.

We all want change. some oI us may want to get in better shape, make more money, move up
in position at work, drive a better car, get a bigger house, update the things in our house that are
outdated, have more children.have less children.just kidding., become more proIicient at a
hobby or skill.like working on cars, or building things, or playing an instrument, maybe
improving at a sport. And iI we are honest, most oI us would say that we are here today because
we want to change some things in our spiritual lives, we want to get stronger in our relationship
with God, we want to continue to mature.we want to be better examples and ambassadors oI
Christ to those around us..we all want some type oI change in our liIe.the question is do we
have what it takes to allow God to make those changes in us?
Change..well change is diIIicult. It hurts. We are trained to avoid pain and it seems the older
we get the less we like pain. II we have been burned in a relationship or two in the past.we
tend to build walls around our hearts to keep others out because we don`t want to hurt again.
People are always looking Ior ways to stop the pain. II we get a headache.we pop some
Tylenol..iI we are going through a storm and need comIort.we look Ior someone we trust to
talk to..iI someone is harassing us at work, we look Ior someone to step in and intervene on our
behalI..we don`t like to hurt. And as much as we want to change.we know it is going to
hurt.
We are a lot like caterpillars... hide, cover ourselves..turn into pupa. A liquid. Then we
struggle..its in the struggle out that the butterIly gets its strength. We oIten try to cut people
out oI the cocoons when God is up to something in their liIe. People may come to you and ask
that you help make their pain stop.but sometimes the very place they need to be is in that
circumstance or storm.
Let`s talk about what it means to grow in Christ.and change into his image.
ROMANS 8:
28
And we know that in all things God works Ior the good oI those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
29
For those God Ioreknew he also predestined to
be conIormed to the image oI his Son, that he might be the Iirstborn among many brothers and
sisters.
When we become Christians a seed is planted. We begin to grow. We get watered with God`s
word and there is sun light and great things start to emerge.
1ohn 15
The Vine and the Branches

1
'I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2
He cuts oII every branch in me that bears
no Iruit, while every branch that does bear Iruit he prunes
|a|
so that it will be even more
IruitIul.
3
You are already clean because oI the word I have spoken to you.
4
Remain in me, as I
also remain in you. No branch can bear Iruit by itselI; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you
bear Iruit unless you remain in me.
You ARE PRUNED IF YOU DO AND PRUNED IF YOU DONT
1. Branches that bear no fruit -
Sins seeds come blowing by. Weeds in the garden. Heather`s garden)
God Disciplines His Children
Hebrews 12:
4
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point oI
shedding your blood.
5
And have you completely Iorgotten this word oI encouragement
that addresses you as a Iather addresses his son? It says,
'My son, do not make light oI the Lord`s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.

2. Branches that do bear fruit-
You are still gonna get clipped. You are doing good.God wants better. You produce
Iruit.you become God`s go to person.

1eremiah 18
3
So I went down to the potter`s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.
4
But
the pot he was shaping Irom the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter Iormed it into
another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Isaiah 64:8

8
Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work oI your hand.

3. #emain in the vine-
Storms will come, Trials will come..but don`t give up. It may rain Ior days.keep
strong.
The evergreen state..it`s always raining.


Back in 1921, a missionary couple named David and Svea Flood went with their 2-year-old son
Irom Sweden to the heart oI AIrica to what was then called the Belgian Congo. They met up
with another Scandinavian couple, the Ericksons, and soon the 4 oI them Ielt led by the Lord to
move out oI the central mission station and take the gospel to one oI the more remote areas oI the
Congo.

At the village oI N`dolera they were rebuIIed by the chieI, who would not let them enter his
town Ior Iear oI alienating the local gods. So the two couples decided to go halI a mile away and
build their own huts.

They prayed Ior a spiritual breakthrough, but there was none. Their only contact with the
villagers was a young boy, who was allowed to sell them chickens and eggs twice a week.

Svea Flood, a tiny woman only 4 Ieet, 8 inches tall, decided that iI this boy was the only AIrican
she could talk to, she would try to lead him to Jesus. And in Iact, over a period oI time she
succeeded.

But there were no other encouragements. Meanwhile, malaria struck one member oI their little
group aIter another. In time the Ericksons decided they had had enough suIIering and leIt Ior the
relative security oI the central mission station.

Then, in the middle oI this primitive wilderness, Svea Iound herselI pregnant. When the time
came Ior her to give birth, the village chieI soItened enough to allow a midwiIe to help her. A
little girl was born, whom they named Aina.

The delivery, however, was diIIicult, and Svea was already weak Irom malaria. The birth process
was a heavy blow to her stamina. She only lasted only another 17 days aIter the birth or Aina.

Well inside David Flood, something snapped. He dug a crude grave, buried his 27-year-old wiIe,
and then took his children back to the central mission station.

Giving his newborn daughter to the Ericksons, he snarled, "I`m going back to Sweden. I`ve lost
my wiIe, and I obviously can`t take care oI this baby. God has ruined my liIe." With that, he leIt,
rejecting not only his calling, but God HimselI.

It`s true. Sometimes tragic things happen, even in the lives oI those who seek to walk closest to
Him. Bad things do happen to good people. SuIIering is a part oI all oI our lives. As a matter oI
Iact, David Flood leIt the mission Iield, leIt his calling and Irom that day on he turned his back
on God.
Winston Churchill once notes that "the only thing wrong with Christianity is the lack oI
suIIering."

Even though you can`t see it right now, God has been busy creating something breathtaking in
you - through everything you`ve endured, through that conIusing situation you`re Iacing right
now.

The problem is that we can`t see what He`s doing while it`s happening. All we see are the chips
Ilying. The chisel`s blow isn`t evidence that God has leIt us or is angry with us, but rather that
God is right in Iront oI us, eyeing our progress, smoothing the rough edges, patiently bringing
the image oI Jesus out in us.

"There are no crown bearers in heaven that were not cross bearers on earth" - Spurgeon

Hebrews 12:5-6 "My son, do not make light oI the Lord`s discipline, and do not lose heart when
He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves."

Let me continue with the tragedy oI the David and Svea Flood. It does not end there.

Eight months later both oI the Ericksons were stricken with an illness and died within days oI
each other. The baby the David Flood had given them was turned over to other American
missionaries, who adjusted her Swedish name to "Aggie" and eventually took her with them
back to America.

As a young woman, she attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. There she met and
married a young man named Dewey Hurst. Years passed. The Hursts enjoyed a IruitIul ministry.
In time her husband became president oI a Christian college in the Seattle area.

One day a Swedish religious magazine appeared in her mailbox. She had no idea who had sent it,
and she couldn`t read the words. But as she turned the pages, all oI a sudden a photo stopped her
cold. There, in a primitive setting was a grave with a white cross - on the cross were the words
"Svea Flood."

Aggie jumped in her car and went straight to a college Iaculty member who, she knew, could
translatethe article. "What does this say?" she asked.

The instructor summarized the story: It was about missionaries who had gone to N`dolera long
ago . the birth oI a white baby . the death oI the young mother . the one little AIrican boy
who had been led to Christ . and how, aIter the whites had all leIt, the boy had grown up and
Iinally persuaded the chieI to let him build a school in the village.

The article said that gradually he won all his students to Christ . and the children led their
parents to Christ . even the chieI had become a Christian. Today there were 600 Christian
believers in that one village alone .

All because oI the sacriIice oI David and Svea Flood. Wow!

But that is not the end oI the story. Let me continue:

For the Hurst`s 25th wedding anniversary, the college presented them with the giIt oI a vacation
to Sweden. There Aggie sought to Iind her real Iather. An old man now, David Flood had
remarried, Iathered 4 more children, and generally dissipated his liIe with alcohol. He had
recently suIIered a stroke. Still bitter, he had one rule in his Iamily: "Never mention the name oI
God because God took everything Irom me."

AIter an emotional reunion with her halI brothers and halI sister, Aggie brought up the subject oI
seeing her Iather. The others hesitated. "You can talk to him," they replied, "even though he`s
very ill now. But you need to know that whenever he hears the name oI God, he Ilies into a
rage."

Aggie was not to be deterred. She walked into the squalid apartment, with liquor bottles
everywhere, and approached the 73-year-old man lying in a rumpled bed.

"Papa?" she said tentatively. He turned toward her and began to cry. "Aina," he said. "I never
meant to give you away." "It`s all right, Papa," she replied, taking him gently in her arms. "God
took care oI me."

The man instantly stiIIened. The tears stopped. "God Iorgot all oI us. Our lives have been like
this because oI Him. It was all Ior nothing." He turned his Iace back to the wall.

Aggie stoked his Iace and then continued, undaunted. "Papa, I have a story to tell you, and it`s a
true one. You didn`t go to AIrica in vain. Mama didn`t die in vain. The little boy you won to the
Lord grew up to win that whole village to Jesus Christ. The one seed you planted just kept
growing and growing. Today there are 600 AIrican people serving the Lord because you were
IaithIul to the call oI God in your liIe .."

"Papa, Jesus loves you. He has never hated you." The old man turned back to look into his
daughter`s eyes. His body relaxed. He began to talk. And by the end oI the aIternoon, he had
come back to the God he had resented Ior so many decades.

A Iew years later, the Hursts were attending an evangelism conIerence in London, England,
when a report was given Irom the nation oI Zaire (the Iormer Belgian Congo).

The leader oI the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke
eloquently oI the gospel`s spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going to ask him aIterward
iI he had ever heard oI David and Svea Flood.

"Yes, madam," the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English. "It was
Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought Iood to your parents beIore
you were born. In Iact, to this day your mother`s grave and her memory are honored by all oI
us."

He embracedher in a long, sobbing hug. Then he continued, "You must come to AIrica to see,
because your mother is the most Iamous person in our history."

In time that is exactly what Aggie Hurst and her husband did. They were welcomed by cheering
throngs oI villagers. The most dramatic moment, oI course, was when the pastor escorted Aggie
to see her mother`s white cross Ior herselI. She knelt in the soil to pray and give thanks.

Later that day, in the church, the pastor read Irom John 12:24, "I tell you the truth, unless a
kernel oI wheat Ialls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But iI it dies, it
produces many seeds." He then Iollowed with Psalm 126:5, "Those who sow in tears will reap
with songs oI joy."

Charles Spurgeon- 'There are no crown bearers in heaven that were not cross bearers on earth.