Overview
This Montana Christian Festival teaching considers the witness of the plant kingdom as part of the witness of God’s creation. Rev. Ted Bidon traces plants from Genesis through their roles in food, oxygen, shelter, reproduction, regeneration, and biblical imagery. The speaker connects observable features of the created world with Scripture, emphasizing design, order, provision, interdependence, and the Creator’s care.
Transcript
Plants in the Creation Record
But right now we're going to talk about the witness of the plant kingdom, which seems to be abundant in this neck of the woods So, please have a warm round of applause for our next teacher our very own Reverend Ted Bidon All right, well god bless everybody it certainly is my privilege to be here with all of you as We're going to look at the witness of the plant kingdom if you Opened your eyes today at any point in time. You've seen it and we've talked about it already We are surrounded by the beauty of nature almost all the time and It's there is a constant reminder to us that God has provided our need in every way and we're going to look at that We're going to see several different aspects of that and we're going to start in Genesis chapter 1 And in Genesis chapter 1 We learned that God is putting things back back in order And after the dry ground Verse 10 of chapter 1 it says and God called the dry land earth and the gathering together the waters was called the seas and God saw that it was good and The next thing that God does After that is he puts plants on the earth and God said let the earth bring forth grass and herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind Whose seed is in itself upon the earth and it was so and the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed After it his kind and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself After his kind and God saw that it was good Trees and plants and grasses and all of that that we see around us is So vital in the operation of what God put in place for us It's estimated that of all life on earth 80% is plant life of some kind trees and plants At 80% of it is there to help support the earth trees cover about 30% of the landmass and they represent about 50% of the workload of all plants workload Well, what is it that plants do plants do a lot of things for us? But one of the biggest things that they do for us is they convert carbon dioxide through the process of photosynthesis using chloroform They take carbon dioxide and make it into what? Oxygen who breathed oxygen today, right all of us, right? It is one of those things that we don't think about I don't get up in the morning and say God, you know Thank you for the oxygen. It's delightful.
It's nice. It's pleasant But really without the trees Without the grass without the plants there wouldn't be any oxygen to breathe and God put it there specifically for that purpose So that we would have oxygen to breathe So when I look at trees now and grass and I look around What I see is how God abundantly supplied my need but it's more than that the trees Represent and are used for many things for us, right? We use them for lumber They're used for shade they're used for They hold help hold the soil in the ground They die the roots of the trees go deep into the ground to pull up nutrients Then they have their foliage that's released. And in this case, we have evergreens around here They're pine needles do shed and fall and that Decomposes and becomes soil that other plants can grow in The trees are also the home for birds and animals But it's more than that they're also beautiful Imagine if you will for a moment that if you looked at these trees and this grass and instead of being various colors of green It was all Navy ship gray Could you imagine that would not be enjoyable with it it would not you wouldn't see any beauty in it and That's that just shows God by his nature Makes things that are simple That are functional and that are beautiful We have architects that that's what they strive to do.
Their whole career is to try to make things that are simple functional and beautiful and they can't compare to the things that God has made in the plant kingdom and It's just so awesome the way that God designed the plants There's a very significant metaphor here though that we're going to look at They provide all of these vital functions for us and we recognize that But there's a very specific metaphor that we're going to look at and it's that the seed is in itself God made plants to have a seed within themselves here in Montana When Davy was up she talked about the various trees that are here at Lubric and There are several that are very prevalent. I'm going to talk about three of them There's the lodgepole pine the ponderosa pine and the Douglas fir They're very prevalent as you walk around you'll see all of them here I was been walking the campus and looking just to make sure and sure enough I've seen all of them here and up here in the woods There's signs that actually you can look at that will show you which those different trees are but in the Montana one thing that we have frequently is we'll have forest fires and They appear to be very devastating Mass tracts of land two years ago in Montana. We had 1.8 million acres burned.
That's just massive and When you think about that you think that it's just that must just be massive devastation But God designed these trees the ones that we're looking at here to not only survive In those conditions, but to thrive in those conditions and it all has to do with the way their seeds work So the ponderosa pine You'll see them around here. They're the ones with a really thick scaly bark and That bark is designed To protect them from the fire The fire won't burn through the bark. You'll see some of them that are charred on the outside but that tree you look at it, it's green and it's healthy because the bark has protected that tree and Given it what it needs to survive The the seeds from the pine cone of a ponderosa pine Flourish best in full sunlight So when the forest is very dense and those seeds drop they don't germinate as well they germinate better after the fire goes through and Opens it up so that the Sun can get down to the ground and germinate those seeds.
That's the seed for the ponderosa pine There's also trees here that are lodgepole pines. They're very different Than the ponderosa pines and how that they reproduce Their bark is very thin and typically if there's a forest fire the lodgepole pines all of them will be wiped out Just knocks them out kills them all but their pine cones are very unique in that they have a resin that surrounds them and the way that the resin it melts away and it opens up the pine cone so that it can fertilize and reproduce is through heat and When the fire comes through the fire actually opens those pine cones and allows for them to reproduce without the fire the lodgepole pines would not reproduce and Typically the lodgepole pines after a fire just start popping up everywhere there. They reproduce very rapidly The third one we're going to talk about is the Douglas fir and this to me is one of the most incredible ones of the three it has about a medium bark and Sometimes they'll survive the fires and sometimes they won't They are one of the first trees to sprout and start reproducing after a fire though their pine cones are very unique and that the seeds in the pine cones are incredibly light and They can travel on the wind miles so the wind will blow through the Douglas fir when it drops its seeds and it'll catch those seeds and they'll go for miles and They're usually the first trees that start to sprout after a fire because the seeds get blown from the healthy forest into where the fire was and those trees sprout and grow and Those seeds reproduce these forests just like we see now even after a fire and there is a great lesson in that and that What appears to be? Something that is unsurvivable God made it to not only to survive but to thrive you know and for us we live in the world and from the devil's point of view the adversaries point of view he would like it to be unsurvivable but yet we have God and the Spirit of God by way of Jesus Christ and not only do we survive but we what we thrive We thrive because of that it's because of that seed There's two analogies that are used When referring to the new birth and One of them is that it's a the new birth is referred to as the seed of Christ within us But there's another analogy that we're going to look at.
Seed, Fruit, and Reproduction
I think one of the cool things about God is The animal kingdom the plant kingdom the kingdoms they have very defined rules that we can follow and we can understand right and But there's always exceptions, right? There's a darn exceptions I think God does that just to keep us on our toes and let us know that he's the one who's in charge So I want to talk about an exception seedless oranges What do you plant if you want to grow seedless oranges They don't have a seed So, how do you grow them? Where do they come from? I remember the first time that someone pointed that out to me I was just it was kind of perplexing because it's kind of an exception All of the seedless oranges that we enjoy today came from a single tree in From Brazil there are monks in Brazil that were raising oranges there at their at their monastery And they noticed that one of the trees did not have seeds it did not produce seeds and They thought that was pretty novel so they started taking cuttings from that tree and they would graft them onto other live trees and They started producing more seedless oranges Through the process of grafting and I'll talk to you a little bit about what grafting is grafting is where you take a cutting from one tree and you remove a branch off of another tree and Then you take that cutting that you that you have and you put it against that tree. They wrap it bind it very tightly they usually put moss or something on there to hold the moisture in and that branch will grow and attach to that tree and Over the course of years unless you have a very trained eye You would not be able to recognize that it was not part of the original tree So even with things that are seedless There is a way For them to be grafted in and continue to grow every Seedless Orange that you enjoy today came from that one tree about a hundred and fifty years ago And that is the most popular orange now when you go to the grocery store or seedless oranges. We all like them And it came from that one tree and it's been propagated over and over and over again To bring us seedless oranges We talked a little bit about seed and why that's so important God promised Adam and Eve that they would have children that would be their seed and That that seed would redeem mankind God promised Abraham that his seed would be blessed and cared for Throughout the Old Testament, there's promise after promise made to the seed the children of Abraham But that promise did not extend to the Gentiles The Gentiles did not have that promise of seed that was given on to Abraham.
I Can assure you knowing my genealogy? I'm a Gentile From background. I know there's no seed of Abraham. I came from a very mixed background But it's important to understand the principle of the seed and that God is in the business of Taking anyone who has a heart to know him and making them part of the body of Christ.
Let's turn to Romans chapter 11 We've talked about Kip did a wonderful job and Jean did a wonderful job of Talking about God's design How God made things to be and Part of that design is Jesus Christ Because he is our access. He's our way to God Now there I talked about the other analogy where God does say that his seed is within us But here we're going to look at the analogy of grafting and as it refers to Those being grafted into the body of Christ And Romans chapter 11 And we're going to start in verse 15 for the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world That shall be the receiving in them That is not where I wanted to be Excuse me verse 16 for if the first fruits be holy The lump is also holy and the root be holy the branches are also holy Jesus Christ is the root. It says in Romans are in John chapter 15.
You can go there if you like John chapter 15 and in verse 1 Jesus is speaking here. He says I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman He is the vine. He is the he is the root and if the root is holy Anything attached to the root is holy as well, isn't it? Right because once it's grafted in it becomes part of that tree or part of that vine It's there and if it grows and is attached and is bound together with it and in verse 17 of Romans chapter 11 and if some of the branches be broken off and Thou being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them Partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree boasts not against the branches But if thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root thee and the illustration here is that there were those of Israel who refused God's plan the branches that were broken off But there were those that of the Gentiles that did in fact believe and they were grafted in they are part of the body I think what's very interesting about our gathering to hear and it's different for some of us Is that we have people from all different backgrounds here and from all different churches here Which I think is absolutely Fabulous.
I think it's wonderful Because we are all Grafted we are all bound together by Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter where you go to church It doesn't matter any of that doesn't matter what church you grew up in What matters is that we are all bound together by Jesus Christ We are all grafted in and he's done that for us So we should love one another in Romans here Paul is confronting them because some of the Gentiles are quite boastful about the fact that they're now born again and some of the Israelite some of those that are of a Judean background of no longer they do not believe and he's confronting them on that because God is called who God has called who he's called and when they're when they've when they're into the body they're into the body and So he's confronting them, but what's important here And what I wanted us to be able to recognize that it's through Jesus Christ that we are all brought into the body And that we are grafted in Through him and that we are all part of the same body the question then becomes How do we proceed? Where do we go from there? And we're going to look at Mark chapter 4 Mark chapter 4 we're continuing to look at the importance of seed and how seed is used throughout the word Mark 4 I I have great respect for farmers and I'm not a farmer But I do garden a lot So I'll be honest. I really consider myself a micro farmer.
Provision for Life on Earth
That's kind of how I look at it. I Do garden quite a bit and I really love it. I just so enjoy Planting the vegetables watching them grow if there are any gardeners out here I think we can eat, you know, you can be honest when you plant the seeds today Do you go back the next day to see if anything's happened, right? Almost all of us do right? Because we want to see those seeds grow.
We want to see them develop and I really enjoy seeing what the word has to say about the topic of farming and gardening And I do consider myself a micro farmer like I said Because there's so there's so much enjoyment in watching the process of what God has designed with plants And we're going to read a record here in Mark chapter 4 verse. We're going to start in verse 4 Because here is an illustration that Jesus uses to teach his people on How to grow and become strong spiritually and how to manage the most important part of their life Which is their heart and he's going to use an illustration of planting to do that In verse 4 and it came to pass and this is the parable That he's teaching and it came to pass as he sowed And it, excuse me, we'll start in verse 3. He hearkened, behold Behold there went out a sower to sow and it came to pass as he sowed Some fell on the wayside and the fowls of the air came and devoured up So the sower is the farmer and what sowing is in farming terms is to scatter the seed In Bible times they would go forth after the soil was prepared They'd have a bag that would hang over their shoulder They'd fill the bag full of the seed for whatever it was whether it was wheat or whatever crop that they were going to plant They'd reach into the bag and as they'd walk They'd scatter the seed on the ground and it would go out and cover the ground. And so that's what sowing is so here the illustration he's using is of a farmer going to sow in the field and it came to pass as he sowed verse 4 some fell by the wayside and the Fowls of the air came and devoured it up and some fell on stony ground Where it had not much earth and immediately sprang up because it had depth no depth of earth but when the Sun was up it was scorched and because it had no root it withered away and Some fell among the thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no fruit Another fell on good ground and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased and brought forth some 30 Some 60 and some a hundred So that is the parable and he explains it And we're going to look at that explanation He explains it in verse 18 because it's important for us to understand because what we're talking about Now is what do we do? We can observe the witness of God's creation.
We observe everything that God Made and created and we recognize that he is the ultimate authority upon this earth that all of this was put here for his people and for to continue on the process of his design We recognize and what we've been taught is that part of that design and process was was Jesus Christ that he would be the sacrificial lamb that he would pay the price for us and And that when we believed and we got born again God's Spirit now dwells within us that we are grafted into the body of Christ. It's permanent. We are there one body working together and Now we have the opportunity To do something with it and it starts with us in our heart and here's what he has to say when the explanation of this parable Verse 18 and These are they which were sown among the thorns Excuse me.
We're gonna back up. I'm sorry verse 14 the sower soweth the word So here in this reference, it's the Word of God. That is the seed.
Trees and Plants in Scripture
That's the seed that needs to get into the soil Every time I go to plant I look at the back of the package. You know why because the back of the package tells me How deep the seed needs to be planted how far apart the seeds need to be so that they'll Produce and grow in the best possible way. So I look at the back of the package because I want that seed to grow I also make sure that I've done everything I can do to prepare my soil The so the sower soweth the word it's the Word of God is the seed and we want that seed to flourish in our lives And these are they by the wayside where the word is sown But when they have heard Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts We want to be the folks we want to be the people that when the Word of God is spoken be it a friend who comes to us and say hey, I've been thinking about you and They share their heart with us about Something that that it's God working in them to edify us and to encourage us whether it be the word spoken in this situation where someone's up sharing the scripture with us for encouragement or Whether it be us reading it We don't want we don't want to be so disconnected that we don't recognize and see it when it comes our way There's an aspect of humility there because we don't want it to be taken away So we want our hearts to be ready to receive we should be looking For the Word of God to be there at our fingertips when we need it verse 16 and these are likewise Which when sown on stony ground and when they heard the word immediately received it with gladness I've been there Very excited here what God had to say and had no root in themselves and so endure for a time Afterward when affliction or persecution arises from the word for the word's sake immediately they are offended there's many times where I've heard the word, but I was stony I my heart was not tender and I didn't listen to what God had to say because it didn't agree with what I wanted to do I've shared with in our fellowship recently I talked about the prayer that Jesus taught Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name.
Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come come as earth It isn't in heaven It's his will to be done when you ask people and say how many of you would like to see God's will come to pass Everybody does right we all want to see God's will come to pass who wants to do God's will Well, that's a different. Maybe let's talk about that because sometimes the will of Ted Doesn't align up with the will of God And sometimes I want to do the will of Ted and not the will of God who's ever had that prayer I know I have where I've been God.
Here's what I want Let me dictate my terms and then you can take care of that for me Right we've all done that That's not believing for the will of God that's believing for in this situation the will of Ted And that's not where at what we're after we want our hearts to be tender What is the will of God that's what we want we move forward we continue on with our lives and God's big enough to show Us that but we keep our hearts tender Because we understand and that's the key point here the way that we endure is because we understand that the will of God is perfect and That if we are doing the will of God We are going to walk perfectly with him So when God gives us direction and tells us to do something Kurt talked about Jonah going to Nineveh didn't want to go to Nineveh what a great record I love that record of Jonah because Jonah was real he was a real guy who had a real response in a Situation and God didn't say well if he's not going he's gonna die. I don't care forget about him Let's move on to do something else God did not desert him God was working with him and continued to work with him until his will came to pass and that's the same way with us Sometimes it is the will of Ted that I'm working on and God's got to give me a wake-up call and say wait a minute It's not the will of Ted It's my will you need to do and I have to respond to that but he works with me on that You know God will work with us This record is important to me because when I was a younger man, and I read about these four responses to the word I was very concerned I Thought that For lack of a better word that it was destiny that these four responses I Was in one of them and I didn't know which one it was But it wasn't up to me. It wasn't a choice that I made It was just where I got placed and I was really concerned that I was a stony-ground person Right that I was never gonna last because my heart was not tendered at times when it needed to be and I really thought that that it was destiny that that's just how it was God called people four kinds of people are going to respond some are gonna some of them.
They're just not gonna last Some are gonna have hard hearts. They're not gonna last some of them are gonna get tempted away They're not gonna last some people are gonna gonna make it and they're gonna bring forth fruit. That's what I thought That is not what this record is saying.
What this record is saying is that you get to decide on How your heart is going to be you get to decide if you're going to be tender to God and ready to receive When I go to plant my seeds in my garden, I usually look for the the worst soil that I can find something stony packed down really hard and I take the best seed the ones that I think are gonna really do well and that's where I put them right now Right. No one would do that in the garden. It doesn't make sense I go and I get I have a lady that I work with who has cows and she says you can have all The manure that you want so I go get it and I it's like treasure to me you know and I stack it up and I wait for it to compost down and I put it in the soil and I mix it in and I make sure that my soil is Filled with nutrients that it's ready.
Regeneration and New Growth
So when I put the seeds in there, man, they got everything that they need That's the heart that we have to have All right, my wind caught my pages. There we go back to where we're at here Matthew 4 mark 4. All right verse 18 and These are they which are sown among the thorns such as hear the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness Of riches and the lusts of other things Entering in choke the word and it becometh unfruitful. I've been there For sure.
I've been there or I've gotten distracted and I thought that there were other things that were more important There's nothing wrong with having material abundance But you have to recognize where did it come from it all came from God it all comes from God So we want to have that balance in our lives in Proverbs. It says God Give me enough So that I don't lack in any way, but not so much that I forget who you are And that's an issue of humility that we have to keep we don't want to become unfruitful because we're distracted with the temptations of the Ungratefulness of this life and that's a decision that we get to make Verse 20 and these are they which are sown on the good ground And it's up to us to decide to prepare our hearts that way such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit Some 30 fold some 60 and some 100 Our desire is to bring forth fruit I planted fruit trees in my yard last year and this year When I go out there to look at them And I go out there and look at them every day, which I know that's just pathetic, but I do Every day I go out and look at the trees. I have a plum tree that I planted this year.
It has plums on it Two it has two plums But every day I go look at those two plums Because they bless me But I didn't plant those trees Because I just wanted pretty trees. I planted apple trees. I have apple trees pear trees I have cherry ramona insisted on cherries.
So we actually have more cherries than anything else We have cherry trees. We have all these different fruit bearing Trees in our yard and I planted them because we want the fruit And isn't that what we all want in our lives? We want the fruit. We want the fruit of the spirit That's promised.
We want the the sweetness of life So we condition our hearts and we take care of our hearts. So we're ready to receive the word. However, it comes to us So that we can bring forth that fruit It's beautiful Well, we're about to wrap it up here We have a wonderful example in the witness of the plants we talked about Here in lubric the trees and the grass How when you look at the trees, I want you to think about it.
Gratitude for God’s Provision
I want you to look at it and say hey god Put these here to provide for me To provide for the needs of mankind And for the animal kingdom He put them here for that purpose and how thankful we are for them He provided for us spiritually by way of jesus christ That those of us who did not have the seed of promise within us the promise that god gave on to abraham That he made a way through jesus christ for us to be Joined to the body of christ that we could be born again that we could Have the spirit of god within us And he made a way for us to choose free will To choose to have tender hearts to choose to plant in our garden These seeds of truth the word of god That we can grow and be spiritually strong It's a great life that we live in a great privilege that we have Well that concludes The sharing of the word this morning Uh to close this out we have two songs we have julie thigpen Is going to sing a song inch by inch And then she's going to be joined by her mother Deb miller and they're going to sing i'd rather have jesus
Key Takeaways
- The the witness of the plant kingdom presents observable patterns that point to order, purpose, and design.
- Creation can be studied as a classroom that deepens respect for God when it is considered alongside Scripture.
- Natural systems display provision, boundaries, interdependence, and remarkable specialized abilities.
- Romans 1 supplies a biblical foundation for perceiving invisible qualities of God through what He made.
- The proper response is gratitude and worship of the Creator rather than worship of the created world.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the witness of the plant kingdom reveal about God?
The teaching presents the witness of the plant kingdom as evidence of purposeful design, ordered systems, provision, and care that direct attention to the Creator.
How does the teaching connect nature and Scripture?
The speaker compares observable features of creation with biblical passages, using the natural world as a classroom that illustrates spiritual truths.
What response does the teaching encourage?
It encourages attentive observation, gratitude, humility, stewardship, and worship of God rather than worship of the created world.
Scripture References
Romans 1:19–20; Psalm 19:1–4; Genesis 1; Mark 4; Matthew 4
Verification Note
Prepared from a recovered transcript. Verify proper names, technical terms, quotations, and verse wording against the original recording and a Bible before publication.
